Grade 4 · Science
Goal
Explain how water shapes rock, using details from the text and the words weathering and erosion.
You'll need
Scissors, a glue stick, and crayons.
Help with the hands, not the answer
Add these words to the student's AAC device before the lesson
water, river, rock, canyon, weathering, erosion, riverbed, sand, stones, fast, slow, carry, scrape, break, deeper
Words from the check are left out on purpose.
What's in this packet
Standards the check measures
CA Common Core ELA RI.4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CA Common Core ELA RI.4.4: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area. (See grade 4 Language standards 4–6 for additional expectations.) CA
CA Common Core ELA L.4.2.d: Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed.
Related, but not fully taught or measured here
CA NGSS 4-ESS2-1: Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.
These are California's standards. Outside California, check the code and wording against your state's framework before citing them in an IEP.
Activity answers
Color the answer. What is erosion? Carrying rock away. Which water carries more stones? Fast water.
Weathering or erosion?. Weathering: Rock breaks; Big rock, small stones; Rock crumbles to sand. Erosion: River moves sand; Pieces carried away; Water takes stones
How a river cuts a canyon. 1. Rock breaks 2. Water carries stones 3. Stones scrape riverbed 4. River cuts deeper
What does it do?. Fast water: carries stones. Stones: scrape the riverbed. Weathering: breaks rock. Erosion: carries pieces away
Inside a canyon. Top: canyon. Left: river. Bottom: riverbed. Right: stones
Spell the word. CANYON
The Grand Canyon is about one mile deep in places. A river helped make it, and that river is still at work. The Colorado River began carving the canyon about five to six million years ago.
Water changes land through two processes. Weathering breaks rock into smaller pieces. Erosion carries those pieces away.
Fast water can carry more sand and small stones than slow water. Those stones scrape the riverbed like sandpaper. Over millions of years, the scraping cuts deeper and deeper.
Color the right box.
What is erosion?
Which water carries more stones?
Sort the cards.
Weathering
Erosion
Cut out along the dashed lines
Put them in order.
Cut out along the dashed lines
Match each one.
Cut out along the dashed lines
Label it. Color the river blue.
Cut out along the dashed lines
Spell this word.
Cut out along the dashed lines
How the student chose answers (mark one)
Independent, adult could not see
Independent, adult could see
With touch, a held device, or cues
Mark the last one if anyone touched the student, held anything for them, or cued them while they chose. Help with cutting or gluing after they chose doesn't count as support, but an adult who saw the choice means "adult could see."
Help after the student chose
Results
Date ____________ Check run by (role) ____________________
| Item | Standard | Student's answer | Right? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RI.4.1 | ||
| 2 | RI.4.1 | ||
| 3 | RI.4.4 | ||
| 4 | RI.4.4 | ||
| 5 | L.4.2.d | ||
| 6 | L.4.2.d |
Each question with four choices can be guessed right 1 time in 4. These 6 items are too few to conclude from alone. The on-screen report waits for 20 items at a level.
Rain can seep into a tiny crack in a rock. On a cold night, that water freezes. Water takes up more space as ice than it does as a liquid, so the ice pushes the crack wider. When the ice melts, the crack stays open, and more water can get in. After many cold winters, a large boulder can split apart. Scientists call this frost wedging.
Choose your answer, then color its box.
According to the text, what makes the crack wider?
A rock sits in a place where water never freezes. What does the text suggest?
Choose your answer, then color its box.
In this text, what does seep mean?
What does frost wedging describe?
Spell the word for a very large rock. Choose each letter. Glue them on the strips.
Cut out along the dashed lines
Spell the name of the coldest season. Choose each letter. Glue them on the strips.
Cut out along the dashed lines
Keep this away from the check, and use it only for scoring afterward.
| Item | Standard | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RI.4.1 | According to the text, what makes the crack wider? | Ice pushing against the rock |
| 2 | RI.4.1 | A rock sits in a place where water never freezes. What does the text suggest? | Frost wedging is unlikely to split it |
| 3 | RI.4.4 | In this text, what does seep mean? | To move slowly through small spaces |
| 4 | RI.4.4 | What does frost wedging describe? | Ice forcing a rock apart |
| 5 | L.4.2.d | Spell the word for a very large rock. | BOULDER |
| 6 | L.4.2.d | Spell the name of the coldest season. | WINTER |