Dear Families and Caregivers,
Our fourth-grade science class is starting a unit called How do plants' and animals' structures function together to meet their needs? as part of the OpenSciEd Elementary science curriculum. This unit develops scientific ideas about how both animals and plants have a system of structures that work together to meet their needs.
To begin the unit, students make observations of flying squirrels. They notice that flying squirrels move differently than most squirrels they have seen and that they are active at night, so they have questions about how flying squirrels are able to move through the trees the way they do, and in the dark. Students will investigate how flying squirrels and other animals use their system of structures to meet their needs. After they have investigated animals, students also wonder about the structures and functions of plants. Students make connections throughout the unit about how plant and animal structures function as a system to meet their needs. Over the course of the unit, students will figure out science ideas by:
Observing traits of squirrels, plants in their community, and other living things.
Testing how different structures benefit the squirrel.
Gathering information from various texts about plant and animal structures.
Constructing arguments that plants and animals use their structures as a system to meet their needs.
Developing models to explain how systems of structures work together to meet the needs of a plant or animal.
In your discussions about the work your child is doing in science, hold off on providing answers for them. Instead, support your child in making sense of the world around them by asking your own questions and listening to their thinking.
You can help your child make sense of their learning by asking questions like these:
What question(s) are you trying to answer right now about the structures of a squirrel’s body?
What have you figured out so far about how the squirrels’ structures meet their needs as a system?
Can we find other examples of plants or animals with interesting structures in our community?
How did you (or your classmates) share ideas in science today?
What new words have you been using to talk about what you’re doing in science?
How has your thinking changed as you’ve figured things out?
Our 4th grade science class is starting a unit called Why does an object's motion change? This unit develops science ideas about how energy is transferred in collisions, and the evidence of energy transfer that we can see, hear, and feel.
Our 4th grade science class is starting a unit called Why does an object's motion change? This unit develops science ideas about how energy is transferred in collisions, and the evidence of energy transfer that we can see, hear, and feel.
How do we power clocks and other devices?
What causes Earth's landscape to change and how do the changes impact humans?
How do the structure and function of traits of living things benefit them?