Kindergarten Science Massachusetts standards Standards

Technology/Engineering

Physical Science

Life Science

Earth and Space Sciences

Economics: work and commerce

History: shared traditions

Geography: connections among places

Civics: classroom citizenship

Kindergarten: Many Roles in Living Learning and Working Together

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

Comprehension and Collaboration

Speaking and Listening Standards

Range of Writing

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Production and Distribution of Writing

Text Types and Purposes

Writing Standards

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Craft and Structure

Key Ideas and Details

Reading Standards for Informational Text

History and Social Science and the Standards for Literacy (Pre-K - 5)

Standards for History and Social Science Practice

Earth's Systems

Earth and Human Activity

Demonstrate civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Develop focused questions or problem statements and conduct inquiries.

Organize information and data from multiple primary and secondary sources.

Analyze the purpose and point of view of each source; distinguish opinion from fact.

Evaluate the credibility, accuracy, and relevance of each source.

Argue or explain conclusions, using valid reasoning and evidence.

Determine next steps and take informed action, as appropriate.

Use and share quantitative observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.

Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment.

Obtain and use information about weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, different types of local weather.

Communicate solutions to reduce the amount of natural resources an individual uses.

Observe and communicate that animals (including humans) and plants need food, water, and air to survive. Animals get food from plants or other animals. Plants make their own food and need light to live and grow.

Recognize that all plants and animals grow and change over time.

Investigate and communicate the idea that different kinds of materials can be solid or liquid depending on temperature.

Compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.

Make observations to determine that sunlight warms materials on Earth's surface.

Use tools and materials to design and build a model of a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.

With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, places, or pieces of information in a text.

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about the meaning of unknown words in a text.

Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.

Name the author and illustrator of a text and define the role of each in presenting the ideas or information in a text.

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).

With prompting and support, identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.

With prompting and support, identify basic similarities and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, procedures).

Participate in collaborative discussions with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).

Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.

Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.

Ask and answer questions to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.

Describe familiar people, places, things and events, and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

Add drawings and visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.

Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

Understand and follow rules, limits, and expectations with minimal prompting and assistance; with prompting and support, ask and answer questions about the reasons for rules.

Take on responsibilities and follow through on them, being helpful to and respectful of others (e.g., volunteer for and carry out tasks in the classroom and at home).

With prompting and support, give examples from literature and informational texts read or read aloud of characters who show authority, fairness, caring, justice, responsibility, or who show how rules are created and followed.

Ask and answer questions and explore books to gain information about national symbols, songs, and texts of the United States:

why the flag of United States of America is red, white, and blue and has stars and stripes

why the bald eagle is the national emblem of United States

why "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States

what the words of the "Pledge of Allegiance" mean

Describe the location of people, objects, and places, using correctly words and phrases such as up, down, near, far, left, right, straight, back, behind, in front of, next to, between.

With support, explain the similarities and differences between maps and globes.

Identify the elements of a physical address, including the street name and number, the city or town, the state (Massachusetts) and the country (United States).

With support, on a state map, find the city or town where the student's school is located; on a street map of the city or town, find the location of the student's school.

Use maps, photographs, their own drawings or other representations to show and explain to others the location of important places and relationships among places in the immediate neighborhood of the student's home or school.

Construct maps, drawings, and models that show physical features of familiar places.

Describe how some days, called civic holidays, are special because they celebrate important events or people in history (See the Resource Supplement, Section III, for a list of state, national, and international civic holidays and their histories).

Contrast and compare traditions and celebrations of peoples with diverse cultural backgrounds.

Put events from their personal lives, observations of the natural world, and from stories and informational texts read or read aloud in temporal order, using words and phrases relating to chronology and time, including:

Sequential actions: first, next, last;

Chronology and time: now, then, long ago, before, after, morning, afternoon, night, today, tomorrow, yesterday, last or next week, last or next month, last or next year.

With prompting and support, describe some things people do when they work inside and outside of the home, drawing on personal experience, literature, and informational texts.

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about buying, selling or trading something and explain how people make choices about the things they need and want.

With prompting and support, give examples from personal experience, literature, or informational texts of goods and services that people purchase with money they earn.

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces that tell a reader the topic or name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., "My favorite book is…").

Write, draw, or dictate writing routinely for a range of purposes, and audiences.

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts that name and supply some information about a topic.

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or experience, or several loosely linked events or experiences; sequence the narrative appropriately and provide a reaction to what it describes.

For poems, use rhyming words to create structure.

Begins in grade 1.

With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing if needed.

With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including collaboration with peers.

Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).

With guidance and support, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Begins in grade 4.

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Matter and Its Interactions

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Energy

Computational Thinking

Computing Systems

Digital Tools and Collaboration

Computing and Society

Safety and Security

Demonstrate proper ergonomics (e.g., body position, stretching) when using devices.

Use electrical devices safely and in moderation (e.g., unplug devices by pulling the plug rather than the cord, do not mix water/food and electric devices, avoid gaming and walking).

Care for devices appropriately (e.g., handling devices gently, completely shutting down devices when not in use, storing devices in the appropriate container).

Explain that a password helps protect the privacy of information.

Identify safe and unsafe examples of online communications.

Explain why we keep personal information (e.g., name, location, phone number, home address) private.

Identify which personal information (e.g., user name or real name, school name or home address) should and should not be shared online and with whom.

Explain why it is necessary to report inappropriate electronic content or contact.

Ethics and Laws

Define good digital citizenship as using technology safely, responsibly, and ethically.

Demonstrate responsible use of computers, peripheral devices, and resources as outlined in school rules (Acceptable Use Policy [AUP] for K-2).

Explain that most digital artifacts have owners.

Explain the importance of giving credit to media creators/owners when using their work.

Interpersonal and Societal Impact

Identify and describe how people (e.g., students, parents, policemen) use many types of technologies in their daily work and personal lives.

Recognize when the purpose of content is to provide information or to influence you to act.

Computing Devices

Identify different kinds of computing devices in the classroom and other places (e.g., laptops, tablets, smart phones, desktops).

Identify visible components of computing devices (e.g., keyboard, screen, monitor, printer, pointing device).

Explain that computing devices function when applications, programs, or commands are executed.

Operate a variety of computing systems (e.g., turn on, use input/output devices such as a mouse, keyboard, or touch screen; find, navigate, launch a program).

Human and Computer Partnerships

Explain that computing devices are machines that are not alive, but can be used to help humans with tasks.

Recognize that some tasks are best completed by humans and others by computing devices (e.g., a human might be able to rescue someone in a normal environment, but robots would be better to use in a dangerous environment).

Recognize that different tools can solve the same problem (e.g., pen and paper, calculators, and smart phones can all be used to solve simple mathematical problems)

Networks

Explain that networks link computers and devices locally and around the world allowing people to access and communicate information.

Services

No standards at this level.

Abstraction

List the attributes of a common object, for example, cars have a color, type (e.g., pickup, van, sedan), number of seats, etc.

Algorithms

Define an algorithm as a sequence of defined steps.

Create a simple algorithm, individually and collaboratively, without using computers to complete a task (e.g., making a sandwich, getting ready for school, checking a book out of the library).

Enact an algorithm using tangible materials (e.g., manipulatives, your body) or present the algorithm in a visual medium (e.g., storyboard).

Data

Identify different kinds of information (e.g., text, charts, graphs, numbers, pictures, audio, video, collections of objects.)

Identify, research, and collect information on a topic, issue, problem, or question using age-appropriate digital technologies.

Individually and collaboratively propose a solution to a problem or question based on an analysis of information.

Individually and collaboratively create information visualizations (e.g., charts, infographics).

Explain that computers can save information as data that can be stored, searched, retrieved, and deleted.

Programming and Development

Define a computer program as a set of commands created by people to do something.

Explain that computers only follow the program's instructions.

Individually or collaboratively create a simple program using visual instructions or tools that do not require a textual programming language (e.g., "unplugged" programming activities, a block-based programming language).

Modeling and Simulation

Describe how models represent a real-life system (e.g., globe, map, solar system, digital elevation model, weather map).

Define simulation and identify the concepts illustrated by a simple simulation (e.g., growth and health, butterfly life cycle).

Digital Tools

Operate a variety of digital tools (e.g., open/close, find, save/print, navigate, use input/output devices).

Identify, locate, and use letters, numbers, and special keys on a keyboard (e.g., Space Bar, Shift, Delete).

Create a simple digital artifact.

Use appropriate digital tools individually and collaboratively to create, review, and revise simple artifacts that include text, images and audio.

Collaboration and Communication

Collaboratively use digital tools and media resources to communicate key ideas and details in a way that informs, persuades, and/or entertains.

Use a variety of digital tools to exchange information and feedback with teachers.

Use a variety of digital tools to present information to others.

Research

Conduct basic keyword searches to gather information from teacher-provided digital sources (e.g., online library catalog, databases).

Create an artifact individually and collaboratively that answers a research question, while clearly expressing thoughts and ideas.

Acknowledge and name sources of information or media (e.g., title of book, author of book, website).