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Teacher Pages
Since different districts approach the topics in different orders, I have organized the units in an order which flows smoothly and logically, but I have also tried to make the units modular, so that you can reorder them easily to fit your District's curriculum. If you run into questions or would like suggestions for adapting these units to your curriculum, please let me know.
- Minerals, Rocks, and Erosion: SC.4.E.6.2, SC.4.E.6.1, SC.4.E.6.4
- Water and States of Matter: SC.4.P.8.2
Nature of Science
SC.4.N.1.1 Raise questions about the natural world, use appropriate reference materials that support understanding to obtain information (identifying the source), conduct both individual and team investigations through free exploration and systematic investigations, and generate appropriate explanations based on those explorations.
Replication
SC.4.N.1.2 Compare the observations made by different groups using multiple tools and seek reasons to explain the differences across groups.
SC.4.N.1.5 Compare the methods and results of investigations done by other classmates.
Evidence
SC.4.N.1.4 Attempt reasonable answers to scientific questions and cite evidence in support.
SC.4.N.1.6 Keep records that describe observations made, carefully distinguishing actual observations from ideas and inferences about the observations.
SC.4.N.1.7 Recognize and explain that scientists base their explanations on evidence.
SC.4.N.2.1 Explain that science focuses solely on the natural world.
Models
SC.4.N.3.1 Explain that models can be three dimensional, two dimensional, an explanation in your mind, or a computer model.
Scientific Method
SC.4.N.1.3 Explain that science does not always follow a rigidly defined method ("the scientific method") but that science does involve the use of observations and empirical evidence.
Energy
SC.4.P.10.2 Investigate and describe that energy has the ability to cause motion or create change.
SC.4.P.10.1 Observe and describe some basic forms of energy, including light, heat, sound, electrical, and the energy of motion.
SC.4.P.10.3 Investigate and explain that sound is produced by vibrating objects and that pitch depends on how fast or slow the object vibrates.
Force and Motion
SC.4.P.12.1 Recognize that an object in motion always changes its position and may change its direction.
SC.4.P.12.2 Investigate and describe that the speed of an object is determined by the distance it travels in a unit of time and that objects can move at different speeds.
SC.4.P.10.4 Describe how moving water and air are sources of energy and can be used to move things.
Food Web
SC.4.L.17.3 Trace the flow of energy from the Sun as it is transferred along the food chain through the producers to the consumers.
SC.4.L.17.2 Explain that animals, including humans, cannot make their own food and that when animals eat plants or other animals, the energy stored in the food source is passed to them.
Reproduction
SC.4.L.16.1 Identify processes of sexual reproduction in flowering plants, including pollination, fertilization (seed production), seed dispersal, and germination.
SC.4.L.16.4 Compare and contrast the major stages in the life cycles of Florida plants and animals, such as those that undergo incomplete and complete metamorphosis, and flowering and nonflowering seed bearing plants.
Heredity
SC.4.L.16.2 Explain that although characteristics of plants and animals are inherited, some characteristics can be affected by the environment.
SC.4.L.16.3 Recognize that animal behaviors may be shaped by heredity and learning.
Adaptation
SC.4.L.17.1 Compare the seasonal changes in Florida plants and animals to those in other regions of the country.
SC.4.L.17.4 Recognize ways plants and animals, including humans, can impact the environment.
Magnification
SC.4.E.6.5 Investigate how technology and tools help to extend the ability of humans to observe very small things and very large things.
Space Science
SC.4.E.5.3 Recognize that Earth revolves around the Sun in a year and rotates on its axis in a 24-hour day.
SC.4.E.5.4 Relate that the rotation of Earth (day and night) and apparent movements of the Sun, Moon, and stars are connected.
SC.4.E.5.1 Observe that the patterns of stars in the sky stay the same although they appear to shift across the sky nightly, and different stars can be seen in different seasons.
SC.4.E.5.2 Describe the changes in the observable shape of the moon over the course of about a month.
SC.4.E.5.5 Investigate and report the effects of space research and exploration on the economy and culture of Florida.
Mass
SC.4.P.8.3 Explore the Law of Conservation of Mass by demonstrating that the mass of a whole object is always the same as the sum of the masses of its parts.
Properties
SC.4.P.8.1 Measure and compare objects and materials based on their physical properties including: mass, shape, volume, color, hardness, texture, odor, taste, attraction to magnets.
SC.4.P.8.4 Investigate and describe that magnets can attract magnetic materials and attract and repel other magnets.
Chemical and Physical Changes
SC.4.P.9.1 Identify some familiar changes in materials that result in other materials with different characteristics, such as decaying animal or plant matter, burning, rusting, and cooking.
SC.4.P.8.2
Resources
SC.4.E.6.3 Recognize that humans need resources found on Earth and that these are either renewable or nonrenewable.
SC.4.E.6.6 Identify resources available in Florida (water, phosphate, oil, limestone, silicon, wind, and solar energy).