4th grade Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in 4th grade science in the Arizona Academic Standards, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- Energy, electric currents and magnets
- Rocks, fossils, erosion and natural hazards
- Renewable resources and survival over time
Easy ways to practice science at home
- Try a kitchen experiment, such as what dissolves in water and what floats or sinks.
- Keep a simple weather or moon log for a month.
- Ask “What do you think will happen?” and then test it.
- Visit a park, beach or creek and look for living things and their habitats.
What each unit covers
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.
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.
Circuits at Work
Practices the parts a working electrical circuit needs (an energy source, wires, a load and a closed path), open and closed circuits, switches, conductors and insulators, and how electrical energy is changed into motion, light, sound or thermal energy.
Magnet Inventions
Practices using what magnets do to solve simple design problems, such as a latch or a sorter, by setting criteria and constraints and running fair tests that change one thing at a time.
Pushes, Pulls & Forces
Forces as pushes and pulls, contact and non-contact forces (gravity, magnetism, static electricity), friction, how bigger forces change motion more, and helmets and seat belts as safety devices.
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.
Energy Resources
How electricity is made from renewable resources (sunlight, moving water, wind) and nonrenewable ones (coal, oil, natural gas, uranium), and the trade-offs of each, with Arizona examples: solar farms, the Palo Verde nuclear plant and the dams on the Colorado River.
Natural Hazards
Earthquakes and seismic waves, volcanoes, floods and other natural hazards, and designs that lessen their effects, with Arizona examples: monsoon flash floods, dust storms and wildfire.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practicing the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Arizona report card guide.
Common questions
Try a kitchen experiment, such as what dissolves in water and what floats or sinks. Keep a simple weather or moon log for a month. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Arizona Academic Standards 4th grade science units include Energy, Speed & Collisions, Waves & Codes, Circuits at Work, Magnet Inventions, Pushes, Pulls & Forces, Rock Layers & Erosion.
Free printable 4th grade science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.