Scope and sequence · Science
Grade 6 Life Science: Animal Design and Behavior
A year of true stories about how animals fly, travel, find their way in the dark, hide, build and live together, from the buzzards the Wright brothers watched and Lazzaro Spallanzani’s bats to Arctic terns, monarch butterflies, Jean-Henri Fabre’s wasps, honeybee hives, the blue whale and the burrs that gave George de Mestral the idea for Velcro, each one taken apart to see how it was figured out and then observed, measured and tested at the kitchen table with a ruler, a stopwatch, a scale and a notebook.
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What to cover
32 of 36 lessons are MUST COVER. They are tested on the unit tests and exams, or are skills the SAT/ACT relies on. OPTIONAL lessons are enrichment. Do them if time allows. The course is complete when the MUST COVER lessons are done.
Unit 1: Flight
- MUST COVER 1.1 The Wrights Watched Buzzards (1899) ★ · unit test
- MUST COVER 1.2 Wing Shapes · unit test
- MUST COVER 1.3 Insect Flight · unit test
- MUST COVER 1.4 Paper-Wing Lab · unit test
Unit 2: Migration
- MUST COVER 2.1 Arctic Terns: Pole to Pole ★ · unit test
- MUST COVER 2.2 Monarchs to Mexico · unit test
- MUST COVER 2.3 How Birds Navigate · unit test
- MUST COVER 2.4 “The Stork in the Heaven Knoweth Her Appointed Times” (Jeremiah 8:7) · unit test
Unit 3: Echolocation
- MUST COVER 3.1 Spallanzani’s Bats (1793) ★ · unit test
- MUST COVER 3.2 Dolphins: Seeing with Sound Underwater ★ · unit test
- MUST COVER 3.3 Sonar: People Learn to Echolocate · unit test
- MUST COVER 3.4 Echo Lab: Measure the Speed of Sound · unit test
Unit 4: Camouflage
- MUST COVER 4.1 Chameleons and Cuttlefish ★ · unit test
- MUST COVER 4.2 Peppered Moths: What the Study Showed · unit test
- MUST COVER 4.3 Warning Colors · unit test
- MUST COVER 4.4 The Camouflage Game · unit test
Unit 5: Instinct
- MUST COVER 5.1 Fabre’s Wasps ★ · unit test
- MUST COVER 5.2 Spider Webs ★ · unit test
- MUST COVER 5.3 Beaver Dams · unit test
- MUST COVER 5.4 Who Taught Them? (Job 39) · unit test
Unit 6: Social Animals
- MUST COVER 6.1 Honeybee Hives: The Dance Language ★ · unit test
- MUST COVER 6.2 Wolves: The Family Pack · unit test
- MUST COVER 6.3 Elephants: The Matriarch’s Memory · unit test
- MUST COVER 6.4 Ants That Farm: Leafcutters and Their Gardens · unit test
Unit 7: Giants: Whales and Dinosaurs
- MUST COVER 7.1 The Blue Whale: Largest Animal Known ★ · unit test
- MUST COVER 7.2 Sauropod Necks and Hearts · unit test
- MUST COVER 7.3 How Big Could a Dinosaur Get? · unit test
- MUST COVER 7.4 Engineering a Giant · unit test
Unit 8: Biomimicry
- MUST COVER 8.1 Velcro from Burrs (de Mestral, 1941) ★ · unit test
- MUST COVER 8.2 Shark Skin · unit test
- MUST COVER 8.3 Gecko Feet · unit test
- MUST COVER 8.4 Invent from Nature · unit test
Unit 9: Bonus: Nature Lab OPTIONAL unit
- OPTIONAL 9.1 Nature Journal Walk
- OPTIONAL 9.2 Backyard Survey
- OPTIONAL 9.3 Zoo, Farm or Museum Visit
- OPTIONAL 9.4 Specimen Collection
36-week pacing calendar
From the course’s own 36-week pacing guide, with catch-up and review weeks added to fill a 36-week (180-day) year.
| Week | Plan | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | Session 1: Lesson 1.1 The Wrights Watched Buzzards (1899): warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 1.1 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 2 | Session 1: Lesson 1.2 Wing Shapes: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 1.2 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 3 | Session 1: Lesson 1.3 Insect Flight: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 1.3 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 4 | Session 1: Lesson 1.4 Paper-Wing Lab: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 1.4 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook Session 3: Unit 1 review and unit project | ||
| Wk 5 | Session 1: Lesson 2.1 Arctic Terns: Pole to Pole: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 2.1 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 6 | Session 1: Lesson 2.2 Monarchs to Mexico: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 2.2 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 7 | Session 1: Lesson 2.3 How Birds Navigate: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 2.3 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 8 | Session 1: Lesson 2.4 “The Stork in the Heaven Knoweth Her Appointed Times” (Jeremiah 8:7): warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 2.4 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook Session 3: Unit 2 review and unit project | ||
| Wk 9 | Session 1: Lesson 3.1 Spallanzani’s Bats (1793): warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 3.1 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 10 | Session 1: Lesson 3.2 Dolphins: Seeing with Sound Underwater: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 3.2 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 11 | Session 1: Lesson 3.3 Sonar: People Learn to Echolocate: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 3.3 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 12 | Session 1: Lesson 3.4 Echo Lab: Measure the Speed of Sound: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 3.4 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook Session 3: Unit 3 review and unit project | ||
| Wk 13 | Session 1: Lesson 4.1 Chameleons and Cuttlefish: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 4.1 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 14 | Session 1: Lesson 4.2 Peppered Moths: What the Study Showed: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 4.2 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 15 | Session 1: Lesson 4.3 Warning Colors: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 4.3 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 16 | Session 1: Lesson 4.4 The Camouflage Game: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 4.4 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook Session 3: Unit 4 review and unit project | ||
| Wk 17 | Session 1: Lesson 5.1 Fabre’s Wasps: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 5.1 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 18 | Session 1: Lesson 5.2 Spider Webs: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 5.2 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 19 | Session 1: Lesson 5.3 Beaver Dams: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 5.3 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 20 | Session 1: Lesson 5.4 Who Taught Them? (Job 39): warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 5.4 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook Session 3: Unit 5 review and unit project | ||
| Wk 21 | Session 1: Lesson 6.1 Honeybee Hives: The Dance Language: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 6.1 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 22 | Session 1: Lesson 6.2 Wolves: The Family Pack: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 6.2 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 23 | Session 1: Lesson 6.3 Elephants: The Matriarch’s Memory: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 6.3 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 24 | Session 1: Lesson 6.4 Ants That Farm: Leafcutters and Their Gardens: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 6.4 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook Session 3: Unit 6 review and unit project | ||
| Wk 25 | Session 1: Lesson 7.1 The Blue Whale: Largest Animal Known: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 7.1 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 26 | Session 1: Lesson 7.2 Sauropod Necks and Hearts: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 7.2 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 27 | Session 1: Lesson 7.3 How Big Could a Dinosaur Get?: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 7.3 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 28 | Session 1: Lesson 7.4 Engineering a Giant: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 7.4 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook Session 3: Unit 7 review and unit project | ||
| Wk 29 | Session 1: Lesson 8.1 Velcro from Burrs (de Mestral, 1941): warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 8.1 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 30 | Session 1: Lesson 8.2 Shark Skin: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 8.2 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 31 | Session 1: Lesson 8.3 Gecko Feet: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 8.3 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 32 | Session 1: Lesson 8.4 Invent from Nature: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 8.4 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook Session 3: Unit 8 review and unit project | ||
| Wk 33 | Session 1: Lesson 9.1 Nature Journal Walk: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 9.1 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 34 | Session 1: Lesson 9.2 Backyard Survey: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 9.2 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 35 | Session 1: Lesson 9.3 Zoo, Farm or Museum Visit: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 9.3 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook | ||
| Wk 36 | Session 1: Lesson 9.4 Specimen Collection: warm-up, video, teaching and picture study Session 2: Lesson 9.4 experiment, worked examples, practice and notebook Session 3: Unit 9 review and unit project |
Grading: Experiments (prediction, a fair test, careful measuring and the explain-it step) 30%, Nature notebook (dated pages, labeled drawings, tables and graphs with units, honest records) 20%, Unit tests (eight tests of 60 points each) 30%, Unit projects 20%. Scale: A 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69. Below 60: redo the experiment or test with help.