4th Grade · Science · 4-ESS2-2, 4-ESS2-1

Earth's Surface Lesson Plan for 4th Grade

A ready-to-teach earth's surface lesson for 4th Grade, built around earth's layers, plates and mountain building, landforms on a map, fast and slow changes to the land, and where volcanoes and earthquakes happen. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 45 minutes

Learning objective

Label Earth's crust, mantle, outer core and inner core
Read a map key to name landforms and bodies of water
Explain where volcanoes and earthquakes happen and how plates build mountains

Materials

Earth's Layers
Plate Movement Builds Mountains
Map Earth's Surface Features
Fast and Slow Changes to the Land
Where Volcanoes and Earthquakes Happen
Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. Ask the question (5 min)
Open with a question about earth's surface that students cannot answer yet. Take predictions and record them without correcting anything. Wrong predictions are the point: you will come back to them.
2. Explore (12 min)
Students investigate earth's surface through a hands-on activity, a demonstration, or a set of images. Their job is to notice and describe, not to be right yet.
3. Explain (10 min)
Now give the vocabulary and the explanation for earth's surface. Tie it directly back to what students just observed and to the predictions on the board. Name which predictions held up.
4. Independent practice (you do) (13 min)
Hand out "Earth's Layers". Students record what they learned and answer the questions independently. Circulate and press for "how do you know?"
5. Extend the thinking (5 min)
Ask where else earth's surface shows up outside the classroom. Collect two or three examples and leave the question open for tomorrow.

Check for understanding

Ask students to explain earth's surface to a partner in one sentence, then write that sentence down. Collect the sentences: they show you exactly which part of the idea did not land.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild earth's surface with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own earth's surface problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand earth's surface.

Skills covered in this lesson

Earth's surface practice

Questions teachers ask about teaching earth's surface

What are Earth's four layers?

Earth's four layers are the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core. The crust is the thin rock we live on. Under it is the mantle, the thickest layer, made of hot rock that flows very slowly. The outer core is liquid metal and the inner core is solid metal and the hottest layer.

Why do volcanoes and earthquakes happen in the same places?

Most of both happen at plate boundaries, where Earth's giant plates meet and move. Many boundaries circle the Pacific Ocean, which is why that ring is called the Ring of Fire.

What is a fast change and a slow change to the land?

A fast change happens in minutes, hours or days, like a landslide, an earthquake or a volcano erupting. A slow change takes thousands or millions of years, like a river carving a canyon or waves wearing away a cliff.

Is there an answer key for each worksheet?

Yes. All five Earth's surface sheets have an answer key that shows every answer, including sample answers for the questions children explain in their own words.