Word Bank · Grade 4
Science Words to Know
Key science words for Grade 4 — in plain words, with an example. Keep this open while you play!
⚡ Energy & Electricity
- circuit
- A closed loop that electricity flows around.Like: battery → wire → bulb → back.
- conductor
- A material that lets heat and electricity pass through easily.Like: metal.
- insulator
- A material that blocks or slows heat and electricity.Like: plastic, rubber, wood.
- energy transfer
- When energy moves from one object to another.Like: a ball knocking down pins.
🧪 Matter
- solution
- A mixture where one thing dissolves evenly into another.Like: salt in water.
- conserved
- Stays the same. When things mix, the total matter is conserved.Like: mass adds up the same.
🌍 Earth & Space
- phases
- The changing shapes of the Moon we see through the month.Like: new moon to full moon.
- evaporation
- When the Sun heats water and it rises into the air as a gas.Like: a puddle drying up.
- water cycle
- How water moves around Earth: evaporation, clouds, rain, and back.Like: powered by the Sun.
- erosion
- When moving water or wind carries away bits of rock and soil.Like: a river carving a canyon.
- climate
- The usual weather of a place over many years.Like: a desert is usually dry.
- renewable
- A resource that won't run out soon.Like: sunlight or wind.
- nonrenewable
- A resource that can run out.Like: coal or oil.
🌱 Living Things
- decomposer
- A living thing that breaks down dead things and recycles nutrients.Like: a mushroom.
- inherited trait
- A trait passed from parents that you are born with.Like: eye color.
- acquired trait
- A trait gained during life, not from parents.Like: learning to ride a bike.