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HABITATS
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HABITATS - K – 2nd Grade
EARTH & SPACE SCIENCES
Benchmark B. Explain that living things cause changes on Earth.
KINDERGARTEN
2. Explore that animals and plants cause changes to their surroundings.
1ST GRADE
3. Explain that all organisms cause changes in the environment where they live; the changes can be very noticeable or slightly noticeable, fast or slow (e.g., spread of grass cover slowing soil erosion, tree roots slowly breaking sidewalks).
LIFE SCIENCES
Benchmark A. Discover that there are living things, non-living things and pretend things, and describe the basic needs of living things (organisms).
Benchmark B. Explain how organisms function and interact with their physical environment.
Benchmark C. Describe similarities and differences that exist among individuals of the same kind of plants and animals.
KINDERGARTEN
2. Discover that stories (e.g., cartoons, movies, comics) sometimes give plants and animals characteristics they really do not have (e.g., talking flowers).
3. Describe how plants and animals usually resemble their parents.
4. Investigate variations that exist among individuals of the same kind of plant or animal.
5. Investigate observable features of plants and animals that help them live in different kinds of places.
6. Investigate the habitats of many different kinds of local plants and animals and some of the ways in which animals depend on plants and each other in our community.
1ST GRADE
1. Explore that organisms, including people, have basic needs which include air, water, food, living space and shelter.
2. Explain that food comes from sources other than grocery stores (e.g., farm crops, farm animals, oceans, lakes and forests).
3. Explore that humans and other animals have body parts that help to seek, find and take in food when they are hungry (e.g., sharp teeth, flat teeth, good nose and sharp vision).
4. Investigate that animals eat plants and/or other animals for food and may also use plants or other animals for shelter and nesting.
5. Recognize that seasonal changes can influence the health, survival or activities of organisms.
2ND GRADE
1. Explain that animals, including people, need air, water, food, living space and shelter; plants need air, water, nutrients (e.g., minerals), living space and light to survive.
2. Identify that there are many distinct environments that support different kinds of organisms.
3. Explain why organisms can survive only in environments that meet their needs (e.g., organisms that once lived on Earth have disappeared for different reasons such as natural forces or human-caused effects).
4. Compare similarities and differences among individuals of the same kind of plants and animals, including people.
5. Explain that food is a basic need of plants and animals (e.g., plants need sunlight to make food and to grow, animals eat plants and/or other animals for food, food chain) and is important because it is a source of energy (e.g., energy used to play, ride bicycles, read, etc.).
6. Investigate the different structures of plants and animals that help them live in different environments (e.g., lungs, gills, leaves and roots).
7. Compare the habitats of many different kinds of Ohio plants and animals and some of the ways animals depend on plants and each other.
SCIENTIFIC WAYS OF KNOWING
Benchmark B. Recognize the importance of respect for all living things.
KINDERGARTEN
3. Interact with living things and the environment in ways that promote respect.
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LIFE SCIENCES
Benchmark A. Differentiate between the life cycles of different plants and animals.
Benchmark B. Analyze plant and animal structures and functions needed for survival and describe the flow of energy through a system that all organisms use to survive.
Benchmark C. Compare changes in an organism's ecosystem/ habitat that affect its survival.
3RD GRADE
2. Relate animal structures to their specific survival functions (e.g., obtaining food, escaping or hiding from enemies).
3. Classify animals according to their characteristics (e.g., body coverings and body structure).
6. Describe how changes in an organism's habitat are sometimes beneficial and sometimes harmful.
4TH GRADE
1. Compare the life cycles of different plants including germination, maturity, reproduction and death.
2. Relate plant structures to their specific functions (e.g., growth, survival and reproduction).
3. Classify common plants according to their characteristics (e.g., tree leaves, flowers, seeds, roots and stems).
5. Describe how organisms interact with one another in various ways (e.g., many plants depend on animals for carrying pollen or dispersing seeds).
5TH GRADE
1. Describe the role of producers in the transfer of energy entering ecosystems as sunlight to chemical energy through photosynthesis.
2. Explain how almost all kinds of animals' food can be traced back to plants.
3. Trace the organization of simple food chains and food webs (e.g., producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and decomposers).
4. Summarize that organisms can survive only in ecosystems in which their needs can be met (e.g., food, water, shelter, air, carrying capacity and waste disposal). The world has different ecosystems and distinct ecosystems support the lives of different types of organisms.
5. Support how an organism's patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism's ecosystem, including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources, and the changing physical characteristics of the ecosystem.
6. Analyze how all organisms, including humans, cause changes in their ecosystems and how these changes can be beneficial, neutral or detrimental (e.g., beaver ponds, earthworm burrows, grasshoppers eating plants, people planting and cutting trees and people introducing a new species).
To TopHABITATS - 6th – 8th Grade
LIFE SCIENCES
Benchmark A. Explain that the basic functions of organisms are carried out in cells and groups of specialized cells form tissues and organs; the combination of these cells make up multicellular organisms that have a variety of body plans and internal structures.
Benchmark B. Describe the characteristics of an organism in terms of a combination of inherited traits and recognize reproduction as a characteristic of living organisms essential to the continuation of the species.
Benchmark C. Explain how energy entering the ecosystems as sunlight supports the life of organisms through photosynthesis and the transfer of energy through the interactions of organisms and the environment.
Benchmark D. Explain how extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and its adaptive characteristics are insufficient to allow survival (as seen in evidence of the fossil record).
6TH GRADE
8. Describe how organisms may interact with one another.
7TH GRADE
1. Investigate the great variety of body plans and internal structures found in multicellular organisms.
2. Investigate how organisms or populations may interact with one another through symbiotic relationships and how some species have become so adapted to each other that neither could survive without the other (e.g., predator-prey, parasitism, mutualism and commensalism).
3. Explain how the number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on adequate biotic (living) resources (e.g., plants, animals) and abiotic (non-living) resources (e.g., light, water and soil).
4. Investigate how overpopulation impacts an ecosystem.
5. Explain that some environmental changes occur slowly while others occur rapidly (e.g., forest and pond succession, fires and decomposition).
6. Summarize the ways that natural occurrences and human activity affect the transfer of energy in Earth's ecosystems (e.g., fire, hurricanes, roads and oil spills).
7. Explain that photosynthetic cells convert solar energy into chemical energy that is used to carry on life functions or is transferred to consumers and used to carry on their life functions.
8. Investigate the great diversity among organisms.
8TH GRADE
3. Explain how variations in structure, behavior or physiology allow some organisms to enhance their reproductive success and survival in a particular environment.
5. Investigate how an organism adapted to a particular environment may become extinct if the environment, as shown by the fossil record, changes.
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