4th Grade Science Curriculum Map
Standards – Quarter 1
I Can Statements
Forces and Motion
4.P.1.1 - Explain how magnets interact with all things made of iron
and with other magnets to produce motion without touching them.
4.P.1.2 - Explain how electrically charged objects push or pull on
other electrically charged objects and produce motion.
4.P.1.1: I can tell which objects are attracted to magnets.
I can explain why the interaction between magnets causes
motion.
4.P.1.2: I can observe how objects attract because of electrical
charges.
Key Vocabulary: attract, repel, interact, electrical charge, magnetism, iron, motion, force
Matter: Properties & Change
4.P.2.1 - Compare the physical properties of samples of matter
(strength, hardness, flexibility, ability to conduct heat, ability to
conduct electricity, ability to be attracted to magnets, reactions to
water and fire).
4.P.2.1: I can compare the physical properties of matter.
Key Vocabulary: strength, hardness, flexibility, conductor, insulator, electricity, attract, repel, luster, static, circuits, parallel,
series, physical properties
Energy: Conservation & Transfer
4.P.3.1 - Recognize the basic forms of energy (light, sound, heat,
electrical, and magnetic) as the ability to cause motion or create
change.
4.P.3.2 - Recognize that light travels in a straight line until it strikes
an object or travels from one medium to another, and that light can
be reflected, refracted, and absorbed.
4.P.3.1: I can recognize basic forms of energy by how they cause
motion or create change.
4.P.3.2: I can explain why light travels in a straight line. I can
understand how light is changed by refraction, reflection, or
absorption.
Key Vocabulary: light, heat, sound, magnetic, refraction, reflection, absorption, light travel
4th Grade Science Curriculum Map
Standards – Quarter 2
I Can Statements
Earth History
4.E.2.1 - Compare fossils (including molds, casts, and preserved
parts of plants and animals) to one another and to living organisms.
4.E.2.2 - Infer ideas about Earth’s early environments from fossils of
plants and animals that lived long ago.
4.E.2.3 - Give examples of how the surface of the earth changes due
to slow processes such as erosion and weathering, and rapid
processes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.
4.E.2.1: I can compare fossils to one another and to living
organisms using different tools.
4.E.2.2: I can understand the Earth’s early environment by
examining plants and animals that lived long ago.
4.E.2.3: I can explain how the earth changes over time.
Key Vocabulary: fossils, molds, casts, preserved, erosion, weathering, landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, biotic, abiotic
Matter: Properties & Change
4.P.2.2 - Explain how minerals are identified using tests for the
physical properties of hardness, color, luster, cleavage and streak.
4.P.2.3 - Classify rocks as metamorphic, sedimentary or igneous
based on their composition, how they are formed and the processes
that create them.
4.P.2.2: I can identify and describe the properties of minerals.
4.P.2.3: I can classify rocks, and tell how they are formed.
Key Vocabulary: minerals, hardness, color, luster, cleavage, streak, metamorphic, sedimentary, igneous, composition
4th Grade Science Curriculum Map
Standards – Quarter 3
I Can Statements
Molecular Biology
4.L.2.1 - Classify substances as food or non-food items based on
their ability to provide energy and materials for survival, growth and
repair of the body.
4.L.2.2 - Explain the role of vitamins, minerals and exercise in
maintaining a healthy body.
4.L.2.1: I can classify substances as food or non-food items based
on their ability to provide energy.
4.L.2.2: I can explain how vitamins, minerals, and exercise help to
maintain a healthy body.
Key Vocabulary: food, non-food, vitamins, minerals, growth, repair, survival, nutrition
Earth in the Universe
4.E.1.1 - Explain the cause of day and night based on the rotation of
Earth on its axis.
4.E.1.2 - Explain the monthly changes in the appearance of the
moon, based on the moon’s orbit around the Earth.
4.E.1.1: I can explain the cause of day and night based on the
rotation of Earth on its axis.
4.E.1.2: I can explain why the moon changes appearance each
month.
Key Vocabulary: rotation, axis, moon, first quarter, third quarter, waxing crescent, waning crescent, full moon, new moon, orbit
4th Grade Science Curriculum Map
Standards – Quarter 4
I Can Statements
Ecosystems
4.L.1.1 - Give examples of changes in an organism’s environment
that are beneficial to it and some that are harmful.
4.L.1.2 - Explain how animals meet their needs by using behaviors in
response to information received from the environment.
4.L.1.3 - Explain how humans can adapt their behavior to live in
changing habitats (e.g., recycling wastes, establishing rain gardens,
planting trees and shrubs to prevent flooding and erosion).
4.L.1.4 - Explain how differences among animals of the same
population sometimes give individuals an advantage in surviving and
reproducing in changing habitats.
4.L.1.1: I can explain changes in an organism’s environment, and
why those changes are beneficial or harmful.
4.L.1.2: I can identify ways in which animals meet their needs by
using behaviors in response to their environment.
4.L.1.3: I can explain how humans can adapt their behaviors to live
in changing habitats.
4.L.1.4: I can explain how differences among animals of the same
population sometimes give individual animals an advantage in
survival.
Key Vocabulary: organisms, environment, beneficial, harmful, species, habitat, extinction, endangered, adaptation (adapt),
recycle, flooding, erosion, survival, camouflage, mimic
