Science and Technology

Grade 1: Life Systems: Characteristics and Needs of Living Things	Achievement Level
Overall Expectations	1	2	3	4
•demonstrate an understanding of the basic needs of animals and plants (e.g., the need for food, air, and water);
•investigate the characteristics and needs of animals and plants;
•demonstrate awareness that animals and plants depend on their environment to meet their basic needs, and describe the requirements for good health for humans.
Specific Expectations
Understanding Basic Concepts
•identify major parts of the human body and describe their functions (e.g., arms and legs for movement; lungs and nose for breathing);
•identify the location and function of each sense organ;
•classify characteristics of animals and plants by using the senses (e.g., texture, colour, size, sounds);
•describe the different ways in which animals move (e.g., moles burrow with their large, strong front limbs; fish undulate their bodies) to meet their needs;
•identify and describe common characteristics of humans and other animals that they have observed, and identify variations in these characteristics (e.g., eye and hair colour);
•describe some basic changes in humans as they grow (e.g., growth of feet, hands, arms; loss of baby teeth), and compare changes in humans with changes in other living things;
•describe patterns that they have observed in living things (e.g., sunflower, pine cone, turtle’s shell).
Developing Skills of Inquiry, Design, and Communication
•select and use appropriate tools to increase their capacity to observe (e.g., magnifying glass, stethoscope);
•ask questions about and identify some needs of living things, and explore possible answers to these questions and ways of meeting these needs (e.g., predict how an animal will move on the basis of two or more characteristics that they have observed);
•plan investigations to answer some of these questions or find ways of meeting these needs;
•use appropriate vocabulary in describing their investigations, explorations, and observations (e.g., use body, legs, wings, and feelers in describing an insect);
•record relevant observations, findings, and measurements, using written language, drawings, charts, and concrete materials (e.g., make a drawing of an insect, observing with the unaided eye, and a drawing of the same insect while using a magnifying glass);
•communicate the procedures and results of investigations for specific purposes, using demonstrations, drawings, and oral and written descriptions (e.g., demonstrate how a bird builds a nest).
Relating Science and Technology to the World Outside the School
•compare the basic needs of humans with the needs of other living things (e.g., the need for food, air, water, light);
•compare ways in which humans and other animals use their senses to meet their needs (e.g., use of the senses of sight and smell in finding food);
•describe ways in which people adapt to the loss or limitation of sensory or physical ability (e.g., blind people develop more acute hearing; people who cannot walk may use a wheel chair);
•identify a familiar animal or plant from seeing only a part of it (e.g., a feather of a bird, a leaf of a tree);
•describe ways in which the senses can both protect and mislead (e.g., seeing enables us to avoid walking into an obstacle; the sense of smell is not reliable when we have a cold);
•describe a balanced diet using the four basic food groups outlined in Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating, and demonstrate awareness of the natural sources of items in the food groups (e.g., bread is made from plant products; meat and milk come from animals);
•identify ways in which individuals can maintain a healthy environment for themselves and for other living things (e.g., practise cleanliness to reduce the spreading of germs; ensure that materials such as toy balloons are not left outdoors since they are harmful to birds if they are ingested).
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  Expectations: Copyright The Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1998.  Format: Copyright B.Phillips, 1998.