Gloucester Township Public Schools
Science Curriculum
Grade 4
Overview
According to A Framework for K-12 Science Education, “Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life, and they
also hold the key to meeting many of humanity’s most pressing current and future challenges.” The K-5 Science curriculum for Gloucester Township
Public Schools is focused on instilling a foundation of scientific content knowledge and encouraging a passion for the important field of Science.
Students will work collaboratively to explore the Universe around them, and apply logic, reasoning, and problem solving skills in engaging activities
and experiences.
The Grade 4 Science curriculum is segmented into 4 Domains:
 Domain A: Science Practices
 Domain B: Physical Science
 Domain C: Life Science
 Domain D: Earth Systems Science
These domains represent the strands of the NJ Core Curriculum Standards for Science. Within each strand there are topics and activities designed to
meet the standards for each strand. The activities range from collaborative group activities, research, media analysis, and presentations. In an effort
to maximize the use of instructional materials and deliver a unified instructional program to students, many of the standards are met using the
Reading Wonders components. This program is the district reading program being implemented in grades K-5. The activities and lessons are
designed to complement the reading instruction by correlating unit topics and skills to reading selections. The natural beauty and design of a cross
content curriculum will undoubtedly help students to maximize their Science skills and understandings.
Benchmark and Cross Curricular Key
__Red: ELA
__ Blue: Math
__ Green: Science
__ Orange: Social Studies
__ Purple: Related Arts
__ Yellow: Benchmark Assessment
Domain A
Science Practices
Standards
5.1.4.A.3
5.1.4.D.4
5.1.4.A.3
Topic
Science to
Understand How
Things Work
Activity
Speed and Motion
How Can Science
Help You
Understand How
Things Work?
Forces
Messages in Animal Make a List of Dog
Stories
Tricks
What are some
messages in animal
stories?
The Advantages of
Training Reptiles
Dolly the Sheep
Inventions that
Potential and
Solved Problems
Kinetic Energy
Research
Inventions
Potential and
Kinetic Energy
Resource
Work Station
Activity Card #4
Wonders T331
Brain Pop Video
Work Station
Activity Card #6
Wonders T331
Assessment
Formative:
Teacher
Observations,
Student
Conferencing,
Informal
Walkabouts.
Summative:
Wonders Research
and Inquiry Rubric,
Teacher Checklist,
Speaking and
Discovery Ed Video Listening Checklist,
Brain Pop Quiz
(4:17 minutes)
Brain Pop Video
Work Station
Activity Card #23
Wonders T331
Discovery Ed Video
(4:14 minutes)
Domain B
Physical Science
Standards
5.2.4.A.2, 5.2.4.A.4
Topic
Looking Clearly at
Things
Activity
Resource
Water All Around
Us
Work Station
Activity Card #24
Hubble Telescope
Slideshow
Wonders T331
Defining the Three
States of Matter
Assessment
Formative:
Teacher
Observations,
Student
Conferencing,
Informal
Walkabouts.
Summative:
Discovery Ed Video Wonders Research
(4:01 minutes)
and Inquiry Rubric,
Teacher Checklist,
Speaking and
Listening Checklist,
Brain Pop Quiz
Domain C
Life Science
Standards
Topic
Activity
5.3.4.A.2, 5.3.4.D.1
Animal Characters
in Fiction
5.3.4.A.1
5.3.2.C.1
5.3.2.C.2
5.3.4.C.1
5.3.4.C.2
5.3.6.C.3
How Living Things
Are Connected
Life of Fly & Life of
Frog
How do animal
characters change
familiar stories?
Four Stages of the
Life Cycle
Metamorphosis
Understanding
Ecosystems
5.3.4.E.1, 5.1.C
Animal
Adaptations To
Survive
How are all living
things connected?
Name That
Connection
Top Design
Food Chains
Adaptations
What Helps an
Animal Survive?
Birds of a Feather
Ecosystems
Resource
Work Station
Activity Card #7
Wonders T331
Assessment
Formative:
Teacher
Observations,
Student
Conferencing,
Discovery Ed Video Informal
Walkabouts.
(2:14 minutes)
Brain Pop Video
Summative:
Work Station
Wonders Research
Activity Card #8
and Inquiry Rubric,
Teacher Checklist,
Speaking and
Listening Checklist,
Brain Pop Quiz
Wonders T331
Discovery Ed
Activities
Brain Pop Video
Work Station
Activity Card #9
Wonders T331
Discovery Ed
Activity
Brain Pop Video
5.3.4.E.1, 5.3.4.E.2
5.3.8.A.1
Writers Inspired by Animals and the
Animals
Environment
How are writers
inspired by
animals?
Animal Videos –
I.E. (invertebrates,
bats, honeybees,
etc)
Advances in Science Plant
Characteristics
Similarities &
Differences/Roses
Various rose images
Work Station
Activity Card #10
Wonders T331
Brain Pop Video
Workstation Card
#15
Wonders R&I
Project
Discovery Ed:
Domain D
Earth Systems Science
Standards
5.4.2.F.1
5.4.4.F.1
5.2.6.C.3
5.4.4.A.3
Topic
Activity
Resource
Natural Disasters
Plate Tectonics
Work Station
Activity Card #3
Wonders T331
Wonders in the Sky
How do people
respond to natural
disasters?
Shaky Ground
Tornado in a Bottle
Fast Land Changes
Phases of the Moon
Fictional Newscast
on an Eclipse
This is How I See It
The Moon
Discovery Ed
STEM Activities
Brain Pop Video
Work Station
Activity Card #19
Wonders T331
Discovery Ed
Activity
Brain Pop Videos
Assessment
Formative:
Teacher
Observations,
Student
Conferencing,
Informal
Walkabouts.
Summative:
Wonders Research
and Inquiry Rubric,
Teacher Checklist,
Speaking and
Listening Checklist,
Brain Pop Quiz
Appendix A
Adaptations for Special Education Students, English Language Learners, and
Gifted and Talented Students
Making Instructional Adaptations
Instructional Adaptations include both accommodations and modifications.
An accommodation is a change that helps a student overcome or work around a disability or
removes a barrier to learning for any student.
Usually a modification means a change in what is being taught to or expected from a student.
-Adapted from the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
ACCOMMODATIONS
Required when on an IEP or 504 plan, but can be
implemented for any student to support their
learning.
MODIFICATIONS
Only when written in an IEP.
Special Education Instructional Accommodations
 Use the Wonders Social Studies/Science Workstation Cards orange activity.
 Teachers shall implement any instructional adaptations written in student IEPs.
 Teachers will implement strategies for all Learning Styles (Appendix B)
 Teacher will implement appropriate UDL instructional adaptations (Appendix C)
Gifted and Talented Instructional Accommodations
 Use the Wonders Science/Social Studies Workstation Cards green activity.
 Teacher will implement Adaptations for Learning Styles (Appendix
 Teacher will implement appropriate UDL instructional adaptations (Appendix
English Language Learner Instructional Accommodations
 Use the Wonders Social Studies/Science Workstation Cards orange activity.
 Teachers will implement the appropriate instructional adaptions for English Language
Leaners (Appendix E)
APPENDIX B
Learning Styles
Aadapted from The Learning Combination Inventories (Johnson, 1997)and VAK (Fleming, 1987)
Accommodating Different Learning Styles in the Classroom:
All learners have a unique blend of sequential, precise, technical, and confluent learning
styles. Additionally, all learners have a preferred mode of processing information- visual,
audio, or kinesthetic.
It is important to consider these differences when lesson planning, providing instruction,
and when differentiating learning activities. The following recommendations are
accommodations for learning styles that can be utilized for all students in your class.
Since all learning styles may be represented in your class, it is effective to use multiple
means of presenting information, allow students to interact with information in multiple ways,
and allow multiple ways for students to show what they have learned when applicable.
Visual
Utilize Charts, graphs, concept maps/webs, pictures, and cartoons
Watch videos to learn information and concepts
Encourage students to visulaize events as they read
Study using flash cards
Model by demonstrating tasks or showing a finished product
Audio
Have written directions available for student
Allow students to give oral presentations or explain concepts verbally
Present information and directions verbally or encourage students to read
directions aloud to themselves.
Utilize read alouds
Kinesthetic
Utilize songs, rhymes, chants and choral response,
Act out concepts and dramatize events
Trace words/sounds on paper, sand, or water
Use manipulatives
Allow students to depen knowledge through hands on projects
Sequential: following a plan. The learner seeks to follow step-by-step directions, organize and plan
work carefully, and complete the assignment from beginning to end without interruptions.
Accommodations:
Repeat/rephrase directions
Provide a checklist or step by step written directions
Break assignments in to chunks
Provide samples of desired products
Help the sequential students overcome these challenges: over planning and not finishing a task, difficulty reassessing
and improving a plan, spending too much time on directions and neatness and overlooking concepts
Precise: seeking and processing detailed information carefully and accurately. The learner takes detailed
notes, asks questions to find out more information, seeks and responds with exact answers, and reads and
writes in a highly specific manner.
Accommodations:
Provide detailed directions for assignments
Provide checklists
Provide frequent feedback and encouragement
Help precise students overcome these challenges: overanalyzing information, asking too many questions, focusing on
details only and not concepts
Technical: working autonomously, "hands-on," unencumbered by paper-and-pencil requirements. The
learner uses technical reasoning to figure out how to do things, works alone without interference, displays
knowledge by physically demonstrating skills, and learns from real-world experiences
Accommodations:
Allow to work independently or as a leader of a group
Give opportunities to solve problems and not memorize information
Plan hands-on tasks
Explain relevance and real world application of the learning
Will be likely to respond to intrinsic motivators, and may not be motivated by grades
Help technical students overcome these challenges: may not like reading or writing, difficulty remaining focused while
seated, does not see the relevance of many assignments, difficulty paying attention to lengthy directions or lectures
Confluent: avoiding conventional approaches; seeking unique ways to complete any learning task. The
learner often starts before all directions are given; takes a risk, fails, and starts again; uses imaginative ideas
and unusual approaches; and improvises.
Accommodations:
Allow choice in assignments
Encourage creative solutions to problems
Allow students to experiment or use trial and error approach
Will likely be motivated by autonomy within a task and creative assignments
Help confluent students overcome these challenges: may not finish tasks, trouble proofreading or paying attention to
detail
APPENDIX C
Universal Design for Learning Adaptations
Adapted from Universal Design For Learning
Teachers will utilize the examples below as a menu of adaptation ideas.
Provide Multiple Means of Representation
Strategy #1: Options for perception
Goal/Purpose
To present information through different modalities
such as vision, hearing, or touch.
Examples
Use visual demonstrations, illustrations, and models
Present a power point presentation.
Strategy #2: Options for language, mathematical expressions and symbols
Goal/Purpose
To make words, symbols, pictures, and mathematical
notation clear for all students.
Examples
Use larger font size
Highlight important parts of text
Strategy #3: Options for Comprehension
Purpose
To provide scaffolding so students can access and
understand information needed to construct useable
knowledge.
Examples
Use KWL strategies or charts.
Provide written notes
Make predictions
Graphic organizers and concept maps
Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression
Strategy #4: Options for physical action
Purpose
To provide materials that all learners can physically
utilize
Examples
Use of computers to type when available
Provide help with cutting, pasting, or other physical
tasks
Preferential or alternate seating
Provide assistance with organization
Strategy #5: Options for expression and communication
Purpose
To allow the learner to express their knowledge in
different ways
Examples
Allow oral responses or presentations
Students show their knowledge with webs, charts,
graphs, or non-linguistic representations
Strategy #6: Options for executive function
Purpose
To scaffold student ability to set goals, plan, and
monitor progress
Examples
Provide clear learning goals, scales, and rubrics
Modeling skills and tasks
Utilize checklists
Give examples of desired finished product
Chunk longer assignments into manageable parts
Teach and practice organizational skills
Provide Multiple Means of Engagement
Strategy #7: Options for recruiting interest
Purpose
To make learning relevant, authentic, interesting, and
engaging to the student.
Examples
Provide choice and autonomy on assignments
Use colorful and interesting designs, layouts, and
graphics on written documents
Use games, challenges, or other motivating activities
Provide positive reinforcement for effort
Strategy #8: Options for sustaining effort and persistence
Purpose
To create extrinsic motivation for learners to stay
focused and work hard on tasks.
Examples
Show real world applications of the lesson
Utilize collaborative learning
Incorporate student interests into lesson
Praise growth and effort
Recognition systems
Behavior plans
Strategy #9: Options for self-regulation
Purpose
To develop intrinsic motivation to control behaviors
and to develop self-control.
Examples
Give prompts or reminders about self-control
Self-monitored behavior plans using logs, records,
journals, or checklists
Ask students to reflect on behavior and effort
Appendix D
Gifted and Talented Instructional Adaptations
How do the State of NJ regulations define gifted and talented students?
Those students who possess or demonstrate high levels of ability, in one or more content areas, when
compared to their chronological peers in the local district and who require modification of their educational
program if they are to achieve in accordance with their capabilities.
What types of instructional accommodations must be made for students identified as gifted and talented?
The State of NJ Department of Education regulations require that district boards of education provide
appropriate K-12 services for gifted and talented students. This includes appropriate curricular and
instructional modifications for gifted and talented students indicating content, process, products, and learning
environment. District boards of education must also take into consideration the PreK-Grade 12 National Gifted
Program Standards of the National Association for Gifted Children in developing programs..
What is differentiation?
Curriculum Differentiation is a process teachers use to increase achievement by improving the match between
the learner’s unique characteristics:
Prior knowledge
Learning Rate
Motivation
Cognitive Level
Learning Style
Strength or Interest
And various curriculum components:
Nature of the Objective
Teaching Activities
Learning Activities
Resources
Products
Differentiation involves changes in the depth or breadth of student learning. Differentiation is enhanced with
the use of appropriate classroom management, retesting, flexible small groups, access to support personal,
and the availability of appropriate resources, and necessary for gifted learners and students who exhibit gifted
behaviors (NRC/GT, University of Connecticut).
Gifted & Talented Accommodations Chart
Adapted from Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Teachers will utilize the examples below as a menu of adaptation ideas.
Strategy
High Level
Questions
Tiered
assignments
Flexible Skills
Grouping
Independent
Projects
Learning
Centers
Interest
Centers or
Interest
Groups
Contracts and
Management
Plans
Description
Discussions and tests, ensure the
highly able learner is presented with
questions that draw on advanced level
of information, deeper understanding,
and challenging thinking.
In a heterogeneous class, teacher uses
varied levels of activities to build on
prior knowledge and prompt
continued growth. Students use varied
approaches to exploration of essential
ideas.
Students are matched to skills work by
virtue of readiness, not with
assumption that all need same spelling
task, computation drill, writing
assignment, etc. Movement among
groups is common, based on readiness
on a given skill and growth in that skill.
Student and teacher identify problems
or topics of interest to student. Both
plan method of investigating
topic/problem and identifying type of
product student will develop. This
product should address the problem
and demonstrate the student’s ability
to apply skills and knowledge to the
problem or topic
Centers are “Stations” or collections of
materials students can use to explore,
extend, or practice skills and content.
For gifted students, centers should
move beyond basic exploration of
topics and practice of basic skills.
Instead it should provide greater
breadth and depth on interesting and
important topics.
Interest Centers provide enrichment
for students who can demonstrate
mastery/competence with required
work/content. Interest Centers can be
used to provide students with
meaningful learning when basic
assignments are completed.
Contracts are an agreement between
the student and teacher where the
teacher grants specific freedoms and
choices about how a student will
complete tasks. The student agrees to
Suggestions for Accommodation
 Require students to defend answers
 Use open ended questions
 Use divergent thinking questions
 Ask student to extrapolate answers when given
incomplete information
 Use advanced materials
 Complex activities
 Transform ideas, not merely reproduce them
 Open ended activity






Exempt gifted learners from basic skills work in
areas in which they demonstrate a high level of
performance
Gifted learners develop advanced knowledge and
skills in areas of talent
Primary Interest Inventory
Allow student maximum freedom to plan, based
on student readiness for freedom
Use preset timelines to zap procrastination
Use process logs to document the process
involved throughout the study

Develop above level centers as part of classroom
instruction

Plan interest based centers for use after students
have mastered content

Allow gifted students to work independently
using a contract for goal setting and
accountability
use the freedoms appropriately in
designing and completing work
according to specifications.
Compacting
A 3-step process that (1) assesses what
a student knows about material “to
be” studied and what the student still
needs to master, (2) plans for learning
what is not known and excuses student
from what is known, and (3) plans for
freed-up time to be spent in enriched
or accelerated study.


Use pretesting and formative assessments
Allow students who complete work or have
mastered skills to complete enrichment activities
Appendix E
English Language Learner Instructional Accommodations
Adapted from World-class Instructional Design and Assessment guidelines (2014), Teachers to English Speakers
of Other Languages guidelines, State of NJ Department of Education Bilingual Education and Haynes and
Zacarian (2010).
K-2
Beginning Level: Preproduction (Newcomers)
Use visuals, manipulative, and real objects
Allow responses through physical movement or manipulation of objects
Allow student to listen and observe (don’t force speaking)
Group student with more advanced ELLs or cooperative peers
Provide simplified text and numerous pictures
Sight word cards
Alphabet Folder
Coloring Packet
Phonics
Vowel books
Word book to draw
Pictionary
Ask questions that require yes or no, or 1-3 word answers
Grade progress
K-2
Early Production (ELLs who have been in the United States between 1-2 years)
Use simplified, abbreviated text material
Provide continued listening activities and visuals
Use photo albums
Allow role playing
Supply create ideas workbook
Use simple word to ask questions
At this stage assessment can be in the form of physical responses, manipulation of objects or simplified
response
Allow extra time to complete tests
Modify number and length of the assignments
Use of word bank all the time to help them
Oral presentations
Projects instead of reports based on learning style of student
K-2
Intermediate Level:
Allow extra time to complete tests. Use short written or verbal measures frequently
Prepare short answer questions
Use checklist observing academic behaviors based on unit
Assess participation indicating student mastery of content
Measure progress on class project in teacher narrative
Grades 3-5
Use visuals, manipulative, and real objects
Allow responses through physical movement or manipulation of objects
Allow student to listen and observe (don’t force speaking)
Group student with more advanced ELLs or cooperative peers
Provide simplified text and numerous pictures
Sight word cards
Alphabet Folder
Coloring Packet
Phonics
Vowel books
Word book to draw
Pictionary
Use short written or verbal measures frequently
Increase amount of time for test
Prepare short answer questions
Use checklist observing academic behaviors based on unit
Assess participation indicating student mastery of content
Measure progress on class project in teacher narrative