STC–Kindergarten™: Exploring the World Set

Grade K. The Exploring the World Set includes a single 2-use kit for each of the 3 units: Exploring Forces and Motion (item #511201U2), Exploring Plants and Animals (item #511001U2), and Exploring My Weather (item #511101U2). Each 2-use unit kit includes a teacher's guide, STC Literacy Series™ Big Book, Smithsonian DVD, digital access to Carolina Science Online®, and supplies and apparatus to teach the unit to 24 students twice.

During Exploring Forces and Motion, students bring motion to a personal level as they consider their daily activities and the motions that accompany them. Students explore and describe motion, speed, and pushes and pulls. Using models, the class explores how pushes and pulls affect the speed and direction of an object's motion. To conclude the unit, students apply what they learn to invent and play games as a class.

During Exploring Plants and Animals, students explore how living things are different from non-living things. They then focus on plants—their structures, their needs, their life cycles—and plant seeds to observe later in the unit. Students shift their focus to animals and explore the similarities and differences between animals and their environments. Students set up habitats for zebra fish and milkweed bugs and observe the animals over time. Finally, students explore the impact that humans have on the environment, particularly as related to trash and recycling. Students also observe the effects of pollution on plants. In a post-unit assessment, students compare and contrast plants and animals, and explore and describe interactions between plants and animals within the same environment.

During Exploring My Weather, students use their senses and the tools of meteorologists to explore temperature, precipitation, wind, and cloud cover. Their observations help them develop a weather vocabulary and lead to new questions, such as how water changes between its different forms and how weather affects humans and other animals. Students discuss how to choose clothing to fit the weather, test materials, and design roofs and hats that protect against weather conditions. Students conclude by discussing seasonal changes and the importance of weather forecasting.