PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF EDISON TOWNSHIP DIVISION OF CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION

SCIENCE GRADE 4

Length of Course: Term _ Elective/Required: Required School: Elementary Student Eligibility: Grade 4 Credit Value: N/A Date Approved: 11/22/10

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF EDISON TOWNSHIP

MISSION STATEMENT

The Public Schools of Edison Township ensure that all students achieve at the highest level of academic success through the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards and in partnership with the community, through a safe,

supportive learning environment. This promotes self-worth and encourages productive contributions to a diverse, technological and constantly evolving global society. The district will maintain a staff of professional educators who support the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards and the New Jersey Standards for Professional Development.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of Purpose 3 Introduction .. 5 Unit One: Organization of Living Things (Life Science) .. 7 Unit Two: The Atmosphere and Beyond (Earth Science) 13 Unit Three: The Nature of Matter (Physical Science Chemistry) 19 Scientific Investigation Report Rubric (Grades 3-4) .. 23 Scientific Observation Report Rubric (Grades 3-5) ... 24 Appendix A ... 25 Appendix B 26 Appendix C 27 Framework for Essential Instructional Behavior (Draft 14) ....................................... 30 Modifications will be made to accommodate IEP mandates for classified students.

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SCIENCE GRADE 4

SCIENCE CURRICULUM GUIDE KINDERGARTEN TO GRADE FIVE

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The purpose of this Science Curriculum Guide for Kindergarten to Grade Five is to provide experiences for our elementary students to build a deeper understanding of the natural world around them. These experiences are developed through the students reading and observations, interaction with technology, and hands-on inquiry-based experiences. As stated in the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Science, Scientific Literacy assumes an increasingly important role in the context of globalization. The rapid pace of technological advances, access to an unprecedented wealth of information, and the pervasive impact of science and technology on day-to-day living require a depth of understanding that can be enhanced through quality science education. In the 21st century, science education focuses on the practices of science that lead to a greater understanding of the growing body of scientific knowledge that is required of citizens in an ever changing world. Three topics of study have been identified as mandated for each grade level to ensure a greater depth of understanding of Life Science, Earth Science, and Physical Science. The units in this guide were based on the 2009 New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards and content-specific Cumulative Progress Indicators have been identified for each topic. Standard 5.1 Science Practices embody practical application of science knowledge and include understanding scientific explanations, generating scientific evidence, reflecting on scientific knowledge, and participating productively in science. Science content is presented in Physical Sciences, standard 5.2, Life Science, standard 5.3, and Earth Systems, standard 5.4. This guide was designed to provide a well balanced and focused science program in the elementary grades building a strong foundation in the three areas of science. The use of the scientific method is the basis for all inquiries and experiments so that students engage in hands-on investigations and learn to record their findings in lab reports in the upper elementary grades. In order to address the concepts and skills in each unit, teachers should select from the suggested activities and instructional strategies. Grade appropriate lab report guidelines and templates included for Grades Three to Five have been correlated to the format used in the middle school and can be adapted to meet the students needs. On-going assessment of learning should be formal and informal. Examples of unit assessments have been provided; however, teachers may adapt or create assessments to measure the students understanding of the unit objectives and essential questions. These grade level units have been revised and updated by: Kindergarten to Grade 3, 2008 Lynne Chonka #9 Laura Floursch #8 Aimee Petagna #14 Lynn Scherer #18 Douglas Stokes #16 Kindergarten to Grade 2, 2010 Christine Beni #10 Patricia Norman #11

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SCIENCE GRADE 4 Lynn Scherer #18 Kelly Wojcik #18 Grades 4 to 5, 2008 Pamela Aurilio, #16 Anne Diehl, #17 Tori Kowalsky #17 Douglas Stokes #16 Grades 3 to 5, 2010 Dina OBrien #8 Donna Abatemarco #9 Patricia Norman #11 Denise Adams #14 Allyson Price #14 Douglas Stokes #16 Donald Plavoet #17 Under the direction of Lois Hagie and Mary Mavroudas, Elementary Supervisors Developing Partnerships to Support Science Understandings, Articulation between Elementary and Middle School Science 2009 -2010 Dina OBrien #8 Donna Abatemarco #9 Julie Uchitel #10 Kim Plodzien #11 Kelly Amabile #13 Yvonne Abrams #13 Allyson Price #14 Amy Fuentes #15 Fran Perilo #16 Donald Plavoet #17 Amy Marzano #18 Susan Kinahan JAMS Magdalena Zaremba JAMS Donna Kohut TJMS Regina Arnold TJMS Bronwyn Glor WWMS Janice Perlin WWMS Judy Freifeld HHMS Jill Sotsky HHMS Under the direction of Lois Hagie and Mary Mavroudas, Elementary Supervisors, and Laura Darrah and Peter Skarecki, Science Supervisors

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SCIENCE GRADE 4 Introduction

The most precious resource teachers have is time. Regardless of how much time a course is scheduled for, it is never enough to accomplish all that one would like. Therefore, it is imperative that teachers utilize the time they have wisely in order to maximize the potential for all students to achieve the desired learning. High quality educational programs are characterized by clearly stated goals for student learning, teachers who are well-informed and skilled in enabling students to reach those goals, program designs that allow for continuous growth over the span of years of instruction, and ways of measuring whether students are achieving program goals. The Edison Township School District Curriculum Template

The Edison Township School District has embraced the backward-design model as the foundation for all curriculum development for the educational program. When reviewing curriculum documents and the Edison Township curriculum template, aspects of the backward-design model will be found in the stated enduring understandings/essential questions, unit assessments, and instructional activities. Familiarization with backward-design is critical to

working effectively with Edisons curriculum guides. Guiding Principles: What is Backward Design? What is Understanding by Design?

Backward design is an increasingly common approach to planning curriculum and instruction. As its name implies, backward design is based on defining clear goals, providing acceptable evidence of having achieved those goals, and then working backward to identify what actions need to be taken that will ensure that the gap between the current status and the desired status is closed.

Building on the concept of backward design, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (2005) have developed a structured approach to planning programs, curriculum, and instructional units. Their model asks educators to state goals; identify deep understandings, pose essential questions,

and specify clear evidence that goals, understandings, and core learning have been achieved.

Program based on backward design use desired results to drive decisions. With this design, there are questions to consider, such as: What should students understand, know, and be able to do? What does it look like to meet those goals? What kind of program will result in the outcomes stated? How will we know students have achieved that result? What other kinds of evidence will tell us that we have a quality program? These questions apply regardless of whether they are goals in program planning or classroom instruction.

The backward design process involves three interrelated stages for developing an entire curriculum or a single unit of instruction. The relationship from planning to curriculum design, development, and implementation hinges upon the integration of the following three stages.

Stage I: Identifying Desired Results: Enduring understandings, essential questions, knowledge and skills need to be woven into curriculum publications, documents, standards, and scope and sequence materials. Enduring understandings identify the big ideas that students will grapple with during the course of the unit. Essential questions provide a unifying focus for the unit and students should be able to answer more deeply and fully these questions as they proceed through the unit. Knowledge and skills are the stuff upon which the understandings are built.

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SCIENCE GRADE 4

Stage II: Determining Acceptable Evidence: Varied types of evidence are specified to ensure

that students demonstrate attainment of desired results. While discrete knowledge assessments (e.g.: multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, short answer, etc) will be utilized during an instructional unit, the overall unit assessment is performance-based and asks students to demonstrate that they have mastered the desired understandings. These culminating (summative) assessments are authentic tasks that students would likely encounter in the real-world after they leave school. They allow students to demonstrate all that they have learned and can do. To demonstrate their understandings students