Curriculum
Kindergarten
Discovering Our Blue Planet
This unit is designed for kindergarten, but could be adapted to other primary grades. Students discover aquatic environments and the living and nonliving things that are found in them, through active observation outdoors and in the classroom.
3-4 Week Unit
Grade 1
Plants and Animals of Seas and Rivers
This unit is designed for First Grade, but could be adapted to other primary grades. Students discover the wide variety of living things that are found in and near the water, through investigations and games in the classroom and active observation outdoors.
6-8 Week Unit
Grade 2
At Home in the Water
This unit is designed for 2nd grade, but could be adapted to other grades. Students construct an understanding of habitat and the organisms that live within specific habitats, and gain respect for living creatures and care of the world around them through five different investigations, each building on the next.
4-6 Week Science Unit
Grade 3
Rivers to the Sea and Back Again
This unit is designed for 3rd grade, but could be adapted to other grades. Students develop knowledge of watersheds and the water cycle, as well as knowledge of the life cycle of salmon and the needs of salmon as they relate to watersheds.
7-9 Week Science Unit
Grade 4
The Case of the Missing Sea Otters
This unit is designed for 4th grade but could be adapted for use at any of the intermediate grades. Students develop an understanding of how organisms in aquatic environment are connected to each other through four investigations that weave together the story of “The Case of the Missing Sea Otters.”
3-5 Week Science Unit
GLEs Addressed
Grade 5
Humans and the Ocean
This unit is designed for fifth grade, but could be adapted to other grades. Students develop an understanding of the connections between humans and the ocean through case studies, analysis of changing technology, and activities that illustrate impacts of one part of a system on its other components.
4-5 Week Science Unit
GLEs Addressed
Grade 6
Exploring the Ocean
This unit is designed for sixth grade, but could be adapted for 5th-8th grades. Students learn about the exploration of deep sea canyons, seamounts, and the Bering Sea. They develop an understanding of how technology is used to explore the ocean by participating in a deep sea sampling simulation, creating a bathymetric map, and assuming the role of scientists using hydrophones to locate whales.
5-7 Week Science Unit
GLEs Addressed
Grade 7
Ocean in Motion
This unit is designed for seventh grade, but can be adapted to other middle school grades. The unit is introduced with a true story of rubber bath toys that were lost overboard in the Pacific Ocean and found on beaches around the world.
8-9 Week Unit
GLEs Addressed
Grade 8
Our Changing World
This unit is designed for eighth grade, but could be adapted for grades 6-8. Students learn how changes in physical environments affect our ecosystems by investigating how sea ice is changing over time and how melting glaciers affect stream flows, erosion, and habitats for fish and wildlife.
8-9 Week Unit
GLEs Addressed