Students engage in experiences to help them develop an understanding of what plants and animals need to survive and the relationship between their needs and where they live.
In the second trimester:
We begin with a study of natural resources and properties of materials and how those properties determine their use—wood, paper, and fabric. Students come to understand that humans use natural resources for everything they do and that people affect the world around them. Students use those materials to engineer structures, applying physical science core ideas of energy transfer.
In the third trimester:
The Animals Two by Two Module provides students with close and personal interaction with some common land and water animals.
Students study the animals by observing and describing the structures of fish, birds, snails, earthworms, and isopods. Appropriate classroom habitats are established for some organisms and students find out what the animals need to live and grow. In four investigations, animals are studied in pairs. Students observe and care for one animal over time, and then they are introduced to another animal similar to the first but with differences in structure and behavior.