Environmental Literacy Field Trips

The science part of this trip will expose students to the following standard concepts/ vocabulary:

Health Standards:  Personal and Community Health 
Standard 1:  Essential Concepts

• 1.5P Describe symptoms of some common health problems and illnesses, including chronic disease (e.g., diabetes)
• 1.7P Discuss how individual behavior affects the environment and community (e.g., using “myplate” to eat more balanced meals, and sorting organic waste)
• 1.8P Identify materials that can be reduced, reused, or recycled.

Standard 2:  Analyzing Influences

• 2.1.P  Explain how family and friends influence positive health practices

NGSS K-2 Engineering Design

• K-2-ETS1-1  Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of an improved tool (e.g., sorting trash or using the share table to reduce, reuse, or recycle)

We have worked in partnership with Old Grove Farm to make sure that the science content is more explicit this year. The farm trip bridges the life science NGSS standards. The Farm will expose students to the following concepts/vocabulary:

Science and Engineering Practices:  

• Obtain, Evaluate, and Communicate Information 
  •  Scientific Observations (Using your 5 senses)

Disciplinary Core Ideas:  

• Plants need sunlight and water to grow, and there are many different kinds of living things in any area
  • Habitats (Living things, Non-living things)
  • Plants
  •  Seeds (pollination, seed dispersal)
  • Animals

Crosscutting Concepts

• Patterns

This trip will take students to 3 different locations:

1. Chavez/ Huerta Center for Education for the Fossil Presentation
2. The Rialto Adobe House 
3. The Rialto Historical Society Museum

The science part of the trip will expose students to the following concepts/vocabulary:

Science and Engineering Practices:  

• Obtain, Evaluate, and Communicate Information 
  • Scientific Observations (Using your 5 senses)

Disciplinary Core Ideas:  

• Fossils provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago
• Dinosauria contains two major groups of dinosaurs: the Ornithischia, or "bird-hipped" dinosaurs, and the Saurischia, or "lizard-hipped" dinosaurs.  

Crosscutting Concepts

• Patterns

The Social Studies part of the trip will expose the students to the following concepts:

• 3.3.3:  Trace why their community was established, how individuals and families contributed to its founding and development, and how the community has changed over time, drawing on maps, photographs, oral histories, letters, newspapers, and other primary sources.

 The 4th-grade trip bridges the earth and space science NGSS standards.  We  will expose students to the following concepts/vocabulary:

Science and Engineering Practices:  

• Obtain, Evaluate, and Communicate Information 
  • Scientific Observations (Using your 5 senses)

Disciplinary Core Ideas:  

• Local, regional, and global patterns of rock formations reveal changes over time due to earth forces, such as earthquakes.  The presence and location of certain fossil types indicate the order in which rock layers were formed.  
  • Rock Forms (Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary Rock)
  • Minerals
  • Fossils
  • Maps (North, South, East, West)
  • Earthquakes, Volcanoes
• Water, ice, wind, living organisms, and gravity break rocks, soils, and sediments into smaller particles and move them around.
  • Sediment
  • Erosion and deposition
  • Weathering
• Energy and fuels that humans use are derived from natural sources, and their use affects the environment in multiple ways.  Some resources are renewable over time, and others are not.
  • Energy
  • Renewable resources
  • Non-renewable resources
• Plants and Animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.  Also, animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brains, and respond to the information in different ways.  Specifically, our olfactory system and our brain help us to make sense of the world around us.
  • Observations
  • 5 senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell)
  • Olfactory system

Crosscutting Concepts

• Patterns

We have worked in partnership with Skyland Ranch to make sure that the science content is more explicit this year. Skyland Ranch camp bridges the life science NGSS standards.  Camp will expose students to the following concepts/vocabulary:

Science and Engineering Practices:  

• Obtain, Evaluate, and Communicate Information 
  • Scientific Observations (Using your 5 senses)

Disciplinary Core Ideas:  

• Matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment
  • Ecosystems (Living things, Non-living things)
  • Animal Adaptations (Physical and Behavioral Adaptations)
  • Food Chains & Food Webs ( Producers, Consumers-Predators, Prey, Decomposers- Fungus, Bacteria, Invertebrates)

Crosscutting Concepts

• Systems and System Models

• E-Planetarium Dome (max capacity 40)
• States of Matter (ESN)

• Urban Heat Island Effect
  • Descriptive Statistics and Mean Average Deviation