Year 4 science is where your child learns to ask better questions and test them. Our programme explores habitats, light and sound, pulleys and gears, and rocks and minerals through hands-on investigations and examples from Aotearoa, like kererū and kākāpō.

Key Topics Covered:

Habitats, food webs and adaptations, light and reflection, sound and vibration, pulleys and gears, rocks, minerals, erosion and fair test skills.

Parent Tip:

Visit a wetland, bush track or beach and ask your child to spot a food chain or a rock type. Curiosity is the foundation of science learning.

Describe habitats, food webs and how animals adapt

Explain how light travels, reflects and bends

Show how sound is made and how pitch and volume change

Use pulleys and gears to make work easier

Identify rocks and minerals and explain how erosion changes land

Plan a fair test, record results and share conclusions

Parent and child practising Year 4 science at home in New Zealand

No.	Topic	What We Cover
01	Habitats and Communities	Explore what a habitat is and how plants and animals in a community depend on each other.
02	Producers, Consumers and Decomposers	Sort living things by how they get energy, such as a fern, a kererū and a mushroom.
03	Food Chains and Food Webs	Build food chains and food webs for a NZ habitat and see how energy moves.
04	NZ Habitats	Compare native bush, wetlands, estuaries, alpine areas and rocky shores and the animals living in each.
05	Adaptations	See how traits such as a kiwi's long bill, a gecko's camouflage and a penguin's flippers help animals survive.
06	Interdependence in Communities	Show how changes to one species, such as pests like stoats, affect native birds and the whole community.
07	Human Impact on Habitats	Look at how building, farming, pollution and introduced pests change habitats, for better and for worse.
08	Protecting Habitats	Explore how parks, wetlands and pest control, including Predator Free 2050, help protect nature.
09	Native Species at Risk	Learn about native species at risk, such as the kākāpō and the hoiho, and how people help them.
10	Term 1 Review	Revise habitats, food webs and adaptations. A termly mock test and parent report follow.

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Student in a tutoring session with their tutor

Warm-up (5 min)

Quick review of the previous session and a what-do-you-notice question

Core Teaching (25 min)

New idea from the lesson eBook, with demonstrations and examples

Guided Practice (15 min)

Student explores a simple investigation with tutor support

Independent Practice (10 min)

Student completes the in-class quiz independently

Wrap-up (5 min)

Summary, 2 take-home quizzes and a preview of the next session

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No.	Topic	What We Cover
11	Sources of Light	Sort natural and artificial light sources and see how we see objects.
12	How Light Travels	Show that light travels in straight lines and makes shadows, and test what blocks it.
13	Reflection and Mirrors	Test how light bounces off mirrors and shiny surfaces and trace the path of a beam.
14	Refraction and Lenses	Observe how light bends through water and lenses, such as a magnifying glass.
15	Colour and Light	Explore how white light splits into colours, as in a rainbow, and why objects look coloured.
16	Sound and Vibration	Show that sound comes from vibrations using rulers, rubber bands and drums.
17	Pitch and Volume	Change pitch and volume with instruments and describe what changes in the sound.
18	How Sound Travels	Test how sound moves through air, water and solids and what absorbs it.
19	Light and Sound in Technology and Safety	Look at tools that use light and sound and ways to protect our eyes and ears.
20	Term 2 Review	Revise light, colour and sound. A termly mock test and parent report follow.

No.	Topic	What We Cover
21	Simple Machines Review	Revisit levers, ramps, wheels and axles and how they make work easier.
22	Pulleys	Test fixed and movable pulleys and see how they change the direction of a force.
23	Pulley Systems	Combine pulleys to lift a load and compare the effort needed.
24	Gears	Explore how toothed gears turn and pass motion from one part to another.
25	Gear Trains and Direction	Predict how gear size and number change speed and direction.
26	Mechanisms at Home and at Work	Spot pulleys and gears in tools, bikes and flagpoles.
27	Efficiency and Friction	Find out how friction affects how well a mechanism works and how oil or smooth surfaces help.
28	Design Challenge	Design and build a simple mechanism that moves a load.
29	Planning a Fair Test	Decide what to change, what to measure and what to keep the same when testing a design.
30	Term 3 Review	Revise pulleys, gears and mechanisms. A termly mock test and parent report follow.

No.	Topic	What We Cover
31	Rocks Around Us	Observe rocks near you and describe them by colour, texture and layers.
32	Three Types of Rock	Sort rocks into igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic and explain how each forms.
33	Minerals and Their Properties	Describe minerals by hardness, lustre, colour and streak.
34	Identifying Minerals	Test mineral samples with simple scratch and streak tests to name them.
35	NZ Rocks and Minerals	Explore NZ rocks such as volcanic basalt and pumice and the greywacke of the South Island, and how people value them.
36	Weathering and Erosion	Model how wind, water and ice wear rock down and move it, as glaciers do in the Southern Alps.
37	Rocks and Minerals in Everyday Life	See how people use rocks and minerals in buildings, roads, phones and jewellery.
38	Mining and the Environment	Weigh the benefits of mining, such as for gold and coal, against its effects on land and water, and how it can be done responsibly.
39	Mini Science Project	Choose a question, test it fairly and share the results in a short presentation.
40	Year 4 Review and Year 5 Readiness	Revise the year's science and preview Year 5 topics. A termly mock test and parent report follow.

Year 4 Science Tutoring Across New Zealand

By Term 4 of Year 4 Science, Your Child Will...

Year 4 Science Curriculum, Term by Term

Try a Free Lesson to See the Full Programme

Try a Free Lesson to See the Full Programme

Try a Free Lesson to See the Full Programme

Try a Free Lesson to See the Full Programme