🔬 7th grade Science: how to help at home

What each unit covers

1. ⚛️Atoms & Elements

   Elements versus compounds and mixtures, chemical symbols (H, O, Na, Cl, Fe, Au…), counting atoms in formulas like H₂O and C₆H₁₂O₆, metals and non-metals, and the basics of the periodic table.

2. 🧪Mixtures & Solutions

   Telling pure substances from mixtures, mechanical mixtures from solutions, solutes and solvents, comparing concentration, and choosing separation methods like filtering, evaporation, magnets and distillation.

3. 🥣Particles & Mixtures

   The particle theory of matter, the states of matter, pure substances versus mixtures, and homogeneous versus heterogeneous mixtures.

4. 🔥Particles and Heat

   Solids, liquids and gases in the particle model, faster particles when heated and slower when cooled, melting, freezing, evaporation and condensation, and why mass stays the same in a phase change.

5. ⚗️Chemical Reactions

   Practices signs of chemical reactions, how properties change when new substances form, conservation of mass, and devices that release or absorb thermal energy through reactions.

6. 🌱How Plants Work

   The parts of seed plants and what they do, photosynthesis, gas exchange, transpiration and pollination, and how plant structures suit where a plant grows.

7. 🌲Ecosystems

   Biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem, how they interact, and the limiting factors and carrying capacity that decide how many organisms an ecosystem can support.

8. 🦊Food Chains & Energy

   Producers, consumers and decomposers, food chains and webs, how energy shrinks as it passes up a chain (about 10% each step), and what happens when part of a chain changes.

9. ♻️Cycles & Succession

   How water, carbon and nitrogen are cycled through ecosystems, why cycling supports sustainability, and the difference between primary and secondary succession.

10. ⛰️Earth's Moving Surface

    Practices plate tectonics and evidence from fossils, rocks and continent shapes, the rock cycle, and how processes at different speeds shape Earth's surface, including the Cascade volcanoes.

11. ⛏️Oregon Resources & Hazards

    Practices why Earth's mineral, energy and groundwater resources are unevenly spread, and how scientists use data to forecast hazards and reduce their effects, with Oregon examples like the Cascadia Subduction Zone, tsunami maps for the coast, Cascade volcanoes and geothermal heat near Klamath Falls.

12. 🦫Biodiversity in Oregon

    Practices why biodiversity and ecosystem services matter and how to compare solutions that protect them, with Oregon examples like marine reserves, kelp forests and urchins, beaver wetlands, salmon rivers and old-growth forests.