| NC | Essential Standards | Kindergarten | NCES.K.P.1.1 | Compare the relative position of various objects observed in the classroom and outside using position words such as: in front of, behind, between, on top of, under, above, below and beside. | 1 |
| NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.P.2.2 | Compare the amount (volume and weight) of water in a container before and after freezing. | 1 |
| NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.P.2.3 | Compare what happens to water left in an open container over time as to water left in a closed container. | 1 |
| NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.P.2.2 | Explain how minerals are identified using tests for the physical properties of hardness, color, luster, cleavage and streak. | 2 |
| NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.P.1.3 | Illustrate the motion of an object using a graph to show a change in position over a period of time. | 2 |
Multicellular Organisms; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.L.1.1 | Explain why some organisms are capable of surviving as a single cell while others require many cells that are specialized to survive. | 2 |
Adaptations and the Environment | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.L.2.2 | Explain how environmental conditions determine how well plants survive and grow. | 2 |
Animal & Plant Life Cycles; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.L.1.1 | Summarize the life cycle of animals: Birth, Development, Reproduction, Aging and Death. | 1 |
Animal & Plant Life Cycles; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.L.1.2 | Compare life cycles of different animals such as, but not limited to, mealworms, ladybugs, crickets, guppies or frogs. | 1 |
Animal & Plant Life Cycles; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.L.2.3 | Summarize the distinct stages of the life cycle of seed plants. | 2 |
Animal & Plant Life Cycles; Parts of a Plant; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.L.2.1 | Remember the function of the following structures as it relates to the survival of plants in their environments: roots, stems, leaves and flowers. | 2 |
Animals Need Food; Living vs. Non-Living Things; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.L.2.2 | Summarize the basic needs of a variety of different animals (including air, water, and food) for energy and growth. | 1 |
Balanced & Unbalanced Forces; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.P.1.1 | Infer changes in speed or direction resulting from forces acting on an object. | 2 |
Balanced & Unbalanced Forces; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.P.1.3 | Explain the effects of earth’s gravity on the motion of any object on or near the earth. | 2 |
Balanced & Unbalanced Forces; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.P.1.4 | Predict the effect of a given force or a change in mass on the motion of an object. | 2 |
Brain Processing of Senses; Human Body Systems; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.L.1.2 | Compare the major systems of the human body (digestive, respiratory, circulatory, muscular, skeletal, and cardiovascular) in terms of their functions necessary for life. | 2 |
Brain Processing of Senses; Human Body Systems; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.L.1.2 | Explain how animals meet their needs by using behaviors in response to information received from the environment. | 2 |
Collisions; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.P.3.1 | Recognize that energy can be transferred from one object to another by rubbing them against each other. | 2 |
Collisions; Renewable vs. Nonrenewable Resources; Magnets & Static Electricity; Energy Transfer; Wave Properties; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.P.3.1 | Recognize the basic forms of energy (light, sound, heat, electrical, and magnetic) as the ability to cause motion or create change. | 2 |
Conservation of Matter; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.P.2.2 | Compare the weight of an object to the sum of the weight of its parts before and after an interaction. | 2 |
Earth's Landscapes; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.P.2.3 | Classify rocks as metamorphic, sedimentary or igneous based on their composition, how they are formed and the processes that create them. | 2 |
Earth’s Orbit and Rotation; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.E.1.2 | Recognize that changes in the length and direction of an object’s shadow indicate the apparent changing position of the Sun during the day although the patterns of the stars in the sky, to include the Sun, stay the same. | 2 |
Earth’s Orbit and Rotation; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.E.1.1 | Explain the cause of day and night based on the rotation of Earth on its axis. | 2 |
Ecosystems; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.L.1.1 | Give examples of changes in an organism’s environment that are beneficial to it and some that are harmful. | 2 |
Ecosystems; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.L.2.1 | Compare the characteristics of several common ecosystems, including estuaries and salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands. | 2 |
Ecosystems; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.L.2.3 | Infer the effects that may result from the interconnected relationship of plants and animals to their ecosystem. | 2 |
Ecosystems; Variation of Traits; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.L.1.4 | Explain how differences among animals of the same population sometimes give individuals an advantage in surviving and reproducing in changing habitats. | 2 |
Energy Transfer; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.P.3.1 | Explain the effects of the transfer of heat (either by direct contact or at a distance) that occurs between objects at different temperatures. (conduction, convection or radiation). | 2 |
Energy Transfer; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.P.3.2 | Recognize that energy can be transferred from a warmer object to a cooler one by contact or at a distance and the cooler object gets warmer. | 2 |
External Animal Parts (K-2 Series) | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.L.1.2 | Explain why skin is necessary for protection and for the body to remain healthy. | 2 |
Extreme Weather Solutions; Ecosystems; Adaptations and the Environment; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.L.1.3 | Explain how humans can adapt their behavior to live in changing habitats (e.g., recycling wastes, establishing rain gardens, planting trees and shrubs to prevent flooding and erosion). | 2 |
Food Webs; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.L.2.2 | Classify the organisms within an ecosystem according to the function they serve: producers, consumers, or decomposers (biotic factors). | 2 |
Fossils & Extinction; Earth's Landscapes; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.E.2.1 | Compare fossils (including molds, casts, and preserved parts of plants and animals) to one another and to living organisms. | 2 |
Fossils & Extinction; Earth's Landscapes; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.E.2.2 | Infer ideas about Earth’s early environments from fossils of plants and animals that lived long ago. | 2 |
Four Seasons and Day Length; | NC | Essential Standards | Kindergarten | NCES.K.E.1.3 | Compare weather patterns that occur from season to season. | 1 |
Four Seasons and Day Length; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.E.1.3 | Compare weather patterns that occur over time and relate observable patterns to time of day and time of year. | 1 |
Gravity Pulls Things Down; Magnets & Static Electricity; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.P.1.2 | Explain how some forces (pushes and pulls) can be used to make things move without touching them, such as magnets. | 1 |
Habitats; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.L.1.2 | Give examples of how the needs of different plants and animals can be met by their environments in North Carolina or different places throughout the world. | 1 |
Heating and Cooling; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.P.2.1 | Give examples of matter that change from a solid to a liquid and from a liquid to a solid by heating and cooling. | 1 |
How Do We Use Food; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.L.2.1 | Classify substances as food or non-food items based on their ability to provide energy and materials for survival, growth and repair of the body. | 2 |
How Do We Use Food; Human Body Systems | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.L.2.2 | Explain the role of vitamins, minerals and exercise in maintaining a healthy body. | 2 |
Human Body Systems | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.L.1.1 | Compare the different functions of the skeletal and muscular system. | 2 |
Interactions of Earth’s Spheres; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.E.1.3 | Explain how global patterns such as the jet stream and water currents influence local weather in measurable terms such as temperature, wind direction and speed, and precipitation. | 2 |
Introduction to Sound; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.P.1.1 | Illustrate how sound is produced by vibrating objects and columns of air. | 1 |
Introduction to Sound; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.P.1.2 | Summarize the relationship between sound and objects of the body that vibrate – eardrum and vocal cords. | 1 |
Introduction to Traits; | NC | Essential Standards | Kindergarten | NCES.K.L.1.1 | Compare different types of the same animal (i.e. different types of dogs, different types of cats, etc.) to determine individual differences within a particular type of animal. | 1 |
Introduction to Traits; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.L.2.1 | Identify ways in which many plants and animals closely resemble their parents in observed appearance and ways they are different. | 1 |
Introduction to Traits; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.L.2.2 | Recognize that there is variation among individuals that are related. | 1 |
Introduction to Weather; | NC | Essential Standards | Kindergarten | NCES.K.E.1.1 | Infer that change is something that happens to many things in the environment based on observations made using one or more of their senses. | 1 |
Introduction to Weather; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.E.1.2 | Summarize weather conditions using qualitative and quantitative measures to describe: Temperature, Wind Speed, Wind Direction and Percipitation | 1 |
Introduction to Weather; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.E.1.4 | Recognize the tools that scientists use for observing, recording, and predicting weather changes from day to day and during the seasons. | 1 |
Introduction to Weather; Four Seasons and Day Length; | NC | Essential Standards | Kindergarten | NCES.K.E.1.2 | Summarize daily weather conditions noting changes that occur from day to day and throughout the year. | 1 |
Light Reflection & Vision; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.P.3.2 | Recognize that light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object or travels from one medium to another, and that light can be reflected, refracted, and absorbed. | 2 |
Living vs. Non-Living Things; External Animal Parts; Parts of a Plant; | NC | Essential Standards | Kindergarten | NCES.K.L.1.2 | Compare characteristics of living and nonliving things in terms of their: Structure, Growth, Changes, Movement and Needs. | 1 |
Magnets & Static Electricity; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.P.1.1 | Explain how magnets interact with all things made of iron and with other magnets to produce motion without touching them. | 2 |
Magnets & Static Electricity; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.P.1.2 | Explain how electrically charged objects push or pull on other electrically charged objects and produce motion. | 2 |
Material Properties and Purposes (K-2 Series) | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.P.3.2 | Explain how heating and cooling affect some materials and how this relates to their purpose and practical applications. | 2 |
Material Properties and Purposes; Classification of Materials; | NC | Essential Standards | Kindergarten | NCES.K.P.2.2 | Compare the observable physical properties of different kinds of materials (clay, wood, cloth, paper, etc) from which objects are made and how they are used. | 1 |
Material Properties and Purposes; Classification of Materials; Solids, Liquids and Gases; | NC | Essential Standards | Kindergarten | NCES.K.P.2.1 | Classify objects by observable physical properties (including size, color, shape, texture, weight and flexibility). | 1 |
Moon & Its Phases | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.E.1.2 | Recognize patterns of observable changes in the Moon’s appearance from day to day. | 1 |
Moon & Its Phases; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.E.1.2 | Explain the monthly changes in the appearance of the moon, based on the moon’s orbit around the Earth. | 2 |
Natural Disasters; Weathering & Erosion; Earth's Landscapes; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.E.2.2 | Compare Earth’s land features (including volcanoes, mountains, valleys, canyons, caverns, and islands) by using models, pictures, diagrams, and maps. | 2 |
Natural Disasters; Weathering & Erosion; Interactions of Earth’s Spheres; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.E.2.3 | Give examples of how the surface of the earth changes due to slow processes such as erosion and weathering, and rapid processes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. | 2 |
Natural Resources; Plant Growth Conditions; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.E.2.1 | Summarize the physical properties of Earth materials, including rocks, minerals, soils and water that make them useful in different ways. | 1 |
Particle Nature of Matter; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.P.2.1 | Recognize that air is a substance that surrounds us, takes up space and has mass. | 2 |
Particle Nature of Matter; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.P.2.2 | Compare solids, liquids, and gases based on their basic properties. | 2 |
Particle Nature of Matter; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.P.2.3 | Summarize changes that occur to the observable properties of materials when different degrees of heat are applied to them, such as melting ice or ice cream, boiling water or an egg, or freezing water. | 2 |
Patterns in the Sky; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.E.1.1 | Recognize differences in the features of the day and night sky and apparent movement of objects across the sky as observed from Earth. | 1 |
Patterns of Motion & Friction | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.P.1.2 | Compare the relative speeds (faster or slower) of objects that travel the same distance in different amounts of time. | 2 |
Patterns of Motion & Friction; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.P.1.2 | Infer the motion of objects in terms of how far they travel in a certain amount of time and the direction in which they travel. | 2 |
Patterns of Motion & Friction; Balanced & Unbalanced Forces; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.P.1.1 | Explain how factors such as gravity, friction, and change in mass affect the motion of objects. | 2 |
Patterns of Motion & Friction; Gravity Pulls Things Down; Pushes and Pulls; | NC | Essential Standards | Kindergarten | NCES.K.P.1.2 | Give examples of different ways objects and organisms move (to include falling to the ground when dropped): Straight | 1 |
Plant Growth (K-2 Series) | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.L.2.4 | Explain how the basic properties (texture and capacity to hold water) and components (sand, clay and humus) of soil determine the ability of soil to support the growth and survival of many plants. | 2 |
Plant Growth Conditions; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.E.2.2 | Compare the properties of soil samples from different places relating their capacity to retain water, nourish and support the growth of certain plants. | 1 |
Plant Growth Conditions; Plants Need Water And Light; Animals Need Food; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.L.1.1 | Recognize that plants and animals need air, water, light (plants only), space, food and shelter and that these may be found in their environment. | 1 |
Plants Need Water And Light; Plant Growth Conditions; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.L.2.1 | Summarize the basic needs of a variety of different plants (including air, water, nutrients, and light) for energy and growth. | 1 |
Properties of Matter; | NC | Essential Standards | 4th Grade | NCES.4.P.2.1 | Compare the physical properties of samples of matter (strength, hardness, flexibility, ability to conduct heat, ability to conduct electricity, ability to be attracted by magnets, reactions to water and fire). | 2 |
Properties of Matter; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.P.2.3 | Summarize properties of original materials, and the new material(s) formed, to demonstrate that a change has occurred. | 2 |
Pushes and Pulls; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.P.1.1 | Explain the importance of a push or pull to changing the motion of an object. | 1 |
Pushes and Pulls; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.P.1.3 | Predict the effect of a given force on the motion of an object, including balanced forces. | 1 |
Reducing Our Impact on Earth; Natural Resources; | NC | Essential Standards | 1st Grade | NCES.1.L.1.3 | Summarize ways that humans protect their environment and/or improve conditions for the growth of the plants and animals that live there (e.g., reuse or recycle products to avoid littering). | 1 |
Sun and Other Stars; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.E.1.1 | Recognize that the earth is part of a system called the solar system that includes the sun (a star), planets, and many moons and the earth is the third planet from the sun in our solar system. | 2 |
Sunlight Warms the Earth; | NC | Essential Standards | 2nd Grade | NCES.2.E.1.1 | Summarize how energy from the sun serves as a source of light that warms the land, air and water. | 1 |
Variation of Traits; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.L.3.1 | Explain why organisms differ from or are similar to their parents based on the characteristics of the organism. | 2 |
Variation of Traits; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.L.3.2 | Give examples of likenesses that are inherited and some that are not. | 2 |
Water Cycle (3-5 Version); | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.P.2.1 | Explain how the sun’s energy impacts the processes of the water cycle (including, evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation and runoff). | 2 |
Water Quality & Distribution; | NC | Essential Standards | 3rd Grade | NCES.3.E.2.1 | Compare Earth’s saltwater and freshwater features (including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, and glaciers). | 2 |
Weather vs. Climate; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.E.1.1 | Compare daily and seasonal changes in weather conditions (including wind speed and direction, precipitation, and temperature) and patterns. | 2 |
Weather vs. Climate; | NC | Essential Standards | 5th Grade | NCES.5.E.1.2 | Predict upcoming weather events from weather data collected through observation and measurements. | 2 |
Wave Reflection, Absorption & Transmittance; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.P.1.1 | Compare the properties of waves to the wavelike property of energy in earthquakes, light and sound. | |
Electromagnetic Spectrum; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.P.1.2 | Explain the relationship among visible light, the electromagnetic spectrum, and sight. | |
Wave Reflection, Absorption & Transmittance; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.P.1.3 | Explain the relationship among the rate of vibration, the medium through which vibrations travel, sound and hearing. | |
Atoms & Molecules; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.P.2.1 | Recognize that all matter is made up of atoms and atoms of the same element are all alike, but are different from the atoms of other elements. | |
Intro to Thermal Energy; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.P.2.2 | Explain the effect of heat on the motion of atoms through a description of what happens to particles during a change in phase. | |
Properties of Elements; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.P.2.3 | Compare the physical properties of pure substances that are independent of the amount of matter present including density, melting point, boiling point, and solubility to properties that are dependent on the amount of matter present to include volume, mass and weight. | |
Heat: Transfer of Thermal Energy; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.P.3.1 | Illustrate the transfer of heat energy from warmer objects to cooler ones using examples of conduction, radiation and convection and the effects that may result. | |
Electromagnetic Spectrum; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.P.3.2 | Explain the effects of electromagnetic waves on various materials to include absorption, scattering, and change in temperature. | |
Electricity & Circuits; Heat: Transfer of Thermal Energy; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.P.3.3 | Explain the suitability of materials for use in technological design based on a response to heat (to include conduction, expansion, and contraction) and electrical energy (conductors and insulators). | |
Causes of Seasons; Solar & Lunar Eclipses; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.E.1.1 | Explain how the relative motion and relative position of the sun, Earth and moon affect the seasons, tides, phases of the moon, and eclipses. | |
The Solar System; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.E.1.2 | Explain why Earth sustains life while other planets do not based on their properties (including types of surface, atmosphere and gravitational force) and location to the Sun. | |
The Solar System; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.E.1.3 | Summarize space exploration and the understandings gained from them. | |
Tectonic Plates; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.E.2.1 | Summarize the structure of the earth, including the layers, the mantle and core based on the relative position, composition and density. | |
Tectonic Plates; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.E.2.2 | Explain how crustal plates and ocean basins are formed, move and interact using earthquakes, heat flow and volcanoes to reflect forces within the earth. | |
| NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.E.2.3 | Explain how the formation of soil is related to the parent rock type and the environment in which it develops. | |
Maintaining Biodiversity; Human Impacts on the Environment; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.E.2.4 | Conclude that the good health of humans requires: monitoring the lithosphere, maintaining soil quality and stewardship. | |
| NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.L.1.1 | Summarize the basic structures and functions of flowering plants required for survival, reproduction and defense. | |
Photosynthesis & Respiration; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.L.1.2 | Explain the significance of the processes of photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration to the survival of green plants and other organisms. | |
Photosynthesis & Respiration; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.L.2.1 | Summarize how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred within food chains and food webs (terrestrial and aquatic) from producers to consumers to decomposers. | |
| NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.L.2.2 | Explain how plants respond to external stimuli (including dormancy and forms of tropism) to enhance survival in an environment. | |
Competition in Ecosystems; | NC | Essential Standards | 6th Grade | NCES.6.L.2.3 | Summarize how the abiotic factors (such as temperature, water, sunlight, and soil quality) of biomes (freshwater, marine, forest, grasslands, desert, Tundra) affect the ability of organisms to grow, survive and/or create their own food through photosynthesis. | |
Newton’s Laws of Motion; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.P.1.1 | Explain how the motion of an object can be described by its position, direction of motion, and speed with respect to some other object. | |
Newton’s Laws of Motion; Balanced & Unbalanced Forces; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.P.1.2 | Explain the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces acting on an object (including friction, gravity and magnets). | |
| NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.P.1.3 | Illustrate the motion of an object using a graph to show a change in position over a period of time. | |
| NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.P.1.4 | Interpret distance versus time graphs for constant speed and variable motion. | |
Potential vs. Kinetic Energy; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.P.2.1 | Explain how kinetic and potential energy contribute to the mechanical energy of an object. | |
Potential vs. Kinetic Energy; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.P.2.2 | Explain how energy can be transformed from one form to another (specifically potential energy and kinetic energy) using a model or diagram of a moving object (roller coaster, pendulum, or cars on ramps as examples). | |
Electricity & Circuits; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.P.2.3 | Recognize that energy can be transferred from one system to another when two objects push or pull on each other over a distance (work) and electrical circuits require a complete loop through which an electrical current can pass. | |
Simple Machines; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.P.2.4 | Explain how simple machines such as inclined planes, pulleys, levers and wheel and axles are used to create mechanical advantage and increase efficiency. | |
| NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.E.1.1 | Compare the composition, properties and structure of Earths atmosphere to include: mixtures of gases and differences in temperature and pressure within layers. | |
Water Cycle (6-8 Version); | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.E.1.2 | Explain how the cycling of water in and out of the atmosphere and atmospheric conditions relate to the weather patterns on Earth. | |
Air Masses & Weather Fronts; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.E.1.3 | Explain the relationship between the movement of air masses, high and low pressure systems, and frontal boundaries to storms (including thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes) and other weather conditions that may result. | |
Air Masses & Weather Fronts; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.E.1.4 | Predict weather conditions and patterns based on information obtained from: Weather data collected from direct observations and measurement (wind speed and direction, air temperature, humidity and air pressure), weather maps, satellites, radar, cloud shapes and types and associated elevation. | |
Climate Zones & Ocean Currents; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.E.1.5 | Explain the influence of convection, global winds and the jet stream on weather and climatic conditions. | |
Human Impacts on the Environment; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.E.1.6 | Conclude that the good health of humans requires: monitoring the atmosphere, maintaining air quality and stewardship. | |
| NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.L.1.1 | Compare the structures and life functions of single-celled organisms that carry out all of the basic functions of life including: Euglena, Amoeba, Paramecium and Volvox. | |
Plant & Animal Cells; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.L.1.2 | Compare the structures and functions of plant and animal cells, including major organelles (cell membrane, cell wall, nucleus, chloroplasts, mitochondria, and vacuoles). | |
Multicellular Organisms; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.L.1.3 | Summarize the hierarchical organization of multi-cellular organisms from cells to tissues to organs to systems to organisms. | |
Multicellular Organisms; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.L.1.4 | Summarize the general functions of the major systems of the human body (digestion, respiration, reproduction, circulation, and excretion) and ways that these systems interact with each other to sustain life. | |
Reproduction of Living Things; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.L.2.1 | Explain why offspring that result from sexual reproduction (fertilization and meiosis) have greater variation than offspring that result from asexual reproduction (budding and mitosis). | |
Reproduction of Living Things; | NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.L.2.2 | Infer patterns of heredity using information from Punnett squares and pedigree analysis. | |
| NC | Essential Standards | 7th Grade | NCES.7.L.2.3 | Explain the impact of the environment and lifestyle choices on biological inheritance (to include common genetic diseases) and survival. | |
Properties of Elements; Chemical Reactions; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.P.1.1 | Classify matter as elements, compounds, or mixtures based on how the atoms are packed together in arrangements. | |
Properties of Elements; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.P.1.2 | Explain how the physical properties of elements and their reactivity have been used to produce the current model of the Periodic Table of elements. | |
Chemical Reactions; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.P.1.3 | Compare physical changes such as size, shape and state to chemical changes that are the result of a chemical reaction to include changes in temperature, color, formation of a gas or precipitate. | |
Chemical Reactions; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.P.1.4 | Explain how the idea of atoms and a balanced chemical equation support the law of conservation of mass. | |
Human Impacts on the Environment; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.P.2.1 | Explain the environmental consequences of the various methods of obtaining, transforming and distributing energy. | |
Maintaining Biodiversity; Human Impacts on the Environment; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.P.2.2 | Explain the implications of the depletion of renewable and nonrenewable energy resources and the importance of conservation. | |
Water Cycle (6-8 Version); Water Quality & Distribution; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.E.1.1 | Explain the structure of the hydrosphere including: water distribution on Earth and local river basins and water availability. | |
Climate Zones & Ocean Currents; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.E.1.2 | Summarize evidence that Earths oceans are a reservoir of nutrients, minerals, dissolved gases, and life forms: Estuaries, Marine ecosystems, Upwelling, Behavior of gases in the marine environment, Value and sustainability of marine resources, and deep ocean technology and understandings gained. | |
| NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.E.1.3 | Predict the safety and potability of water supplies in North Carolina based on physical and biological factors, including: temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrates and phosphates, turbidity and bio-indicators. | |
Human Impacts on the Environment; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.E.1.4 | Conclude that the good health of humans requires: monitoring of the hydrosphere, water quality standards, methods of water treatment, maintaining safe water quality and stewardship. | |
Rock Layers (Geologic Time) | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.E.2.1 | Infer the age of Earth and relative age of rocks and fossils from index fossils and ordering of rock layers (relative dating and radioactive dating). | |
The Fossil Record; Rock Layers (Geologic Time); | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.E.2.2 | Explain the use of fossils, ice cores, composition of sedimentary rocks, faults, and igneous rock formations found in rock layers as evidence of the history of the Earth and its changing life forms. | |
Bacteria & Viruses; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.L.1.1 | Summarize the basic characteristics of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites relating to the spread, treatment and prevention of disease. | |
Bacteria & Viruses; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.L.1.2 | Explain the difference between epidemic and pandemic as it relates to the spread, treatment and prevention of disease. | |
Biotechnology; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.L.2.1 | Summarize aspects of biotechnology including: specific genetic information available, careers, economic benefits to North Carolina, ethical issues and implications for agriculture. | |
Competition in Ecosystems; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.L.3.1 | Explain how factors such as food, water, shelter and space affect populations in an ecosystem. | |
Food Webs: Cycling of Matter & Flow of Energy; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.L.3.2 | Summarize the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers including the positive and negative consequences of such interactions including: coexistance and cooperation, competition (predator/prey), parasitism and mutualism. | |
Food Webs: Cycling of Matter & Flow of Energy; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.L.3.3 | Explain how the flow of energy within food webs is interconnected with the cycling of matter (including water, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen). | |
Natural Selection; Comparative Anatomy; The Fossil Record; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.L.4.1 | Summarize the use of evidence drawn from geology, fossils, and comparative anatomy to form the basis for biological classification systems and the theory of evolution. | |
Natural Selection; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.L.4.2 | Explain the relationship between genetic variation and an organisms ability to adapt to its environment. | |
Food Webs: Cycling of Matter & Flow of Energy; | NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.L.5.1 | Summarize how food provides the energy and the molecules required for building materials, growth and survival of all organisms (to include plants). | |
| NC | Essential Standards | 8th Grade | NCES.8.L.5.2 | Explain the relationship among a healthy diet, exercise, and the general health of the body (emphasis on the relationship between respiration and digestion). | |