ESS.4.2.3: Use models to explain changes in Earth's surface over time (to…

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.

• Where do volcanoes and earthquakes happen? 50–60 min

  Teams plot twenty-two real volcanoes and earthquakes from a data table onto a world map using latitude and longitude. They join the dots, find the lines and rings they make, and use the pattern to say which of three cities is most likely to feel earthquakes.

• What do moving plates do, and can a building survive? 80–90 min (easy to split over two periods)

  Teams move two foam plates on a tray of syrup to pull them apart and push them together, then slide sandpaper blocks to feel an earthquake build and release. They design and test straw towers on a shake table, compare two designs, and explain how engineers reduce earthquake damage.

Rocks and Erosion: How Land Changes Shape Grade 4 · partly supports this outcome

Why some rocks scratch and some fizz, how a trickle of water carves a canyon, what keeps a hillside in place, and how a boulder ends up as sand. Four hands-on lessons on rocks, weathering and erosion.

• Can water carve a canyon? 50–60 min

  Students build a stream table in a foil pan of damp sand, let a steady trickle of 'rain' run down a gentle slope and a steep one, and measure the channel each time. They use the measurements to explain how running water carves valleys and canyons and drops sand where it slows down.

• What protects a hillside from washing away? 55–60 min

  Teams build model hillsides of soil in foil pans, some bare, some covered with leaves or mulch and some held together with string 'roots', then make it rain on each one the same way. They measure the runoff and the mud it carries, and recommend the best way to protect a real slope.

• How do rocks become sand? 50–60 min, plus a 5 min check the next day

  Students shake sugar cubes in a jar for set times and measure how their sharp corners wear into rounded grains, then watch frozen water push a plug out of a sealed straw. They explain how tumbling and ice break rock into smaller and smaller pieces, all the way down to sand.

Living with Water: Salt, Rice and the Mekong Grades 4–5 · partly supports this outcome

Science and English together, for English learners (CEFR A2–B1). Three investigations from Vietnam: how salt farmers turn the sea into salt, how rice terraces stop a mountain washing away, and how a house in the Mekong Delta stays dry in the flood season.

• How do rice terraces stop a mountain washing away? 60 min, or two 35-minute periods

  Science and English together, for English learners at CEFR A2–B1. Teams make model hillsides from soil in trays: a bare slope, a terraced slope and a slope with plant cover. They pour the same storm of rain on each, measure the muddy water that runs off, and use the evidence to advise a mountain village in northern Vietnam.

Printable practice for ESS.4.2.3

These pages practise a closely related idea; the match to ESS.4.2.3 is partial.

• Rocks and Erosion: How Land Changes Shape workbook included with the unit

  4 readings, 3 English-support pages, 3 practice pages, 1 word wall, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Living with Water: Salt, Rice and the Mekong workbook included with the unit

  2 readings, 1 word wall, 1 practice page, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

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