This page is your one-stop place for everything Science! Check back each week for what we're learning, important resources, and ways to support your child at home. We have Science on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays.
This page is your one-stop place for everything Science! Check back each week for what we're learning, important resources, and ways to support your child at home. We have Science on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays.
WEEKLY OVERVIEW
Current Unit: Topic 3: Matter & Energy in Ecosystems
Lesson 1: Ecosystems
This Week We're Learning: This week, we are beginning our study of ecosystems! Students will learn about the living & nonliving components of an ecosystem & explore how they interact.
Learning Targets:Â
I can describe the components of an ecosystem.
Standards:
4.ESS2.3
Vocabulary:
Ecosystem- all the living & nonliving parts in a certain area
Interact- to affect another organism & be affected by it
Abiotic- nonliving parts of an ecosystem
Biotic- living parts of an ecosystem
Community- all organisms living in an ecosystem
Literacy Skill: Compare & Contrast
WEEKLY OVERVIEW
Current Unit: Topic 3: Matter & Energy in Ecosystems
This Week We're Learning: Students will explore how plants and animals depend on one another within an ecosystem. We will connect our learning about photosynthesis to food chains and food webs. Students will learn about producers, consumers, and decomposers and investigate how energy moves from the Sun through an ecosystem.
Learning Targets:Â
I can explain how plants use sunlight to make their own food through photosynthesis.
I can identify producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.
I can create and interpret food chains and food webs.Â
I can explain how energy moves through an ecosystem.
I can describe how organisms depend on one another for survival.
I can predict how a change to one part of a food web could affect other organisms.
Standards:
4.LS2.1
4.LS2.2
Vocabulary:
Producer- an organism, such as a plant, that makes its own food
Consumer- an organism that gets energy by eating other organisms
Decomposer- an organism that breaks down dead plants and animals
Ecosystem- living and nonliving things interacting in an environment
Food Chain- shows one path that energy follows through an ecosystem
Food Web- shows how multiple food chains are connected
Photosynthesis- the process plants use to make food using energy from sunlight
Literacy Skill: Cause & Effect/Using Models
Students will use food chains and food webs as modles to explain how organisms are connected and determine how a change in one population can affect other parts of an ecosystem.
This week, we're reviewing some of what we've already learned about ecosystems and building on that knowledge as we take a closer look at producers, consumers, and decomposers.
Topic 3: Matter & Energy in Ecosystems
Lesson 3: Change Within Ecosystems
This Week We're Learning: This week, we are learning about changes within ecosystems and how those changes affect the organisms that live there. We will explore what can happen when organisms are introduced to or removed from an ecosystem and how these changes can disrupt the balance of an ecosystem.
We will also review food chains and food webs, including producers, consumers, and decomposers, to help us understand how organisms depend on one another. Students will use food webs to think about how a change in one population can affect other organisms throughout an ecosystem.
Learning Targets:Â
I can describe how organisms affect their ecosystem.
I can explain how organisms in an ecosystem depend on one another.
I can identify producers, consumers, and decomposers in food chains and food webs.
I can use a food chain or food web to explain how energy moves throughout an ecosystem.
I can explain how a change to one organism can affect otheir organisms in a food web.
I can illustrate how changes can damage or disrupt the balance of an ecosystem.
I can use models to determine what may happen when a species is introduced to or removed from an ecosystem.
I can analyze data to explain how organisms are affected by environmental changes.
I can compare and contrast how organisms respond to changes in their ecosystems.
Standards:
4.LS2.3
4.LS2.4
Vocabulary:
Succession- a series of changes in the community of an ecosystem
Competition- when two or more orgnaisms need to use the same limited resource to survive
Stable- steady or unchanging
Literacy Skill: Compare and Contrast
This week we will be reviewing for our Science test on Friday!
We will review:
ðą Ecosystems â biotic and abiotic factors
ð° Food chains & food webs
âïļ How energy and matter move through an ecosystem
ðŋ Producers, consumers, and decomposers
ðĶ How organisms depend on one another
âïļ What can happen to an ecosystem when an organism is added or removed
ð How changes in the environment can affect organisms and the balance of an ecosystem
ð Science Test: Friday
Students should be able to explain how organisms are connected and predict how a change to one part of an ecosystem could affect the rest of the ecosystem.
Lesson 1: Fossils
Standard:
4.LS4.1 â Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about what a fossil is and ways fossils can provide information about the past.
Learning Targets:
I can describe what a fossil is.
I can describe some ways fossils form.
I can use evidence from a text to support what I learn about fossils.
Vocabulary:
Fossil â preserved remains or evidence of a living thing from long ago
Extinct â when a type of living thing no longer exists
Evidence â information that helps show that something is true
Science Practices:
Developing and Using Models âĒ Analyzing and Interpreting Data
This Week:
We will begin Topic 6: Fossil Evidence by learning what fossils are, how they form, and how scientists use fossils as evidence to learn about life from long ago.
Lesson 2: Fossils as a Record
We will learn how scientists use fossils as evidence to discover what organisms and environments were like long ago.
Learning Target:
I can describe ways that fossils can give us information about the past.
Topic 6 â Lesson 2: Fossils as a Record
This week, we will continue learning about fossils and how scientists use them as evidence to learn about organisms and environments from long ago.
I can describe ways that fossils give us information about the past.
How fossils provide evidence about organisms that lived long ago
How fossils can tell us about past environments
How scientists use fossil data to learn about animals that once lived on Earth but are now extinct
How to use evidence from a text to support our ideas
fossil record âĒ data
4.LS4.1 â Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about fossils and how they provide information about past environments and organisms.