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Science Standards

1st Grade Science Standards (NGSS*)

All 9 1st grade performance expectations of the Next Generation Science Standards, each explained in plain English. The official wording of each one is a click away.

9 standards

Waves: Light and Sound

4 standards
1-PS4-1
Plan and run tests to show that vibrating things make sound and sound can make things vibrate, like paper shaking near a loud speaker.
Official wording
Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
1-PS4-2
Observe things in a dark room or a pinhole box to explain with evidence that we see objects only when light shines on them or they give off light.
Official wording
Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects in darkness can be seen only when illuminated.
1-PS4-3
Plan and run tests to see what happens when different materials block a beam of light, like light passing through clear plastic or bouncing off a mirror.
Official wording
Plan and conduct investigations to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.
1-PS4-4
Use simple materials to make something that sends a message across a distance with light or sound, like a cup and string phone or a drum code.
Official wording
Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.

Structure, Function, and Information Processing

3 standards
1-LS1-1
Use materials to solve a people problem by copying an outside part of a plant or animal, like a bike helmet modeled on a turtle shell.
Official wording
Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
1-LS1-2
Read books and watch videos to find patterns in how parents and their young behave to keep the young safe, like a chick cheeping and its parent feeding it.
Official wording
Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.
1-LS3-1
Observe young plants and animals to explain with evidence how they look like their parents but not exactly, like puppies of one breed or leaves of different sizes.
Official wording
Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.

Space Systems: Patterns and Cycles

2 standards
1-ESS1-1
Watch the sun, moon and stars to describe patterns you can predict, like the sun rising, crossing the sky and setting, and stars showing only at night.
Official wording
Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.
1-ESS1-2
Observe the sky at different times of year to compare how much daylight there is, like noticing winter days are shorter than spring days.
Official wording
Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.

The official document

Official wording from NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. The plain-English lines and everything else on this page are EMStudio’s own explanations, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standards.

*NGSS is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.