Timeline of Life Curriculum for Kindergarten and Elementary

The Beginning of the Universe

• Creation stories from around the world
• The Big Bang
• Our solar system, galaxies, the life cycle of stars
• Planets
  • Relative sizes, distances, conditions on planets
• Day and Night
• Seasons
• Field Trip: Hayden Planetarium

Earth

• The formation of the Earth
• Azoic Era - the first billion years
• The Clock of Eras
• Interactive Timeline work
• Volcanoes
• Pangaea
• Geography Work: Puzzle Map of Continents
• Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary rocks
• Weather
• Geography Work: Land and Water forms

Tia studies one-celled organisms!

The First Life - The Archeozoic Era

• What is life?
• DNA - models

One-Celled Life - The Proterozoic Era

• Eukaryote and Prokaryote Cells
• Plant and Animal Cells
• Microscope use
• Observation of living and prepared specimens
• Experiments - growing fungi and bacteria cultures
• Introduction to chemistry - Bohr atomic models

Paleozoic Era - The Cambrian Period

• Invertebrates - classifying
• Trilobite fossils

Paleozoic Era - The Ordovician Period

• The Anatomy of Echinoderms
• Dissection of a starfish
• The Anatomy of Mollusks
• Shells

Ms. Kasia helps the class dissect a fish.

Paleozoic Era - The Devonian Period

• The Anatomy of Fish
• Art: fish prints
• Dissection of a perch
• The Anatomy of Amphibians

Paleozoic Era - The Carboniferous Period

• Insects
• Butterfly hatching
• Insect reports
• Early land plants - mosses, ferns, lichens

The Mesozoic Era - The Age of Reptiles

• Triassic Period - dinosaurs
• Jurassic Period - more dinosaurs!
• Cretaceous Period - flowering plants
• Tree growth study
• Types of leaves
• Parts of leaves
• Parts of the plants
• Gardening experiments

Grace, Nikki, and Chris dissect a frog!

The Cenozoic Era - The Age of Mammals and Birds

• Anatomy of birds
• Bird studies
• Experiment: Hatching of baby chicks
• Human Anatomy
• Circulatory, respiratory, digestive, and nervous systems
• Mr. Torso model
• Human senses
• Parts of the eye, ear
• Taste bud experiments

Copyright 2007 Dr. Deborah Knapp. All rights reserved.