Virginia SOL 4.2

4.2 is a Standards of Learning science standard. These are the key ideas and practices under it.

• 4.2.a

  the survival of plants and animals depends on photosynthesis

• 4.2.b

  plants and animals have different structures and processes for obtaining energy

• 4.2.c

  plants and animals have different structures and processes for creating offspring.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students identify structures that help plants make food, animals obtain food, and both groups produce offspring. They explain photosynthesis and trace energy from sunlight through plants to animals.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

A student can explain that plants use light, water, and carbon dioxide to make sugar, while animals get energy by eating. They can connect leaves, roots, teeth, beaks, flowers, cones, eggs, and live birth to specific survival functions.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students often think plants take food from soil or that sunlight itself is food. They may think only herbivores depend on plants, all animals lay eggs, or every plant reproduces with flowers.

04

How to Assess It

Exit ticket: Draw arrows from the Sun to grass to a rabbit, explain how each gets energy, and name one way each produces offspring.

1. 01

   Dissect a lily with hand lenses, then identify the stamens, pistil, pollen, and ovules and describe each part's role in making seeds.

2. 02

   Write: How can energy from sunlight end up in a fox, even if the fox never eats a plant?

3. 03

   Play a matching game pairing leaves, roots, teeth, beaks, flowers, cones, eggs, and nests with their survival functions.

4. 04

   Compare a cactus and a desert tortoise, then explain how their structures help them gain energy, conserve water, and produce offspring.

• 2.5

  The student will investigate and understand that living things are part of a system. Key ideas include

• K.7

  The student will investigate and understand that plants and animals have basic needs and life processes. Key ideas include

• K.6

  The student will investigate and understand that there are differences between living organisms and nonliving objects. Key ideas include

• 1.4

  The student will investigate and understand that plants have basic life needs and functional parts that allow them to survive. Key ideas include