4th grade Science
10 units matched to the California Content Standards.
Focus areas
- Energy and waves
- How plant and animal structures work
- Rocks, erosion, earthquakes and energy resources
Units
Unit 1
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.
Learning standard: 4-LS1-1; 4-LS1-2 · how living things sense their surroundings and respond
Unit 2
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.
Learning standard: 4-PS4-2 · light reflecting from objects into the eye lets us see them
Unit 3
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.
Learning standard: 4-PS3-2; 4-PS4-1 · sound as vibrations and waves that carry energy
Unit 4
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).
Learning standard: 4-LS1-1 · structures that help plants and animals survive, grow and reproduce
Unit 5
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.
Learning standard: 4-PS3-2 · energy moving from place to place by sound, light, heat and electric currents
Unit 6
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.
Learning standard: 4-PS3-1; 4-PS3-3; 4-PS3-4 · speed and energy, energy changes in collisions, and devices that convert energy
Unit 7
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.
Learning standard: 4-PS4-1; 4-PS4-3 · patterns in waves, and using patterns to transfer information
Unit 8
Rock Layers & Erosion
Practices how water, ice, wind and plants break down and move rock, and how patterns in rock layers and fossils show how a landscape changed over time.
Learning standard: 4-ESS1-1; 4-ESS2-1 · rock layers and fossils show landscape change, and weathering and erosion shape the land
Unit 9
Quakes, Volcanoes & Maps
Practices reading maps of mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes and ocean features to find patterns, and comparing solutions that reduce the impacts of earthquakes, eruptions, landslides and tsunamis, using California's faults and volcanoes as examples.
Learning standard: 4-ESS2-2; 4-ESS3-2 · patterns of Earth's features on maps, and solutions to reduce the impacts of natural hazards
Unit 10
Energy Resources
Practices how energy and fuels come from natural resources like moving water, wind, sunlight, heat inside Earth, oil and gas, and how using them affects the environment, with examples from California's solar farms, wind farms and geothermal plants.
Learning standard: 4-ESS3-1 · energy and fuels come from natural resources, and their use affects the environment
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