Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

Pond Ecosystems
K-2Life Science2.1Recognize that animals (including humans) and plants are living things that grow, reproduce, and need food, air, and water.
2.3Recognize that plants and animals have life cycles, and that life cycles vary for different living things.
2.6Recognize that people and other animals interact with the environment through their senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
3-5Life Science2.3Recognize that plants and animals go through predictable life cycles that include birth, growth, development, reproduction, and death.
2.8Describe how organisms meet some of their needs in an environment by using behaviors (patterns of activities) in response to information (stimuli) received from the environment. Recognize that some animal behaviors are instinctive (e.g., turtles burying their eggs), and others are learned (e.g., humans building fires for warmth, chimpanzees learning how to use tools).
2.10Give examples of how organisms can cause changes in their environment to ensure survival. Explain how some of these changes may affect the ecosystem.
2.11Describe how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred within a food chain from producers (plants) to consumers to decomposers.
6-8Life Science2.1Classify organisms into the currently recognized kingdoms according to characteristics that they share. Be familiar with organisms from each kingdom.
2.13Give examples of ways in which organisms interact and have different functions within an ecosystem that enable the ecosystem to survive.
2.14Explain the roles and relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in the process of energy transfer in a food web.
2.15Explain how dead plants and animals are broken down by other living organisms and how this process contributes to the system as a whole.
HSBiology6.1Explain how biotic and abiotic factors cycle in an ecosystem (water, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen).
6.2Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers, and explain the transfer of energy through trophic levels.
6.3Identify the factors in an ecosystem that influence fluctuations in population size.
6.4Analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from natural causes, changes in climate, human activity, or introduction of non-native species.
Mysteries of Animal Tracking
K-2Life Science2.1Recognize that animals (including humans) and plants are living things that grow, reproduce, and need food, air, and water.
2.2Differentiate between living and nonliving things. Group both living and nonliving things according to the characteristics that they share.
2.3Recognize that plants and animals have life cycles, and that life cycles vary for different living things.
2.6Recognize that people and other animals interact with the environment through their senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
2.8Identify the ways in which an organism's habitat provides for its basic needs (plants require air, water, nutrients, and light; animals require food, water, air, and shelter).
3-5

Life Science

2.8Describe how organisms meet some of their needs in an environment by using behaviors (patterns of activities) in response to information (stimuli) received from the environment. Recognize that some animal behaviors are instinctive (e.g., turtles burying their eggs), and others are learned (e.g., humans building fires for warmth, chimpanzees learning how to use tools).
2.10Give examples of how organisms can cause changes in their environment to ensure survival. Explain how some of these changes may affect the ecosystem.
Tide Pool Investigations
K-2Life Science2.1Recognize that animals (including humans) and plants are living things that grow, reproduce, and need food, air, and water.
2.3Recognize that plants and animals have life cycles, and that life cycles vary for different living things.
2.6Recognize that people and other animals interact with the environment through their senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
2.8Identify the ways in which an organism's habitat provides for its basic needs (plants require air, water, nutrients, and light; animals require food, water, air, and shelter).
3-5Life Science2.8Describe how organisms meet some of their needs in an environment by using behaviors (patterns of activities) in response to information (stimuli) received from the environment. Recognize that some animal behaviors are instinctive (e.g., turtles burying their eggs), and others are learned (e.g., humans building fires for warmth, chimpanzees learning how to use tools).
 

 

2.10Give examples of how organisms can cause changes in their environment to ensure survival. Explain how some of these changes may affect the ecosystem.
2.11Describe how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred within a food chain from producers (plants) to consumers to decomposers.
6-8Life Science2.13Give examples of ways in which organisms interact and have different functions within an ecosystem that enable the ecosystem to survive.
2.14Explain the roles and relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in the process of energy transfer in a food web.
2.15Explain how dead plants and animals are broken down by other living organisms and how this process contributes to the system as a whole.
Underground Expeditions
3-5Earth Science1.4Recognize that animals (including humans) and plants are living things that grow, reproduce, and need food, air, and water.
1.5Recognize that plants and animals have life cycles, and that life cycles vary for different living things.
Life Science2.10Give examples of how organisms can cause changes in their environment to ensure survival. Explain how some of these changes may affect the ecosystem.
2.11Describe how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred within a food chain from producers (plants) to consumers to decomposers.
Wide World of Insects
K-2Life Science2.1Recognize that animals (including humans) and plants are living things that grow, reproduce, and need food, air, and water.
2.3Recognize that plants and animals have life cycles, and that life cycles vary for different living things.
2.6Recognize that people and other animals interact with the environment through their senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
3-5Life Science2.3Recognize that plants and animals go through predictable life cycles that include birth, growth, development, reproduction, and death.
2.8Describe how organisms meet some of their needs in an environment by using behaviors (patterns of activities) in response to information (stimuli) received from the environment. Recognize that some animal behaviors are instinctive (e.g., turtles burying their eggs), and others are learned (e.g., humans building fires for warmth, chimpanzees learning how to use tools).
 

 

2.10Give examples of how organisms can cause changes in their environment to ensure survival. Explain how some of these changes may affect the ecosystem.
2.11Describe how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred within a food chain from producers (plants) to consumers to decomposers.
6-8Life Science2.1Classify organisms into the currently recognized kingdoms according to characteristics that they share. Be familiar with organisms from each kingdom.
2.13Give examples of ways in which organisms interact and have different functions within an ecosystem that enable the ecosystem to survive.
2.14Explain the roles and relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in the process of energy transfer in a food web.
2.15Explain how dead plants and animals are broken down by other living organisms and how this process contributes to the system as a whole.
The Story of the Fox
K-2Life Science2.6Recognize that people and other animals interact with the environment through their senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
2.8Identify the ways in which an organism's habitat provides for its basic needs (plants require air, water, nutrients, and light; animals require food, water, air, and shelter).
3-5Life Science2.7Give examples of how changes in the environment (drought, cold) have caused some plants and animals to die or move to new locations (migration).
2.8Describe how organisms meet some of their needs in an environment by using behaviors (patterns of activities) in response to information (stimuli) received from the environment. Recognize that some animal behaviors are instinctive (e.g., turtles burying their eggs), and others are learned (e.g., humans building fires for warmth, chimpanzees learning how to use tools).
2.10Give examples of how organisms can cause changes in their environment to ensure survival. Explain how some of these changes may affect the ecosystem.
6-8Life Science2.14Explain the roles and relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in the process of energy transfer in a food web.
2.17Identify ways in which ecosystems have changed throughout geologic time in response to physical conditions, interactions among organisms, and the actions of humans. Describe how changes may be catastrophes such as volcanic eruptions or ice storms.
Species in Danger
6-8Life Science2.11Recognize that evidence drawn from geology, fossils, and comparative anatomy provide the basis of the theory of evolution.
2.12Relate the extinction of species to a mismatch of adaptation and the environment.
2.13Give examples of ways in which organisms interact and have different functions within an ecosystem that enable the ecosystem to survive.
2.17Identify ways in which ecosystems have changed throughout geologic time in response to physical conditions, interactions among organisms, and the actions of humans. Describe how changes may be catastrophes such as volcanic eruptions or ice storms.
HSBiology6.3Identify the factors in an ecosystem that influence fluctuations in population size.
6.4Analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from natural causes, changes in climate, human activity, or introduction of non-native species.
6.5Explain how symbiotic behavior produces interactions within ecosystems.
What's Up?
K-2Earth Science1.13Recognize that the earth is part of a system called the "solar system" that includes the sun (a star), planets, and many moons. The earth is the third planet from the sun in our solar system.
Secret of the Cardboard Rocket
K-2Earth Science1.2Understand that air is a mixture of gases that is all around us and that wind is moving air
1.3Describe the weather changes from day to day and over the seasons.
1.4Recognize that the sun supplies heat and light to the earth and is necessary for life.
Wonders of the Starry Night
K-2Earth Science1.14Recognize that the earth revolves around (orbits) the sun in a year's time and that the earth rotates on its axis once approximately every 24 hours. Make connections between the rotation of the earth and day/night, and the apparent movement of the sun, moon, and stars across the sky.

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