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Free scope and sequences, TEKS breakdowns, phenomenon ideas, and engagement activities for the 2024 Texas science standards.

Chris Kesler
I'm Chris Kesler, a former award-winning Texas middle school science teacher. This is the site I wish I'd had in the classroom. One hub with TEKS breakdowns, scope and sequences, phenomenon starters, engagement ideas, and resources, all aligned to the standards you actually teach.
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All standards updated for the 2024 TEKS revision
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6th Grade TEKS Standards

Click any standard to see what it means, how to teach it, where students get stuck, and aligned resources.

Matter & Properties (6.6)
6.6A Matter & Kinetic Energy 6.6B Pure Substances & Mixtures 6.6C Classify Elements 6.6D Comparing Density 6.6E Evidence of Chemical Changes
Force, Motion & Energy (6.7)
6.7A Forces in the Real-World 6.7B Calculating Net Force 6.7C Newton's Third Law of Motion
Energy (6.8)
6.8A Compare & Contrast Energies 6.8B Energy Transformations in Systems 6.8C Energy of Waves
Earth & Space (6.9)
6.9A Model Earth's Tilt & Seasons 6.9B Predicting Tides
Earth's Structure (6.10)
6.10A Differentiate Between Earth's Spheres 6.10B Modeling Layers of Earth 6.10C Processes in the Rock Cycle
Resources (6.11)
6.11A Resource Management 6.11B Managing Energy Resources
Ecosystems (6.12)
6.12A Biotic & Abiotic Competition 6.12B Ecological Relationships 6.12C Hierarchy of Ecosystems
Organisms (6.13)
6.13A Development of Cell Theory 6.13B Comparing Organisms 6.13C Variations & Survival
TEKS S.6.9B • Earth & Space

Predicting Tides

The Standard

"Predict and model patterns in tides as a result of the gravitational effects of the moon and sun on Earth, including the positions of Earth, the moon, and the sun during spring and neap tides."

💡 What This Standard Actually Means

The Key Verb

"Predict and model". Students are using patterns (and simple diagrams) to forecast when higher or lower tides happen, and they're modeling the positions of Earth, the moon, and the sun that cause those patterns. No calculating tide heights. No complex formulas. The standard also uses the word "including", which signals where to focus your students: the positions of Earth, the moon, and the sun during spring tides and during neap tides. Students should be able to identify and explain both arrangements in a diagram.

Tides are the rise and fall of ocean water caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and, to a lesser degree, the sun. The moon's pull is the bigger player for tides because it's so much closer to Earth, even though the sun is far more massive.

The moon's gravity creates a bulge of water on the side of Earth facing the moon. There's also a second bulge on the opposite side of Earth because of how gravity affects Earth itself slightly differently than the water on the far side. As Earth rotates through those two bulges each day, most coastal locations experience two high tides and two low tides in roughly 24 hours. That's the core pattern students need to predict.

The moon and sun line up in different ways during the month, and that's where spring and neap tides come from. Spring tides happen at the new moon and full moon, when the sun, Earth, and moon are lined up. Their pulls combine, and you get the biggest high tides and the lowest low tides of the month. Neap tides happen at the first and third quarter moons, when the sun and moon pull at right angles to each other. The pulls partly cancel out, and you get the smallest difference between high and low tide. (The word "spring" here does not mean the season. It comes from "springing up.")

💬 From Chris's Classroom

When I first taught tides, I rushed straight to spring and neap and the class glazed over. The thing that finally made it land was starting with "two high tides every day, not one." I'd pull up a real tide chart from Galveston on the board and have students point out the pattern before I ever said the words "spring" or "neap." Once they saw two humps and two dips per day, the follow-up question wrote itself: "Why do you think some weeks the humps are taller and some weeks they're smaller?" That opened the door to positions of the moon and sun without me lecturing at them. Chart first, vocabulary second.

⚠️ Misconceptions Your Students May Have

These are some of the most common misconceptions. Knowing what to look for can help you get ahead of them.

×

"There's only one high tide a day because the moon only pulls on one side"

✓

Most coastlines experience two high tides and two low tides per day. There's a water bulge on the side of Earth facing the moon AND a second bulge on the far side. Earth rotates through both bulges in about 24 hours, so a given coastline passes through two high tides. Looking at a real tide chart makes this obvious before students have to explain why.

×

"The sun doesn't affect tides because it's too far away"

✓

The sun absolutely affects tides. It's much farther away than the moon, so its tidal pull is weaker, roughly half the strength of the moon's effect on tides. But when the sun and moon line up at new and full moons, their combined pull creates the extra-large spring tides. When they pull at right angles at the quarter moons, the effects partly cancel and produce the smaller neap tides. The sun is a supporting player, not a no-show.

×

"Spring tides only happen in the spring season"

✓

The name is confusing. Spring tides have nothing to do with the spring season. The word comes from an older meaning of "spring" as in "leap up" or "spring forth." Spring tides happen twice a month every month of the year, at the new moon and full moon, when Earth, the moon, and the sun are in a line.

×

"Tides happen because waves push water onto the shore"

✓

Waves and tides are not the same thing. Waves are mostly caused by wind pushing on the surface of the water. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun creating long-wavelength bulges of water that Earth rotates through. A beach still experiences tides on a perfectly calm day with zero waves.

📓 Teaching Resources for 6.9B

These resources are aligned to this standard.

Complete 5E Lesson
Predicting Tides Complete Science Lesson
The full unit for 6.9B: differentiated station labs, editable presentations, interactive notebooks (English + Spanish), student-choice projects, and assessments. Built on the 5E model.
⏱ Best for: Full unit coverage • Multiple class periods
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Station Lab
Predicting Tides Station Lab
9-station hands-on lab covering the moon and sun's role in tides, spring tides, and neap tides with input stations (Explore It!, Watch It!, Read It!, Research It!) and output stations (Organize It!, Illustrate It!, Write It!, Assess It!). Print and digital. English and Spanish.
🔬 Best for: Core instruction • 1-2 class periods
Preview → Buy →
Student Choice Projects
Predicting Tides Student Choice Projects
Choice board with nine project options plus a "design your own" pathway. Students demonstrate their understanding of tides through writing, building, illustrating, presenting, or digital formats.
🎓 Best for: Project-based assessment • 2-3 class periods
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🌎 Phenomenon Ideas for 6.9B

Use these real-world phenomena to anchor your lesson. Show students the phenomenon first, let them wonder, then build toward Predicting Tides as the explanation.

🔎
Phenomenon 1

Boats Grounded on the Seafloor at Low Tide

At the Bay of Fundy in Canada, the water level between high tide and low tide can change by more than 40 feet. Fishing boats that were floating in the morning end up sitting on dry mud in the afternoon. Tourists walk on the ocean floor. Six hours later, the boats are floating again. Same harbor, same day.

💬 Discussion Prompt

"Where does all that water go when the tide drops? What force could be pulling an entire ocean up and down like that twice a day?"

🔎
Phenomenon 2

Why a Full Moon Often Brings a Bigger High Tide

Coastal communities know that the biggest high tides of the month tend to show up right around the full moon and the new moon. That's when flood warnings go up for low-lying streets, and when fishermen plan their best trips. Two weeks later, around the quarter moon, the tides are much calmer. The moon looks different in the sky on those nights, too.

💬 Discussion Prompt

"Why would the size of the tides be connected to the phase of the moon? What might be different about where the sun, moon, and Earth are during a full moon compared to a quarter moon?"

🔎
Phenomenon 3

A Tide Chart That Actually Works

NOAA publishes tide predictions a year in advance for ports like Galveston, Corpus Christi, and Port Aransas. A surfer can look up what the water level will do at 3:45 PM on a Tuesday in August and plan their day around it. Those predictions are usually within minutes of what actually happens. How can we predict water levels months in advance with that kind of accuracy?

💬 Discussion Prompt

"If tides were random, we couldn't write a chart months in advance. What about tides is predictable enough that scientists can calendar them out for a whole year?"

💡 Free Engagement Ideas for 6.9B

01

Tide Chart Pattern Hunt

Pull up a free week-long tide chart from NOAA for Galveston, Texas. Print it or project it. Have students circle the high tides and low tides, count how many of each happen per day, and calculate the average time between high tides. The pattern (two highs and two lows, roughly every 12 hours) jumps off the page.

Materials: Printed or projected NOAA tide chart, colored pencils or markers
02

Styrofoam Ball Earth-Moon-Sun Alignment

Give each group three different-sized foam balls (big for sun, medium for Earth, small for moon) and a pencil. Have them arrange the balls in a line for a spring tide (new moon or full moon), then arrange them in a right angle for a neap tide (quarter moon). They sketch each arrangement and label the expected tide size.

Materials: Foam balls in three sizes, pencils, paper for sketching
03

The Rotating Earth Walk-Through

Tape two paper "water bulges" on opposite sides of a globe. The globe is Earth. Slowly rotate the globe and have students watch a single point (a city sticker) as it passes through both bulges. That point goes high, low, high, low every time the globe makes one full rotation. Students physically see why most coasts get two high tides a day.

Materials: Globe, sticky notes or cutouts for water bulges, stickers for cities, tape
04

Match the Moon Phase to the Tide

Make 8 index cards with moon phases (new, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent) and 4 cards with tide labels (spring tide, neap tide, spring tide, neap tide). Students work in pairs to match each moon phase to the correct tide type based on the Earth-moon-sun geometry.

Materials: Index cards, markers, printed moon phase images (optional)
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