Ramaz Science Curriculum Timeline 2024-2025
1st Grade Design Thinking Intro
Save the butterfly challenge Waves
Sound intro, light intro, reflection refraction and shadows, using waves to communicate
2nd Grade Design Thinking Intro
Design for equity - design thinking building challenge
Nutrition and Healthy Living
What does healthy even mean, the food we eat, choosing healthy food at Ramaz, design thinking for healthy living project (reflecting on our own health habits and inventing solutions to improve them)
3rd Grade Making Hypotheses
Earth’s Place in The Universe
The sun, the earth’s rotation/revolution, the moon, our solar system, planet study (making a planet “documentary”)
Life on Earth
Animal adaptations, biomimicry, traits and heredity, how parents help offspring survive (bird survival relay game), similarities and differences in the traits of native birds
Earth’s Systems
Earth’s layers (creating a layer model), Earths fast changes (volcanoes and how they form), Earth’s slow changes (weathering and erosion farming project), preventing erosion and why it’s important, landforms, bodies of water, protecting water on Earth (oil spill cleanup experiment), Israels topography
What is a hypothesis, how to make a prediction (how many drops of water fit on a penny lab)
Weather and Climate
the difference between weather and climate, describing climates in different regions of the world, extreme weather impact reduction (weather planning design thinking project), the water cycle
4th
Grade Making Hypotheses
What is a hypothesis, how to make a prediction (how many drops of water fit on a penny lab)
Waves
What are waves, using wave patterns in real life communication competition, light waves, our eyes
Diversity of Life
Design an experiment and analyze results to test what plants need to grow, pollinating plants, seed dispersion, mutualism, comparing habitats
Life on Earth
Why animals form groups to survive (grade-wide penguin huddle project), recognizing patterns in life cycles (life cycle study and presentations), heredity (grade-wide dominant/recessive) inherited traits project), natural selection (peppered moth camouflage project), ecosystems
Careers in Science
Marine biologist, botanist, doctor, veterinarian, astronaut
Properties
Solid, liquid, gas, reversible vs. irreversible changes
Magnetic Forces
Magnetic poles and fields, determine cause and effect relationships of magnetic interactions between two object not in touch with each other, Earths magnetic field
Energy
Potential, kinetic, and mechanical energy (cars and ramps experiment), Newton’s cradle project, heat transfer (water experiments and balloon experiment), renewable vs. nonrenewable energy (hydropower project and coal mining slime experiment), electrical energy (building circuits)
Life on Earth
How do animals receive information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond in different ways, structures that support survival, growth, behavior
Rocks and Fossils
Analyzing layers of rocks and fossils to learn about Earths history, how can we use fossils to learn about prehistoric animals, make your own fossil, weathering and erosion experiments