This resource has 45 correlations with the National Standards.  
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• Life Science
  • The characteristics of organisms
    • Organisms have basic needs. For example, animals need air, water, and food; plants require air, water, nutrients, and light. (K-4)
    • Organisms can survive only in environments in which their needs can be met. (K-4)
    • Each plant or animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. For example, humans have distinct body structures for walking, holding, seeing, and talking. (K-4)
    • Humans and other organisms have senses that help them detect internal and external cues. (K-4)
  • Life cycles of organisms
    • Plants and animals closely resemble their parents. (K-4)
    • Other features, such as the ability to ride a bicycle, are learned through interactions with the environment and cannot be passed on to the next generation. (K-4)
  • Organisms and environments
    • All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants.
    • An organism's patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism's environment, including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources, and the physical characteristics of the environment.
    • When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations.
    • All organisms cause changes in the environment where they live. Some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or other organisms, whereas others are beneficial.
  • Regulation and behavior
    • All organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions while living in a constantly changing external environment. (5-8)
    • How a species moves, obtains food, reproduces, and responds to danger are based in the species' evolutionary history (5-8)
  • Populations and ecosystems
    • All populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem. (5-8)
    • The tropical savanna ecosystem contains the greatest collection of grazing animals on Earth.
    • Populations of organisms can be categorized by the function they serve in an ecosystem. (5-8)
    • Plants and some micro-organisms are producers--they make their own food. (5-8)
    • All animals, including humans, are consumers, which obtain food by eating other organisms. (5-8)
    • Parasites are organisms that live in or on another organisms.
    • Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem. (5-8)
    • For ecosystems, the major source of energy is sunlight. (5-8)
    • Energy passes from organism to organism in food webs (5-8)
    • Biotic parts of an ecosystem include animals, plants, and microorganisms. (5-8)
    • The number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and abiotic factors, such as quantity of light and water, range of temperatures, and soil composition.
    • Healthy ecosystems ensure a healthy biosphere by regulating the flow of energy and the cycling of nutrients.
    • Lack of resources and other factors, such as predation and climate, limit the growth of populations in specific niches in the ecosystem. (5-8)
  • Diversity and adaptations of organisms
    • Millions of species of animals, plants, and microorganisms are alive today. (5-8)
    • Although different species might look dissimilar, the unity among organisms becomes apparent from an analysis of internal structures, the similarity of their chemical processes, and the evidence of common ancestry. (5-8)
    • Biological adaptations include changes in structures, behaviors, or physiology that enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular environment (5-8)

• Science as Inquiry
  • Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
    • Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment. (K-4)
    • Plan and conduct a simple investigation. (K-4)
    • Employ simple equipment and tools to gather data and extend the senses. (K-4)
    • Use data to construct a reasonable explanation.
    • Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.
    • Design and conduct a scientific investigation.
    • Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.
    • Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence.
    • Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.
  • Understandings about scientific inquiry
    • Scientific investigations involve asking and answering a question and comparing the answer with what scientists already know about the world. (K-4)
    • Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they are trying to answer.
    • Types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting).
    • Simple instruments, such as magnifiers, thermometers, and rulers, provide more information than scientists obtain using only their senses.
    • Scientists develop explanations using observations (evidence) and what they already know about the world (scientific knowledge). Good explanations are based on evidence from investigations. (K-4)
    • Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations. Some investigations involve observing and describing objects, organisms, or events; some involve collecting specimens; some involve experiments; some involve seeking more information; some involve discovery of new objects and phenomena; and some involve making models. (5-8)

• Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
  • Changes in environments
    • Environments are the space, conditions, and factors that affect an individual's and a population's ability to survive and their quality of life.
    • Changes in environments can be natural or influenced by humans. Some changes are good, some are bad, and some are neither good nor bad.