4th Grade

Students inquire about states, properties, and transformations of matter

Students explain forces, motions, and their interactions.

Students investigate energy and how it is transferred and transformed within and between systems.

Students analyze the interconnected systems that include the planet Earth, our Solar System, our Galaxy, and the Universe.

Students explain planet Earth as a complex and dynamic system of rock, water, air, and living things

Students assess the interrelated cycles and forces that shape Earth’s surface, including human interaction with Earth.

Students examine organisms’ structures and functions for life processes, including growth and reproduction.

Students inquire how organisms and populations of organisms obtain resources from their environment.

Students explore how biological evolution explains unity and diversity of species.

Explore substances in different physical states—solid, liquid, and gas—and compare properties of different states of matter

Describe air as a gas and wind as moving air

Recognize that chemical change creates new materials

Measure and analyze gravitational force and the motions it causes

Explain that energy can take many forms, such as heat, light, sound, motion, and electricity, and can be both transformed and transferred from one place to another

Explore energy contained in and available from different foods (carbohydrates, protein, and fats)

Examine force fields generated by magnets

Explain that Earth is approximately spherical in shape and that things on or near Earth are pulled toward Earth’s center by the force of gravity

Explain the difference between Earth’s rotation and revolution around the Sun

Recognize the Sun as one of many stars in the Universe, and investigate how Earth’s nearly circular yearly orbit around the Sun causes us to see different constellations at different times of the year

Explore interactions among the components of the Earth system

Explore evidence on how Earth’s systems have changed over time

Investigate how different events caused the formation of different kinds of fossils

Identify the basic physical and chemical properties of Earth’s materials in many resources that humans use

Explore how limited supplies of natural resources affect human activity and how human activities affect the environment

Investigate causes and effects of natural changes to Earth’s surface

Examine ways of predicting and alerting the public to natural hazards

Investigate the different structures and functions of both plants and animals

Observe and describe life cycles and reproduction of plants and animals

Explain how various kinds of foods build and maintain healthy body structures (this can be carried out in conjunction with standard 4.3.2)

Describe ecosystems and explore the relationships between living and non-living things in an ecosystem

Explore how plants and animals obtain their food through their relationships within food webs in an ecosystem

Examine factors that influence the stability of ecosystems

Explore how some organisms resemble each other

Discuss the traits that animals and plants inherit from their parents and those that result from interactions with the environment