Education Standards

We are currently working with local educators whom are developing a comprehensive list of SC Education Standards the Outdoor Education Trail can be used to illustrate. Listed below are several we have already identified for Kindergarten, First , Second, Third and Fourth Grades.

Kindergarten

  1. Recognize what organisms need to stay alive (including air, water, food, and shelter). K-2.1
  2. Identify examples of organisms and nonliving things. K-2.2
  3. Compare individual examples of a particular type of plant or animal to determine that there are differences among individuals. K-2.4
  4. Recognize that all organisms go through stages of growth and change called life cycles. K-2.5
  5. Summarize ways that the seasons affect plants and animals. K-4.3

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First Grade

  1. Recall the basic needs of plants (including air, water, nutrients, space and light) for energy and growth. 1-2.1
  2. Illustrate the major structures of plants (including stems, roots, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds). 1-2.2
  3. Summarize the life cycle of plants (including germination, growth, and production of flowers and seeds). 1-2.4
  4. Identify characteristics of plants (including types of stems, roots, leaves, flowers and seeds) that help them survive in their own distinct environments. 1-2.6

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Second Grade

  1. Recall the basic needs of animals (including air, water, food and shelter) for energy, growth and protection. 2-2.1
  2. Classify animals (including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and insects) according to their physical characteristics. 2-2.2
  3. Summarize the interdependence between animals and plants as sources of food and shelter. 2-2.4
  4. Illustrate the various life cycles of animals (including birth and the stages of development). 2-2.5

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Third Grade

  1. Illustrate the life cycles of seed plants and various animals and summarize how they grow and are adapted to conditions within their habitats. 3-2.1
  2. Detail how physical and behavioral adaptations allow organisms to survive (including hibernation, defense, locomotion, movement, food obtainment, and camouflage for animals and seed dispersal, color, and response to light for plants). 3-2.2
  3. Recall the characteristics of an organism’s habitat that allow the organism to survive there. 3-2.3
  4. Explain how changes in the habitats of plants and animals affect their survival. 3-2.4
  5. Summarize the organization of simple food chains (including the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers). 3-2.5

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Fourth Grade

  1. Classify organisms into major groups (including plants or animals, flowering or nonflowering plants, and vertebrates [fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals] or invertebrates) according to their physical characteristics. 4-2.1
  2. Explain how the characteristics of distinct environments (including swamps, rivers and streams, tropical rain forests, deserts, and the polar regions) influence the variety of organisms in each. 4-2.2
  3. Describe how humans and other animals use their senses and sensory organs to detect signals from the environment and how their behaviors are influenced by these signals. 4-2.3
  4. Outline how an organism’s patterns of behavior are related to its environment (including the kinds and the number of other organisms present, the availability of food and other resources, and the physical characteristics of the environment). 4-2.5
  5. Examine how organisms cause changes in their environment. 4-2.6

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This webpage was last updated on September 10, 2007