Astor Academy Methods - Kindergarten Science

Sample day 1 - September, Unit 1 (Week 3: ice detectives)

• Weather chart (5 min). A child chooses today's symbol; the class counts sunny days so far.
• Wonder (5 min). Hold up an ice cube. 'What do you notice? What will happen if it sits by the window?'
• Investigate (20 min). Partners set one cup of ice on the sunny sill and one on a shady shelf, then draw both cups. They check and draw again after snack and after lunch (K-PS1-1).
• Share (10 min). 'Which cup changed more? What made it change?' Record children's words: warm, melt, water, liquid.

Sample day 2 - November, Unit 2 (Week 11: test two ramps)

• Weather chart (5 min).
• Recall (5 min). Show last week's two sketches: a steep ramp and a low ramp.
• Test (20 min). Each team rolls a marble five times down each ramp at a paper cup and makes a tally of hits (K-PS2-2, K-2-ETS1-3).
• Talk (10 min). 'Which design worked better? What did the push from the ramp change?' Children compare tallies (Math link: count and compare).

Sample day 3 - June, Unit 7 (Week 35: melt race)

• Weather chart (5 min). Sunny days this month versus last month.
• Plan (5 min). Teams check their shade sketch from last week.
• Build and test (25 min). Teams put an ice cube under their shade and a second cube in full sun, then check every ten minutes and draw (K-PS3-2).
• Compare (10 min). 'Whose ice lasted longest? What shape was that shade? Why did it work?' (K-2-ETS1-3)

1. Unit checks

Each unit ends with a culminating task and a short one-on-one check (listed under each unit). Kindergarten science is best checked with real materials and conversation.

2. Science notebook

Each child keeps a drawing notebook: predictions, observations, and the class weather chart pages. Look for growth in detail and in 'because' sentences across the year.

3. End-of-year checklist (every performance expectation)

• Multilingual learners. Use real objects, gestures, picture word cards, and home-language words next to English; let children show what they know by pointing, sorting, drawing, or acting it out.
• Students with disabilities. Follow each child's IEP; offer larger materials, fewer choices at once, visual schedules, and extra time; give a quiet spot for children who find noise or crowds hard.
• Children ready for more. Ask for a second test, a new prediction, or a better design; let them count and graph their own data.

● = performance expectation in focus (taught and checked); ○ = practiced. Every kindergarten performance expectation is in focus in at least one unit and appears in the end-of-year checklist.

From NYSED, New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, Kindergarten and K-2 Engineering Design pages.

• K-PS1-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to test the claim that different kinds of matter exist as either solid or liquid, depending on temperature. Clarification: a solid may be a liquid at higher temperature and a liquid may be a solid at a lower temperature. Boundary: only a qualitative description of temperature, such as hot, warm, and cool, is expected.
• K-PS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object. Clarification examples: a string attached to an object being pulled, a person pushing an object, a person stopping a rolling ball, two objects colliding. Boundary: different relative strengths or different directions, but not both at the same time; does not include non-contact pushes or pulls such as those produced by magnets.
• K-PS2-2: Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.* Clarification examples: a marble moving a certain distance, following a path, knocking down other objects; solutions such as a ramp to increase speed and a structure that makes a marble or ball turn. Boundary: friction is not included.
• K-PS3-1: Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth's surface. Clarification: examples of Earth's surface could include sand, soil, rocks, and water. Boundary: temperature limited to relative measures such as warmer/cooler.
• K-PS3-2: Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.* Clarification: examples of structures could include umbrellas, canopies, and tents that minimize the warming effect of the sun.
• K-LS1-1: Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. Clarification examples: animals need to take in food but plants do not; different animals need different kinds of food; plants need light; all living things need water and other materials to live, grow, and thrive.
• K-ESS2-1: Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time. Clarification examples: descriptions such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, and warm; numbers of sunny, windy, and rainy days in a month; it is usually cooler in the morning than in the afternoon. Boundary: whole numbers and relative measures such as warmer/cooler.
• K-ESS2-2: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs. Clarification examples: a squirrel digs in the ground to hide its food; tree roots can break concrete.
• K-ESS3-1: Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals (including humans) and the places they live. Clarification examples: deer eat buds and leaves, therefore they usually live in forested areas; grasses need sunlight so they often grow in meadows. Plants, animals, and their surroundings make up a system.
• K-ESS3-2: Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather.* Clarification: emphasis is on local forms of severe weather and local resources available for preparedness measures.
• K-ESS3-3: Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on living organisms and non-living things in the local environment.* Clarification examples: cutting trees to produce paper and using resources to produce bottles; solutions could include reusing paper and recycling cans and bottles.
• K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• K-2-ETS1-2: Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
• K-2-ETS1-3: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Disciplinary Core Ideas used in this plan

Text marked (NYSED) is New York's own wording in the standards document.

• PS1.A: (NYSED) Different kinds of matter exist and many of them can be either solid or liquid, depending on temperature. Matter can be described and classified by its observable properties. (K-PS1-1)
• PS2.A: Pushes and pulls can have different strengths and directions. Pushing or pulling on an object can change the speed or direction of its motion and can start or stop it. (K-PS2-1, K-PS2-2)
• PS2.B: When objects touch or collide, they push on one another and can change motion. (K-PS2-1)
• PS3.B: Sunlight warms Earth's surface. (K-PS3-1, K-PS3-2)
• LS1.C: (NYSED) All animals need food, air, and water in order to live, grow, and thrive. Animals obtain food from plants or from other animals. Plants need water, air, and light to live, grow, and thrive. (K-LS1-1)
• ESS2.D: Weather is the combination of sunlight, wind, snow or rain, and temperature in a particular region at a particular time. People measure these conditions to describe and record the weather and to notice patterns over time. (K-ESS2-1)
• ESS2.E: Plants and animals can change their environment. (K-ESS2-2)
• ESS3.A: Living things need water, air, and resources from the land, and they live in places that have the things they need. Humans use natural resources for everything they do. (K-ESS3-1)
• ESS3.B: Some kinds of severe weather are more likely than others in a given region. Weather scientists forecast severe weather so that the communities can prepare for and respond to these events. (K-ESS3-2)
• ESS3.C: Things that people do to live comfortably can affect the world around them. But they can make choices that reduce their impacts on the land, water, air, and other living things. (K-ESS2-2, K-ESS3-3)
• ETS1.A: A situation that people want to change or create can be approached as a problem to be solved through engineering. (K-2-ETS1-1)
• ETS1.B: Designs can be conveyed through sketches, drawings, or physical models. These representations are useful in communicating ideas for a problem's solutions to other people. (K-ESS3-3)

• Codes and wording are copied from the NYSED P-12 Science Learning Standards PDF (text extracted from the PDF, not retyped).
• Not claimed: whether K-PS1-1 (solids and liquids) is a New York addition with no NGSS match. Astor could not open the national NGSS document to compare, so the plan does not say either way.
• No NYC kindergarten science curriculum is mapped. Astor did not find a required one in the NYCPS pages it checked.
• Kid-facing facts on the Astor Kids site restate sentences from the NYSED document, NYC Emergency Management, or another cited page; the source number is printed next to each one in this document and linked on the site.
• Astor's own choices: unit order, timing, minutes, activities, materials, sample days, and checklist tasks.
• Read-alouds were checked against Open Library (title and author). Titles not found there were dropped.

All links were opened or downloaded on October 20, 2026 (America/New_York). Standard codes and wording were copied from the NYSED documents (local copies in src-cache/). Numbers continue the English and Math source list (1-23).

24. NYSED. New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards (PDF dated 2019, modified Feb 2020). Kindergarten performance expectations, clarification statements, and Disciplinary Core Ideas, PDF pp. 4-7; K-2 Engineering Design, PDF p. 15. https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/curriculum-instruction/p-12-science-learning-standards.pdf
25. NYC Emergency Management. Be Ready NYC: New York City hazards include extreme heat, heavy rain and flash floods, coastal storms and hurricanes, winter weather, and earthquakes. https://www.nyc.gov/site/em/ready/be-ready-new-york.page
26. NYC Emergency Management. Plan for Hazards: Thunderstorms and Lightning: every thunderstorm produces lightning; take shelter, 'indoors means indoors.' https://www.nyc.gov/site/em/ready/thunderstorms.page
27. NYC Public Schools. 2026-2027 School Year Calendar (holiday names and dates used in the Social Studies plan: Yom Kippur Sept 21; Italian Heritage/Indigenous Peoples' Day Oct 12; Election Day Nov 3, remote; Veterans Day Nov 11; Thanksgiving Recess Nov 26-27; Winter Recess Dec 24-Jan 1; Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Jan 18; Midwinter Recess Feb 15-19; Eid al-Fitr Mar 9; Good Friday Mar 26; Spring Recess Apr 22-30; Eid al-Adha May 17; Memorial Day May 31). Same document as source 13. https://www.schools.nyc.gov/calendar/2026-2027-school-year-calendar
28. Open Library search API, checked October 20, 2026, for every new read-aloud title and author pair (titles not found there were dropped). https://openlibrary.org/search.json