Fourth Grade Videos
I hope you enjoy these videos from our school year.
2023 - 2024
On this page are videos from some of this year's science lessons. Students will be reflecting on inquiry-based observations, activities, investigations and experiments in order to increase their understanding of science instruction. Interpreting, analyzing, and interacting with science is a critical aspect in the classroom and can be seen in these videos. It is my intention that these videos spark conversations at home about science and what we are learning in the classroom.
*FYI - THIS WEB PAGE IS BEST VIEWED FROM A LAPTOP OR DESKTOP - WHEN VIEWING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE SOME IMAGES MAY APPEAR TO BE CUT OFF. Some formats that I use to create these videos give me control over the music volume when students are talking and some do not. I apologize if some students are harder to hear.
Science Topic: PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHANGES
LEARNING GOAL: Throughout these lessons, students will learn about and be able to identify properties of and changes in matter as physical or chemical. Students will be able to compare and contrast the chemical behavior and physical properties of common substances. Students will be able to record and interpret data obtained from experimentation.
Why Do Some Things Explode?
In this lesson, students investigate and model how gases cause explosions. In the activity, Bag of Bubbles, students experiment by combining baking soda and vinegar inside a sealed bag and observe how the gas bubbles produced cause the bag to inflate–and sometimes pop!
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video. THERE IS A BOX IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE VIDEO THAT WILL MAKE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.
Science Topic: METRIC MEASUREMENT
LEARNING GOAL: Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to: explain what the metric system is and identify the appropriate metric units of measurement for distance, weight, volume, and time.
Measurement Mania
In connection with the 4th grade math curriculum, the 4th grade scientists are experimenting with different types of measurements. The girls measured and recorded the temperature of hot and cold liquids, the volume of liquids, the length of objects, the amount of time it takes to do tasks, the volume of solids, and the weight of several objects. They also classified objects and made detailed observations using a hand lens and a flip-top magnifier. I am so proud of their hard work and their diligence following directions. Well done!
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video. THERE IS A BOX IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE VIDEO THAT WILL MAKE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.
Science Topic: CHANGING EARTH
LEARNING GOAL: Throughout these lessons, students will discover that the surface of the Earth is constantly changing. Earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and flooding can make changes quickly while other changes, like weathering and erosion happen over longer periods of time. Students will learn how these "forces of nature" affect their lives.
Starburst Lab (The Rock Cycle)
The girls used Starburst candies to demonstrate the stages of the rock cycle. We started by weathering the "rock" (Starburst) into smaller pieces. We used that sediment and applied pressure to create sedimentary rocks that shows the different layers of sediment. We then added some heat and more pressure to mold the sedimentary rock into metamorphic rock. We then heated the metamorphic rock to create "magma" which cooled and became igneous rock. We could then break the igneous rock into sediment pieces and continue the rock cycle. The science classroom smelled great today and we had a great time!
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video. THERE IS A BOX IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE VIDEO THAT WILL MAKE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.
Excavating Gems
As we continue to learn about the rock cycle, we pretended to be gemologists - a person who studies gems. The girls were each given a larger stone to excavate their gems. They each had a pick to dig deeper and a brush to uncover the gems more carefully. We used a chart in class to determine which gems were uncovered.
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video. THERE IS A BOX IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE VIDEO THAT WILL MAKE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.
Making a Shield Volcano
Fourth graders learned how a shield volcano is formed by creating our own models. We began with flat land (a tin tray) and a volcanic creator (bottle cap). We added baking soda and vinegar to create the first eruption. The girls traced the outline of the lava eruption and replaced it with play-dough to simulate how lava turns into new land. We repeated these steps several times simulating multiple eruptions in the same place over time. After each eruption, the lava flow is replaced with a different color play-dough. After several eruptions a shield volcano is formed. At the end we cut into the shield volcano to see the layers beneath the surface. I also took a small sample out of each slice as scientists often do to see how it is possible for one volcano to have different layers in different locations...no two samples are exactly the same.
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video. THERE IS A BOX IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE VIDEO THAT WILL MAKE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.
Different Types of Lava
Students learned about different types of volcanoes (shield and cone) and they also learned about different types of rock that form the different volcanoes (felsite and basalt). We then talked about different types of lava (thick and thin) and tried to determine which lava is connected with which type of volcano.
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video. THERE IS A BOX IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE VIDEO THAT WILL MAKE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.
Water Weathering
Students explored the concept of water weathering. The students used sugar cubes to simulate rocks that are weathered by water. They put drops of colored water on their "rocks" and observed the changes.
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video. THERE IS A BOX IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE VIDEO THAT WILL MAKE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.
Cornmeal Erosion
Throughout last week and this week, the girls are experimenting with cornmeal landforms to demonstrate erosion and design ways to protect the land from erosion. The girls are using the knowledge they have been learning about in class to create a structure to protect their cornmeal landforms from erosion. The two different videos are from two different experiments. This was really great work, girls!
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video. THERE IS A BOX IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE VIDEO THAT WILL MAKE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.
Sugar Shake
To study weathering, students used sugar cubes to represent rocks. We colored all 12 edges to see what the "rock" looked like to start and then we shook the sugar cubes in a container. We paused after every 40 shakes to observe any physical changes. Did the color on any of the edges wear off? We shook 200 times total and recorded our observations. Watch this video to see the girls "Shake It Up!"
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video. THERE IS A BOX IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE VIDEO THAT WILL MAKE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.
Color & Milk Experiment
Question: What will happen when you put a drop of soap into a container with milk and food coloring? Watch and find out!!! We followed the scientific method starting with a question, then charting our hypotheses, doing the experiment, discussing our observations, and taking note of the conclusion.
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video. THERE IS A BOX IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE VIDEO THAT WILL MAKE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.