1. What causes fruit to mold?
What is mold?
What other types of things mold?
4.L.2.1 Classify substances as food or non-food items based on their ability to provide energy and materials for survival, growth and repair of the body.
4.L.2.2 Explain the role of vitamins, minerals and exercise in maintaining a healthy body.
6.L.1.1 Summarize the basic structures and functions of flowering plants required for survival, reproduction and defense.
What are some things we can do to keep fruit fresh longer?

2. What is the life cycle of a butterfly?
Regardless of the type of butterfly, do they all still have the same life cycle?
2.L.1 Understand animal life cycles. 2.L.1.1 Summarize the life cycle of animals:
• Birth
• Developing into an adult
• Reproducing
• Aging and death
2.L.1.2 Compare life cycles of different animals such as, but not limited to, mealworms, ladybugs, crickets, guppies or frogs.
2.L.2.2 Recognize that there is variation among individuals that are related.
Based on the physical traits of a butterfly, how can you tell the different kinds?

3. What causes a mushroom to grow? Do mushrooms always grow outdoors?
3.L.2.1 Remember the function of the following structures as it relates to the survival of plants in their environments:
• Roots – absorb nutrients
• Stems – provide support
• Leaves – synthesize food
• Flowers – attract pollinators and produce seeds for reproduction
4.L.2.1 Classify substances as food or non-food items based on their ability to provide energy and materials for survival, growth and repair of the body.
What are some ways we could test a mushroom to see if it is poisonous or not?

4. Why are the leaves around it green?
Why is this leaf brown?
Why are the leaves around it green?
1.L.2.1 Summarize the basic needs of a variety of different plants (including air, water, nutrients, and light) for energy and growth.
3.L.2.2 Explain how environmental conditions determine how well plants survive and grow.
6.L.1.2 Explain the significance of the processes of photosynthesis,
respiration, and transpiration to the survival of green plants
and other organisms.
6.L.2 Understand the flow of energy through ecosystems
Do some leaves turn colors faster than others? What are some ways we could we test this?

5. What would happen if we removed the bark from this tree?
What are some ways we could find out how old this tree is?
3.L.2.1 Remember the function of the following structures as it relates to the survival of plants in their environments:
• Roots – absorb nutrients
• Stems – provide support
• Leaves – synthesize food
• Flowers – attract pollinators and produce seeds for reproduction
3.L.2.2 Explain how environmental conditions determine how well plants survive and grow.
3.L.2.4 Explain how the basic properties (texture and capacity to hold water) and components (sand, clay and humus) of soil determine the ability of soil to support the growth and survival of many plants.
Although this is “one tree” why does it have 2 trunks? Is this common in some trees?

6. Why do ants make ant hills? What is inside the ant hills?
What is the life cycle of an ant? How is it different than that of a butterfly?
Why are some ants smaller or larger than others? Why are some red and some black?
2.L.1 Understand animal life cycles. 2.L.1.1 Summarize the life cycle of animals:
• Birth
• Developing into an adult
• Reproducing
• Aging and death
2.L.2.2 Recognize that there is variation among individuals that are related.
2.L.1.2 Compare life cycles of different animals such as, but not limited to, mealworms, ladybugs, crickets, guppies or frogs.
Why do ants make ant hills? What is inside the ant hills?
Is there only one “Queen Ant” like there is one “Queen Bee?” How does an ant become a “Queen Ant?”

7. What are some ways you can purify water?
Where does this water go once it goes down the drain?
1.E.2.1 Summarize the physical properties of Earth materials, including rocks, minerals, soils and water that make them useful in different ways.
5.P.2.3 Summarize properties of original materials, and the new material(s) formed, to demonstrate that a change has occurred.
5.L.2.1 Compare the characteristics of several common ecosystems, including estuaries and salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands).
Over time, does purified water “unpurify?” How could we test if water is purified or not? What should we look for?

8. Once this lake was drained, where did the fish living here go?
What is a lily pad? How do they form?
What can you infer about the water quality of this lake?
6.L.2.3 Summarize how the abiotic factors (such as temperature, water, sunlight, and soil quality) of biomes (freshwater,
marine, forest, grasslands, desert, Tundra) affect the ability of organisms to grow, survive and/or create their own food through photosynthesis.
3.E.2.1 Compare Earth’s saltwater and freshwater features (including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, and glaciers).
5.L.2.1 Compare the characteristics of several common ecosystems, including estuaries and salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands).
What types of insects, fish or amphibians still live in this shallow part of the lake?
What makes the canal of a lake or body of water different than the actual lake itself?

9. Are all clouds filled with rain? How do we know?
Why are some clouds darker than others?
K.E.1.2 Summarize daily weather conditions noting changes that occur from day to day and throughout the year.
K.E.1.3 Compare weather patterns that occur from season to season.
What types of clouds are shown in this picture?

10. Why might you get shocked if you stuck your finger in this outlet?
How does electricity work? How is something so powerful transmitted through a small outlet?
What makes something “electric?” How could we test to see if an item was electric?
4.P.2.1 Compare the physical properties of samples of matter: (strength, hardness, flexibility, ability to conduct heat, ability to conduct electricity, ability to be attracted by magnets, reactions to water and fire).
4.P.3.1 Recognize the basic forms of energy (light, sound, heat, electrical, and magnetic) as the ability to cause motion or create change.
Why might you get shocked if you stuck your finger in this outlet?

11. Does water from a toilet move in the same direction each time you flush?
What do you think would happen if we flushed different sized objects down the toilet? Would the water move the same each time?
1.E.2.1 Summarize the physical properties of Earth materials, including rocks, minerals, soils and water that make them useful in different ways.
5.P.1.1 Explain how factors such as gravity, friction, and change in mass affect the motion of objects.
5.L.2.1 Compare the characteristics of several common ecosystems, including estuaries and salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands).
When the toilet is flushed do the water and it’s contents go to the same place as the water from the sink?

12. What type of tests could we perform to find out how old a rock is?
What are rocks?
What type of tests could we perform to find out how old a rock is?
How can we classify different types of rocks?
K.P.2.1 Classify objects by observable physical properties (including size, color, shape, texture, weight and flexibility).
1.E.2.1 Summarize the physical properties of Earth materials, including rocks, minerals, soils and water that make them useful in different ways.
4.P.2.2 Explain how minerals are identified using tests for the physical properties of hardness, color, luster, cleavage and streak.
4.P.2.3 Classify rocks as metamorphic, sedimentary or igneous based on their composition, how they are formed and the processes that create them.
Are rocks found predominantly in some places and not so much in others?

13. Why are seagulls predominantly found at the beach?
Are other types of birds only found in certain parts of the state? Of the country? Of the world?
K.L.1 Compare characteristics of animals that make them alike and different from other animals and nonliving things.
4.L.1.4 Explain how differences among animals of the same population sometimes give individuals an advantage in surviving and reproducing in changing habitats.
How is the life cycle of a bird different from that of an insect?

14. What causes waves? Why don’t lakes have waves?
What makes the ocean so blue? Is it bluer on some days than it is on other days? Why?
6.E.2.2 Explain how crustal plates and ocean basins are formed, move and interact using earthquakes, heat flow and volcanoes to reflect forces within the earth.
3.E.2.1 Compare Earth’s saltwater and freshwater features (including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, and glaciers).
5.L.2.1 Compare the characteristics of several common ecosystems, including estuaries and salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands).
What type of animal habitats are under the sea?
How are seashells different than rocks?

15. How does skin protect a humans bones?
What are some ways we could observe skin cells?
3.L.1.1 Compare the different functions of the skeletal and muscular system.
3.L.1.2 Explain why skin is necessary for protection and for the body to remain healthy.
How does skin reproduce? How fast does it reproduce?