Physics Ladder · Elementary · Grade 4–5
Science Explorers (ages 9–10)
For ages 9 and 10, grades 4 and 5: matter, forces and simple machines, energy, electricity and magnets, light and sound, weather and rocks, plants, animals and the human body, and the Sun, Moon and planets, with a hands-on activity at home in every lesson.
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Unit 1 Thinking Like a Scientist
3 topics
Observing and asking questions, fair tests that change one thing, and measuring with the right tools and units.
Unit 2 Matter
5 topics
What matter is, solids, liquids and gases, melting and freezing, mixtures and solutions, and changes that make something new.
Unit 3 Forces and Simple Machines
5 topics
Pushes and pulls, friction and gravity, and the simple machines that make work easier: levers, wheels and pulleys, ramps, wedges and screws.
Unit 4 Energy
3 topics
The forms energy takes, how it changes from one form to another, and how heat moves.
Unit 5 Electricity and Magnets
4 topics
Magnets and their poles, circuits that light a bulb, and the materials that let electricity through.
Unit 6 Light and Sound
4 topics
Light travels in straight lines and makes shadows, mirrors and water change its path, white light holds the rainbow, and sound is vibration.
Unit 7 Earth and Weather
4 topics
The water cycle, weather and the tools that measure it, rocks and minerals, and how wind and water shape the land.
Unit 8 Living Things and the Body
4 topics
How plants make food, food chains and webs, adaptations, and the systems of the human body.
Unit 9 Earth in Space
3 topics
Day and night, the phases of the Moon, and the Sun and its planets.