Earth

Pre-K-2
Students describe Earth’s weather and surface materials and the different ways they change.

a. Explain that the sun warms the air, water, and land. b. Describe the way in which weather changes over months. c. Describe what happens to water left in an open container as compared to water left in a closed container.

3-5
Students describe the properties of Earth’s surface materials, the processes that change them, and cycles that affect the Earth.

a. Explain the effects of the rotation of Earth on the day/night cycle, and how that cycle affects local temperature. b. Describe the various forms water takes in the air and how that relates to weather. c. Explain how wind, waves, water, and ice reshape the surface of Earth. d. Describe the kinds of materials that form rocks and soil. e. Recognize that the sun is the source of Earth’s surface heat and light energy. f. Explain how the substance called air surrounds things, takes up space, and its movement can be felt as wind.

6-8
Students describe the various cycles, physical and biological forces and processes, position in space, energy transformations, and human actions that affect the short-term and long-term changes to the Earth.

a. Explain how the tilt of Earth’s rotational axis relative to the plane of its yearly orbit around the sun affects the day length and sunlight intensity to cause seasons. b. Describe Earth Systems - biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere - and cycles and interactions within them (including water moving among and between them, rocks forming and transforming, and weather formation). c. Give several reasons why the climate is different in different regions of the Earth. d. Describe significant Earth resources and how their limited supply affects how they are used. e. Describe the effect of gravity on objects on Earth. f. Give examples of abrupt changes and slow changes in Earth Systems.

9-Diploma
tudents describe and analyze the biological, physical, energy, and human influences that shape and alter Earth Systems.

a. Describe and analyze the effect of solar radiation, ocean currents, and atmospheric conditions on the Earth’s surface and the habitability of Earth. b. Describe Earth’s internal energy sources and their role in plate tectonics. c. Describe and analyze the effects of biological and geophysical influences on the origin and changing nature of Earth Systems. d. Describe and analyze the effects of human influences on Earth Systems.