Science
Science courses emphasize hands-on investigative experiments conducted in the classroom, the lab and outdoors. Third graders study the world, geography, and the environment – including soil, water, and air studies. Particular attention is paid to sustainability. Students are active and engaged thinkers who begin to think critically about how the natural world operates, and their own opportunities to affect change.
The focus of the 4th- and 5th-grade science program is to expand and refine students’ abilities to use scientific skills and knowledge. Content includes topics in life, physical, and earth and space sciences. Methodologies include a variety of techniques, activities, and materials to stimulate scientific awareness and make science relevant and engaging for students. Hands-on investigations are designed to promote inquiry/process skills within the scientific approach. Major topics in these grades may include measurement, matter, work/energy, electricity/magnetism, light/sound, the human body, the classification of living organisms, and aeronautics.