Philosophy

Tarbiyah Academy’s philosophy is to engage students in science through active learning. Our Science curriculum, based on the award winning FOSS Delta Next Generation design, includes these pedagogies:Science Modules Learning Progression

  • Active investigation, including outdoor experiences
  • Recording in science notebooks to answer the focus question
  • Reading in Science Resources
  • Assessment to monitor progress and motivate student reflection on learning

These components are seamlessly integrated into a continuum designed to maximize every student’s opportunity to learn. An instructional sequence may move from one pedagogy to another and back again to ensure adequate coverage of a concept.

Our curriculum was developed to meet the requirements of the Next Generation Science Standards and be integrated seamlessly within our IB Units of Inquiry. The curriculum explicitly connects science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, disciplinary core ideas, and Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Math.

Science is one of the core subjects in our Units of Inquiry.  Science at Tarbiyah Academy is based on inquiry and investigations.  The above scope and sequence details all the investigations students will conduct throughout their academic years.

KG Scope & Sequence

  • Materials & Motions: The Materials and Motion Module provides experiences that heighten students’ awareness, curiosity, and understanding of the physical world as they observe and compare the properties of various wood, paper, and fabric by performing a number of tests and interactions. Students explore the concept of force and motion by observing and comparing a variety of pushes and pulls, the speed and motion of moving objects, and collisions.
  • Trees & Weather:The Trees and Weather Module provides systematic investigations of trees and leaves over the seasons to bring students to a better understanding of trees’ place at school and in the community. Students observe day-to-day changes in weather over the year, as well as the impact weather has on living things.
  • Animals Two by Two: The Animals Two by Two Module provides young students with close and personal interaction with some common land and water animals. Students observe differences in structure and behavior and learn about basic needs of animals.

Grade 1 Scope & Sequence

  • Sounds & Light: The Sound and Light Module provides students with experiences to develop an understanding of how to observe and manipulate sound and light. Students learn that sound comes from vibrating objects. They explore how to change sound volume and pitch, and develop simple models for how sound travels from the source to the receiver. With light, students also work with sources and receivers. They find out what happens when materials with different properties are placed in a beam of light, and explore how to create and change shadows and reflections.
  • Air & Weather: In the Air and Weather Module, students turn their focus to the sky to make observations that will heighten their awareness, curiosity, and understanding of Earth’s dynamic atmosphere and the observable patterns of objects in the sky. Students explore the natural world by using simple instruments to observe and monitor change.
  • Plants & Animals: The Plants and Animals Module provides experiences that heighten students’ awareness of the way that plants and animals meet their basic needs. They observe plant structures and discover ways to propagate new plants from mature plants (from seeds, bulbs, roots, and stem cuttings). Students design terrariums and provide for the needs of both plants and animals living together in the classroom.

Grade 2 Scope & Sequence

  • Solids & Liquids: The Solids and Liquids Module provides students with physical science core ideas dealing with matter and its interactions and engineering design. The experiences help students develop an understanding about how materials are similar and different from one another and how the properties of materials relate to their use.
  • Pebbles, Sand, and Silt: The Pebbles, Sand, and Silt Module provides experiences with earth science core ideas dealing with the observable structures and properties of earth materials (rocks, soil, and water), weathering and erosion of Earth’s surface, natural sources of water, and how to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water on Earth.
  • Insects and Plants: The Insects and Plants Module provides experiences with the life science core ideas dealing with structure and function of living things, growth and development of plants and animals, interactions of organisms with their environment, and biodiversity of organisms on land and in water.

Grade 3 Scope & Sequence

  • Motion & Matter: The Motion and Matter Module provides students with physical science core ideas dealing with forces and interactions, matter and its interactions, and engineering design.
  • Water and Climate: The Water and Climate Module provides students with experiences to explore the properties of water, the water cycle and weather, interactions between water and other earth materials, and how humans use water as a natural resource.
  • Structures of Life: The Structures of Life Module consists of investigations dealing with the big ideas in life science.

Grade 4 Scope & Sequence

  • Energy: Students explore the concepts of energy and change, waves, and energy transfer in the Energy Module. They experience electricity and magnetism as related effects and learn useful applications of electromagnetism in everyday life. They also consider energy transfer, force, and motion in different systems.
  • Soils, Rocks, and Landforms: Geology is the study of our planet’s earth materials and natural resources. The Soils, Rocks, and Landforms Module provides students with firsthand experiences with soils, rocks, and minerals, and modeling experiences to study changes to rocks and landforms at Earth’s surface.
  • Environments: Through the study of different ecosystems, students build an understanding of the relationships between organisms and their environments. The Environments Module focuses on the concepts that organisms need energy and matter to live and grow, and that living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for their survival and the survival of populations.

Grade 5 & 6 Scope & Sequence

  • Mixtures and Solutions: Chemistry is the study of the structure of matter and the changes or transformations that take place within those structures. The Mixtures and Solutions Module introduces students to the properties, behaviors, and changes in substances—fundamental ideas in chemistry. Students also develop models to explain how something works.
  • Earth and Sun: The Earth and Sun Module focuses on Earth and the Sun as a system. Students collect and analyze shadow data. They observe the changes in the Moon’s appearance over time. Then students explore the properties of the atmosphere, energy transfer from the Sun to Earth, and water cycling in Earth’s atmosphere.
  • Living Systems: The Living Systems Module takes a look at life at every level of organization—from biosphere to individual organisms—to acknowledge that it is complex, involving multiple parts working together in systems to maintain the viability and vigor of the system. Understanding living systems—ecosystems, populations, and individual organisms—is a critically important perspective, leading toward an appreciation of the diversity and wonder of life on Earth.