Roanoke Wildlife Rescue - Virginia Standards

Virginia Standards of Learning Covered by Roanoke Wildlife Rescue's Outreach Program

Life Processes

K.6 The student will investigate and understand basic needs and life processes of plants and animals. Key concepts include

living things change as they grow, and they need food, water, and air to survive;
plants and animals live and die (go through a life cycle); and
offspring of plants and animals are similar but not identical to their parents and to one another.

1.4 The student will investigate and understand that plants have life needs and functional parts and can be classified according to certain characteristics. Key concepts include

needs (food, air, water, light, and a place to grow);
parts (seeds, roots, stems, leaves, blossoms, fruits); and
characteristics (edible/nonedible, flowering/nonflowering, evergreen/deciduous).

1.5 The student will investigate and understand that animals, including people, have life needs and specific physical characteristics and can be classified according to certain characteristics. Key concepts include

life needs (air, food, water, and a suitable place to live);
physical characteristics (body coverings, body shape, appendages, and methods of movement); and
other characteristics (wild/tame, water homes/land homes).

3.4 The student will investigate and understand that behavioral and physical adaptations allow animals to respond to life needs. Key concepts include

methods of gathering and storing food, finding shelter, defending themselves, and rearing young; and
hibernation, migration, camouflage, mimicry, instinct, and learned behavior.

Living Systems

2.5 The student will investigate and understand that living things are part of a system. Key concepts include

living organisms are interdependent with their living and nonliving surroundings; and
habitats change over time due to many influences.

3.5 The student will investigate and understand relationships among organisms in aquatic and terrestrial food chains. Key concepts include

producer, consumer, decomposer;
herbivore, carnivore, omnivore; and
predator and prey.

4.5 The student will investigate and understand how plants and animals in an ecosystem interact with one another and the nonliving environment. Key concepts include

behavioral and structural adaptations;
organization of communities;
flow of energy through food webs;
habitats and niches;
life cycles; and
influence of human activity on ecosystems.

Earth Patterns, Cycles, and Change

1.7 The student will investigate and understand the relationship of seasonal change and weather to the activities and life processes of plants and animals. Key concepts include how temperature, light, and precipitation bring about changes in

plants (growth, budding, falling leaves, and wilting);
animals (behaviors, hibernation, migration, body covering, and habitat); and
people (dress, recreation, and work).

2.7 The student will investigate and understand that weather and seasonal changes affect plants, animals, and their surroundings. Key concepts include

effects on growth and behavior of living things (migration, hibernation, camouflage, adaptation, dormancy); and
weathering and erosion of the land surface.

Resources

1.8 The student will investigate and understand that natural resources are limited. Key concepts include

identification of natural resources (plants and animals, water, air, land, minerals, forests, and soil);
factors that affect air and water quality; and
recycling, reusing, and reducing consumption of natural resources.

3.10 The student will investigate and understand that natural events and human influences can affect the survival of species. Key concepts include

the interdependency of plants and animals;
the effects of human activity on the quality of air, water, and habitat;
the effects of fire, flood, disease, and erosion on organisms; and
conservation and resource renewal.

4.8 The student will investigate and understand important Virginia natural resources. Key concepts include

watershed and water resources;
animals and plants;
minerals, rocks, ores, and energy sources; and
forests, soil, and land.