South Carolina Aquarium Online Curriculum, 3rd - 5th grade

Pre-Visit Activities : Linking up Foodchains : Standards Supported
Third - Fifth Grade Online Curriculum : Communities

Grade Level	Standards
3rd Grade	3-1.1, 3-1.2, 3-1.3, 3-1.4, 3-1.6, 3-1.7, 3-2.2, 3-2.3, 3-2.4, 3-2.5
4th Grade	4-1.3, 4-1.4, 4-1.6, 4-2.5, 4-3.3
5th Grade	5-1.1, 5-1.3, 5-1.6, 5-2.2, 5-2.3, 5-2.4, 5-2.5
* Bold standards are the main standards addressed in this activity.

Third Grade Indicators

3-1.1	Classify objects by two of their properties (attributes).
3-1.2	Classify objects or events in sequential order.
3-1.3	Generate questions such as “what if?” or “how?” about objects, organisms, and events in the environment and use those questions to conduct a simple scientific investigation.
3-1.4	Predict the outcome of a simple investigation and compare the result with the prediction.
3-1.6	Infer meaning from data communicated in graphs, tables, and diagrams.
3-1.7	Explain why similar investigations might produce different results.
3-2.2	Explain 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).
3-2.3	Recall the characteristics of an organism’s habitat that allow the organism to survive there.
3-2.4	Explain how changes in the habitats of plants and animals affect their survival.
3-2.5	Summarize the organization of simple food chains ( including the roles of producers, consumers, decomposers).

Fourth Grade Indicators

4-1.3	Summarize the characteristics of a simple scientific investigation that represent a fair test (including a question that identifies the problem, a prediction that indicates a possible outcome, a process that tests one manipulated variable at a time, and results that are communicated and explained).
4-1.4	Distinguish among observations, predictions, and inferences.
4-1.6	Construct and interpret diagrams, tables, and graphs made from recorded measurements and observations.
4-2.5	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.
4-3.3	Explain how the Sun affects the Earth.

Fifth Grade Indicators

5-1.1	Identify questions suitable for generating a hypothesis.
5-1.3	Plan and conduct controlled scientific investigations, manipulating one variable at a time.
5-1.6	Evaluate results of an investigation to formulate a valid conclusion based on evidence and communicate the findings of the evaluation in oral or written form.
5-2.2	Summarize the composition of an ecosystem, considering both biotic factors (including populations to the level of microorganisms and communities) and abiotic factors.
5-2.3	Compare the characteristics of different ecosystems (including estuaries/salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands).
5-2.4	Identify the roles of organisms as they interact and depend on one another through food chains and food webs in an ecosystem, considering producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores), decomposers (microorganisms, termites, worms, and fungi), predators and prey, and parasites and hosts.
5-2.5	Explain how limiting factors (including food, water, space, and shelter) affect populations in ecosystems.