Science Notebooks

Key Concepts

4th Grade Science

  • Rocks have many properties, including shape, color, and texture.

  • Rocks are made of ingredients called minerals; minerals are made of only one substance.

  • Mineral crystals have identifiable shapes.

  • A mineral is an earth material that cannot be physically broken down any further.

  •  Hardness, a mineral property, is the resistance of a mineral to being scratched; minerals can be identified and seriated by hardness.

  • Rocks are made of minerals.

  • Calcite is one of the most common minerals on Earth.

  • Sometimes more than one test is needed to provide conclusive evidence.

  • Crystal patterns can help us identify certain minerals.

  • Limestone and marble are two rocks that contain calcite.

  • Rocks are made of ingredients called minerals.

  •  Minerals can be identified by their properties (e.g. hardness, luster, streak, fizzing in acid).

  • The three basic rock types are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.

  • The rock cycle is a way to describe how the three types of rocks form from one another.

  • Chemical weathering of rocks changes minerals into different minerals.

  • Physical weathering breaks rock into smaller particles by physical forces.

  • Erosion wears away and transports earth materials by water, wind, or ice; deposition relocates eroded earth materials.

  • Volcanoes, earthquakes, and landslides contribute to rapid changes in landforms.

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Video: Magnetism - Bill Nye

Topic Explorations

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Electricity Interactive Games & Activities
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Science Games for Kids: Electricity Circuits
  • Only iron sticks to a magnet.
  • Magnetism can be induced in iron.
  • Magnets have two poles. Like poles repel; opposite poles attract.
  • Magnets display forces of attraction & repulsion that decrease with distance.
  • A compass is a magnet used to detect magnetic fields, including Earth’s.
  • A circuit is a pathway on which electric current flows.
  • Lightbulbs convert electric energy into heat & light energy.
  • Motors convert electric energy into motion energy when placed in a closed circuit.
  • Conductors complete circuits & allow the flow of electric current; insulators do not.
  • A circuit with only one pathway for current flow is a series circuit. Components “share” the electric energy.
  • A circuit with two or more pathways for current flow is a parallel circuit.
  • A core of iron or steel becomes an electromagnet when electricity flows through a coil of insulated wire surrounding the core.
  • There are many ways to change the strength of an electromagnet, including changing the number of winds of wire around the core.
  • A telegraph is an electronic communication device that uses an electromagnet.
  • A code is a symbolic system used for communication.
  • A telegraph converts electric energy into motion & sound energy.
  • An environment is everything that surrounds and influences an organism.
  • An environmental factor is one part of an environment. It can be living or nonliving.
  • A relationship exists between environmental factors and how well organisms grow.
  • Environments change over time.
  • Every organism has a set of preferred environmental conditions.
  • Isopods prefer moist environments; beetles prefer dry environments.
  • Isopods and beetles prefer dark environments.
  • Flowering plants produce seeds to make new plants.
  • Pollination and seed dispersal are examples of how plants depend on animals.
  • Animals depend on plants for food and shelter.
  • Aquatic environments include and nonliving factors.
  • The interaction of organisms with one another and with the nonliving environment is an ecosystem.
  • Organisms interact in feeding relationships in ecosystems. Producers (plants) make their own food; consumers eat plants and animals. Decomposers eat dead plants and animals and recycle the raw materials.
  • Organisms may compete for resources.
  • Brine shrimp eggs can hatch in a range of salt concentrations, but more hatch in environments with optimum salt concentration.
  • Most microorganisms do not cause disease, and many are beneficial.
  • Every organism has a range of tolerance for each factor in its environment.
  • Organisms have specific requirements for successful growth, development, and reproduction.
  • Optimum conditions are those most favorable to an organism.

5th Grade Science



  • The solar system comprises eight planets and various other bodies orbiting the Sun, a typical star composed mostly of hydrogen and helium.

  • Solar-system bodies can be put into categories, such as gas giants, terrestrial planets, and satellites.

  • Gravity is a pulling force that constantly changes the direction of travel of planets to maintain them in orbits around the Sun.


  • A pendulum is a mass that is free to swing around a point.

  • A variable is anything that you can change in an experiment that might affect the outcome.

  • In a controlled experiment the independent variable is changed in order to determine how that variable affects the outcome of the experiment. All other variables are controlled.

  • Evaporation is the process by which liquid water changes into water vapor, a gas.

  • Temperature and surface area affect the rate of evaporation.

  • Condensation occurs when water vapor touches a cool surface and changes into liquid.

  • Evaporation and condensation contribute to the movement of water through the water cycle.


  • The different energy-absorbing properties of earth materials can lead to uneven heating of Earth’s surface.

  • Cold fluids are denser than warm fluids.

  • Convection currents result from uneven heating of Earth’s surface.

  • Compressed air exerts pressure equally in all directions.

  • Earth’s atmospheric pressure decreases with distance above Earth’s surface.

  • Most of Earth’s water (97%) is salt water.

  • Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at a given place and time: the amount of heat, moisture, pressure, and movement.

  • Solar energy drives weather.

  • Severe weather occurs when one or more variables is extreme, resulting in conditions that are dangerous or destructive.

  • Weather maps display weather conditions and can be used to forecast weather.

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Video: Mixtures & Solutions -
Brain Stew Rewind

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Video: Particles: States of Matter -
BBC

Topic Explorations

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Explore the elements. Each element is explained and usually contains pretty cool experiments!
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Free Flash games and presentations for kids!
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Get to know your favorite element & join in the fun!
  • A mixture combines two or more minerals that retain their own properties.
  • A solution forms when a material dissolves in a liquid (solvent) & cannot be retrieved with a filter.
  • All mixtures can be separated based on the properties of the constituent substances.
  • Evaporation can separate a liquid from a solid in a solution.
  • Crystal form can be used to identify substances.
  • Solubility is the property that substances have of dissolving in solvents. Solubility is different for different materials & can change with temperature & solvent.
  • Solubility can be used to differentiate & identify substances.
  • A solution is saturated when a solvent has dissolved as much solute as possible.
  • Decompression sickness is caused by supersaturation of the gas nitrogen in blood.
  • When a change results from mixing two or more materials, that change is a chemical reaction, which can be represented with chemical formulas & chemical equations.
  • Atoms are the fundamental building blocks of matter; all substances are composed of atoms.
  • Atoms in reactants rearrange during reactions to form new substances.
  • Atoms combine to form molecules. Molecules are the fundamental units of substances.
  • Earth has 90 naturally occurring elements, each defined by a unique atom.
  •  Most matter on Earth is made from only a few elements.
  • Most elements on Earth are metals; metals share properties of malleability & conduction of heat & electricity.
  • The periodic table provides information about the composition of an element’s atom & the element’s chemical properties
  • Atoms & molecules can be imaged with scanning tunneling microscopes.

  • Cells require water, food, gases, and waste removal to live.
  • In humans, oxygen is transported to the blood and carbon dioxide is transported from the blood in the respiratory system.
  • In the human circulatory system, blood transports resources to the cells and wastes from the cells.
  • Cells use simple substances for energy and building blocks.
  • The digestive system breaks down complex substances into simple substances, which move into the bloodstream.
  • Kidneys filter wastes from blood and convert them into urine for excretion.
  • The respiratory, circulatory, digestive, and excretory systems work together to ensure that cells receive the resources they need to live.
  • Life happens in cells.
  • Vascular plants have two transport systems, one to transport water and minerals from roots to leaves, and one to transport sugar from leaves to cells that need it.
  • In vascular plants, water and minerals are transported to cells in xylem tubes; sugar is transported to cells in phloem tubes.
  • Vascular bundles are arranged in predictable patterns of veins in the leaves of vascular plants.
  • Scientists classify objects and information by organizing them into groups with similar attributes.
  • Chlorophyll absorbs sunlight.
  • Photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide, water, and light.
  • Photosynthesis produces sugar and oxygen gas.
  • Plant and animal cells break down sugar and oxygen into carbon dioxide and water to obtain energy (cellular respiration).
  • Animals obtain six classes of nutrients from food: protein, carbohydrate, fat, minerals, vitamins, and water.
  • The volume of gas produced by yeast is proportional to the amount of sugar present.