4th Grade Science Bundle: Complete Curriculum (Aligned to NGSS)

This product has everything you need to teach 4th grade science. All activities and presentations are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for 4th Grade.

Included in this product are 6 hands on units that teach all of the NGSS standards for 4th grade, as well as PowerPoints to support each of the hands-on units.

To see a detailed description of what's included, you can click on each of the individual products included in this bundle to see the previews or read on to see what's included.

The 4th Grade Activities Unit is my best-selling product. I recently developed PowerPoints to compliment the activities in this bundle since I have learned that many teachers don't have any textbooks to support their science instruction.

I also now have a digital version of this product made for use with Google Classroom.™ Check that out here for a complete paperless option.

If you would like options, you may want my Printable and Digital Bundle that includes this product as well as the Digital Version for Google Classroom™. Check that out here.

Here's a list of what's included:

Earth's Crust and Processes:

Part 1: Weathering and Erosion:

•Activity 1: There She Blows: Students investigate wind erosion using a straw and sand.

•Activity 2: Sticks and Stones: Students investigate water erosion with a mudslide simulation.

•Activity 3: Sugar Cube Shake: Students investigate mechanical weathering with a sugar cube experiment.

•Activity 4: Water and Weathering: Students investigate the impact of chemical weathering using temperature as a variable.

•Activity 5: Chemical Weathering: Students investigate the impacts of chemicals on weathering using chalk and vinegar.

•Activity 6: Informational Reading on Acid Rain

•Activity 7: Weathering or Erosion? Students read scenarios and identify which parts are the weathering and which are erosion.

•Activity 8: Weathering and Erosion Bingo: Students wrap up the unit by playing Weathering and Erosion Bingo. This serves as a great review of vocabulary. A supplemental thermometer reading practice is also included.

•Activity 9: Word Wall Cards and Games

•Post tests (2 options)

Part 2: Earth's Crust and the Rock Cycle:

•Activity 1: Classifying Rocks Students classify rocks into 3 groups using observations.

•Activity 2: Rock On!: Students simulate the rock cycle using gum and pop rocks.

•Activity 3: Pangaea and Plate Tectonics

•Activity 4: Ring of Fire: Students plot locations of volcano and notice that volcano locations are where tectonic plates meet.

•Activity 5: Shake it Up: Students create structures out of toothpicks and mini marshmallows and then test their strength in an earthquake simulation.

•Activity 6: Stress Me Out!: Students use a miniature candy bar to simulate the 3 different types of stresses on the Earth’s crust.

•Activity 7: Earth’s Changing Surface Informational reading and questions

•Activity 8: Word Wall cards and Activity Ideas

•An optional post test and grading rubric are also included.

For the presentation on Weathering and Erosion, different types of weathering and erosion are included in this presentation along with a student notes page. that could also be used as an assessment. The last part of the presentation presents students with pictures where they will attempt to decide if the picture shows weathering or erosion. Notes are also included for the teacher on most of the slides.

The presentation on Earth's Crust and the Rock Cycle, begins with the classification of rocks and the rock cycle. This is followed by slides on plate tectonics, including the Theory of Pangaea, the Ring of Fire, volcanoes and earthquakes. There are links to videos and interactive web sites embedded in the slides. Notes are also included for the teacher on most of the slides. Finally, a printable page for students to record notes is included.

Energy:

•Activity 1 Energy Sort: Students sort a variety of images into different types of energy.

•Activity 2 Heatin’ Up: Students experiment with the concept of heat transfer by comparing how different materials heat up from the sun’s energy.

•Activity 3 Marble Mania: Students experiment with marbles to see how varying speeds of an object can change the amount of energy that is transferred from one object to another.

•Activity 4: Energy Change in a Car Crash: Students read about how energy is dispersed in a car crash and then answer a few questions about what they read.

•Activity 5: Melt My Ice: Students investigate the transfer of heat energy as they try to melt an ice cube the fastest.

•Activity 6 Light It Up: Students investigate different ways to make a light bulb light.

•Activity 7: Electricity in My Everyday Life: Students brainstorm all the ways they use electricity in an average day.

•Activity 8: Electromagnets: Students make a simple electromagnet to see how energy can be converted from one form to another.

•Activity 9: Potential and Kinetic Energy Informational reading passage with comprehension questions.

•Activity 10 Launch It: Students experiment with a catapult to further explore potential and kinetic energy.

•Activity 11: The Law of Conservation of Energy Activity

•Word Wall Cards and Games

•Post Test

The presentation begins with defining energy, then gives examples of each of the different forms of energy. Several slides address the difference between potential and kinetic energy, with one slide showing pictures and students are to identify whether the energy shown is potential or kinetic. The next few slides focus on the transfer of energy, and one slide has the Law of Conservation of Energy. To address one of the standards, one slide details how energy is transferred in a car crash. The PowerPoint closes with a fun video that summarizes the concepts.

Plant and Animal Structures:

Activities Included in Part 1 on Plant Structures:

•Activity 1: Plant Parts Introduction Students label the structures of plants and think about their functions. If you are in person, have students discuss what they think the different functions of each structure are.

•Activity 2: Sprouting Seeds Students will sprout a seed in a Ziploc bag with cotton balls. They will observe and record the growth.

• Activity 3: It All Starts With A Seed Students will examine different seeds and compare information from seed packets.

•Activity 4: Plant Life Cycle Students will put pictures of different stages of a plant’s life cycle in order.

•Activity 5: Honeybee Informational Reading Students will read about how honeybees pollinate flowers.

•Activity 6: Inside A Flower: Students will dissect a flower and observe the reproductive parts.

•Activity 7: Suck it Up!: Students will observe how stems suck water up into the leaves and flowers of plants.

•Activity 8: Putting Down Roots: Students will observe different types of roots and make conclusions as to their function.

•Activity 9: Leave it to the Leaves: Students will read about the process of photosynthesis and answer questions.

•Activity 10: Word wall cards and activities

•Post Test and Grading Rubric are also included.

Activities included for Part 2 on Animal Structures:

Activity 1: My Beak is Better Than Yours: Students focus on the beak structure of birds and how this specific structure helps them get food.

Activity 2: Salmon Swim Home: This engaging activity gives students the opportunity to become salmon and use their sense of smell to navigate home.

Activity 3: What is Biomimicry? Reading and questions.

Activity 4: Biomimicry Challenge: Students use animal or plant structures to inspire an invention.

Activity 5: Poster Reports: These reports focus on structures of animals and how they help with nutrition, self-defense, reproduction, and communication. A grading rubric is included.

Activity 6: Word Wall Cards and Activities

Activity 7: Post Assessment and Key

The presentation is broken up into 2 sections; the first is plant structures and functions, and the second part is animal structures and functions. Detailed slides on each of the specific plant parts and their functions include a video on germination and photosynthesis. In the animals structures and functions section, real photos of a variety of animals helps students think about specific structures and how animals benefit from them. A great video on a camouflaged octopus is a highlight of this section. Finally, a printable page for students to record notes is included (or fillable for Google Slides Version). This page could also be used as an assessment. I have included notes for the teacher on just about every slide as well.

Waves: Light and Sound

•Word Wall Cards and Activities: Word cards, definitions and suggested activities to reinforce key vocabulary from the unit.

•Good Vibrations: Students make a simple straw oboe to investigate vibrations and sound

•Waves: Students read about waves, study a diagram, and answer questions.

•Making Waves: Student use a jump rope to create waves with specific amplitudes and frequencies.

•What’s That Sound: Students make a simple kazoo and experiment with sound.

•Pan Pipes: Students make Pan Pipes out of straws.

•How Do Our Ears Hear? This informational reading passage, diagram, and questions is designed to explain how our ears process sound.

•Mirror Mirror on the Wall: Students investigate reflection of light using a mirror.

•How Does Light Travel? Students discover which materials are opaque, translucent, and transparent.

•Light Moves: Students investigate how light appears to bend as it enters different mediums such as water.

•Visible Spectrum: Students see “rainbows” on a CD and learn about the visible spectrum.

•How Do Eyes See? This informational reading passage, diagram, and questions is designed to explain how our eyes process light.

•Post Test and Grading Rubric

The presentation is broken into two parts; Part 1 begins with sound and details how sound is formed from waves. Key vocabulary words are introduced in an interactive way, so that the PowerPoint can be more student-centered. One slide shows pictures of various sounds and students will determine what the amplitude and wavelength would look like for each. A sound video is also included. For part 2, the slides on light begin with determining how light travels based on pictures. Key vocabulary words are introduced such as reflections, refraction, and the 3 classifications of the amount of light that passes through objects. (opaque, translucent, and transparent). A cool video is included that shows the students how we see color.

Natural Resources:

•Activity 1: What is a Natural Resource?: Students watch an introductory video and then find natural resources within their own classroom.

•Activity 2: Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources Students work cooperatively to sort resource cards into renewable and non-renewable resources.

•Activity 3: How do People Use Natural Resources? informational reading and questions.

•Activity 3: Dig it Up Students do a simulation to see how non-renewable resources become scarce as time goes on.

•Activity 4: Making a Solar Oven: Students make a solar oven using foil and a pizza box. They then cook marshmallows and make smores.

•Activity 5: Earth’s Water: Students discover that the amount of usable water on earth is very small.

•Activity 6: What are Fossil Fuels? Informational reading passage with comprehension questions.

•Activity 7: Water Wheel: Students make a water wheel and investigate how water’s energy can be transferred to other types of energy.

•Activity 8: Conservation of Earth’s Resources Poster: Now that students have learned about our Earth’s natural resources, they design a poster to spread the importance of conservation. A grading rubric is provided for the poster.

•Word Wall Cards and Games

•Post Test and Grading Rubric

The presentation begins with the introduction of natural resources as well as differentiating between renewable and non-renewable resources. Students will then think about what they use energy for, and where the energy comes from. Several slides on different sources of energy are followed by an introduction to fossil fuels and how using them can damage the environment. The slides culminate with a few slides on conservation so that students can think of ways they can conserve our natural resources. The slides are designed to be interactive, with many opportunities for students to Think, Pair, Share. The last slide has one of my favorite videos embedded to share and sum up the lesson. Finally, a printable page (or fillable for Google Slides) for students to record notes is included. I have included notes for the teacher on just about every slide as well.

Engineering:

This introduction to engineering includes a presentation in both PowerPoint and Google Slides formats, with notes as well as 3 engineering activities. Students will be introduced to Engineering and the Engineering Design Process. They will then have 3 opportunities to engage in the process. Easily accessible materials makes this very doable in your classroom.

In addition to the 14 slide presentation, the activities include:

Activity 1: Float Your Boat: Students go through the engineering design process to create a boat. Once the boat successfully floats, they place marbles in it to see how many it can hold.

Activity 2: Build A Bridge: Students go through the engineering design process to build a bridge. After the bridge is built, they test it to see how many pennies it can hold.

Activity 3: Keep it Cold: This engaging activity challenges students to create a container to keep an ice cube frozen for as long as possible. This could easily be turned into a classroom contest.

Activity 4: Engineering Design Process Flow Chart: Students can use this sheet to review the steps they went through in the completed engineering design assignments. This could potentially be used as an assessment.

If you are interested in a Mega Bundle that includes this product as well as all the super bundles for grade 5 and grades 1-3 as well as the Kindergarten activities bundle check out my K-5 Science Mega Bundle here. (It's practically my entire store! :) )

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*The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.