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Curriculum

New York State P-12 
Common Core Learning Standards for 
English Language Arts & Literacy

The New York State Board of Regents Reform Agenda includes implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy within all curriculum areas, including Earth Science.  These standards define what all students are expected to know and be able to do at various grade levels.  Please feel free to visit the the Engage New York website for the complete NYS Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy documentation. The EngageNY website is developed and maintained by the New York State Education Department (NYSED).    

Here are some of the key features of the Common Core Learning Standards:

          Reading: Text complexity and the growth of comprehension

          Writing: Text types, responding to reading, and research

          Speaking and Listening: Flexible communication and collaboration

          Language: Conventions, effective use, and vocabulary

                 SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE!

In our classroom, students must talk about reading using EVIDENCE and write about texts using EVIDENCE.  

 

Here is a poster that we often refer to in that process.

 

 

Unit I - Earth Dimensions

  • Earth's shape, spheres, and coordinate system

  • Mapping Earth's fields and reading/drawing isolines

  • Topographic Maps - Interpretation an uses of elevation field maps

 

Unit II - Rocks, Minerals, and Resources

  • Minerals - Identification of physical and chemical properties of common Earth minerals

  • Igneous Rocks - Identification based on environments of formation and mineral composition

  • Sedimentary Rocks - Identification based on texture, origin of sediment, and mineral composition

  • Metamorphic Rocks - Identification based on grade of metamorphism, texture, and mineral composition.

 

Unit III - Dynamic Crust - Earthquakes & Earth's Interior

  • Plate Tectonics - Types of plate boundaries and evidence for plate movement.

  • Sea floor spreading, magnetic reversals, and Mantle convection

  • Earthquakes Waves - Primary and Secondary wave characteristics and travel times.

  • Earth's crustal thickness and properties of Earth's interior - inferred composition, temperature, and pressure.

 

Unit IV - Surface Processes & Landscapes

  • Physical & chemical weathering, climate influences on weathering rates, and development of soils.

  • Erosion - Agents of erosion, transport of sediment, stream channel characteristics, and glacial processes.

  • Deposition - factors that influence deposition, sorting of sediment, and glacial deposition features.

  • Landscapes - United States and New York State landscape regions and landscape development.

 

Unit V - Earth's History

  • Relative and Absolute age of geologic events, radioactive decay, and correlations

  • Geologic Time Scale and fossil evidence of Earth's history.

  • Identification of some common NYS fossils as they appear in the geologic time scale.

 

Unit VI - Meteorology & Atmospheric Energy

  • Study of the weather variables and how they related to present atmospheric conditions.

  • Explanation of cloud formation, latent heat of fusion & vaporization, and energy transfer in Earth's atmosphere.

  • Wind and pressure belts, air mass source regions, warm and cold front characteristics, and weather forecasting.

  • Severe weather and storm systems: thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornados.

 

Unit VII - Water Cycle & Climate

  • Explanation of Earth's water cycle, ground water characteristics, and stream discharge

  • Earth's Energy - electromagnetic spectrum, duration and intensity of insolation, and energy absorption & reradiation.

  • Climate Factors - latitude, elevation, ocean currents, proximity to water, and prevailing wind and pressure belts.

 

Unit VIII - Astronomy

  • Daily and seasonal celestial observations, apparent motions of the sun and stars, cause of seasons.

  • Geometry of orbits - orbital speeds relative to distance, shape of orbits, and periods of revolution.

  • Earth's moon - phases, gravitational influences on Earth (tides), lunar and solar eclipses

  • The Solar System and Universe - life cycle of stars, Galaxies, and the Expanding Universe theory.

 

Unit IX - Environmental Awareness

  • Environmental Pollution - organic, inorganic, heat, radioactive or harmful organisms.

  • Sources of pollution and pollution control & remediation.

  • Factors that influence the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, acid rain and other environmental impacts.

Regents Earth Science

Core Curriculum

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