Common Planner
K–12 Standards

Science (SCI)

Other California PTK DRDP: An Early Childhood Developmental Continuum sets

Cause and Effect1

  • 1

    Cause and Effect1

Child develops increasing ability to observe, anticipate, and reason about the cause-and-effect relationships between actions and events

  •  

    Responding

    1. E

      Responds or shows anticipatory excitement to people, objects, or actionsEarlier

    2. L

      Repeats the same action with the same objects or people that produced an effectLater

  •  

    Exploring

    1. E

      Repeats the same action with different objects or peopleEarlier

    2. L

      Explores possible causes of actions or eventsLater

  •  

    Building

    1. E

      Acts on objects based on their featuresEarlier

    2. M

      Shows anticipation of effects of actions or eventsMiddle

    3. L

      Offers possible explanations for why certain actions or behaviors result in specific effectsLater

  •  

    Integrating

    1. E

      Shows understanding that variations in actions or degrees ofactions with the same objects or materials cause different resultsEarlier

    2. M

      Shows understanding that effects may arise from causes that are not easily perceivedMiddle

    3. L

      Applies understanding of causeand-effectrelationships to plan investigations and draw conclusions about causes of observable eventsLater

Inquiry Through Observation and Investigation2

  • 2

    Inquiry Through Observation and Investigation2

Child develops increasing ability to carry out observations,explorations, and investigations in the environment

  •  

    Responding

    1. E

      Responds to people, things, or sounds Earlier

    2. L

      Shows interest in people or things in the environmentLater

  •  

    Exploring

    1. E

      Attends to responses of objects or people that result from own actionsEarlier

    2. L

      Engages in simple, purposeful explorations of familiar objects in the environmentLater

  •  

    Building

    1. E

      Engages in extended explorations of objects and events in the environment Earlier

    2. M

      Makes simple predictions about objects and events of interest in the environmentMiddle

    3. L

      Carries out an exploration or investigation to check predictions and test out solutionsLater

  •  

    Integrating

    1. E

      Identifies information, gathered from an exploration or investigation, that is relevant to answering questions Earlier

    2. M

      Generates new questions based on information gathered and findings of explorations or investigationsMiddle

    3. L

      Plans and carries out systematic explorations or investigations to collect data that will provide evidence relevant to specific questions Later

Documentation and Communication of Inquiry3

  • 3

    Documentation and Communication of Inquiry3

Child develops increasing capacity to describe, record, and communicate about their observations and investigations

  •  

    Exploring

    1. E

      Identifies objects or actions in the environment Earlier

    2. L

      Communicates about characteristics (e.g., color, size, texture) ofan object or actionLater

  •  

    Building

    1. E

      Notices differences in characteristics between objects or actionsEarlier

    2. M

      Provides representations (e.g., drawings, models, communications) that include general features about objects or actions in their environment Middle

    3. L

      Provides representations of the details of objects or actions in their environment, with some accuracyLater

  •  

    Integrating

    1. E

      Communicates about information that they helped to gather (e.g., tallying, charting, simple graphing, or complex drawings)Earlier

    2. M

      Identifies patterns and draws simple conclusions based on recorded informationMiddle

    3. L

      Identifies and communicates how the evidence informs the questions or problems explored Later

Frequently asked questions

What grade levels do these standards cover?
PRE-K and Kindergarten
Where can I read the official document?
DRDP 2025 Part 2

Keep exploring

Keep exploring PTK DRDP: An Early Childhood Developmental Continuum standards

Sibling grade bands, other subjects in this jurisdiction, and the same subject across other states.

More California PTK DRDP: An Early Childhood Developmental Continuum sets

PTK DRDP: An Early Childhood Developmental Continuum