Science

STEMScopes by Accelerate Learning

• Kindergarten focuses include physical, life, Earth, and space science.
• First-grade students explore space systems (patterns and cycles), sound and light waves (physical science), and animal body structures, functions, and information processing (life science).
• Second-grade students focus on working more deeply to learn the structures and properties of matter, ecosystem relationships, and the processes that shape the Earth.

Building Blocks of Science by Carolina Biological

• Third-grade students transition into Building Blocks of Science with units such as Forces and Interactions, Weather and Climate Patterns, and Life in Ecosystems.
• Fourth-grade students study units Plant and Animal Structures, Energy Works, and Changing Earth.
• Fifth-grade students focus on units like Structures and Properties of Matter, Earth and Space Systems, and Matter and Energy in Ecosystems.

All elementary grade levels combine classroom work with locally relevant and integrated STEM field studies to give a hands-on perspective to the scientific concepts covered in the curriculum.

6th Grade: Earth Science

• Study units include the solar system and Earth, Earth systems interactions (weather, climate, and natural resources & human impacts), Earth history, and geology.

7th & 8th Grade: Life and Physical Science

• Each year, our two-year rotating curriculum integrates life and physical sciences, so 7th and 8th graders complete both grade-level content by the time they complete middle school.
• Year A: Structure & function, force & motion, growth & development, inheritance & variation of traits, and changes over time.
• Year B: Ecosystems, matter & its interactions, energy transfer, and waves & information transfer.

STEM Field experiences are collaboratively designed and provided with multiple local agencies and organizations, are aligned with the classroom course material, and involve locally relevant environmental phenomena. 

High School Science Pathways

Programs offered vary from school to school. Graduation requirements include three credits of science, with two credits required to be accredited as laboratory science. The following course sequences satisfy the graduation requirements. Some pathways include opportunities for advanced placement courses. Additionally,  each high school offers science electives beyond the core course sequence. Please refer to each high school's course catalog for a complete list of classes offered.

Core Pathway

All students are encouraged to take a biology, STEM physics, and chemistry course

• 9th and 10th grade — Biology and STEM Physics, taken in either order
• 11th grade — Chemistry or a chemistry alternative

Advanced and Alternative Pathway

Each high school has a variety of courses that can be taken in place of or in addition to the recommended core courses. Please refer to each high school's course catalog for a complete list of classes offered. Advanced Placement courses that can be taken with teacher recommendation:

• Advanced Placement (AP) Biology may be taken in place of or in addition to the core biology course.
• AP Physics may be taken in place of or in addition to the core STEM Physics course.
• AP Chemistry may be taken after successfully completing the core chemistry course.

STEM Field experiences are collaboratively designed and provided in partnership with multiple local agencies and organizations, aligning with classroom course material and involving locally relevant environmental phenomena. 

STEM Field Studies are site-based learning opportunities connecting students with relevant, real-world problems and phenomena. Students travel to local sites to gain hands-on learning experiences related to the science concepts they have learned in the classroom.

Recent field experiences

• Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge (1st and 7th/ 8th grades)
• Mima Mounds, Glacial Peak, or Wolf Haven for Prairie Pollinators (2nd grade)
• Inspiring Kids Preserve (3rd grade)
• Nisqually Cultural Center or Squaxin Island Library, Museum and Research Center (4th grade)
• Water quality testing (5th grade — high school)
• WET Science Center (middle school)
• Mount St. Helens (6th grade)
• Salmon spawning areas (7th/ 8th grades)
• GREEN congress (5th grade — high school) 
• Nearshore at Meyer’s Point Field Station, Tolmie State Park, or Squaxin Park (HS Biology)
• On the Water Port of Olympia and South Puget Sound (HS Chemistry)