To master the following objectives, the students must be actively engaged in the learning through the process of inquiry. Refer to the attached document which summarizes the Standard 1 Scientific Inquiry Performance Objectives.

Essential questions :

-How do plants and animals interact and respond to their surroundings (living and non-living) to survive.

-What helps plants and animals interact and respond to their surroundings (living and non-living) to survive?

 -What is/are the roles of plants and animals in the survival of other plants and animals?

 -What functions do the “parts” of plants and animals have that help them interact and respond to their surroundings (living and non-living) to survive?

-What behaviors do plants and animals have that help them interact and respond to their surroundings (living and non-living) to survive?

-How do plants and animals interact with, or respond to their environment (living and non-living) when they encounter change, in order to survive?

 MST4.E.LE6

Review food chains…sun, producer, consumer, decomposer, (recycle) prey, predator…what happens to the number of frogs if a hawk comes and eats all the snakes?)

MST4.E.LE3A  3.1c

MST4.E.LE3B  3.2a, 3.2b

MST4.E.LE5B  5.2a, 5.2b, 5.2c, 5.2d, 5.2e, 5.2f,5.2g

 MST4.E.LE6:

Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical environment.

MST4.E.LE6A Describe how plants and animals, including humans, depend upon each other and the nonliving environment.

Major Understandings:

6.1a Green plants are producers because they provide the basic food supply for themselves and animals.

6.1b All animals depend on plants. Some animals (predators) eat other animals (prey).

6.1c Animals that eat plants for food may in turn become food for other animals. This sequence is called a food chain.

6.1d Decomposers are living things that play a vital role in recycling nutrients.

6.1e An organism’s pattern of behavior is related to the nature of that organism’s environment, including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and other resources, and the physical characteristics of the environment.

6.1f When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations.

MST4.E.LE6B Describe the relationship of the Sun as an energy source for living and nonliving cycles.

Major Understandings:

6.2a Plants manufacturer food by utilizing air, water, and energy from the Sun.

6.2b The Sun’s energy is transferred on Earth from plants to animals through the food chain.

6.2c Heat energy from the Sun powers the water cycle (see Physical Science Key Idea 2).

• The student will know and understand that an organisms pattern of behavior is related to it’s environment, which means…The student will be able to recognize and describe plants and animals sensing and responding to changes in their environment (natural or manmade): For example: plants bend toward the sun to get more sunlight to produce more food, trees lose their leaves and appear dormant when fall and winter arrive, then bud and “come back to life” for the warmer, more sunlit spring and summer; Animals need food, water, and air to survive…if any of it disappears (drought, seasonal change, hunters/predators) they must migrate, hibernate, adapt some other way, or die
• The student will be able to identify an organisms response to a change in the environment: For example: an animals response to a predator or lack of food due to natural or manmade change; a plants response could be movement toward the sun, or producing seeds capable of being moved by consumption and pooping by animals, hooking on to animal fur, being light enough to move by air, being water proof and able to move by water; For example, a change in season may lead to a change in the thickness or color of animal fur or feather;
  For example; a change in the environment may change the behavior such as cold weather cause cold blooded animals to move slower, bears hibernate, squirrels store nuts, geese migrate; For example, a change in the environment may change health, growth or development of an organism…smaller rings in trees during droughts, no fruit production if it is too cold, and animal freezes or drowns, etc. For Example…humans put on more clothes, or invent furnaces, or build better insulated houses, or move to Florida in the winter…humans invent air conditioners to live move comfortably in the heat, humans improved on rolling rocks and birds, to build cars and air planes that could help them move from place to place.)
• The student will know and understand that some plants and animals survive change, and can reproduce, some die.

ecosystem, habitat, where do plants and animals live? Can all plants and animals survive in all places on earth?)

Quick Lab #17 Do: Sun and Shade (Text pg 131)

Skim through Text, chap 3, pg 130-144 

sun, producer, consumer, predator, prey, decomposer, recycle and See vocab highlighted in the column to the left

Explore Inquiry Activity #18 Do: How much energy do living things use? (Text pg 149)

Read Text, chap 3, pg 150-156; Review the food chain

adaptations, behaviors, hibernate, camouflage, mimicry, body structures, harmful and helpful interactions

Explore-Inquiry Activity #19 Do: Does the shape of a bird’s beak affect what it eats? (Text pg 165)      Read Text, chap 4 pg 166-170)

What are some plant adaptations?

Explore-Inquiry Activity #20 Do: How do plants respond to their environments? (Text pg 175)  Read Text, chap 4, pg 176-178

 examples of causes of ecosystem change, natural events and living things

Explore-Inquiry Activity #21 Do: How can a change to an ecosystem affect living things? (Text, pg 183)

Read Text, chap 4, pg 184-185

Climate Change Health and Environmental Effects

Vocabulary Games: Ecosystems(WEB)

Vocabulary Game: Animal Survival(WEB)

eReview: Food Chains and Webs(WEB)

Vocabulary Games: Food ChainseReview: Ecosystems(WEB)Vocabulary Game: Plant Adaptations(WEB)

Food Chains & Food Webs Clicker Question Sets

Environmental Protection Agency

National Wildlife Federation

 EEK! Environmental Education for Kids

Foldable - Make a Study Guide p. 191 Writing Link - Write a Newspaper Article - p.191

Foldable-Make a Study Guide  p. 133

Math Link- Solve an Equation - p. 133

Art Link- p. 133 

Prediction-Inquiry Skill-p. 134- Complete this skill builder activity on Pollution.

 Writing in Science-Expository Writing p. 158

Foldable- Make a Study Guide p. 171

Writing Link- Write a Story - p. 171

Social Link- p. 171

 Foldable- Make a Study Guide p.179

Math Link- Solve a Problem- p. 179

Writing in Science- Descriptive Writing- p. 180

Math in Science- Comparing Angles-p. 181

Careers in Science- p. 196

Foldable - Make a Study Guide p. 133

Math Link- Solve an Equation - p. 133

Art Link - p. 133

7, 16, 19

10, 12, 14

13, 15, 23, 24, 25

3

11,22

20

6, 8

9

21

Essential questions :

-How do humans change the environment?

-What effect does human change to the environment have on the interactions and responses of plants and animals to their surroundings (living and non-living) to survive?     

MST4.E.LE7A

7.1a, 7.1b, 7.1c

• Humans (as well as plants and animals) depend on their natural and constructed environment.
• Humans have changed the environment over time
• These changes have been good and bad

   For example: Humans get air water and food from the environment…we have polluted the air, water, and soil (pesticides) and we have started to change and clean (and not pollute) the environment. Animals and plants get food, air and water from the environment too…by building factories, humans lived better with cheaper products, but harmed plants and animals by polluting.

   For example, humans change the environment by building houses to protect themselves…good for humans, bad for the animals who used to live in the fields.

…Humans have built roads to get places faster…good for the humans, bad for the animals who have to cross the road looking for food (squish!).

   Humans live in crowded cities…they change the environment by building homes in less crowed places…like along beaches and forested mountain slopes…the hurricanes and natural forest fires and mudslides are not good for humans.

environment, air, land, and water pollution, soil and water conservation, reduce, reuse, recycle

Explore-Inquiry Activity #23 Do: How can you clean an oil spill? (Text pg 295)

Read Text, chap 6, pg 296-300

examples of people changing ecosystems, deforestation, overpopulation, pollution, protection, examples of changing behaviors and habits, moving away, extinction Read Text, chap 4 pg 186-190

Review for 20 week exam

Grade 4 Science Tests (2004 to Present)
(Here you can find the previously given State Tests. These can give you ideas for creating review activities.)
Rags to Riches

4th Grade Instructional Guide 11-12.pdf

4th Grade Report Card Objectives 2011.pdf