NC Essential Standards for Science

Here's the 4th/5th grade Science essential standards trace I promised in an earlier post. I created this document because I am teaching 4th grade this year, but will loop with my students next year. While it's not required, I think it is a good idea for 4th grade teachers to start looking at and implementing some of the essential science standards in order to support the 5th grade curriculum next year when these standards "go live." We have been told that all EOG's (or whatever we come to call them next year) will be in place, and we can only assume this includes continued testing for 5th graders in science.

4th-5th Science Essential Standards Trace (in google docs form)

Rocks and Minerals Vocabulary Mats

I just uploaded my rocks and minerals vocabulary mat activity to teacherspayteachers. This year, I am teaching 4th grade, so  I will be creating vocabulary mats for all of our 4th grade science units. I may even delve into other grade levels as I have time and create vocabulary mats for new concepts.

What is a vocabulary mat? It’s a spin on the old flash card study strategy. Instead of having answers on the back of their cards, students have a vocab mat that stays as one sheet of paper that includes a set of related vocabulary words. Students also have a sheet of definitions that they cut apart and place onto the vocabulary mats as a study/review strategy. At the beginning of a unit, it is an activity to assess prior knowledge. Throughout the unit, students' quickness and accuracy with matching up the words is an assessment on their growth in learning the content of the unit.


In this packet, I also included worksheets for my other two favorite vocabulary strategies: the "I have never heard this word/I know many ways to use this word Continuum" and the "Categorize and Label sort".