Life Cycle
FOURTH GRADE
8 week unit

1. Students should start to understand cells, tissues and organs.
2. Students should understand the need for classification.
3. Students should distinguish some key characteristics of some invertebrates.
4. Students should recognize that organisms are grouped into 5 major groups.
5. Students should recognize that the human body is built on systems.
6. Students should understand that there are some difference between a male and female human.
7. Students should recognize that there are different type of tissues.
8. Students should understand the circulatory system.
9. Students should be able to calculate their pulse rate.
10. Students should distinguish monocots and dicots.
11. Students should be able to distinguish starch in plants.
12. Students should be able to distinguish a soil profile.
13. Students should distinguish an ecosystem.
14. Students should recognize a saline environment.
15. Students should understand a salt marsh food web.

 OVERVIEW OF FOURTH GRADE

WEEK 1.
PRE: Exploring the components of a cell.
LAB: Comparing cells, tissues, and organs.
POST: Classifying different organisms.
WEEK 2.
PRE: Understanding the reasons for invertebrate classification.
LAB: Comparing and contrasting invertebrates.
POST: Comparing characteristics of the 5 kingdoms.

WEEK 3.
PRE: Describing how the human body works.
LAB: Discovering if boys are more flexible than girls.
POST: Exploring four types of tissues.
WEEK 4.
PRE: Exploring how the circulatory system works.
LAB: Comparing the pulse rate of males and females.
POST: Exploring the components of blood.

WEEK 5.
PRE: Defining the characteristics of plants.
LAB: Comparing monocots and dicots.
POST: Identifying monocots and dicots in the field.
WEEK 6.
PRE: Explaining how light is transformed into food.
LAB: Discovering that starch is important to plants.
POST: Analyzing components of drugs.

WEEK 7.
PRE: Investigating soil.
LAB: Exploring a soil profile.
POST: Investigating the ecosystem of the school yard.
WEEK 8.
PRE: Identifying plants in a saline environment.
LAB: Creating a San Francisco Bay mud fauna food web
POST: Examining a fresh water aquarium ecosystem.