Virginia SOL 4.2.a

Science4th GradeLiving Systems and Processes

The Standard

the survival of plants and animals depends on photosynthesis

Virginia Standards of Learning for Science

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students explain how plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make sugar and release oxygen. They connect that process to the food and oxygen animals need.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can label the inputs and outputs of photosynthesis in a simple diagram. The student can trace how stopping photosynthesis affects plants, plant eaters, predators, and oxygen levels.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think plants get food from soil or that sunlight is food. They may also think animals do not depend on plants if they eat only other animals.
How to Assess It: Ask: “What would happen to rabbits and foxes if green plants received no light for several weeks?” Require an answer using food and oxygen.

Lesson moves

Count oxygen bubbles from equal Elodea sprigs placed under a lamp and inside a foil-covered cup for ten minutes.
Write a response to: “Could animals survive on Earth without green plants?” Use food, oxygen, and photosynthesis as evidence.
Give groups process cards to arrange into a chain showing sunlight, plant sugar, plant eaters, predators, and oxygen.
Examine a pond food web and mark which organisms would be affected if algae died, then explain each link.

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