NorthEast Washington ESD 101

Life in Ecosystems (L)

Curricula: Carolina Building Blocks of Science (BBS) 

Watch imaginations take flight as students explore ecosystems and how plants and animals adapt. Expanding on what they know about what living things need to survive, students learn about healthy ecosystems with butterfly larva and Wisconsin Fast Plants. They start to look at inheritance and traits as well as adaptation, creating models of different types of beaks to determine what kind of food sources work best for different birds. Fossils reveal how organisms change over time as the environment changed. By the end of the unit, they apply science concepts to design a new animal.

Teacher Prep Videos

• Lesson 1
• Lesson 2
• Lesson 3
• Lesson 4
• Lesson 5
• Lesson Overview

Vocabulary Resources

• Kahoot
• Quizlet

Exploring Carbon Printing and Fingerprint Patterns (L)

Curricula: Extension Mini-Kit 

Students use carbon printing to see tiny textures better. They learn three main fingerprint patterns. They come up with a way to use carbon printing in real life.

Weather and Climate Patterns (E)

Curricula: Carolina Building Blocks of Science (BBS) 

This weather unit takes full advantage of the intersection of science, literacy, and math. Students calculate average temperatures and measure rainfall, temperature and wind — then create and present a local news weather forecast. They also research natural weather hazards. By the end of the unit, students formulate a plan to reduce the impact of a weather hazard and design a solution.

Teacher Prep Videos

• Lesson 1
• Lesson 2
• Lesson 3
• Lesson 4
• Lesson 5

Vocabulary Resources

• Kahoot
• Quizlet

Exploring Water, Air, and Atmospheric Phenomena

Curricula: Extension Mini-Kit 

Students start by acquiring knowledge about water, simulating the processes involved in the water cycle, and understanding how it redistributes water cross Earth’s surface. They also delve into the impact of the ocean on weather patterns. Additionally students explore the properties of a ubiquitous gas, air. As part of their activities, they construct both parachutes and balloon-rocket systems to further their understanding.

Forces and Interactions (P)

Curricula: Carolina Building Blocks of Science (BBS) 

What makes a toy car go? What makes it stop? This unit looks at forces, with an emphasis on friction, mass and magnetism. It concludes by asking students to complete a design task: a model to sort out scrap metal from trash, a magnetic door latch, a magnet-based device to keep two moving objects from touching each other, or a “magic trick” to make a paper clip float in the air.

Teacher Prep Videos

• Lesson 1
• Lesson 2
• Lesson 3
• Lesson 4
• Lesson 5

Vocabulary Resources

• Kahoot
• Quizlet

Planes and Catapults (P)

Curricula: Extension Mini-Kit 

Students investigate model-plane flight by examining its features and identifying factors that influence it. They observe and contrast the behavior of model catapults and analyze the variables affecting the flipper system. To ensure accuracy, they conduct several trials with each variable and compute the average results.

Making Work Easier (Eng)

Curricula: Engineering is Elementary 

In Marvelous Machines: Making Work Easier, students discover how engineers combine multiple simple machines to complete difficult tasks. The unit begins with the storybook Aisha Makes Work Easier, in which a girl named Aisha living in Massachusetts explores the field of Industrial Engineering to complete her summer project. Students then follow the steps of the Engineering Design Process to imagine, plan, create, and improve their own model of a simple machine to make work easier.

Supplied Literature