4th Grade Science Lesson Plans

Time4Learning is an online student-paced learning system covering preschool through middle school. It is popular as a fourth grade homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment, for remediation, and for summer study.

The lesson plans below provide a detailed list of the fourth grade science curriculum, with brief activity descriptions and learning activity (LA) numbers. Additional resources related to fourth grade science are also provided, below.

Students enrolled in fourth grade science will have access to both third and fifth grade science lessons as part of their membership, so they can move ahead or review at their own pace.

If you are just learning about Time4Learning, we’d suggest first looking at our interactive lesson demos. Members often use this page as a resource for more detailed planning, to choose specific activities using the activity finder or to compare our curriculum with state standards.

4th Grade Science Curriculum Lessons

Total Activities: 117

Chapter 1: The Nature of Science

Think Like a Scientist

Think Like a Scientist focuses students on how scientists think, encouraging them to ask questions, investigate, and communicate, and highlighting the ways science has changed our world.

Chapter 2: Engineering and Technology

Engineering Design

Engineering Design focuses on the engineering design process, including the purpose for engineering, testing a prototype, and how some failed designs were turned into successful technology.

Chapter 3: Energy

Energy & Transformations

Energy & Transformations focuses on the transfer, storage and transformation of energy through collisions.

Waves

Waves focuses on the movement of energy (light, sound, heat) and the ways we have developed to communicate using waves.

Chapter 4: Living Things

Structure & Function of Plants

Structure & Function of Plants focuses on plant structures, including cells, roots, leaves, stems, fruits, flowers and seeds. Students also learn the function that plants serve in providing food for all living things through photosynthesis.

Structure & Behavior of Animals

Structure & Behavior of Animals focuses on the idea that all animals are made up of internal and external structures that help them survive and meet their needs.

Chapter 5: Earth

Geological Changes Over Time

Geological Changes Over Time focuses on the slow changes that have happened on our planet over millions of years and the evidence that is left behind in the form of rocks and fossils.

Earth’s Features and Change

Earth’s Features & Change focuses on the patterns that can be seen in Earth’s features and how weathering, erosion and deposition can make quick or slow changes to the features of Earth.

Lesson Activity Finder Tool

The lesson activity finder is one of the many helpful tools that Time4Learning offers its members. The activity finder is a shortcut that makes it easy for parents to preview lessons or find extra practice for their child.
Every lesson in the curriculum has a unique activity number, referred to in the lesson plans as an “LA Number.” These numbers can be found on either the scope and sequence pages or the lesson plans in the Parent Dashboard.
The activity finder can be found in the lower left hand corner of the Student Dashboard. To use it, members simply log in to their child’s account, type the Learning Activity (LA) number of a lesson into the Activity Finder and click “Go” to open it.
For additional information, please visit our hints and help section, which gives more details about the activity finder.

If you’re interested in the fourth grade science lesson plans, you might also be interested in:
Lesson plans for other grade levels of science:

Other fourth grade subjects and topics:

Wondering how many lessons to have your child do each day? Our lesson planning worksheet can help you estimate.

Online Curriculum for Homeschool, Afterschool and Summer Use

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4th Grade Science Lesson Plans

4th Grade Science Curriculum Lessons

Lesson Activity Finder Tool

Additional Resources Related to Fourth Grade Science

Online Curriculum for Homeschool, Afterschool and Summer Use