Curriculum 

Westborough teachers use a combination of purchased science kits and teacher-designed curriculum that align with the 2016 MA Science, Technology, and Engineering Frameworks. We currently use FOSS, a research-based curriculum designed by the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California at Berkley, for some units in K-6 classrooms. Below is a list of the science units currently being taught in grades K-6. All of these units prioritize students engaging in science practices to figure out key science ideas. 

Pre-K

Students engage in hands-on exploration during free choice time that connects to the overall unit of study. Students also spend time outdoors making observations and drawing conclusions about the natural world. 

Kindergarten

Animals 2x2: Students observe a range of animals in classroom habitats to learn what animals need to survive. Students explore the relationships between what animals need to survive and their environments. 

Materials and Motion: Students explore the properties of materials and  how those properties determine their uses. Students then use those materials to engineer structures and apply ideas of energy transfer.

Weather: Throughout the year, students make and record observations of local weather conditions. Students use their observation to predict changes in the weather during different seasons.

First Grade

Plants and Animals: Students observe growing plants and design terrariums to support plant and animal life. Students explore the variations in the same types of animals and plants and discover the relationships between animal and plant structures and functions.

Patterns in our World:  Students observe and track the positions of the moon and sun to discover patterns in the locations and appearance of objects in our sky. Students also consider patterns in seasonal change and their predictable impacts on the environment.  

Sound and Light: Students observe and manipulate sound and light to learn to how each is produced and can be changed. Students explore sound and light sources and receivers and investigate how sound and light devices communicate information.

Second Grade

Pebbles, Sand, and Silt: Students observe, describe, analyze, and sort various Earth materials and explore how landforms change over time. Students also learn about Earth materials as natural resources. 

Solids and Liquids: Students explore how materials are similar and different from each other and how the properties of materials relate to their uses. Students investigate the mixing of materials with various properties and learn that some changes to materials caused by heating and cooling are reversible and some are not.

Insects and Habitats: Students explore the environments outside their classroom doors to discover what insects and other organisms need from their local habitats to survive. Students compare two different environments to figure out why similar and different plants and animals inhabit each.

Third Grade

Structures of Life: Students explore the structures and behaviors of various organisms and the variations in traits that may provide an advantage in survival. Students investigate the effects of water on different types of seeds and observe the life cycles of plants. 

Motion and Matter: Students explore the forces of magnetism and gravity and use data they gather to predict the motion of objects. Students use what they have learned about forces and motion to complete an engineering design challenge.

Weather and Climate: Students make and record observations of the weather to predict local weather patterns. Students consider how severe weather can impact communities and investigate various climates worldwide. 

Fourth Grade

Environments: Students observe the structures and behaviors of several live organisms. Students explore the ways that these structures and behaviors relate to the organisms' abilities to survive, grow, and reproduce in specific environments.

Energy: Students investigate electrical and electromagnetic energy and the ways that energy can be transferred and transformed. Students also explore how waves transfer sound and motion energy.

Soils, Rocks, and Landforms: Students use topographic maps and stream tables to explore how rocks break down and land changes over time. Students design and conduct experiments to discover how  water flow, slope, and other variables impact the Earth's surface and analyze their data to predict future events.

Fifth Grade 

Living Systems: Students explore how organisms and ecosystems interact and the ways that individual organisms meet their basic needs. Students learn about the role of the sun in providing energy to life on Earth and the ways that energy and matter cycle through ecosystems. 

Mixtures and Solutions: Students explore matter and its interactions, and learn that matter is made up of particles too small to be seen. Students investigate the conservation of matter when it changes state, and create mixtures, solutions, and reactions between substances.  

Earth and Sun: Students explore the properties of the atmosphere, energy transfer from the Sun to Earth, and water cycling in Earth’s atmosphere. Students develop and use models to understand Earth’s place in the solar system, and the interactions of the Earth, sun, and moon that create predictable patterns in shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of stars in the night sky. 

Sixth Grade

​Waves and Planetary Science:  Students explore the ways that waves transfer energy, how waves are affected by the materials through which they pass, and how waves can be used for transmitting information. Students model the relationships between the sun, moon, and Earth to discover why we have a lunar cycle and eclipses. Students also consider Earth's place in the solar system and Milky Way galaxy and the role of gravity in the creation of solar systems.

Unity and Diversity of Life: Students contemplate what makes something living, and use microscopes to explore the structures and functions of animal and plant cells. Students then research various body systems and consider the interactions between these systems for sustaining life. 

Evidence of Earth's History: Students analyze and interpret data from the fossil record to describe organisms and environments throughout Earth's history. Students explore evolutionary relationships among and between fossil organisms and modern organisms.