Montague Township School District
Science Curriculum Guide
Grade 4
2025-2026
Natalie Dube · Brent Runne
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Description
This Grade 4 Science curriculum spans eight units organized into three major strands: Earth science, life science, and physical science. The year begins with students observing how weathering and erosion shape landforms, then expands to how natural Earth processes affect humans and the solutions engineers design to protect communities. Students then shift to life science, studying how plants and animals use internal and external structures and sensory systems to survive and respond to their environment. The curriculum concludes with an extended physical science focus on energy, motion, and waves. Students investigate how energy transfers through sound, light, heat, and electricity; how forces cause and describe motion; and how waves transmit information. Throughout, students apply engineering design principles to build and refine devices that solve real problems, from energy conversion systems to communication tools. The curriculum emphasizes observation, measurement, data analysis, and modeling as tools for understanding cause-and-effect relationships in natural and designed systems.
Big Ideas
- Patterns in rock formations and erosion provide evidence of how Earth's surface changes over time.
- Internal and external structures in organisms are specialized for specific functions that support survival, growth, and reproduction.
- Energy transfers between places and between objects in predictable ways through sound, light, heat, electricity, and motion.
- The engineering design process enables scientists and engineers to generate, test, and refine solutions to problems by controlling variables and analyzing data.
Essential Questions
- How do Earth's natural processes shape landforms and affect human communities?
- How do structures and systems in plants and animals enable survival and response to the environment?
- How can scientific understanding of force, motion, energy, and waves be applied to design solutions that meet human needs?
Core Textbook
Mosa Mack Science — Mosa Mack
Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Earth and Space Sciences
Life Sciences
Physical Sciences
Crosscutting Concepts
Disciplinary Core Ideas
Science and Engineering Practices
Students read informational texts and conduct short research projects to gather evidence supporting science explanations across all units. They write informative and opinion pieces, take notes from print and digital sources, draw evidence from texts, and use audio recordings and visual displays in presentations to communicate understanding of science concepts including weathering, erosion, earth processes, structures and functions, energy transfer, force and motion, and waves.
Students apply mathematical reasoning and measurement skills across science units. They use measurement units to collect and analyze quantitative data, model with mathematics when drawing diagrams of light and waves, solve multistep word problems involving distances and quantities related to energy and earth processes, interpret multiplication equations as comparisons when analyzing environmental data, and apply geometric concepts such as points, lines, angles, and lines of symmetry when studying wave properties and organism structures.
Assessment across the year relies on multiple forms of evidence. Students demonstrate understanding through investigations and experiments where they make observations, measure data, and identify cause-and-effect patterns. They construct arguments supported by evidence and develop models to explain phenomena such as erosion, organism structures, light and vision, and wave properties. Performance-based assessments are central to the engineering units, where students design, build, test, and refine devices while controlling variables and incorporating peer feedback. Throughout, students analyze maps and data, plan fair tests, and communicate findings to justify their explanations and solutions.
| Unit | Formative | Summative | Benchmark | Alternative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01Weathering and Erosion | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| 02Earth Processes | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| 03Structures and Functions | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| 04How Organisms Process Information | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 05Transfer of Energy | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| 06Forces and Motion | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| 07Using Engineering Design with Force and Motion Systems | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| 08Waves and Information | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Coverage | 8/8 | 7/8 | 2/2 | 8/8 |
| Unit | IEP | 504 | MLL | At-Risk | Gifted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01Weathering and Erosion | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 02Earth Processes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 03Structures and Functions | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 04How Organisms Process Information | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 05Transfer of Energy | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 06Forces and Motion | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 07Using Engineering Design with Force and Motion Systems | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 08Waves and Information | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Coverage | 8/8 | 8/8 | 8/8 | 8/8 | 8/8 |