4th grade Science
14 units matched to the Alabama Course of Study.
Focus areas
- Energy and waves, plant and animal structures, and Earth's changing surface
- Science and engineering practices: making models and comparing solutions
- Engineering design: solving real problems in Alabama and beyond
Units
Unit 1
Energy, Speed & Collisions
Practices how an object's speed relates to its energy, what happens to energy when objects collide, and devices that change energy from one form to another.
Content standard: 4.1; 4.2; 4.4 · how speed relates to energy, energy changes in collisions, and devices that change energy
Unit 2
Energy on the Move
Practices energy sources, how energy moves from a source to an object or living thing to cause action, and how people use their senses to detect heat, light and sound.
Content standard: 4.3 · energy moving from place to place by sound, light, heat and electric current
Unit 3
Forms of Energy
Kinetic and potential energy, how energy changes from one form to another, and why some energy always escapes as heat, light or sound.
Content standard: 4.3; 4.4 · forms of energy and how energy changes from one form to another
Unit 4
Waves & Codes
Practices how waves have amplitude and wavelength and can make objects move, and how patterns like codes, flashes and digital signals carry information.
Content standard: 4.5; 4.6 · amplitude and wavelength, and how waves carry light, sound and digital information
Unit 5
Sound
Vibrations and sound waves, pitch and volume, how sound travels through different materials but not through empty space, echoes and absorbing sound, how we hear, and how noise and sound devices affect people and animals.
Content standard: 4.5 · sound as vibrations and waves, pitch and loudness
Unit 6
Light
Natural and artificial light, things that make light and things that reflect it, shadows, transparent, translucent and opaque materials, mirrors, refraction, and how light technology affects people and wildlife.
Content standard: 4.7 · light reflecting from objects into our eyes so we can see them
Unit 7
Built to Survive: Plants
Practices how the structures and functions of plants help them survive in their environment: waxy leaves and spines that save water, deep or wide roots, thick stems that store water, and leaves shaped for sun or shade, with Texas plants such as prickly pear, mesquite, live oak and bald cypress.
Content standard: 4.8 · plant structures that support growth and survival
Unit 8
Adaptations & Habitats
Practices habitats, body and behavior adaptations, camouflage, migration and hibernation, and how plants and animals rely on each other (pollination, seed dispersal, soil nutrients).
Content standard: 4.8 · animal and plant structures that support growth, survival and behavior
Unit 9
Sense & Respond
How people, animals and plants sense and respond to their environment: the nervous system, reflexes, special animal senses and plant responses to light, gravity and touch.
Content standard: 4.9 · how animals take in information through their senses and respond
Unit 10
Weather and the Water Cycle
How the Sun, air, water and land interact to cause daily weather, the water cycle, tools for measuring weather, and why long-term forecasting is hard.
Content standard: 4.10 · evaporation, condensation and precipitation in the water cycle, and the weather they bring
Unit 11
Wind, Water, Ice
Children learn how wind, water and ice change the landscape, how soil forms from rocks, and which natural events cause sudden changes.
Content standard: 4.12 · weathering and erosion by water, ice, wind and plants, one at a time
Unit 12
Earth Maps & Hazards
Your child reads maps to find patterns in Earth's features and compares solutions that protect people from natural hazards, such as Alabama's tornadoes and hurricanes.
Content standard: 4.13; 4.15 · patterns of Earth's features on maps, and solutions that protect people from natural hazards
Unit 13
Energy Resources
Your child sorts energy resources as renewable or nonrenewable and describes how using each affects the environment, with Alabama examples such as coal and river dams.
Content standard: 4.14 · how using renewable and nonrenewable energy resources affects the environment
Unit 14
Rock Layers & Erosion
Your child reads rock layers and fossils as clues to the past and explains how water, ice and wind wear land away.
Content standard: 4.11; 4.12 · evidence in rock layers and fossils, and erosion by water, ice and wind
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