4th Grade · Science · 4-ESS2-1, 4-ESS3-2

Weathering and Erosion Lesson Plan for 4th Grade

A ready-to-teach weathering and erosion lesson for 4th Grade, built around weathering and erosion, how water, wind and ice shape the land, deposition and deltas, and ways people slow erosion. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 45 minutes

Learning objective

Tell weathering from erosion
Describe how water, wind and ice shape the land
Explain deposition and choose ways to slow erosion

Materials

Weathering or Erosion
Water Shapes the Land
Wind and Ice Move Rock
Deposition Builds New Land
Ways to Slow Erosion
Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. Ask the question (5 min)
Open with a question about weathering and erosion 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 weathering and erosion 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 weathering and erosion. 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 "Weathering or Erosion". 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 weathering and erosion shows up outside the classroom. Collect two or three examples and leave the question open for tomorrow.

Check for understanding

Ask students to explain weathering and erosion 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 weathering and erosion 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 weathering and erosion 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 weathering and erosion.

Skills covered in this lesson

Weathering and erosion practice

Questions teachers ask about teaching weathering and erosion

What is the difference between weathering and erosion?

Weathering breaks rock into smaller pieces, like ice splitting a rock or roots cracking it, and the pieces stay in place. Erosion moves those pieces somewhere else, carried by water, wind or ice.

What is deposition?

Deposition is when water, wind or ice drops the sediment it was carrying in a new place. When a river slows at the ocean, its sediment piles up and builds new land called a delta.

How can people slow erosion?

Plant roots grip the soil and hold it in place, so planting grass and trees is one of the best ways. People also use rocks, walls and fences. One sheet uses a soil tray test to compare bare soil with soil covered by leaves, rocks or grass.

Is there an answer key for each worksheet?

Yes. All five weathering and erosion sheets have an answer key that shows every answer, including sample answers for the questions children explain in their own words.