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Soil Habitats Students explore soil, decomposition, habitats, adaptations, and other key concepts through firsthand investigations such as building a terrarium. They create diagrams, discuss findings, and learn how to search for and keep track of evidence with books such as The Handbook of Forest Floor Animals and My Nature Notebook. Science and literacy skills are further addressed by other unit texts such as Snail Investigations and Walk in the Woods.

Shoreline Science Students are immersed in concepts related to shoreline ecosystems, earth materials, erosion, and human impact on the environment. They gain experience with making explanations based on firsthand evidence gathered from investigations such as What is Sand and How Is It Made? as well as secondhand evidence from unit texts such as the Handbook of Sandy Beach Organisms. Science and literacy skills are further addressed by other unit texts such as My Sea Otter Report.

Designing Mixtures Students are introduced to the concept of solubility when they read the unit text Solving Dissolving. Then they engage in firsthand investigations such as testing the solubility of four possible soda ingredients and making glue. They discuss the role of cause and effect in making mixtures, then search through the reference book Handbook of Interesting Ingredients to compare their ideas to those of other scientists. Science and literacy skills are further addressed by other unit texts such as Jess Makes Hair Gel and Jelly Bean Scientist.

Gravity and Magnetism In Gravity and Magnetism (20-session Unit), students explore forces affecting their everyday lives: gravity, magnetic force, and electrostatic force. The unit opens with Forces, in the familiar setting of a playground, where students read about how forces act between things all around them. Through firsthand activities, students explore magnets and gravity, while What My Sister Taught Me About Magnets and Gravity Is Everywhere reinforce their understanding. Literacy sessions focus on the skills of comparing and contrasting and non-fiction text features. Throughout the unit students search for evidence and make explanations, gaining valuable literacy and inquiry skills.

Digestion and Body Systems
In Digestion and Body Systems, students investigate the human body, considering its structures and functions from a systems perspective. Firsthand activities, interactive instructional routines, and five student books involve students in doing, talking, reading, and writing about body systems. Among the books are Secrets of the Stomach, where students learn how the stomach functions, and that scientific explanations include claims and evidence, and What’s The Diagnosis? about how doctors use evidence in making a diagnosis.

Variation and Adaptation
Variation and Adaptation immerses students in learning about foundational, standards-based life science concepts: variation, adaptation, heredity, relatedness, extinct organisms, and the fossil record. Firsthand activities and four original student books engage students as they learn to distinguish observations from inferences, develop the reading comprehension skill of making inferences, gather evidence from observations and text, and make scientific explanations using evidence. The Code introduces heredity; Evidence from the Past presents the fossil record.