5.) Obtain and combine information to describe that organisms are classified as living things, rather than nonliving things, based on their ability to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions while living in a constantly changing external environment.
Life cycle of a cow, milking demonstration, cow anatomy station
6.) Create representations to explain the unique and diverse life cycles of organisms other than humans (e.g., flowering plants, frogs, butterflies), including commonalities such as birth, growth, reproduction, and death. Cow life cycle, corn, sunflower/squash/gourd life cycles, garden
7.) Examine data to provide evidence that plants and animals, excluding humans, have traits inherited from parents and that variations of these traits exist in groups of similar organisms (e.g., flower colors in pea plants, fur color and pattern in animal offspring).
Cow life cycle, bottle feeding baby calves
8.) Engage in argument from evidence to justify that traits can be influenced by the environment (e.g., stunted growth in normally tall plants due to insufficient water, change in an arctic fox's fur color due to light and/or temperature, stunted growth of a normally large animal due to malnourishment).
(Example from our fall season: Lots of rain in early summer, hot and dry late summer and early fall: Sunflowers and corn developed a fungus due to large amounts of rain. Gourds experienced increase in insects as a result of increased rain. Students will see the effects of a rainy summer followed by heat and dryness and the impact this has on plant growth and a decrease in production for cow feeds).