Life Cycle
SECOND GRADE
8 week unit

SCIENCE STANDARDS

1. Students should be able to recognize the key characteristics of vertebrates.
2. Students should begin to comparing different types of organisms.
3. Students should be able to recognize an animal track.
4. Students should begin to know habitats of animals.
5. Students should recognize the difference between organisms that live on land and on in water.
6. Students should be able to recognize human growth.
7. Students should be able to locate some organs in their body.
8. Students should know the functions of plant parts.
9. Students should be able to compare and contrast leaves.
10. Students should be distinguish gymnosperms and angiosperms.
11. Students should understand there is a large diversity of plants in the world.
12. Students should be able to understand who eats whom.
13. Students should be able to analyze an ecosystem.
14. Students should become knowledgeable on the eating habits of the owl.
15. Students should begin to know their local environment.

WEEK 1.
PRE: Distinguishing characteristics of vertebrates.
LAB: Discovering characteristics of animals."
POST: Identifying animals by the tracks they make.
WEEK 2.
PRE: Developing and understanding animal jokes.
LAB: Describing local habitats.
POST: Comparing land and water organisms.

WEEK 3.
PRE: Charting the growth of humans.
LAB: Comparing the growth of hair.
POST: Analyzing how babies grow.
WEEK 4.
PRE: Investigating growth in humans.
LAB: Comparing the positions of human organs with those of other animals.
POST: Analyzing fingerprints.

PLANT LIFE

WEEK 5.
PRE: Exploring the different types of leaves and roots.
LAB: Comparing and contrasting leaves.
POST: Exploring the parts of trees and flowers.
WEEK 6.
PRE: Discovering the diversity of plants.
LAB: Classifying broad and needle leaf trees.
POST: Discovering the importance of trees.

WEEK 7.
PRE: Exploring different eating strategies.
LAB: Observing a worm family.
POST: Comparing the components of the nutrient cycle.
WEEK 8.
PRE: Investigating the life of owls.
LAB: Exploring owl pellets.
POST: Exploring your local natural environment.