4TH GRADE: SCIENCE

Long Term Unit Planning

Science Practice & Process Standards
- Used throughout units
- Should be used to enhance content standards

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Science Procedures & Tools (August 22 – 24)
Unit 1: Birth of Rocks: Rock Cycle, Erosion, & Natural Hazards
August 28 – October 27 (9 weeks)
- Earth & Space Sciences (ESS)
- Profound Perspective: Every rock has a story that it tells, if you know how to “read” it, i.e. by identifying patterns and knowing the causes of
how the various rocks are formed. Take any place that seems mundane to people now--like a parking lot--and a rock will tell you something
extraordinary about what that place used to be like: it may well have been the site of a volcano. You will soon discover that nowhere on
earth has been mundane forever. One of the most seemingly dull things you can imagine--a simple rock--is actually the relic of something
astounding.
2rd Grade Mystery Science Earth & Space NGSS Performance Expectations Mystery Science Alignment
Work of Water 2-ESS1-1. Use information from several sources to Mystery 3 lays some conceptual groundwork for this
Earth’s Surface Processes provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or performance expectation by introducing students to the
slowly. gradual nature of erosion by water. Future Mysteries will
Mystery 1: If you floated down a river, where further support this performance expectation.
would you end up? (Mapping, Earth’s Surface, &
Landforms)
2-ESS2-1. Compare multiple solutions designed to slow In order to design solutions to slow or prevent erosion, it’s
Mystery 2: Why is there sand at the beach? or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the important to first understand that water can even change
(Erosion, Earth’s Surface, & Landforms) land. the shape of the land. Mystery 2 and Mystery 3 lay
important conceptual groundwork for this performance
Mystery 3: What’s strong enough to make a expectation by introducing evidence that water can
canyon? (Erosion, Earth’s Surface, & Landforms) change the shape of the land. Future Mysteries will
further support this performance expectation.

2-ESS2-2. Develop a model to represent the shapes and Mystery 1 and Mystery 3 have students developing
Note: Additional Mysteries for this unit are in
kinds of land and bodies of water in an area. models of the Earth’s surface, specifically mountainous
development that will address all of the NGSS and high elevation terrains, in order to construct
performance expectations. explanations about the flow of rivers and the cause of
canyons. Future Mysteries will further support this
performance expectation.

2-ESS2-3 Obtain information to identify where water is Mystery 1 uses maps to identify where rivers are found
found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid. and where they flow. Future Mysteries will further support
this performance expectation.

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 Grade 4 Performance Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) Scientific & Engineering
Topics Crosscutting Concepts (CCC)
Earth Science Expectations (Mystery Conceptual Flow) Practices (SEPs)
Rocks begin as lava--volcanic rocks are lava that has been
frozen in time. Volcanoes don’t just exist--they form, or ‘pop Students identify patterns about the
Mystery 1 Students analyze and interpret data
up’. There is a pattern to where most volcanoes exist today location of the world’s volcanoes and
Volcanoes, from recent volcanic eruptions. They
Could a volcano 4-ESS1-1 Rock Cycle &
on the earth. And yet dead volcanoes--and volcanic rock
use their findings as evidence for an
use these patterns as evidence to
they erupted--can be found in lots of places. (So the pattern support an argument about why a
erupt in your 4-ESS2-2 Earth's
Surface today isn’t necessarily what it used to be.) You can look for
argument that volcanoes are (or are
volcano may or may not erupt in their
not) likely to erupt in their backyard.
backyard? volcanic rocks near you.
.
backyard.

DCIs: ESS1.C, ESS2.B

Volcanic rocks are lava frozen in time. There are two
Mystery 2 Student conduct an investigation to
primary types of lava, each of whose thickness explains Students reason about the cause and
construct an explanation for why
Why do Volcanoes, two major differences in a volcano’s shape & style of
some volcanoes explode and why
effect of the type of lava (cause) and
4-ESS1-1 Lava & Rock eruption. These two lavas also account for two commonly the nature of the eruption (effect) as
volcanoes Cycle observed volcanic rocks that you might find.
some do not. Students model thick
well as the shape of the volcano
and thin lava to conduct their
explode? investigations.
(effect).
DCIs: Foundational for ESS2.B; Extends ESS2.B
Rock does not stay as massive monoliths of volcanoes--it
Mystery 3 tends to get broken into smaller pieces (“sediments”) over Students conduct an investigation
Weathering & time due to natural forces (“weathering”), and tumble Students consider the cause and
Will a mountain 4-ESS1-1 by modeling how rocks erode over
effect of ice and root wedging on rock
Destructive
4-ESS2-1 downhill. You can look for evidence of this where you live. time. Students construct an
Forces as it is broken down into small pieces.
last forever? explanation for why rocks erode.
DCIs: ESS2.A

Mystery 4 The weathering process is not benign; it creates some of

Erosion, the worst natural hazards, including rock falls, landslides, Students design solutions to protect Engineering a solution to landslide
How could you 4-ESS2-1 Natural and debris flows. If we are to be safe from these hazards, their “homes” from rock slides. hazards depends on scientific
survive a 4-ESS3-2 Hazards & we have to design solutions to protect us. Students argue for the merits of their knowledge about the causes of
Engineering design. landslides.
landslide? DCIs: ESS3.B

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Unit 2: Energizing Everything: Energy & Motion
November 6 - December 15 (7 Weeks)
- Physical Science (PS)
- Profound Perspective: “Energy” is a real thing--not just some vague term--almost like a power or substance that causes objects to move,
speed up, or slow down. This power or substance can be transferred between objects when they collide. Thinking about the world in terms
of energy helps us to make sense of how and why things speed up and slow down.
- Reading A-Z: “Alternative Fuel Cars” Level V
Grade 4 Performance Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) Scientific & Engineering
Topics Crosscutting Concepts (CCC)
Physical Science Expectations (Mystery Conceptual Flow) Practices (SEPs)
Students build rubber-band racers and
Students explore how energy can
When something is moving, it has energy. Moving things use them to carry out an investigation
be stored and released using a
Mystery 1 get their energy from stored energy, and energy can be to examine the relationship between
Stored rubber band. The amount of energy
How can a car 4-PS3-1 stored in different ways (such as gasoline, batteries, or stored energy and motion. Students
that is put into the system is related
Energy,
4-PS3-4 even food). analyze and interpret data from their
Motion to the amount of energy that is
run without gas? races. As engineers, students modify
released.
DCIs: PS3.B, Foundational for PS3.A their racers to improve how well they
move.

Giving something “height” (putting it up high) is another

Mystery 2 way to store energy in something. When the object falls or Students build a model of a roller
Stored drops, that stored energy is released: this explains why coaster and carry out an investigation Students consider how energy is
What makes 4-PS3-1 Energy, roller coasters work, but also bicycling downhill, skiing, using marbles. Students analyze and stored and released in a system as
roller coasters 4-PS3-3 Speed, skydiving, even meteors. The higher up you place an interpret data from the model to they experiment with their marble
Collisions object, the more energy you store in it, and the faster it explain the connection between height, roller coasters.
go so fast? goes when released or dropped. energy and motion.

DCIs: PS3.A
Students conduct an investigation
using a model roller coaster to
Mystery 3
Something that’s falling only has as much energy as was determine how energy can be stored in
Why is the first stored in it in the first place. This is why the first hill of a the hills of the coaster and how that Students consider how energy is
hill of a roller 4-PS3-3 Energy & rollercoaster is always the highest. When an object collides energy is released to make the marbles stored and released in a system as
Collisions with another object, some of its energy is transferred. go different distances. Students they experiment with their marble
coaster always analyze and interpret data from the roller coasters.
DCIs: PS3.B model to explain how the heights of
the highest? different hills give marbles the energy to
roll.

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 Grade 4 Performance Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) Scientific & Engineering
Topics Crosscutting Concepts (CCC)
Physical Science Expectations (Mystery Conceptual Flow) Practices (SEPs)

Mystery 4 Students begin to design a chain

We can invent devices that convert stored energy into
Could you movement, and transfer that energy to various other
reaction machine. They start by figuring Students consider the ways in which
4-PS3-4 Energy & out how to connect two components of energy can be stored and released
knock down a 3-5-ETS1-1 Engineering
objects along a pathway.
the chain reaction: the lever and the as they trace the path of energy
building using DCIs: PS3.A, PS3.C, ETS1.A
slide. This is the basis of the machine
they will further develop in Mystery 5.
through a chain reaction.

only dominoes?
Mystery 5
Engineers are people who design or invent solutions to
Can you build a 4-PS3-4 problems by using knowledge of science. All engineers
Students design a chain reaction
Students consider the ways in which
machine that displays a message at the
chain reaction 3-5-ETS1-1 Energy & think about what their goal is, come up with multiple ideas,
end. The chain reaction machines use
energy can be stored and released
3-5-ETS1-2 Engineering test those ideas out, and repeatedly fail until they figure out as they trace the path of energy
machine? 3-5-ETS1-3 what works.
multiple components that transfer
energy from one part to the next.
through a chain reaction.
(continuation of Mystery 4)
DCIs: PS3.A, PS3.C, ETS1.A

Electricity--the stuff from our outlets and batteries--is a form

of energy that we use to produce movement, but also light,
Mystery 6 Students design a flashlights using Electricity is a form of energy that
heat, and more. Just like the energy in a chain reaction
batteries, flights and tin foil. Students can be stored (such as in batteries)
What if there 4-PS3-2 Electrical machine, electricity moves along a path and so can be
experiment with different ways of and transferred via wires, where it is
4-PS3-4 Energy transferred from one place to another. We can use such
were no knowledge about electrical energy to design solutions to
constructing their flashlights so that they used to produce not only movement,
turn on and off. but also light, heat, and more.
electricity? problems (such as flashlights for seeing in the dark).

DCIs: PS3.B, ETS1.A

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Unit 3: Human Machine: Body, Senses, & the Brain
January 8 – March 23 (11 Weeks)
- Life Science (LS)
- Profound Perspective: Your body is like a machine or robot. It has parts for moving around, sensors, a built-in computer (and it all even runs
on power--but that’s a topic for a later time).
3rd Grade Mystery Science Life Science
Power of Flowers
Life Cycles, Traits, & Adaptations
Mystery 1: Why do plants grow flowers??
(Reproduction)
Animals Through Time
Habitats, Change, & Heredity
Mystery 1: Where can you find whales in a
desert? (Habitats & Environment Change)
Mystery 4: What kinds of animals might there be
in the future? (Heredity, Variation, & Selection)
Mystery 5: Can selection happen without
people? (Heredity, Variation, & Selection)
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NGSS Performance Expectations
3-LS1-1. Develop models to describe that organisms
have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in
common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a
particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some
survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
3-LS3-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence
that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents
and that variation of these traits exists in a group of
similar organisms.
3-LS4-1. Analyze and interpret data from fossils to
provide evidence of the organisms and environments in
which they lived long ago.
3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for
how the variations in characteristics among individuals of
the same species may provide advantages in surviving,
finding mates, and reproducing.
Mystery Science Alignment
Power of Flowers Mystery 1 and Mystery 2
address the disciplinary core ideas and scientific
practices required for students to meet this
performance expectation.
Animals Through Time Mystery 1 and Mystery 5
address the disciplinary core ideas and scientific
practices required for students to meet this
performance expectation.
Animals Through Time Mystery 4 and Mystery 5,
address the disciplinary core ideas and scientific
practices required for students to meet this
performance expectation.
Animals Through Time Mystery 1, address the
disciplinary core ideas and scientific practices
required for students to meet this performance
expectation.
Animals Through Time Mystery 4 and Mystery 5,
address the disciplinary core ideas and scientific
practices required for students to meet this
performance expectation.
 3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a
problem caused when the environment changes and the
types of plants and animals there may change.
Animals Through Time Mystery 1 and Mystery 5
address the disciplinary core idea involved
(environmental changes affect the plants and/or animals
living there). For example, an environmental change, like the
introduction of the Brown Anoles on Lizard Island in Mystery 5,
gets the students thinking about this kind of problem (invasive
species). At the end of Mystery 5 will be a suggestion for an
End-of-Unit project in which students engage in brainstorming
and propose solutions to help the Green Anoles of Lizard Island.

Grade 4 Performance Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) Scientific & Engineering Crosscutting Concepts
Topics
Life Science Expectations (Mystery Conceptual Flow) Practices (SEPs) (CCC)
Like a machine or robot, the body has parts, or structures, Students build a model of a finger that Students consider how human motion
for moving around (e.g. the limbs). In order to move (one of they then use to construct an is made possible by a system of
the body’s functions), the body needs at least two things: explanation for how fingers move. muscles, tendons and bones.
Mystery 1 muscles and bones. The contraction of your muscles pulls Students consider the cause and
on tendons, which in turn pull on the bones, causing you to effect relationship between tendons
Why do your 4-LS1-1
Muscles &
Skeleton move. Your external parts (such as appendages) are and the muscles and bones that they
biceps bulge? controlled by your brain like a marionette puppet (a topic move.
we explore in Mystery 4).

DCIs: LS1.A
Continuing the analogy of the body as a machine or robot, Students build a model of a eyeball Students think about how the eye
we now consider its “sensors”--the sensory organs, in this that they then use to construct an works as a system of different parts
Mystery 2
4-LS1-1 lesson focusing specifically on the eyes. Students discover explanation of why some people have that interact to facilitate vision.
What do blind 4-LS1-2
Eyes &
Vision
the basics of how their eyes work, and figure out some of blurry vision. Students consider how light interacts
the causes of vision problems. with the system to determine what
people see? 4-PS4-2
images we see (cause and effect.)
DCIs: LS1.A; Foundational for LS1.D, PS4.B
Students delve further into the workings of the eye, Students conduct an investigation to Students continue to think about how
Mystery 3 exploring the function of their iris and pupil. see how pupils change in response to the eye works as a system and how
How can some 4-LS1-1
How Eyes
light. Students build a model of an eye changes to each part impact the
4-LS1-2 DCIs: LS1.A; Extends LS1.D, PS4.B (extending the model they built in system as a whole. Students also
animals see in 4-PS4-2
Work
Mystery 3) to explain how changes in reason about the effect of changes in
the dark? pupil size changes the image that pupil size (cause and effect).
appears on the retina.
Mystery 4 Continuing the analogy of the body as a machine or robot, Students conduct investigations to Students identify patterns based on
we finally consider the body’s ‘build-in computer’ or central
How does your 4-LS1-1 Brain & processor: the brain, and its accompanying nerves.
explore how the brain processes
information and responds to that
how their brains process information.

brain control 4-LS1-2 Nerves Students explore the brain’s role in receiving information information. Students analyze and
from the senses, processing that information, and interpret data from the investigations
your body?
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 controlling the muscles to enable movement. to determine how fast their reflexes
are.
DCIs: LS1.A, LS1.D

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Unit 4: Waves of Sound: Sound, Waves, & Communication
April 9 – May 18 (6 Weeks)
- Physical Science (PS)
- Profound Perspective: Even though “sound” might seem like a short-lived phenomenon without any real form, it is very much a physical
thing, a wave of vibrations traveling through the air. Sound has properties: it takes time to travel, it can be transmitted over a string,
manipulated to become high or low, turned into music, even captured and frozen in time. Equipped with this understanding, students can
begin to make sense of how sound and music work.
Grade 4 Performance Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) Scientific & Engineering Practices Crosscutting
Topics
Physical Science Expectations (Mystery Conceptual Flow) (SEPs) Concepts (CCC)
Sounds aren’t something we can see or touch, and so it’s easy Students document their understanding of how Students identify patterns
to dismiss them as not fully real. But if you’ve experienced an vibrations travel using a model of their paper cup about the relationship
echo before, then clearly there is something interesting and telephones. Students then design their own between the tension of the
Mystery 1 very real about sound--we can even feel and see that sound series of investigations to figure out how to string and the quality of
How far can a 4-PS4-1 Sound & has something to do with vibrations. Students observe a make their telephone work better in different the sound it produces.
4-PS4-3 Vibrations relationship between sound and vibration, and through the circumstances. Students construct an Students also investigate
whisper travel? activity, discover evidence that sound isn’t merely related to explanation of how the telephone works. patterns in the how
vibrations, but perhaps, is a vibration. Students extend the lesson by developing a way different materials affect
to send a message using a pattern of sounds. the quality of the sound
DCIs: Foundational for PS4.A that is transmitted.
Sound can travel through lots of different materials: through Students conduct investigations with balloons Students consider the
Mystery 2
water, through string… it’s possible to even feel the vibrations to experience the vibrations caused by sound of effect of vibrations on the
What would in the string, pinch the string, and stop the vibrations from their voices. Students construct an explanation movement of distant
reaching the other side. It would seem that sound is a vibration that sound is a vibration. Students then develop objects.
happen if you 4-PS4-1
Sound &
Vibrations that must travel from one place to another. So does that mean a model to explain how sound travels through a
scream in outer sound is vibrating the air? (It is.) And what happens if there is medium and how it can cause distant objects to
no air? (There is no sound!) move.
space? DCIs: PS4.A
Some sounds are very high-pitched, while others are low- Students analyze and interpret data from Students identify and
pitched. For example, young people can even hear certain oscilloscopes to determine how wavelengths analyze the oscilloscope
Mystery 3 high-pitched sounds that adults can no longer hear. What differ between high and low pitch sounds. patterns made by sounds
makes one sound high and another low? By examining some Students make claims and argue from evidence with low and high pitches.
Why are some musical instruments played in slow motion, we can begin to about which wavelength patterns were generated
Sound,
sounds high 4-PS4-1 Vibrations & detect some differences in the vibrations. Special instruments from different pitches. Students then use a rope
Waves enable us to visualize the resulting air vibrations, and reveal to model waves created by different pitches and
and some that sound vibrations travel as waves in the air. Students begin to explore the relationship between
sounds low? discover that the difference between high and low-pitched wavelength and frequency.
sounds has to do with the length of these waves
(“wavelength”).

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 DCIs: PS4.A

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