Courses

Manitoba · Grade 4

Science, Grade 4

Manitoba’s Grade 4 science course, from Scientific Skills and Inquiry to Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion.

Learn thisPractice test
Units
5
Lessons
15
Skills
70
Provincial exam
None
Official curriculum
Manitoba Education

Unit by unit

Every skill in the course, with its official code.

Unit 1 · 4 skills

Scientific Skills and Inquiry

Choosing Tools and Measuring

Bar Graphs and Building Systems

The official wording · 4 outcomes
4-0-5a
Select and use tools to observe, measure, and construct.
4-0-5b
Estimate and measure mass/weight, length, volume, area, and temperature using standard units.
4-0-6a
Construct bar graphs and pictographs using many to one correspondence, and interpret these as well as graphs from other sources.
4-0-4b
Construct an object, device, or system to solve a problem or meet a need.

Key ideas

  1. We estimate and measure mass, length, volume, area, and temperature.

  2. We construct bar graphs and pictographs using many-to-one correspondence, where one symbol or unit stands for several things.

  3. We use standard units - grams, centimetres, millilitres, square centimetres for area, and degrees Celsius.

  4. We also interpret these graphs and graphs from other sources.

Watch out for

  • Choosing a tool that does not fit the task.
  • Forgetting the scale and reading one symbol as one thing.
  • Using a tool without knowing what it does.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 2 · 17 skills

Habitats and Communities

Habitats and Adaptations

Populations, Communities, and Food Webs

Change and Conservation

The official wording · 17 outcomes
4-1-01
Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of habitats and communities. Include: habitat, physical adaptation, behavioural adaptation, traditional knowledge, technological development, population, community, food chain, food web, organism, producer, consumer, herbivore, omnivore, carnivore, predator, prey, scavenger, endangerment, extinction, conservation.
4-1-02
Recognize that each plant and animal depends on a specific habitat to meet its needs.
4-1-03
Identify the components of an animal habitat. Include: food, water, living space, cover/shelter.
4-1-04
Identify physical and behavioural adaptations of animals and plants, and infer how these adaptations help them to survive in a specific habitat.
4-1-05
Investigate alternate explanations of plant or animal adaptations based on traditional knowledge from a variety of cultures.
4-1-06
Investigate how technological developments often mirror physical adaptations.
4-1-07
Investigate and describe a variety of local and regional habitats and their associated populations of plants and animals.
4-1-08
Predict and test to determine an appropriate method for measuring a plant population within a given habitat.
4-1-09
Recognize that plant and animal populations interact within a community.
4-1-10
Recognize that the food chain is a system in which some of the energy from the Sun is transferred eventually to animals.
4-1-11
Construct food chains and food webs, and classify organisms according to their roles. Include: producer, consumer, herbivore, omnivore, carnivore, predator, prey, scavenger.
4-1-12
Use the design process to construct a model of a local or regional habitat and its associated populations of plants and animals
4-1-13
Predict, based on their investigations, how the removal of a plant or animal population may affect the rest of the community.
4-1-14
Investigate natural and human-caused changes to habitats, and identify resulting effects on plant and animal populations. Include: endangerment, extinction.
4-1-15
Describe how their actions can help conserve plant and animal populations and their habitats.
4-1-16
Describe how specific technological developments have enabled humans to increase their knowledge about plant and animal populations.
4-1-17
Recognize and appreciate how traditional knowledge contributes to our understanding of plant and animal populations and interactions.

Key ideas

  1. A habitat is a living thing's home; a population is all of one kind together; a community is different populations together.

  2. There are a variety of local and regional habitats.

  3. Removing a plant or animal population may affect the rest of the community.

  4. In a food chain and food web, producers, consumers, predators, and prey pass on energy.

  5. Each has associated populations of plants and animals we can investigate and describe.

Watch out for

  • Mixing up population and community.
  • Thinking all local areas are the same habitat.
  • Thinking removing one population changes nothing else.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 3 · 16 skills

Light

Energy and Sources of Light

How Light Behaves

Light Devices and Safety

The official wording · 16 outcomes
4-2-01
Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of light. Include: energy, reflect, absorb, transmit, artificial, light beam, transparent, translucent, opaque, technological development, science, brightness.
4-2-02
Give examples of various forms of energy. Include: light, heat, food, sound.
4-2-03
Recognize that energy is an integral part of daily life.
4-2-04
Demonstrate that white light can be separated into colours.
4-2-05
Distinguish between objects that produce their own light and those that reflect light from another source.
4-2-06
Identify a variety of natural and artificial light sources.
4-2-07
Observe and describe properties of light. Include: travels in a straight path, bends as it passes from one medium to another, can be reflected, can be different colours.
4-2-08
Explore to determine effects different materials and objects have on a light beam.
4-2-09
Recognize that most objects that produce light also give off heat, and identify objects that produce light but give off little or no heat.
4-2-10
Classify materials as transparent, translucent, or opaque.
4-2-11
Evaluate the usefulness of a material for a particular task based on its ability to transmit, reflect, or absorb light.
4-2-12
Predict the location, shape, and size of a shadow based on the position of a light source relative to an object.
4-2-13
Identify technological developments that extend our ability to see, and recognize their impact on science.
4-2-14
Use the design process to construct a device that transmits and reflects light.
4-2-15
Describe practices that help ensure protection of eyes and sight.
4-2-16
Identify different uses of light at home, at school, and in the community, and explain how the brightness and colour of the light are appropriate for each use.

Key ideas

  1. Light words describe what happens to a light beam - it can reflect, be absorbed, or transmit through a material.

  2. Light has several properties.

  3. Some technological developments extend our ability to see.

  4. Materials are transparent, translucent, or opaque, and light sources can be natural or artificial.

  5. It travels in a straight path, bends as it passes from one medium to another, can be reflected, and can be different colours.

Watch out for

  • Mixing up transparent and translucent.
  • Thinking light travels in curves.
  • Thinking we can only see with our eyes alone.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 4 · 18 skills

Sound

Sound and Vibrations

Hearing and How Sound Travels

Sound Through Materials and Technology

The official wording · 18 outcomes
4-3-01
Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of sound. Include: energy, sound, vibration, vocal cords, pitch, loudness, sound waves, outer ear, middle ear, inner ear, brain, transmit, absorb, reflect, detect.
4-3-02
Recognize that sound is a form of energy.
4-3-03
Recognize that energy makes things happen and can be found all around us.
4-3-04
Identify and classify various sounds using student-generated criteria.
4-3-05
Recognize that sounds are caused by vibrations. Include: the human voice relies on the vibrations of vocal cords.
4-3-06
Use the design process to create a musical instrument.
4-3-07
Demonstrate how the pitch and loudness of sounds can be modified.
4-3-08
Observe and describe properties of sound. Include: travels in waves in all directions.
4-3-09
Describe how the human ear is designed to detect sound vibrations. Include: sound is transmitted from the outer ear to the middle ear and the inner ear, which relays messages to the brain.
4-3-10
Recognize that there is a range of sounds that humans can and cannot hear.
4-3-11
Describe practices that help ensure protection of the ears and hearing.
4-3-12
Describe harmful effects of high or sustained sound levels and identify potential sound hazards at home or in the community.
4-3-13
Investigate to compare how vibrations travel differently through solids, liquids, and gases.
4-3-14
Explore to determine the ability of materials to transmit or absorb sound.
4-3-15
Describe how materials that absorb or reflect sound are used in different situations.
4-3-16
Describe devices that extend our ability to produce, transmit, and detect sound.
4-3-17
Investigate to identify inventions related to sound, and describe their impacts on society.
4-3-18
Describe the role of sound in different jobs and hobbies.

Key ideas

  1. Sound is caused by vibration and travels as sound waves.

  2. Sound has properties we can observe and describe.

  3. Vibrations travel differently through solids, liquids, and gases.

  4. Pitch is how high or low a sound is, loudness is how strong it is, and the ear has an outer, middle, and inner part.

  5. It travels in waves in all directions from its source.

Watch out for

  • Mixing up pitch and loudness.
  • Thinking sound only travels forward.
  • Thinking sound only travels through air.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 5 · 15 skills

Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion

Rocks and Minerals

Using Rocks and Rock Types

Fossils and Soil Formation

Erosion and Changing Landscapes

The official wording · 15 outcomes
4-4-01
Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of rocks, minerals, and erosion. Include: rock, mineral, characteristic, property, scratch test, streak test, igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic, fossil, organism, extinct, soil formation, erosion, natural phenomena.
4-4-02
Classify rocks and minerals according to student-generated criteria.
4-4-03
Test to determine characteristics of rocks and properties of minerals, and classify accordingly. Include: scratch test for hardness, streak test for colour.
4-4-04
Differentiate between minerals and rocks. Include: minerals are composed of the same substance throughout, rocks are composed of two or more minerals.
4-4-05
Compare rocks and minerals from the local environment with each other and with those from other geological areas.
4-4-06
Give examples of products derived from rocks and minerals.
4-4-07
Describe how characteristics of rocks and properties of minerals determine their uses.
4-4-08
Recognize that there are three types of rock, and describe how each is formed. Include: igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic.
4-4-09
Explain how fossils are formed.
4-4-10
Describe how fossils help humans gain a better understanding of Earth's history, including identifying organisms that are now extinct.
4-4-11
Investigate and describe ways in which rock contributes to soil formation.
4-4-12
Investigate and describe ways in which soil erosion is controlled or minimized in their community and in communities around the world.
4-4-13
Use the design process to determine an appropriate system for controlling soil erosion in a given situation.
4-4-14
Describe effects of wind, water, and ice on the landscape.
4-4-15
Identify natural phenomena and human activities that cause significant changes in the landscape.

Key ideas

  1. We test rocks and minerals with a scratch test (hardness) and a streak test (colour).

  2. Many products are derived from rocks and minerals.

  3. Fossils are formed over a very long time.

  4. Soil erosion can be controlled or minimized in communities.

  5. The three rock types are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic, and wearing away of land is erosion.

Watch out for

  • Mixing up rock and mineral.
  • Thinking rocks are not used to make everyday products.
  • Thinking a fossil is the actual living thing.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

The official curriculum

This page follows Manitoba’s own curriculum for Science, Grade 4.

Kindergarten to Grade 4 Science: A Foundation for ImplementationManitoba Education · edu.gov.mb.ca · Read August 1, 2026

Study it in MapleMind

MapleMind teaches Science, Grade 4 one skill at a time. Each skill gets a short lesson, practice as you go and a check worth up to three stars. It remembers where you stopped.

Grade 9 Mathematics (10F) in the MapleMind app on a tablet: its units, Unit 2 open, and the skills done so far with their starsGrade 9 Mathematics (10F) in the MapleMind app on a phone: its units, Unit 2 open, and the skills done so far with their stars
Pictured: Grade 9 Mathematics (10F), another Manitoba course, partway through Unit 2.

Practise it

Course Companion

Your year in one workbook

A fun way to keep Science, Grade 4 organized, get to know your child better and see early when they need a hand. Fill it in on a screen, or print it.

Pages
35
Fillable fields
2,070
Price
$4.99
See the Course Companion

Questions about Science, Grade 4

What is Science, Grade 4?

Manitoba’s Grade 4 science course: 5 units and 70 skills, from Scientific Skills and Inquiry to Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion.

What units are in Science, Grade 4?

1. Scientific Skills and Inquiry, 2. Habitats and Communities, 3. Light, 4. Sound and 5. Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion.

Is there a provincial exam for Science, Grade 4?

No. Manitoba gives no provincial exam for Science, Grade 4.

What comes after Science, Grade 4?

Science, Grade 5.

Can MapleMind help with Science, Grade 4?

Yes. MapleMind teaches every skill of Science, Grade 4, step by step, with practice and checks, and its tutor answers questions about any of them. It’s free with daily limits, on iPhone, Android and the web.

Before this course

After this course

Get ready for Science, Grade 4

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