NEW 2022 CURRICULUM! Ontario - Grade 3 & 4 Science STEM - FULL YEAR BUNDLE

FULL YEAR SPLIT GRADE BUNDLE - GRADES 3 & 4!

NEW 2022 CURRICULUM! BOTH GOOGLE SLIDES AND PDF VERSIONS INCLUDED!

***Strand A: STEM/Coding has been added to this unit at no extra charge!

Check out the previews of these units to learn more about how they can benefit your students.

Most importantly, we have made cross-curriculum connections to the grades 3 and 4 language programs. Students will practice reading comprehension strategies (making connections, questioning, visualizing, and inferencing) as they work through this unit.

Grade 3

Unit 1 - Growth and Changes in Plants

Some of the concepts that are covered:

• Basic needs of plants – light, water, air, space, and warmth
• Parts of a plant – diagram
• Parts of a plant – readings and activities for each part (roots, stem, leaves, flower, and seeds)
• Life cycle of seed plants and bulb plants
• Experiment – germinating seeds in the classroom
• How seeds are spread – animals and the wind
• Parts of a flower – diagram
• Differences between plants
• Adapting plants – cactus
• Photosynthesis – Plants need the sun
• Lab Experiment – water travels through a plant
• Animals need the sun
• How we use plants – food, medicine, shelter, clothing
• How indigenous groups use plant
• Relationship between plants and animals - how plants need animals, and how animals need plants
• Analyzing pictures – animal and plant relationships
• How food is grown – greenhouses, farms, and home gardens
• Locally grown food – Farmers’ Markets
• Organic food – use of pesticides in farming
• Environmental challenges to plants – drought, extreme cold, extreme heat, construction
• How humans can help plants
• 2-billion tree challenge – Canadian government
• STEM Activities
• Hands on Experiments
• Building models, systems, or structures
• Writing code
• Reading code
• Unit Test
• Answer pages for all activities

Unit 2 - Strong and Stable Structures

Some of the concepts that are covered:

• What are structures?
• Human-made structures and natural structures
• Structures hold a load
• Live loads and dead loads
• Stability of structures
• Structures – form and function
• Describing the form and function of various structures
• Properties of materials – strength, flexibility, durability
• Strong building materials – steel versus plastic
• Describing materials based on their properties
• Creating stronger building materials – layering, braiding/twisting, and folding
• Science experiment – layering activity – testing building materials
• Science experiment – folding activity - testing building materials
• Fasteners – glue, nails, screws, paperclip, zipper, rope, tape, buttons and more
• Strong fasteners
• Centre of gravity affecting stability
• Leaning Tower of Pisa – centre of gravity
• Centre of gravity experiments
• Forces acting on structures – tension and compression
• Effects of forces on objects – breaking point
• Struts and ties – compression (struts) and ties (tension)
• Strong shapes – triangles and trusses (uses struts and ties)
• Experiment – Using triangles to build strong structures
• Safe structures – using structures properly
• Structures in my environment – examining the building materials and fasteners
• The Great Pyramid still standing – lessons learned from the 5,000-year-old structures
• Effects of shelters (structures) on the environment
• STEM Activities
• Hands on Experiments
• Building models, systems, or structures
• Writing code
• Reading code
• Unit test
• Answer pages for all activities

Unit 3 - Forces and Motion

Some of the concepts that are covered:

• Non-contact forces versus contact forces
• Forces – push and pull
• Gravity – readings, activities, and experiment
• Electrostatic force – readings and questions
• Static electricity – reading and questions
• Dangers of static electricity
• Lightning – electrostatic force
• Magnetic forces – reading, activities, experiment
• Devices that use non-contact forces – magnetism, electrostatic, and gravity
• Contact forces – muscular force, friction, and spring force
• Friction – sliding friction, static friction, and rolling friction
• Muscular force in sports
• Forces acting on objects
• Unbalanced and balanced forces causing change in direction
• Examples of unbalanced and balanced forces
• Objects changing direction – sports examples
• Force diagrams – showing change in direction
• Forces in our everyday lives
• Forces of nature – tsunami (water force) and tornado (wind force)
• Natural forces – erosion
• Clearcutting forests causing erosion – diagram
• Wearing protective gear to be safe around forces
• STEM Activities
• Hands on Experiments
• Building models, systems, or structures
• Writing code
• Reading code
• Bank cards and the importance of coding
• Conducting research – invention of bank cards
• Unit test
• Answer pages for all activities

Unit 4 - Soils in the Environment

Some of the concepts that are covered:

• What is soil?
• Soil is alive – living organisms in soil
• What is in our soil?
• Layers of soil – diagram, reading, and questions
• Experiment – creating the layers of soil model
• Sandy soil - advantages and disadvantages
• Silt soil - advantages and disadvantages
• Clay soil - advantages and disadvantages
• Loam soil - advantages and disadvantages
• Water in soil
• Investigating components in soil – experiment/activity
• Plant profiles – Types of soils that different plants like
• Cactus plant profile – surviving in sandy soil
• Additives in soil – fertilizers and pesticides
• Pesticides – organic versus chemical
• Organic versus non-organic food
• Composting – reading, questions, and experiment/activity
• Manure – natural fertilizer
• Improving soil – crop rotation
• Different uses of soil – shelters (soddies, adobe, clay pots)
• Importance of soil for living things
• Erosion – moving soil with water and wind
• Weathering rocks – formation of soil
• Weathering, erosion, and deposition – changing our land
• Controlling soil erosion – Windbreaks, terracing, and reforestation
• STEM Activities
• Hands on Experiments
• Building models, systems, or structures
• Writing code
• Reading code
• STEM Assignment – Soil Testing Machine: Writing Code and Mathematics Connection
• Unit test
• Answer pages for all activities

Grade 4

Unit 1 - Machines and their Mechanisms

• What are machines?
• Simple machines – overview
• Roller vs wheel – sliding friction
• Wheel and axle – mechanical advantage
• Gears – spur gear, idle gear, bevel gear and worm gear
• Bicycles – using gears
• Gear trains and gear ratios – mechanical advantages
• Gears – changing planes (horizontal vs vertical)
• Gears - rotary motion vs linear motion
• Pulleys – fixed pulley, moveable pulley and compound pulley
• Pulleys - calculating mechanical advantage
• Pulleys – changing direction of force
• Pulley systems in our everyday lives
• Experiment – creating a pulley system
• Levers – types (class 1, class 2, class 3)
• Levers in our everyday lives
• Labelling levers by their type/class
• Experiment – creating a lever system
• Calculating the mechanical advantage of levers
• Inclined planes – mechanical advantage
• Everyday uses of inclined planes
• Calculating the mechanical advantage of inclined planes
• Wedges – everyday uses and diagram
• Screw – everyday uses and diagram
• Identifying simple machines in your life
• Compound machines – scissors, wheelbarrow
• Muscular-skeletal system – levers in our bodies
• Importance of machines in our lives – backhoe
• Electric vs fuel burning vehicles (machines) – effects on the environment
• STEM Activities
• Hands on Experiments
• Building models, systems, or structures
• Writing and reading code
• STEM Assignment – Self-Driving Vehicles
• Unit test
• Answer pages for all activities

Unit 2 - Habitats and Communities

• What are habitats?
• What is a community?
• Terrestrial habitats vs aquatic habitats
• Difference between organisms, species, communities, and habitats
• Survival needs for organisms in habitats
• Animal adaptations that allow them to survive in their habitat
• Desert habitat – warm and cold deserts - climate, vegetation, animals, adaptations
• Grassland habitat – climate, vegetation, animals, adaptations
• Forest habitats – tropical forests, temperate forests, and boreal forests
• Importance of trees and forests for animals
• Aquatic habitats – wetlands
• Wetlands near us
• Plant and animal adaptations in wetlands
• Aquatic habitats – deep ocean and coral reefs
• Interaction of living and non-living things in habitats
• Food chain – producers, consumers and decomposers
• Creating a food chain
• Ordering food chains in different habitats
• Food web in wetlands
• Herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores
• Limits of habitats – carrying capacity
• Specialized vs generalized species
• Extinction and endangered species
• Human dependency on habitats – how humans affect habitats
• Wildlife populations and communities – endangered animals and extinction
• Human caused changes to habitats
• How you can help habitats
• STEM Activities
• Hands on Experiments
• Building models, systems, or structures
• Writing code
• Reading code
• STEM Assignment – Creating a zoo animal enclosure
• Unit test
• Answer pages for all activities

Unit 3 - Rocks, Minerals and Geological Processes

• What is geology?
• Rocks vs minerals
• Classifying rocks and minerals
• Mineral composition of certain rocks – granite, gneiss, limestone, conglomerate, etc.
• The rock cycle – reading and diagram
• Science experiment – the rock cycle
• Geological processes that create metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous rock
• Physical properties of sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rock
• Identifying metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous rocks
• Describing rocks/minerals using their properties – lustre, hardness, colour, texture, transparency
• Science experiment – testing the hardness of rocks
• Earth’s processes – compacting, cementing, cooling, heating, pressure, erosion, etc.
• Controlling erosion – seawalls
• Weathering rocks – sediments
• Weathering, erosion, and deposition – formation of islands and sand dunes
• Science experiment - mixing earth’s materials
• Rocks and fossils
• What fossils tell us about Earth’s history
• The effects of wind, water, and ice on rocks and landforms
• Everyday uses of rocks
• Research activity – how rocks are used in different industries
• Indigenous use of rocks – Inukshuks, flint, and paint
• Activity – creating a clay Inukshuk
• Impacts of mining of the environment and socially (people)
• Mining towns – Mirny (Russia) and Dawson City (Yukon gold rush)
• STEM Activities
• Hands on Experiments
• Building models, systems, or structures
• Writing code
• Reading code
• STEM Assignment – Underground Drones
• Unit test
• Answer pages for all activities

Unit 4 - Light and Sound

• What is energy – light and sound
• All about light – interesting facts
• Light sources – natural and artificial light
• Light emitters and light reflectors
• Properties of light – light absorbing, light reflecting, and light refracting
• Light travelling in a straight path - shadows
• White light and why we see colours
• Light interacting with different materials
• Light and heat – wasting energy
• Objects and devices that create both light and heat
• Shadows – opaque, transparent, and translucent objects – lab experiment
• Devices that use light – research assignment
• Lab – making a kaleidoscope
• Protecting our eyes from light
• Light pollution – affecting the environment
• Sound – interesting facts
• Sound travelling through matter – solids, liquids, and gases
• How our ears decipher sounds
• Properties of sound – reflected, absorbed (soundproof rooms)
• Sound waves - pitch, frequency, and amplitude
• Vibrations causing sound waves
• Echolocation – animals use sound to see
• Doppler effect
• Protecting our ears and hearing
• Materials that transmit sound
• Inventions that use sound – research assignment
• Sound pollution – transportation (trains, vehicles, airplanes)
• Lab – making a cereal box guitar
• STEM Activities
• Hands on Experiments
• Building models, systems, or structures
• Writing code
• Reading code
• STEM Assignment – Writing Code for a Walkie-Talkie
• Unit test
• Answer pages for all activities

These are comprehensive units that will save you hours of planning! They have been tested and found effective in helping students achieve the learning goals in the NEW science curriculum.

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