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4th grade · Science · Unit 16 of 17

Weathering, Erosion & Fossils

Water, wind and ice wear rock away, move it and drop it; fossils show past environments.

What your child practices

Practices slow changes to Earth's surface from weathering, erosion and deposition by water, wind and ice, and what rock layers and fossils (including common Texas fossils such as sea shells in limestone) say about past environments.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 4.10(B); 4.12(C) · weathering, erosion and deposition, and past environments shown by fossils

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Weathering breaks rock. Erosion moves it. Deposition drops it in a new place.
  2. Water, wind and ice all wear land away. Plants slow erosion.
  3. In rock layers, the oldest layer is usually at the bottom.
  4. Fossils show what a place was like long ago.

Example: A rock layer is full of fish fossils. What does this tell you? Fish live in water. So the area was once under water. Answer: the area was once under water

Weathering, Erosion & Fossils in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 16 of 17 in 4th grade Science, after Texas Energy Resources and before Food Webs & Decomposers.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A river drops sand and mud where it slows down. This is…

    • weathering
    • erosion
    • deposition
    • melting

  2. Question 2

    Sand dunes are shaped by…

    • lava
    • glaciers
    • wind
    • earthquakes

  3. Question 3

    A layer with shell fossils shows the area was once…

    • a desert
    • a glacier
    • a city
    • under water

  4. Question 4

    A river carved the Grand Canyon by…

    • one big flood in a day
    • wind only
    • an earthquake
    • erosion over a very long time

  5. Question 5

    Which moves rock and soil the most in a river valley?

    • Moonlight
    • Sunlight
    • Sound
    • Running water

  6. Question 6

    You measure soil washed off two trays, one with grass and one bare. Which loses more?

    • Neither loses any
    • They lose the same
    • The grassy tray
    • The bare tray

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