SC23.4.11: Construct explanations of Earth's changes over time through slow and…
Construct explanations of Earth's changes over time through slow and rapid processes, citing evidence found in rock formations and fossils in rock layers.
The Alabama Course of Study: Science (2023) outcome SC23.4.11 (Earth and Space Sciences) for Grade 4 says: “Construct explanations of Earth's changes over time through slow and rapid processes, citing evidence found in rock formations and fossils in rock layers.” This Fieldbook unit teaches it hands-on, with everyday materials and a printable teacher guide and student sheet for every lesson. Official wording: Alabama Course of Study: Science (2023).
Restless Earth: Fossils, Soils, Volcanoes and Plates Grades 4–7 · partly supports this outcome
Press model fossils and read a cliff of layers, shake a jar of soil and watch it sort itself by grain size, plot real volcanoes and earthquakes on a world map to find the edges of Earth's plates, then move model plates and test a building on a shake table. Four hands-on lessons that build on Rocks and Erosion.
- How do fossils form, and what can they tell us? 55–70 min
Teams press shells and leaves into clay to make a mould and a salt-dough cast, build a cliff of coloured layers with a different model fossil in each, and swap cliffs to work out which layer is oldest. They then read a cliff of real fossils and explain that a place once under the sea is now dry land.
Printable practice for SC23.4.11
These pages practise a closely related idea; the match to SC23.4.11 is partial.
- Restless Earth: Fossils, Soils, Volcanoes and Plates workbook included with the unit
2 readings, 1 word wall, 1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.
Need just this outcome? Build a custom pack from these pages, with its answer key, in about a minute. Custom packs come with All-access and school licences.
Compared with NGSS: 4-ESS1-1 (partial).
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