The Cornerstone School · grades K–5
Science & Discovery
Seeds, magnets, weather, and the night sky — science as careful noticing, with your hands on the evidence.
Slow walks, close looking, and a nature notebook — the living things within a hundred steps of your door.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~10 hours
Unit I — Looking Closely
A naturalist's walk: slow and quiet · Drawing what you see, not what you expect · Keeping a nature notebook
Unit II — Plants Near You
Parts of a plant and their jobs · Seeds travel: wind, water, fur · Watching one plant for a month
Unit III — Animals Near You
Insects: six legs, three parts · Birds at the window: shape, song, habit · Tracks, nests, and other evidence of neighbors
A daily log of the sky — clouds by shape, wind by what it moves, and the slow swing of the year.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~8 hours
Unit I — Today's Sky
Clouds: puffy, flat, feathery · Wind: seeing what is invisible · Keeping a daily weather log
Unit II — Water in the Sky
Where rain comes from · Puddles vanish: evaporation you can watch · Snow, hail, and fog
Unit III — Seasons and Temperature
Reading a thermometer · The year's pattern: four seasons in order · How plants and animals answer the seasons
Ice, steam, and the kitchen counter — states of matter and the properties of materials, tested by hand.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~10 hours
Unit I — Solid, Liquid, Gas
Sorting the stuff around you · What makes a solid hold its shape · Gases are there even when unseen
Unit II — Changing States
Melting and freezing: the same door, two directions · Boiling and evaporating · Condensation: why the cold glass sweats
Unit III — Materials and Their Properties
Hard, flexible, waterproof, magnetic · Choosing the right material for a job · Mixing things: what can be undone and what cannot
Why things speed up, slow down, and stay put — forces made visible with ramps, string, and patience.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~10 hours
Unit I — Pushes and Pulls
Every change in motion starts with a force · Bigger push, bigger change · Friction: the force that says slow down
Unit II — Gravity
Things fall down, not sideways · Weight is a pull · Balancing: making forces cancel
Unit III — Simple Machines
Ramps and levers · Wheels and pulleys · Trading force for distance
Shadows, phases, and constellations — a first astronomy done with your own eyes, no telescope required.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~10 hours
Unit I — The Sun and the Day
Sunrise, noon, sunset: the sky's clock · Shadows and how they move · Why we have day and night
Unit II — The Moon
The moon's changing face · A month of moon watching · Why the moon has phases
Unit III — Stars
What you can see tonight · Constellations: pictures people agreed on · The North Star and finding your way