Strand: Content of Science
Standard II: (Life Science): Understand the properties,
structures, and processes of living things and their
interdependence and their environment.
K-4 Benchmark I: Know that living things have diverse forms,
structures, functions, and habitats.
Performance Standards:
K-1: Identify major structures of common living organisms
K-2: Observe differences among individual living organisms of the same kind.
1-1: Know that living organisms have needs.
1-2: Know that living organisms inhabit various environments and have various
external features to help satisfy their needs.
1-3: Describe the differences and similarities between living organisms.
1-4: Observe that living organisms have predictable but varied life cycles.
2-1: Observe that diversity exists among individuals within a population
3-1: Know that physical or behavioral adaptations help organisms to survive.
3-2: Know that plants and animals have structures that serve different functions.
3-3: Classify common animals according to their observable characteristics.
4-1: Explain that different living organisms have distinctive structures and body
systems that serve specific functions (e.g. digging, climbing, swimming, flying).
4-2: Know that living things have senses to help them detect stimuli and that
sensations and stimuli influence the behavior of organisms.
4-4: Describe the components of and relationships among organisms in a food
chain.
K-4 Benchmark II: Know that living things have similarities and
differences and that living things change over time.
Performance Standards:
K-1: Observe & describe similarities & differences in appearance and behavior of
living things.
K-2: Observe that living organisms closely resemble their parents.
1-1: Identify differences between living and non-living things.
1-2: recognize the differences between mature and immature plants and animals.
2-1: Explain that stages of the life cycle are different for different animals
2-2: Observe that traits of the offspring of living things are inherited from their
parents.
3-2: Know that some kinds of organisms that once lived on Earth have become
extinct and that others resemble those that are alive today.
4-1: Know that in any particular environment some kinds of plants and animals
survive well, some survive less well, and some do not survive at all.
4-2: Know that change in physical structure or behavior improves chances for
survival.
4-3: Describe how some living organisms have developed characteristics from
generation to generation to improve chances of survival.
5-8: Benchmark I: Explain the diverse structures and functions
of living things and the complex relationships between living
things and their environment.
Performance Standards:
5-1: Identify the components of habitats and ecosystems (producers, consumers,
predators).
5-2: Understand how food webs depict relationships between different organisms.
5-3: Know that changes in the environment can have different effects on different
organisms.
5-4: Describe how human activity impacts the environment.
6-2: Describe how weather and geologic events affect the function of living things.
6-3: Describe how organisms have adapted to various environmental conditions.
5-8: Benchmark II: Understand how traits are passed from one
generation to the next and how species evolve.
Performance Standards:
5-1: Know that plants and animals have life cycles that include birth, growth and
development, reproduction, and death and that these cycles differ for different
organisms.
5-2: Identify characteristics of an organism that are inherited from its parents and
other characteristics that are learned or result from interactions from the
environment.
5-3: Know that heredity is the process of traits passing from one generation to the
next.
6-1: Understand that the fossil record provides data for how living organisms have
evolved.
6-2: Describe how species have responded to changing environmental conditions
over time.
Strand: Reading and Listening for Comprehension:
Content Standard I: Students will apply strategies and skills to
comprehend information that is read, heard, and viewed.
K-4 Benchmark I-A: Listen to, read, react to, and retell
information.
Performance Standards:
K-1: Retell, reenact, or dramatize parts of stories, including personal events.
K-5: Follow simple oral instructions.
1-1: Listen to and retell short stories. *( life science information)
1-3: Respond and elaborate in answering Who, What, Where, When, and How
questions.
1-6: Follow simple written and oral instructions.
2-1: Independently recall facts and details in text.
2-2: Increase vocabulary through reading, listening, and interacting.
3-3: Employ active listening skills
3-4: Increase vocabulary through reading, listening, and interacting.
4-4: Increase vocabulary through reading, listening, and interacting.
5-8: Benchmark I-A: Listen to, read, react to, and interpret
information.
5-1: Listen actively and critically by: asking questions, delving deeper into the topic,
elaborating on the information and the ideas presented, evaluating information and
ideas, making inferences and drawing conclusions, and making judgments.
5-4: Follow oral instructions that provide information about a task and assignment.
6-5: Interact appropriately in group settings.
6-6: Reflect on learning experiences by describing personal growth and change in
perspective.
Social Studies
Strand: Geography:
K-4 Benchmark II-A: Understand the concept of location by using and
constructing maps, globes, and other geographic tools to identify and
derive information about people, places, and environments.
Vocabulary:
The following are life science terms included in the NM
Educational Standards Science Glossary:
Biome Carnivore Classification: (Kingdom, Phylum, Class,
Order, Family, Genus, Species) Ecosystem Ecological
Environment Evolution Food Chain Food Web Fossil
Fossil Fuel
Habitat Herbivore Omnivore Life Cycle
Life Zone Natural Selection Organic Producers
Decomposers Organism Population Reproduction
Species Trait Heredity Producer
Additional Vocabulary:
Tropical Prey Predator Entomology Arthropod
Thorax Exoskeleton Invertebrate Camouflage Egg
Larvae Pupa Exoskeleton Vertebrate Invertebrate
Arthropod Insect Nocturnal Arachnid
Chapter 112. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
for Science
Subchapter A. Elementary
KINDERGARTEN
(2) Scientific processes. The student develops abilities
necessary to do scientific inquiry in the field and the classroom.
The student is expected to:
(A) ask questions about organisms, objects, and events;
(5) Science concepts. The student knows that organisms,
objects, and events have properties and patterns. The student is
expected to:
(A) describe properties of objects and characteristics of organisms;
6) Science concepts. The student knows that systems have parts
and are composed of organisms and objects. The student is
expected to:
(A) sort organisms and objects into groups according to their parts and
describe how the groups are formed;
(C) record observations about parts of animals including wings, feet,
heads, and tails;
(7) Science concepts. The student knows that many types of
change occur. The student is expected to:
(D) observe and record stages in the life cycle of organisms in their
natural environment.
(8) Science concepts. The student knows the difference
between living organisms and nonliving objects. The student is
expected to:
(A) identify a particular organism or object as living or nonliving; and
(B) group organisms and objects as living or nonliving.
(9) Science concepts. The student knows that living organisms
have basic needs. The student is expected to:
(A) identify basic needs of living organisms;
(B) give examples of how living organisms depend on each other; and
(C) identify ways that the Earth can provide resources for life.
1ST GRADE:
(2) Scientific processes. The student develops abilities
necessary to do scientific inquiry in the field and the classroom.
The student is expected to:
(A) ask questions about organisms, objects, and events;
(4) Scientific processes. The student uses age-appropriate tools
and models to verify that organisms and objects and parts of
organisms and objects can be observed, described, and
measured. The student is expected to:
(A) collect information using tools including hand lenses, clocks,
computers, thermometers, and balances;
(B) record and compare collected information; and
(C) measure organisms and objects and parts of organisms and
objects, using non-standard units such as paper clips, hands, and
pencils.
6) Science concepts. The student knows that systems have parts
and are composed of organisms and objects. The student is
expected to:
(A) sort organisms and objects according to their parts and
characteristics;
(B) observe and describe the parts of plants and animals;
(7) Science concepts. The student knows that many types of
change occur. The student is expected to:
(D) observe and record changes in the life cycle of organisms.
(8) Science concepts. The student distinguishes between living
organisms and nonliving objects. The student is expected to:
(A) group living organisms and nonliving objects; and
(B) compare living organisms and nonliving objects.
(9) Science concepts. The student knows that living organisms
have basic needs. The student is expected to:
(A) identify characteristics of living organisms that allow their basic
needs to be met; and
(B) compare and give examples of the ways living organisms depend on
each other for their basic needs.
2ND GRADE:
2) Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student develops
abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry in classroom and
outdoor investigations. The student is expected to:
(A) ask questions about organisms, objects, and events during
observations and investigations;
(B) plan and conduct descriptive investigations such as how organisms
grow;
(C) collect data from observations using simple equipment such as hand
lenses, primary balances, thermometers, and non-standard
measurement tools;
(9) Organisms and environments. The student knows that living
organisms have basic needs that must be met for them to
survive within their environment. The student is expected to:
(A) identify the basic needs of plants and animals;
(B) identify factors in the environment, including temperature and
precipitation, that affect growth and behavior such as migration,
hibernation, and dormancy of living things; and
(C) compare and give examples of the ways living organisms depend on
each other and on their environments such as food chains within a
garden, park, beach, lake, and wooded area.
(10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that
organisms resemble their parents and have structures and
processes that help them survive within their environments. The
student is expected to:
(A) observe, record, and compare how the physical characteristics and
behaviors of animals help them meet their basic needs such as fins help
fish move and balance in the water;
(B) observe, record, and compare how the physical characteristics of
plants help them meet their basic needs such as stems carry water
throughout the plant; and
(C) investigate and record some of the unique stages that insects
undergo during their life cycle.
3RD GRADE:
(9) Organisms and environments. The student knows that
organisms have characteristics that help them survive and can
describe patterns, cycles, systems, and relationships within the
environments. The student is expected to:
(A) observe and describe the physical characteristics of environments
and how they support populations and communities within an ecosystem;
(B) identify and describe the flow of energy in a food chain and predict
how changes in a food chain affect the ecosystem such as removal of
frogs from a pond or bees from a field; and
(C) describe environmental changes such as floods and droughts where
some organisms thrive and others perish or move to new locations.
(10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that
organisms undergo similar life processes and have structures
that help them survive within their environments. The student is
expected to:
(A) explore how structures and functions of plants and animals allow
them to survive in a particular environment;
(B) explore that some characteristics of organisms are inherited such as
the number of limbs on an animal or flower color and recognize that
some behaviors are learned in response to living in a certain
environment such as animals using tools to get food; and
(C) investigate and compare how animals and plants undergo a series
of orderly changes in their diverse life cycles such as tomato plants,
frogs, and lady bugs.
4TH GRADE:
(9) Organisms and environments. The student knows and
understands that living organisms within an ecosystem interact
with one another and with their environment. The student is
expected to:
(A) investigate that most producers need sunlight, water, and carbon
dioxide to make their own food, while consumers are dependent on other
organisms for food; and
(B) describe the flow of energy through food webs, beginning with the
Sun, and predict how changes in the ecosystem affect the food web
such as a fire in a forest.
(10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that
organisms undergo similar life processes and have structures
that help them survive within their environment. The student is
expected to:
(A) explore how adaptations enable organisms to survive in their
environment such as comparing birds' beaks and leaves on plants;
(B) demonstrate that some likenesses between parents and offspring
are inherited, passed from generation to generation such as eye color in
humans or shapes of leaves in plants. Other likenesses are learned
such as table manners or reading a book and seals balancing balls on
their noses; and
(C) explore, illustrate, and compare life cycles in living organisms such
as butterflies, beetles, radishes, or lima beans.
5TH GRADE:
(9) Organisms and environments. The student knows that there
are relationships, systems, and cycles within environments. The
student is expected to:
(A) observe the way organisms live and survive in their ecosystem by
interacting with the living and non-living elements;
(B) describe how the flow of energy derived from the Sun, used by
producers to create their own food, is transferred through a food chain
and food web to consumers and decomposers;
(C) predict the effects of changes in ecosystems caused by living
organisms, including humans, such as the overpopulation of grazers or
the building of highways; and
(D) identify the significance of the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle to the
survival of plants and animals.
(10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that
organisms undergo similar life processes and have structures
that help them survive within their environments. The student is
expected to:
(A) compare the structures and functions of different species that help
them live and survive such as hooves on prairie animals or webbed feet
in aquatic animals;
(B) differentiate between inherited traits of plants and animals such as
spines on a cactus or shape of a beak and learned behaviors such as
an animal learning tricks or a child riding a bicycle; and
(C) describe the differences between complete and incomplete
metamorphosis of insects.
More words needed...
Standard II: (Life Science): Understand the properties,
structures, and processes of living things and their
interdependence and their environment.
K-4 Benchmark I: Know that living things have diverse forms,
structures, functions, and habitats.
Performance Standards:
K-1: Identify major structures of common living organisms
K-2: Observe differences among individual living organisms of the same kind.
1-1: Know that living organisms have needs.
1-2: Know that living organisms inhabit various environments and have various
external features to help satisfy their needs.
1-3: Describe the differences and similarities between living organisms.
1-4: Observe that living organisms have predictable but varied life cycles.
2-1: Observe that diversity exists among individuals within a population
3-1: Know that physical or behavioral adaptations help organisms to survive.
3-2: Know that plants and animals have structures that serve different functions.
3-3: Classify common animals according to their observable characteristics.
4-1: Explain that different living organisms have distinctive structures and body
systems that serve specific functions (e.g. digging, climbing, swimming, flying).
4-2: Know that living things have senses to help them detect stimuli and that
sensations and stimuli influence the behavior of organisms.
4-4: Describe the components of and relationships among organisms in a food
chain.
K-4 Benchmark II: Know that living things have similarities and
differences and that living things change over time.
Performance Standards:
K-1: Observe & describe similarities & differences in appearance and behavior of
living things.
K-2: Observe that living organisms closely resemble their parents.
1-1: Identify differences between living and non-living things.
1-2: recognize the differences between mature and immature plants and animals.
2-1: Explain that stages of the life cycle are different for different animals
2-2: Observe that traits of the offspring of living things are inherited from their
parents.
3-2: Know that some kinds of organisms that once lived on Earth have become
extinct and that others resemble those that are alive today.
4-1: Know that in any particular environment some kinds of plants and animals
survive well, some survive less well, and some do not survive at all.
4-2: Know that change in physical structure or behavior improves chances for
survival.
4-3: Describe how some living organisms have developed characteristics from
generation to generation to improve chances of survival.
5-8: Benchmark I: Explain the diverse structures and functions
of living things and the complex relationships between living
things and their environment.
Performance Standards:
5-1: Identify the components of habitats and ecosystems (producers, consumers,
predators).
5-2: Understand how food webs depict relationships between different organisms.
5-3: Know that changes in the environment can have different effects on different
organisms.
5-4: Describe how human activity impacts the environment.
6-2: Describe how weather and geologic events affect the function of living things.
6-3: Describe how organisms have adapted to various environmental conditions.
5-8: Benchmark II: Understand how traits are passed from one
generation to the next and how species evolve.
Performance Standards:
5-1: Know that plants and animals have life cycles that include birth, growth and
development, reproduction, and death and that these cycles differ for different
organisms.
5-2: Identify characteristics of an organism that are inherited from its parents and
other characteristics that are learned or result from interactions from the
environment.
5-3: Know that heredity is the process of traits passing from one generation to the
next.
6-1: Understand that the fossil record provides data for how living organisms have
evolved.
6-2: Describe how species have responded to changing environmental conditions
over time.
Strand: Reading and Listening for Comprehension:
Content Standard I: Students will apply strategies and skills to
comprehend information that is read, heard, and viewed.
K-4 Benchmark I-A: Listen to, read, react to, and retell
information.
Performance Standards:
K-1: Retell, reenact, or dramatize parts of stories, including personal events.
K-5: Follow simple oral instructions.
1-1: Listen to and retell short stories. *( life science information)
1-3: Respond and elaborate in answering Who, What, Where, When, and How
questions.
1-6: Follow simple written and oral instructions.
2-1: Independently recall facts and details in text.
2-2: Increase vocabulary through reading, listening, and interacting.
3-3: Employ active listening skills
3-4: Increase vocabulary through reading, listening, and interacting.
4-4: Increase vocabulary through reading, listening, and interacting.
5-8: Benchmark I-A: Listen to, read, react to, and interpret
information.
5-1: Listen actively and critically by: asking questions, delving deeper into the topic,
elaborating on the information and the ideas presented, evaluating information and
ideas, making inferences and drawing conclusions, and making judgments.
5-4: Follow oral instructions that provide information about a task and assignment.
6-5: Interact appropriately in group settings.
6-6: Reflect on learning experiences by describing personal growth and change in
perspective.
Social Studies
Strand: Geography:
K-4 Benchmark II-A: Understand the concept of location by using and
constructing maps, globes, and other geographic tools to identify and
derive information about people, places, and environments.
Vocabulary:
The following are life science terms included in the NM
Educational Standards Science Glossary:
Biome Carnivore Classification: (Kingdom, Phylum, Class,
Order, Family, Genus, Species) Ecosystem Ecological
Environment Evolution Food Chain Food Web Fossil
Fossil Fuel
Habitat Herbivore Omnivore Life Cycle
Life Zone Natural Selection Organic Producers
Decomposers Organism Population Reproduction
Species Trait Heredity Producer
Additional Vocabulary:
Tropical Prey Predator Entomology Arthropod
Thorax Exoskeleton Invertebrate Camouflage Egg
Larvae Pupa Exoskeleton Vertebrate Invertebrate
Arthropod Insect Nocturnal Arachnid
Chapter 112. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
for Science
Subchapter A. Elementary
KINDERGARTEN
(2) Scientific processes. The student develops abilities
necessary to do scientific inquiry in the field and the classroom.
The student is expected to:
(A) ask questions about organisms, objects, and events;
(5) Science concepts. The student knows that organisms,
objects, and events have properties and patterns. The student is
expected to:
(A) describe properties of objects and characteristics of organisms;
6) Science concepts. The student knows that systems have parts
and are composed of organisms and objects. The student is
expected to:
(A) sort organisms and objects into groups according to their parts and
describe how the groups are formed;
(C) record observations about parts of animals including wings, feet,
heads, and tails;
(7) Science concepts. The student knows that many types of
change occur. The student is expected to:
(D) observe and record stages in the life cycle of organisms in their
natural environment.
(8) Science concepts. The student knows the difference
between living organisms and nonliving objects. The student is
expected to:
(A) identify a particular organism or object as living or nonliving; and
(B) group organisms and objects as living or nonliving.
(9) Science concepts. The student knows that living organisms
have basic needs. The student is expected to:
(A) identify basic needs of living organisms;
(B) give examples of how living organisms depend on each other; and
(C) identify ways that the Earth can provide resources for life.
1ST GRADE:
(2) Scientific processes. The student develops abilities
necessary to do scientific inquiry in the field and the classroom.
The student is expected to:
(A) ask questions about organisms, objects, and events;
(4) Scientific processes. The student uses age-appropriate tools
and models to verify that organisms and objects and parts of
organisms and objects can be observed, described, and
measured. The student is expected to:
(A) collect information using tools including hand lenses, clocks,
computers, thermometers, and balances;
(B) record and compare collected information; and
(C) measure organisms and objects and parts of organisms and
objects, using non-standard units such as paper clips, hands, and
pencils.
6) Science concepts. The student knows that systems have parts
and are composed of organisms and objects. The student is
expected to:
(A) sort organisms and objects according to their parts and
characteristics;
(B) observe and describe the parts of plants and animals;
(7) Science concepts. The student knows that many types of
change occur. The student is expected to:
(D) observe and record changes in the life cycle of organisms.
(8) Science concepts. The student distinguishes between living
organisms and nonliving objects. The student is expected to:
(A) group living organisms and nonliving objects; and
(B) compare living organisms and nonliving objects.
(9) Science concepts. The student knows that living organisms
have basic needs. The student is expected to:
(A) identify characteristics of living organisms that allow their basic
needs to be met; and
(B) compare and give examples of the ways living organisms depend on
each other for their basic needs.
2ND GRADE:
2) Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student develops
abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry in classroom and
outdoor investigations. The student is expected to:
(A) ask questions about organisms, objects, and events during
observations and investigations;
(B) plan and conduct descriptive investigations such as how organisms
grow;
(C) collect data from observations using simple equipment such as hand
lenses, primary balances, thermometers, and non-standard
measurement tools;
(9) Organisms and environments. The student knows that living
organisms have basic needs that must be met for them to
survive within their environment. The student is expected to:
(A) identify the basic needs of plants and animals;
(B) identify factors in the environment, including temperature and
precipitation, that affect growth and behavior such as migration,
hibernation, and dormancy of living things; and
(C) compare and give examples of the ways living organisms depend on
each other and on their environments such as food chains within a
garden, park, beach, lake, and wooded area.
(10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that
organisms resemble their parents and have structures and
processes that help them survive within their environments. The
student is expected to:
(A) observe, record, and compare how the physical characteristics and
behaviors of animals help them meet their basic needs such as fins help
fish move and balance in the water;
(B) observe, record, and compare how the physical characteristics of
plants help them meet their basic needs such as stems carry water
throughout the plant; and
(C) investigate and record some of the unique stages that insects
undergo during their life cycle.
3RD GRADE:
(9) Organisms and environments. The student knows that
organisms have characteristics that help them survive and can
describe patterns, cycles, systems, and relationships within the
environments. The student is expected to:
(A) observe and describe the physical characteristics of environments
and how they support populations and communities within an ecosystem;
(B) identify and describe the flow of energy in a food chain and predict
how changes in a food chain affect the ecosystem such as removal of
frogs from a pond or bees from a field; and
(C) describe environmental changes such as floods and droughts where
some organisms thrive and others perish or move to new locations.
(10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that
organisms undergo similar life processes and have structures
that help them survive within their environments. The student is
expected to:
(A) explore how structures and functions of plants and animals allow
them to survive in a particular environment;
(B) explore that some characteristics of organisms are inherited such as
the number of limbs on an animal or flower color and recognize that
some behaviors are learned in response to living in a certain
environment such as animals using tools to get food; and
(C) investigate and compare how animals and plants undergo a series
of orderly changes in their diverse life cycles such as tomato plants,
frogs, and lady bugs.
4TH GRADE:
(9) Organisms and environments. The student knows and
understands that living organisms within an ecosystem interact
with one another and with their environment. The student is
expected to:
(A) investigate that most producers need sunlight, water, and carbon
dioxide to make their own food, while consumers are dependent on other
organisms for food; and
(B) describe the flow of energy through food webs, beginning with the
Sun, and predict how changes in the ecosystem affect the food web
such as a fire in a forest.
(10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that
organisms undergo similar life processes and have structures
that help them survive within their environment. The student is
expected to:
(A) explore how adaptations enable organisms to survive in their
environment such as comparing birds' beaks and leaves on plants;
(B) demonstrate that some likenesses between parents and offspring
are inherited, passed from generation to generation such as eye color in
humans or shapes of leaves in plants. Other likenesses are learned
such as table manners or reading a book and seals balancing balls on
their noses; and
(C) explore, illustrate, and compare life cycles in living organisms such
as butterflies, beetles, radishes, or lima beans.
5TH GRADE:
(9) Organisms and environments. The student knows that there
are relationships, systems, and cycles within environments. The
student is expected to:
(A) observe the way organisms live and survive in their ecosystem by
interacting with the living and non-living elements;
(B) describe how the flow of energy derived from the Sun, used by
producers to create their own food, is transferred through a food chain
and food web to consumers and decomposers;
(C) predict the effects of changes in ecosystems caused by living
organisms, including humans, such as the overpopulation of grazers or
the building of highways; and
(D) identify the significance of the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle to the
survival of plants and animals.
(10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that
organisms undergo similar life processes and have structures
that help them survive within their environments. The student is
expected to:
(A) compare the structures and functions of different species that help
them live and survive such as hooves on prairie animals or webbed feet
in aquatic animals;
(B) differentiate between inherited traits of plants and animals such as
spines on a cactus or shape of a beak and learned behaviors such as
an animal learning tricks or a child riding a bicycle; and
(C) describe the differences between complete and incomplete
metamorphosis of insects.
More words needed...
EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS &
Learning Objectives
The educational standards drive the kidznbugz program. The bug fair
presentation is designed as a powerful compliment to your current curriculum.
The kidznbugz exhibition sets the stage for a rich life science unit that includes
animal adaptations, habitats, life cycles, food chains/webs, seasons, geography,
reading, writing and much more. Language arts learning objectives are ever
present throughout this life science expo. Teachers are encouraged to interact
directly with students throughout the bug fair and utilize the experience and the
following standards as a basis to expand classroom teaching.
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