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Subject Area - 3:
Science and Technology and Engineering Education
  • Standard Area - 3.1: Biological Sciences
  • Organizing Category - 3.1.A: Organisms and Cells
  • Grade Level - 3.1.4.A: GRADE 4
Standard - 3.1.4.A1

Classify plants and animals according to the physical characteristics that they share.

Eligible Content:
33 Total
Assessments
Materials & Resources
  • Assessment Anchor - S4.A.1

    Reasoning and Analysis
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.A.1.1 Identify and explain the application of scientific, environmental, or technological knowledge to possible solutions to problems.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.1.1.1 Distinguish between a scientific fact and an opinion, providing clear explanations that connect observations and results (e.g., a scientific fact can be supported by making observations).
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.1.1.2 Identify and describe examples of common technological changes past to present in the community (e.g., energy production, transportation, communications, agriculture, packaging materials) that have either positive or negative impacts on society or the environment.
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.A.1.1.2a Identify common technologies that benefit society.
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.A.1.3 Recognize and describe change in natural or human-made systems and the possible effects of those changes.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.1.3.1 Observe and record change by using time and measurement.
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.A.1.3.1a Identify changes to objects and living things.
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.1.3.2 Describe relative size, distance, or motion.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.1.3.3 Observe and describe the change to objects caused by temperature change or light.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.1.3.4 Explain what happens to a living organism when its food supply, access to water, shelter, or space is changed (e.g., it might die, migrate, change behavior, eat something else).
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.1.3.5 Provide examples, predict, or describe how everyday human activities (e.g., solid waste production, food production and consumption, transportation, water consumption, energy production and use) may change the environment.
  • Assessment Anchor - S4.A.2

    Processes, Procedures, and Tools of Scientific Investigations
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.A.2.1 Apply skills necessary to conduct an experiment or design a solution to solve a problem.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.2.1.1 Generate questions about objects, organisms, or events that can be answered through scientific investigations.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.2.1.2 Design and describe an investigation (a fair test) to test one variable.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.2.1.3 Observe a natural phenomenon (e.g., weather changes, length of daylight/night, movement of shadows, animal migrations, growth of plants), record observations, and then make a prediction based on those observations.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.2.1.4 State a conclusion that is consistent with the information/data.
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.A.2.1.4a Recognize the observation that supports a scientific fact.
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.A.2.2 Identify appropriate instruments for a specific task and describe the information the instrument can provide.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.2.2.1 Identify appropriate tools or instruments for specific tasks and describe the information they can provide (e.g., measuring: length - ruler, mass - balance scale, volume - beaker, temperature - thermometer; making observations: hand lens, binoculars, telescope).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.A.2.2.1a Select appropriate tools to perform basic measurement tasks (limited to length, weight, volume, and temperature).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.A.2.2.1b Select appropriate tools for making observations (limited to hand lens, binoculars, microscope, and telescope).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
  • Assessment Anchor - S4.A.3

    Systems, Models, and Patterns
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.A.3.1 Identify systems and describe relationships among parts of a familiar system (e.g., digestive system, simple machines, water cycle).
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.3.1.1 Categorize systems as either natural or human-made (e.g., ballpoint pens, simple electrical circuits, plant anatomy, water cycle).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.A.3.1.1a Identify whether a system is natural or human-made (e.g., plants vs. electrical systems).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.3.1.2 Explain a relationship between the living and nonliving components in a system (e.g., food web, terrarium).
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.3.1.3 Categorize the parts of an ecosystem as either living or nonliving and describe their roles in the system.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.3.1.4 Identify the parts of the food and fiber systems as they relate to agricultural products from the source to the consumer.
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.A.3.2 Use models to illustrate simple concepts and compare the models to what they represent.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.3.2.1 Identify what different models represent (e.g., maps show physical features, directions, distances; globes represent Earth; drawings of watersheds depict terrain; dioramas show ecosystems; concept maps show relationships of ideas).
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.3.2.2 Use models to make observations to explain how systems work (e.g., water cycle, Sun-Earth-Moon system).
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.3.2.3 Use appropriate, simple modeling tools and techniques to describe or illustrate a system (e.g., two cans and string to model a communications system, terrarium to model an ecosystem).
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.A.3.3 Identify and make observations about patterns that regularly occur and reoccur in nature
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.3.3.1 Identify and describe observable patterns (e.g., growth patterns in plants, weather, water cycle).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.A.3.3.1a Identify patterns, cycles or trends seen in nature (e.g., seasonal, day/night, life cycles).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S4.A.3.3.2 Predict future conditions/events based on observable patterns (e.g., day/night, seasons, sunrise/sunset, lunar phases).
  • Assessment Anchor - S4.B.1

    Structure and Function of Organisms
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.B.1.1 Identify and describe similarities and differences between living things and their life processes.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.1.1.1 Identify life processes of living things (e.g., growth, digestion, respiration).
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.1.1.2 Compare similar functions of external characteristics of organisms (e.g., anatomical characteristics: appendages, type of covering, body segments).
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.1.1.3 Describe basic needs of plants and animals (e.g., air, water, food).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.B.1.1.3a Identify basic needs of plants or animals (limited to air, water, nutrients, sun, and shelter).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.1.1.4 Describe how different parts of a living thing work together to provide what the organism needs (e.g., parts of plants: roots, stems, leaves).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.B.1.1.4a Identify how parts of plants or animals work together to meet basic needs (e.g., roots and leaves or appendages and coverings).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.1.1.5 Describe the life cycles of different organisms (e.g., moth, grasshopper, frog, seed-producing plant).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.B.1.1.5a Recognize the stages of development of an organism (limited to butterfly, ladybug, frog, grasshopper, and seed-producing plant).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
  • Assessment Anchor - S4.B.2

    Continuity of Life
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.B.2.1 Identify and explain how adaptations help organisms to survive.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.2.1.1 Identify characteristics for plant and animal survival in different environments (e.g., wetland, tundra, desert, prairie, deep ocean, forest).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.B.2.1.1a Identify plants or animals that live in different environments (limited to grasslands, tundra, desert, aquatic, forest, and rainforest).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.2.1.2 Explain how specific adaptations can help a living organism survive (e.g., protective coloration, mimicry, leaf sizes and shapes, ability to catch or retain water).
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.B.2.2 Identify that characteristics are inherited and, thus, offspring closely resemble their parents.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.2.2.1 Identify physical characteristics (e.g., height, hair color, eye color, attached earlobes, ability to roll tongue) that appear in both parents and could be passed on to offspring.
        Assessments
        Continuum of Activities
  • Assessment Anchor - S4.B.3

    Ecological Behavior and Systems
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.B.3.1 Identify and describe living and nonliving things in the environment and their interaction.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.3.1.1 Describe the living and nonliving components of a local ecosystem (e.g., lentic and lotic systems, forest, cornfield, grasslands, city park, playground).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.B.3.1.1a Categorize the parts of an ecosystem as either living or non-living (e.g., forest, city, park).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.3.1.2 Describe interactions between living and nonliving components (e.g. plants – water, soil, sunlight, carbon dioxide, temperature; animals – food, water, shelter, oxygen, temperature) of a local ecosystem.
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.B.3.2 Describe, explain, and predict change in natural or human-made systems and the possible effects of those changes on the environment.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.3.2.1 Describe what happens to a living thing when its habitat is changed.
        Assessments
        Continuum of Activities
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.3.2.2 Describe and predict how changes in the environment (e.g., fire, pollution, flood, building dams) can affect systems.
        Assessments
        Continuum of Activities
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.3.2.3 Explain and predict how changes in seasons affect plants, animals, or daily human life (e.g., food availability, shelter, mobility).
        Assessments
        Continuum of Activities
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.B.3.2.3.a Identify how seasons affect trees or animals (e.g., temperature, migration, hibernation).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.B.3.3 Identify and describe human reliance on the environment at the individual or the community level.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.3.3.1 Identify everyday human activities (e.g., driving, washing, eating, manufacturing, farming) within a community that depend on the natural environment.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.3.3.2 Describe the human dependence on the food and fiber systems from production to consumption (e.g., food, clothing, shelter, products).
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.3.3.3 Identify biological pests (e.g., fungi – molds, plants – foxtail, purple loosestrife, Eurasian water milfoil; animals – aphides, ticks, zebra mussels, starlings, mice) that compete with humans for resources.
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.3.3.4 Identify major land uses in the urban, suburban and rural communities (e.g., housing, commercial, recreation).
      • Eligible Content - S4.B.3.3.5 Describe the effects of pollution (e.g., litter) in the community.
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.B.3.3.5a Identify the impact of one type of pollution on a community.
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
  • Assessment Anchor - S4.D.2

    Weather, Climate, and Atmospheric Processes
    • Anchor Descriptor - S4.D.2.1 Identify basic weather conditions and how they are measured.
      • Eligible Content - S4.D.2.1.1 Identify basic cloud types (i.e., cirrus, cumulus, stratus, and cumulonimbus) and make connections to basic elements of weather (e.g., changes in temperature, precipitation).
      • Eligible Content - S4.D.2.1.2 Identify weather patterns from data charts or graphs of the data (e.g., temperature, wind direction, wind speed, cloud types, precipitation).
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.D.2.1.2a Identify weather conditions using symbols or pictures (limited to temperature, types of precipitation, visibility, and sunlight).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
      • Eligible Content - S4.D.2.1.3 Identify appropriate instruments (i.e., thermometer, rain gauge, weather vane, anemometer, and barometer) to study weather and what they measure.
        • Alternate Eligible Content - S4.D.2.1.3a Select the appropriate tool to measure the weather (limited to temperature, wind direction, and precipitation).
          Alternate Eligible Content is designed for students assessed using the PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA). Essentialized Example resources assist teachers in designing instruction that reduces content complexity while maintaining alignment to academic standards.
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