What does a student learn in StateCalifornia,GradePre-Kindergarten,SubjectScience?

Students use their eyes, ears, hands, and nose to explore everyday objects and then say or show what they noticed.

Students use their eyes, ears, hands, and nose to study objects and events, then put what they noticed into words with more detail than before.

Students look at two objects side by side and describe what's the same and what's different, like color, shape, or size.

Students look at two objects side by side and describe what makes them alike and what makes them different, going beyond basic features to notice details like texture, weight, or how each object is used.

Students ask simple questions about things they notice, like why a leaf fell or where a bug is going. Curiosity drives early science.

Students ask specific questions about things they see and touch, like why a puddle disappears or how a bug moves. This goes beyond simple curiosity to forming clearer, more detailed questions about the world around them.

When something isn't working during play, students notice the problem and try to fix it. They might figure it out on their own or work it out with a friend or adult nearby.

When something goes wrong during play, students name the problem and try more than one step to fix it, working on their own or with a friend or grown-up.

Students guess what will happen next, say why they think so, and then try it out to see if they were right.

Students make a guess about what will happen next, then (with a little adult help) try it out and talk about whether they were right.

Students try out a simple idea by doing a hands-on test, like seeing what happens when they mix materials or push an object. They can work alone or with a friend or adult.

Students run simple experiments on their own or with classmates, stick with it when things get tricky, and use what they noticed last time to ask a new question and try again.

Students learn to pick up and use simple tools like a magnifying glass or a ruler to look closely at things and notice details. A grown-up helps them along the way.

Students pick up tools like rulers, magnifying glasses, and measuring cups on their own to look closely at objects and figure out sizes or amounts. They still get a little help from adults when needed.

With help from an adult, students draw pictures or act out what they noticed during a science activity to show what they learned.

Students draw pictures, make models, or act things out to show what they noticed during a science activity. They add more detail than before, with some help from an adult.

Students count, sort, and compare things they notice during the day, like how many blocks are in a pile or which group has more, with help from a teacher.

Students start using numbers and counting to make sense of what they notice, like how many leaves they found or which pile has more. A grown-up helps them turn those observations into simple answers.

Students explain what they noticed or tried during play, telling a classmate or teacher what happened and why they think it did.

Students practice putting their ideas into clearer, more detailed sentences when working with classmates. Instead of saying "it fell," they explain why, like "it fell because the block was too heavy."

Students pick up, touch, and look at everyday objects to describe what they notice: how heavy, rough, or colorful something is, what it smells like, and what sound it makes.

Students look closely at everyday objects and describe what they notice: how heavy a rock feels, how rough sandpaper is, whether water pours or a block stays solid.

Students notice how light makes shadows and how objects make different sounds. They explore these ideas by playing, touching, and looking closely at the world around them.

Students play with flashlights, noisemakers, and objects to discover how shadows shift, sounds get louder or softer, and light changes when something blocks it.

Students touch, look at, and talk about how things change. Ice melts, clay squishes into a new shape, and warm soup cools down. They use their senses to notice what's different.

Students touch, smell, and look closely at things to describe what changed, like why ice feels different after it melts or why clay looks different after they squish it.

Students push, pull, roll, and drop objects to see what happens. They notice how things speed up, slow down, or change direction based on what they do to them.

Students guess what will happen when they push or roll something, then try it out. They explain why a ball stopped, sped up, or turned based on what they actually saw.

Students learn that living things like plants and animals need food or sunlight to grow, and nonliving things like toys or lights need batteries or electricity to work.

Students notice that people, animals, and objects need something to make them go: food, sunlight, or electricity. With a little help from an adult, they describe what changes they see when that energy kicks in.

Students look at animals and plants, notice what they look like and how they act, and start sorting them into groups. It's early practice at seeing what makes a dog different from a flower.

Students sort a wider range of animals and plants into groups by noticing shared traits, like how some animals have fur and some have feathers, or how some plants have flowers and some do not.

Eating, sleeping, breathing, moving: students begin to notice that humans and animals all do these things to stay alive.

Students describe what living things do to stay alive, like how animals breathe, sleep, and move, and start noticing the small details in how those actions look different across animals.

Students learn that people and animals move on their own and are alive inside, while rocks, chairs, and toys just sit still and have no heartbeat or breath.

Students sort things into two groups: alive (people, animals, plants) and not alive (rocks, toys, water). They notice that only living things grow, get sick, heal, and die.

Students look at a parent animal and its baby, then say what looks the same and what looks different, like matching fur color or noticing that a puppy has shorter legs than its mother.

Baby animals and plants look like their parents. Students notice that a puppy will grow up to look like its mother or father, not like a cat or a tree.

Students name where familiar animals and plants live, such as a pond, a forest, or a backyard, and begin to notice that different living things need different homes.

Students learn that animals and plants live in places that fit what they need. A fish needs water, a bear needs a forest, and a cactus needs dry, sunny ground.

Kids, animals, and plants all grow and change over time. Students watch living things get bigger and notice what else changes as they age, like how a seed becomes a plant or a baby becomes a child.

Students look at how babies, puppies, and seeds grow and change over time. They learn that all living things are born, grow bigger, and eventually die.

Animals and plants need food and water to grow and stay alive. Students start to notice that feeding a pet or watering a plant helps it survive, just like eating and drinking helps people.

Living things need certain things to stay alive and grow. Students name what humans, animals, and plants each need, like food, water, sunlight, and a safe place to rest.

Students pick up sand, rocks, and soil to notice how each one looks, feels, and weighs. They learn that earth materials like water and air are different from each other in simple, hands-on ways.

Students pick up rocks, soil, and sand to notice how they look and feel. They sort these materials by color, shape, or texture and talk about what makes each one different.

Students look up at the sky and talk about what they see: the sun, the moon, stars, and clouds. They practice naming each one and describing what it looks like.

Students look at the sky and talk about what they see: the sun, moon, stars, and clouds. They notice patterns, like the sun rising each morning and setting each evening.

Students notice when the weather changes (sunny to cloudy, warm to cold) and talk about how it affects what they wear, what plants look like, and what animals do.

Students notice how the weather changes day to day and talk about what those changes mean. A rainy week, a cold snap, or a hot summer day affects what they wear, what plants do, and how animals behave.

Students notice, with a grown-up's help, that people's actions affect the world around them, like littering in a park or watering a garden. They practice small ways to care for the environment.

Students learn that people can help or hurt the environment depending on what they do. With an adult's help, they talk about simple ways to take care of nature and try out those habits themselves.

Students work with classmates to spot a problem, think of a fix, and build a simple solution. With a teacher's help, they try it out and adjust until it works better.

Students work with classmates to spot problems in everyday play, come up with a fix, build it, and try it out. They test and tweak their ideas with less help from adults than before.

With a grown-up's help, students notice how everyday tools, like spoons, scissors, or bags, solve real problems and make tasks easier for themselves and the people around them.

Students look at everyday tools (like spoons, umbrellas, or ramps) and talk about the problem each one solves. Then, with a grown-up's help, they come up with their own simple ideas to fix a problem at home or in their neighborhood.

Students learn that different devices do different jobs, like using a tablet to take a photo or a computer to watch a video. With a grown-up nearby, they practice choosing the right tool for what they want to do.

Students learn to use more types of digital tools on their own, like finding information or practicing a skill, without needing as much help from an adult.