This Rocks & Minerals Worksheet gives 4th graders a real property table of talc, calcite, hematite, pyrite, and quartz to read and reason from. Answer key included, so mineral identification practice takes no prep at all.
Using this Animal Song (Animated Music Video), your students learn about different types of animals and their sounds by watching this fun, catchy video.
Using this Survivor Desert Edition Activity, students play the survivor board game to test your knowledge of animals and their habitats.
Using this Survivor Ocean Edition Activity, students play the survivor board game to test your knowledge of animals and their habitats.
Using this Survivor Rainforest Edition Activity, students play the survivor board game to test your knowledge of animals and their habitats.
Sort it like a scientist!
In 4th grade, classification means grouping things by their shared traits, just like real scientists do. Kids sort animals into groups such as mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects, and learn the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates. They classify rocks as igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic based on how they formed. They also look at how animals' features help them survive in deserts, oceans and rainforests. The click comes when kids realize a whale is a mammal, not a fish, because it breathes air and feeds its babies milk!
Fourth graders love sorting when they get to defend their choices. These are our go-to moves.
Set out a few real rocks with magnifying glasses. Kids look for layers, crystals or bubbles and sort them into igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic. Then they explain their clues to the group.
Why it works: the U.S. Department of Education's guide for teaching elementary math recommends moving from hands-on objects to drawings to numbers.
Try it withRocks & Minerals WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Play an animal song as kids hold up cards for mammals, birds, fish and more. Afterward, quiz them on which group each animal in the song belongs to. Music makes a long list of groups easier to remember.
Why it works: a catchy, repeating tune gives the brain a hook to hang words on, so sung text is remembered better (Wallace, 1994).
Try it withAnimal Song (Animated Music Video)SongsOpen it →Start with a big question, like "Does it have a backbone?" and branch into yes or no. Keep adding questions until each animal has its own spot. Kids see how scientists narrow things down step by step.
Why it works: pairing a picture with each word gives kids two ways to remember it, a well-tested principle of how people learn (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withSurvivor Desert Edition ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Survival challenges turn sorting into an adventure.
ActivitiesTeams decide which animal traits help creatures survive in the desert.
Open Survivor Desert Edition Activity →
ActivitiesKids sort ocean animals by the features that keep them alive underwater.
Open Survivor Ocean Edition Activity →
ActivitiesKids classify rainforest plants and animals, then present their survival plan.
Open Survivor Rainforest Edition Activity →Teacher favorites right now: Rocks & Minerals Worksheet, Animal Song (Animated Music Video) and Survivor Desert Edition Activity.
Classification is grouping living and nonliving things by their shared characteristics. Scientists use it to organize and study the world more easily.
Fourth graders often learn mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects. They also learn to sort animals into vertebrates, which have backbones, and invertebrates, which don't.
Igneous rocks form from cooled magma or lava. Sedimentary rocks form from layers of pressed sediment. Metamorphic rocks form when heat and pressure change other rocks.
Sort toys, leaves, rocks or snacks by different traits and have your child explain the rule. Then ask them to find another way to sort the same items.
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