MSNucleus.org

 
Math Science Nucleus
Environmental Online Science Classes

Location:  4074 Eggers Drive, Fremont)

Below are Zoom recordings of Online Science Classes for 2020-21 created for Fremont Unified School District (K-6 classes.)  Included are worksheets that go along with our presentation.  We also have powerpoint presentations that teachers can use and these videos can act as an example of how to use the powerpoints in their classroom. Please contact Sue Lemke at FUSD   (slemke@fusdk12.net)   for distribution (they are large files). Within the powerpoint there are embedded videos to help make the presentation alive.   Our technique is more "minds-on" since we cannot do hands-on with them.  If you have any questions about these please contact Joyce (blueford@msnucleus.org).

Kindergarten
WEATHER PATTERNS

Guiding Questions
What is the weather like today and how it is different from yesterday?
     Can I predict tomorrow’s weather?   What happens when the Sun shines on different objects?
NGSS Standards

K-ESS2-1. Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time. K-PS3-1. Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface. K-PS3-2. Use tools and materials provided to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface.
WORKSHEETS:
Cloud Chart   Water Cycle Wheel   Water Molecule

Kindergarten
 
Carnivores, Herbivores and Omnivores
Investigate how teeth are used to identify the eating habits of different animals including humans. Compare and contrast different teeth of each group.
NGSS Standards:
Science: K-LS1-1 observe and describe patterns of what plants and animals (including) humans need to survive Health : 1.1.G    Explain that living things grow and mature. 1.2.G    Describe their own physical characteristics. 1.1.P  Identify effective dental and personal hygiene practices
Worksheets:
Counting Teeth
First Grade

PLANTS SHAPES


Guiding Questions:
     
How can we tell different types of plants apart?
How do these differences help the plants?
NGSS

1-LS1-1. Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs 1-LS3-1. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents
WORKSHEET:
Herby vs Woody
Leaf Shape Coloring

  recording not uploaded yet

First Grade          MOTION OF OBJECTS IN THE SKY Guiding Questions
What objects are in the sky and how do they seem to move? When will the Sun set tomorrow?  How does the Moon’s appearance change over each month?
NGSS
1-ESS1-1. Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted. 1-ESS1-2. Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.
WORKSHEET:
Moon bookmark

First Grade

Fruit from
Trees we Eat
Students will learn how to describe leaves and bark.  These skills will help them to identify trees that help provide fruits. They will learn how plants are an essential part of nutrients for our body providing protein, carbohydrates, sugars and much more 
NGSS
Science: plants also have different parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits) that help them survive and grow. (1-LS1-1) Health: 1.1.G Describe how living things grow and mature

Worksheets: 
Apple and PeachTrees

Second Grade

Materials
Guiding Questions:
 How can we describe different materials?  • How are materials similar and different from one another? • What sort of changes can happen to materials? • How do the properties of the materials relate to their use?
NGSS
2-PS1-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties. 2-PS1-2. Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for the intended purpose.
WORKSHEET   (periodic table) (element book template)
Second Grade

LANDSCAPE CHANGES

Guiding Questions
:
What evidence do natural processes leave behind as they shape the Earth?
How do the material properties of rocks affect what happens to them in landscapes?
NGSS
2
-ESS1-1. Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly. 2-ESS2-1. Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.*K-2- ETS1-2. Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem
WORKSHEET:
Shaping surface of Earth
Second Grade

Biodiversity
Many animals live in the East Bay Hills in the eastern part of Union City  and Fremont.  The mammals, reptiles, birds, and invertebrates will be emphasized.

NGSS Standards:
Science:  2-LS4-1  Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. 2-LS4.D  Biodiversity and humans.  There are many different kinds of living things in an area and they exist in different place on land and water

Worksheets: 
East Bay Hills Organisms
Butterfly worksheet

Third Grade
SURVIVING IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS

Guiding Questions
How does the environment affect living organisms?    How do organisms’ traits help them survive in different environments?  What happens to organisms when the environment changes?
NGSS 

3-LS3-2. Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.3-LS4-1. Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive.
WORKSHEET:
Mesozoic Diorama  
Third Grade
Ohlone Foods and Ceramonies

The Ohlones would gather food.  They used the native plants like coast live oak to eat acorns; tules to make boats and homes; and elderberry to make food and musical instruments.Students will learn about the native vegetation that allowed them to live and prosper for thousands of years and some of their ceramonies which food would be part of a celebration.
NGSS
Science 3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.

Worksheets:
Headband

Fourth Grade

Animal Senses

Guiding Questions • How do the internal and external structures of animals help them sense and interpret their environment? • How do senses help animals survive, grow, and reproduce? • What role does light play in how we see?
NGSS
4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival* , growth, behavior, and reproduction   4-LS1-2. Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.  
WORKSHEET (perception)(background on experiment)(nervous system)
Fourth Grade

SCULPTING LANDSCAPES

Guiding Questions
 
How do water, ice, wind, and vegetation sculpt landscapes? What factors affect how quickly landscapes change? How are landscape changes recorded by layers of rocks and fossils? How can people minimize the effects of changing landscape on property while still protecting the environment?
NGSS
4-ESS1-1. Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.4-ESS2-1. Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.4-ESS2-2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.4-ESS3-2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.*
WORKSHEET:
Fault paper model
Fourth Grade
Biogeology - Soil
Living things affect the physical characteristics of their region. Water, ice, wind, living organisms and gravity break rock soil and sediment into smaller particles and move them around.

NGSS
ESS2.E: Biogeology  4-LS1-1. Plants contribute nutrients needed for decomposition

Worksheets:

Soil
  recording not uploaded
Fifth Grade

Matter
 Guiding Questions
 • What causes different materials to have different properties? • How do materials change when they dissolve, evaporate, melt, or mix together? • What are the differences between solids, liquids, and gases?

5-PS1-1. Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen. 5-PS1-2. Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.
WORKSHEET (making borax crystals)
Fifth Grade
CLEAN WATER

Guiding Questions
How can we represent systems as complicated as the entire planet? Where does my tap water come from and where does it go? How much water do we need to live, to irrigate plants? How much water do we have? What can we do to protect Earth’s resources?
NGSS
5-ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes Nearly all of Earth’s available water is in the ocean. Most fresh water is in glaciers or underground; only a tiny fraction is in streams, lakes, wetlands, and the atmosphere. (5-ESS2-2)
W
ORKSHEET: 
Chemistry of Aquatic Systems
Periodic Table (online)

recording not uploaded yet
Fifth Grade
PATTERNS IN THE NIGHT TIME SKY
Guiding Questions
How far away are the stars?How can we tell? What trends and patterns are there in the movement of the Sun and stars?
NGSS5-PS2-1. Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down. (Sample Assessment and Answer Key)5-ESS1-1. Support an argument that the apparent brightness of the sun and stars is due to their relative distances from the Earth.5-ESS1-2. Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky
WORKSHEET:
Star Finder
Ursa Dial

Fifth Grade
Composting
Organisms are related in food web.  Some organisms like fungi and bacteria break down dead organisms and operate as decomposers.  Decomposition eventually restores or recycles some materials back to the soil. Students will learn about composting project at Masonic Home.
NGSS
Science 5-LS2-1 Ecosystems; interaction, energy, dynamics Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment.  5-LS2A   Interdependence relationships in ecosystems. 
Worksheets:

Decomposer Cards
Decomposter diagram
 Sixth Grade

Plant Growth and Reproduction
NGSS
MS-LS1-4 Use arguement based on emphirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how charaterists of plant structures affet the probability of successful reproduction of plants
MS-LS1-5  Construct a scientific explanation based on evidene for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
WORKSHEETS:
genetics

 Sixth Grade
Climate Change and Fossils
Guiding Questions
Why is the climate so different in different regions of the planet?  Why are organisms so different in different regions of the planet?

Fremont is the home of many Ice Age Fossils, they help tell the story of an evolving landscape including changing climate and changing land. We will look at what is going on and what the evidence tells us about how environments can be tracked through understanding the environments in which the animals lived through time.
WORKSHEETS:
Horse evolution


for more information on classes
Joyce Blueford  (blueford@msnucleus.org
)

registration problems?
call or email Hagos (510)790-6284  or hagos@msnucleus.org


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