Kindergarten Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in Kindergarten science in the Oregon State Standards, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- Pushes and pulls
- Weather and climate
- What plants and animals need
Easy ways to practice science at home
- Go on a nature walk and name what you see: leaves, bugs, clouds, puddles.
- Plant a bean seed and check it together each day.
- Ask “What do you notice?” before you explain anything.
- Talk about the weather each morning and what to wear for it.
What each unit covers
What Living Things Need
Telling living from non-living things, and what plants and animals need to live: food, water, air, shelter and sunlight.
Push & Pull
Telling pushes from pulls, and seeing how a bigger push, an object's shape and its weight change how it moves.
Weather & Seasons
Dressing for the weather, the four seasons in order, day and night, and how plants and animals change with the seasons.
Care for Our Earth
Show how your family reuses and recycles. Spend time outside, and talk about taking only what you need and leaving nature as you found it.
Sun & Shade
Practices noticing that sunlight warms the ground, water, sand and objects, and choosing ways to make shade to keep a place cooler.
Stormy Weather
Practices what weather forecasts are for and how families get ready for, and stay safe in, storms, wind, snow, heat and floods.
Where Animals Live
Practices matching plants and animals to places that meet their needs, and noticing how animals and people change their surroundings to get what they need.
Make It Work
Practices the first steps of engineering: noticing a problem to fix, seeing how an object's shape helps it do its job, and comparing two designs after a test.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practicing the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Oregon report card guide.
Common questions
Go on a nature walk and name what you see: leaves, bugs, clouds, puddles. Plant a bean seed and check it together each day. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Oregon State Standards Kindergarten science units include What Living Things Need, Push & Pull, Weather & Seasons, Care for Our Earth, Sun & Shade, Stormy Weather.
Free printable Kindergarten science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.