Science: Earth and Space Sciences - Unit Plan

Topic: Erosion, Rocks,

Year Level: Year 4 Learning Area: Science No. of Lessons: 7
Landforms & Soils
Curriculum Links
Earth’s surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity (ACSSU075)
 collecting evidence of change from local landforms, rocks or fossils
 exploring a local area that has changed as a result of natural processes, such as an eroded gully, sand
dunes or river-bank
 investigating the characteristics of soil
 considering how different human activities cause erosion of the Earth’s surface
 considering the effect of events such as floods and extreme weather on the landscape, both in Australia
and in the Asia region

Lesson 1
Prior Knowledge
Learning Intentions Resources
 Diagnose prior knowledge of erosion, rocks, soil  Science Slideshow
and landforms using numerous prior knowledge  Individual whiteboards
strategies.  Old Map
 Sand, soil and rock samples (bought in by educator)
Learning/Activity Sequence

1. Introduce Unit topic – rocks, soils, erosion and landforms.

2. Prior Knowledge Activity: Image Brainstorm. Project an image on the projector and ask students to tell you
everything they can about the picture. ‘Think and chat’ to engage students in the science topic.
3. Gallery walk – separate students into 6 groups and have them look at a photo for 30 seconds. Students then
rotate until they have all looked at each photo. Ask students to think about what these photos represent.
Where might they be in the world? Would these places change or stay the same? How long do they think
these places have looked like this? Discuss as a class.
o Display photos of erosion, rocks, different types of soil/rocks and landforms.

Exploration Activity:
4. Introduce an old map
5. Discuss the purpose and features of a map, asking questions such as:
o What features does this map have?
o Is this map similar to other maps you have seen?
o What is different about this map? What is similar?
o Is there evidence that humans were around when the map was made?
o How do you know?

6. Brainstorm ideas about what features of the map might still be useful hundreds of years later. Discuss what
features might change.

7. Collect sand, soil, rocks (from home and school); and in table groups have students explore the following
prompting questions:
o Have you seen something like this before?
o Where do you think this came from/Where did this come from?
o How would you describe this?
o What features does it have?

8. Students write responses to these questions for each sample and record a labelled diagram of each sample in
a table created by the educator.
9. If additional time, students seek outside their own samples of rocks, soil or possible erosion within the school
grounds, and add these to their table.
 Lesson 2
Exploring Soil Samples
Learning Intentions Resources
 explore and describe the features of different soils  Science slideshow
 discuss different components of soils.  Video
 Exploring Soil Sample Table
 Sealed containers for collection of soil
Learning/Activity Sequence
1. Recap - ask the class the following:
a. What is our science topic?
b. What did we do last week in science?
c. What did you learn last week in science?
2. The teacher shows students the words and images they’re going to put on the science word wall.
3. Teacher informs students that today they will be focussing on soils.
4. Students will learn about soil, such as how the different types of soil are classified by their texture, which just
means the size of the particles. Sand has the largest particles, followed by silt and clay then being extremely
fine. Loam is a soil that has roughly equal parts of sand, silt and clay.
5. Teacher explains the first activity where students analyse samples of sand, loam and clay in table groups, and
fill out a three-way Venn diagram per table that identifies the similarities and difference between the soil.
6. Students spend about 20 minutes on this task.
7. Students will gather their soil samples and jars from home. The teacher will explain the instructions for their
soil experiment. Students fill their jar of water 2/3 full, and then top it up with soil so that it is almost at the
top. Students will receive a task card that explains the task. Students will then shake their jar.
8. Once students have done this, they will draw a table in their books where they will complete their
observations of their soil sample over the next few weeks. They will produce their first observation, draw a
labelled diagram and make a prediction for what the sample will look like in a week’s time.
9. Early finishes (teacher to write up instructions for early finishes on the board):
a. Help clean up the soil samples on their table.
b. If there are the people that didn’t finish their word wall label last week, they can finish this.
c. Think of key words for the word wall.
d. If the laptops are free, they can research the questions they generated last week.
e. Read library books about the science topic.

Lesson 3
Exploring Soil and Rock Samples and Experimenting with Erosion
Learning Intentions Resources
 Students begin to understand how soil changes  Science Slideshow
overtime after water is added.  Soil samples from Prior lesson
 Students explore the similarities and  Teacher brings in rock samples
differences between varying rocks. Students
begin to use correct terminology of rocks.

Learning/Activity Sequence
1. Start the lesson with mindfulness (?) Reading poetry to the class.
2. Recap last week’s learning using a pass the microphone approach. Students pass around ‘Mitch the Miner’
and each student says one thing they learnt in the last lesson, or one thing we did in the last lesson. Prompt
the students by asking why they think I’ve used a miner.
3. Explicitly teach layers of soil for students to relay in their observations. Have each soil label printed out, and as
we learn about each soil, have a student add them to the word wall on each layer. Revisit the soil composition
slide from last week, and relay how soils are made up of different particles depending on where they come
from.
4. Hand out Venn-diagrams from last week, have students glue these in along with a task card explaining what
the task was. Ask students to add to their page around the diagram any facts they now know about soil in a
coloured pencil. Have a 10-minute timer on for this activity.
5. Students then come back to the floor before observing their soil experiments from last week.
6. Look at how soil samples have changed from last week. Students draw diagrams in their science books of their
soil samples and note how the sample has changed.
o Do the soils look similar? Why or why not?
o Do the soil solutions look similar? Why or why not?
o Are there differences between your soil solution and your partner’s?
o Why do you think this is?

7. Explicitly teach about rocks - introduced to the terms ‘sedimentary’, ‘igneous’, ‘metamorphic.’ When new
words are introduced, have students add these to the word wall with sticky notes.
8. Collect a variety of different rocks for the class to also examine, such as granite, limestone and a soft
sedimentary rock, for example, chalk
9. In table groups, students explore:
o what it looks like, for example, colour, shape, size of grains
o what it sounds like when you rub it on paper
o whether it scratches glass (the property of hardness)
o whether it floats or sinks in water (the property of density).
o USE MAGNIFYING GLASSES

10. Students draw and label each rock sample into their science books – and write answers to the following
questions for each sample.

Lesson 4
Exploring Erosion
Learning Intentions Resources
 Understand what erosion is and how it occurs? 
 Explore how erosion can be impacted by human 
contact.
Learning/Activity Sequence
1. Students will bring their science books onto the floor to discuss their soil experiment.
2. Students will have a brief partner chat about the question- How have your jars of soil changed over the three
weeks?
3. The teacher will pick random students with pop sticks to share, and the class will discuss the ideas raised.
4. Students will chat to a different partner about the question- Why do you think the soil has become organised
in layers?
5. The teacher will pick random students with pop sticks to share, and the class will discuss the ideas raised.
6. The students will be shown some images of clear soil jar examples that show the broken-up soil layers. The
class will refer to these images to further discuss how the soil divided up into layers and why this might be.
7. Students will revisit the explanation on different types of soil, and how soil is defined by the size of the
particles. If students have not yet suggested the larger/heavier soil particles sank to the bottom first, this idea
can be prompted here.
8. The pyramid of soil types is shown alongside a picture of a soil jar. The teacher will explain how the type of soil
can be determined by looking at the percentage of the different layers.
9. The lesson will move onto the topic of Erosion.
10. Students will be introduced to the investigation, where they shake clay-sand balls in a jar of water.
11. Students are asked- What things might affect the clay-sand balls when shaken with water? The class
brainstorms some ideas.
12. A slide is shown that outlines a series of variables that may impact what happens to the balls in the water. The
students are informed that they will be focussing on just one of these things.
13. It will be revealed that they will be focussing on how long the ball is shaken in the water.
14. Students are asked- What might be a question we could base our investigation on if we are looking at how
long we shake the ball in the water? They brainstorm some ideas as a class.
15. After they have thought a bit about questioning themselves, the investigation question will be shown to them-
What happens to the size of a clay-sand ball when we change the time we shake it?
16. The steps for the erosion investigation will be presented.
17. Students will perform the investigation.
18. At the end of the lesson after pack-up, students will be asked- What have we learnt from this investigation?

Key Vocab: Erosion, Deposition, Weathering

Lesson 5
Exploring Landforms
Learning Intentions Resources
 To understand what landforms are.  Slide Show
 To know some different examples of landforms.  Laptops
To understand how some landforms are formed and  Task sheets
how they can change over time.
Learning/Activity Sequence

1. Students will be asked ‘What do you think the definition of a Landform is?’. They will have a partner chat and
then random students will be selected to share with the class.
2. Students watch a Crash Course video about landforms.
3. Students are shown the definition of landforms ‘Landforms are naturally formed areas of land on the surface
of the earth.’
4. Students are asked ‘What are some different types of Landforms?’. They put their hands up to answer. Many
different types were stated in the video.
5. Students are asked ‘Have you seen these following landforms before?’. 6 images of different landforms are
shown and briefly discussed with the class.
6. The learning goals for the lesson are stated.
7. Students are introduced to their task for the lesson. They will be given a picture of a landform and will work in
teams to research information about the landform. They will then present your knowledge to the class. The
questions the groups will research are:
a. What type of landform is your landform?
b. What are the features of your landform? (describe your landform)
c. What did your landform look like millions of years ago? How was it formed?
d. How may your landform look in millions of years’ time and why?
8. Students will be put into 12 groups (classes mixed together) and will receive their landform and task sheet to
begin researching.
Once the groups are ready to present, the classes will be split in 2 so that the 6 different landforms are presented
in each room. Presentations should go for no longer than 5 minutes each. This may continue into lesson 6.

Lesson 6
Summative Assessment
Learning Intentions Resources
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
Learning/Activity Sequence

Examining Erosion p. 58

1. Experiment – Pouring water on different types of soil, whilst changing the angle to explore how erosion
occurs. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/363102788681085413/

Lesson 7
Summative Assessment
Learning Intentions Resources
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
Learning/Activity Sequence
1. Meticulous Maps p. 66