Science, Grade 4

Unit 1: Life Science — Habitats and Communities

How plants and animals live together in habitats and communities, the structures and behaviours that help them survive, and how natural and human activities change habitats.

• Populations, communities, and habitats
• Food chains and food webs
• What happens if one is removed

• Structures and behaviours for surviving
• Investigating a habitat
• Adaptations for a habitat

• How people change habitats
• Habitat loss and extinction
• Restoring and protecting habitats

Unit 2: Physical Science — Light and Sound

Investigating where light comes from and how it travels and bends, and exploring how sounds are made, travel, and are used.

• Natural and artificial light
• How light travels
• Making shadows

• Opaque, transparent, translucent
• Reflecting light
• Bending light and rainbows

• Optical devices that help us see
• Choosing light and saving energy

• Natural and artificial sounds
• Making and hearing sound
• Sound comes from vibrations
• Pitch and loudness

• Devices that work with sound
• Loud sounds and hearing protection

Unit 3: Earth and Space Science — Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion

Investigating the properties of rocks and minerals, how people use them, and how weathering, erosion, and fossils shape and record the Earth.

• Properties of rocks and minerals
• Sorting rocks and testing hardness

• Everyday uses of rocks and minerals
• Mining in Saskatchewan

• Weathering and erosion
• Three kinds of rock
• Fossils and the story of the land