4th Grade Semester Course w/ Engineering Focus (Part 1 of 4) 9-week Science Semester Course | w/ Report Card

[1st of four 9-week sessions]
This course takes a modified, thematic approach to 4th Grade Science. It offers content that is typically taught during the first 9-weeks in a traditional 4th grade science class. The students will learn to develop and create a model of an organism's life cycle and explain some of the important events, such as birth, growth, reproduction, and death. The students will take an in-depth look at science from an Engineering perspective. The following topics will be discussed:
 - Animal Structures & Impact on:
Survival
Growth
Behavior
Plant Structures & Impact on:
Survival
Growth
Behavior
 - Adaptations
Animals receive Information through their Senses
Animals & their Biomes
Characteristics of Vertebrates and Invertebrates
The students will learn that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction. Examples of structures could include thorns, stems, roots, colored petals, lungs, brain, and skin. The students will learn to describe how animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways. The emphasis will be on systems of information transfer. Lastly, the students will learn about biomes and the animals that live in each biome. 

Different modes of instruction will be used. The students will be taught using pictures, video clips, slides, discussions, lecture, independent reading, and open-ended questions. Students will learn about plant and animal adaptations. This section will be taught using pictures, video clips, slides, discussions, lecture, independent reading, and open-ended questions. The students will learn how animals and plants adapt. This will be taught using pictures, video clips, slides, discussions, lecture, independent reading, and open-ended questions. The students require the 3rd grade science course. The second 9-weeks course will pick up where this course leaves off.