Ramaz Science Curriculum Timeline 2024-2025 Sept
1st Grade
Oct
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
Nov
Earth’s Place in The Universe
Making Hypotheses
Waves
What are waves, using wave patterns in real life communication competition, light waves, our eyes
March
May
Life on Earth
Life on Earth
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)
June
Careers in Science
Marine biologist, botanist, doctor, veterinarian, astronaut
Diversity of Life
Design an experiment and analyze results to test what plants need to grow, pollinating plants, seed dispersion, mutualism, comparing habitats
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
Energy
April
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 layers (creating a layer model), Earth’s 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), Israel’s topography
Making Hypotheses
What is a hypothesis, how to make a prediction (how many drops of water fit on a penny lab)
Feb
Earth’s Systems
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
Jan
The sun, the earth’s rotation/revolution, the moon, our solar system, planet study (making a planet “documentary”)
What is a hypothesis, how to make a prediction (how many drops of water fit on a penny lab)
Weather and Climate
Dec
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, Earth’s magnetic field
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 Earth’s history, how can we use fossils to learn about prehistoric animals, make your own fossil, weathering and erosion experiments