Worksheet

Weathering Notes from the Cider Shed

Analyze orchard harvest field notes and model data to explain how water, ice, wind, and plant roots change rock and soil.

Grade 4ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to4-ESS2-1

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Single worksheet
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1 NGSS standard
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15 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 4
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use observations and measurements to identify weathering and erosion by water, ice, wind, and plant roots.
Students compare model-test data and make evidence-based claims about changes to rock and soil.
Students plan fair observations of how an Earth-changing agent affects rock or soil.

How to use

Read the field notes together, clarify that weathering breaks or changes material while erosion moves material, then have students use the evidence independently.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

4-ESS2-1

Observe or measure how water, ice, wind or plants weather and erode rock and soil.

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Name Date

Weathering Notes from the Cider Shed

Use field notes and model data to investigate how Earth materials change.

Read the harvest field notes

Read the notes about the old cider shed beside the orchard. Use the observations and data to answer the questions.

The Cider Shed Field Notes

During apple harvest, Talia's class studied an old stone path beside the cider shed. The path sloped toward a low garden bed. The students marked places they could observe safely and recorded what they saw after several days of changing weather. They did not touch the loose stones or enter the shed.

After two heavy rains, the class found a narrow groove in the soil along the lower edge of the path. Small soil clumps were in the garden bed below the groove. The class also saw that several loose pebbles had moved downhill. No pebbles were found uphill from their original marks.

Near the shed wall, a thin sandstone slab had a crack. In October, the crack was 2 millimeters wide. After six freeze-and-thaw cycles in December, the crack was 5 millimeters wide, and two small chips were beside the slab. The students used a ruler and took a photograph each time; they did not break the slab.

A dry north wind blew across a bare patch near the path. The class placed a tray 30 centimeters south of the patch and found 18 grams of dry soil in it after the afternoon. A second tray placed 30 centimeters north held 2 grams. The wind was blowing from north to south during the observation.

A plant root grew through a crack in a stone border around the garden bed. In spring, the crack was 3 millimeters wide. In late fall, it was 7 millimeters wide. The stone border and the root were photographed from the same place each time. The class then made simple models to compare agents.

For each model, students used the same kind of loose soil, the same tray size, and 120 grams of starting soil. They changed one condition at a time. In the water model, 40 milliliters of water flowed down each sloped tray. The bare-soil tray lost 22 grams; the tray covered with straw lost 9 grams. In the wind model, a fan blew across dry soil. The tray with a low screen lost 6 grams; the tray without a screen lost 19 grams. The measurements were made after one test for each model.

The class drew a word model for one possible change: water or wind acts on loose soil, soil particles move to a new place, and the moved particles may collect where the force is weaker. They drew a different model for a crack: water enters a rock crack, freezes and expands, and the crack can become wider after repeated cycles. These models were predictions to compare with observations, not pictures of hidden events.

Which observation is strongest evidence that soil was eroded by moving water?

A. A sandstone crack widened from 2 millimeters to 5 millimeters.
B. Soil clumps and pebbles were found downhill from the sloped path.
C. A plant root grew through a crack in the stone border.
D. Two chips were found beside a sandstone slab.

After the freeze-and-thaw cycles, how wide was the sandstone crack? millimeters

Which explanation best fits the pebbles found downhill from the path?

A. Rainwater helped carry some pebbles down the sloped path.
B. The pebbles grew larger when the air became damp.
C. The pebbles moved uphill because the path was sloped.
D. The pebbles formed when the wind warmed the soil.

Select the two details that made the water-model comparison fair.

The same kind of loose soil was used.The straw tray lost 9 grams.Each tray started with 120 grams of soil.The trays were tested after harvest.A different amount of water was used for each tray.

Why did the south tray collect more dry soil than the north tray in the wind observation?

A. The wind blew from south toward north.
B. The south tray was placed closer to the stone wall.
C. The wind carried soil from the north toward the south.
D. The soil became heavier after crossing the bare patch.

How many more grams of soil did the bare-soil water tray lose than the straw-covered tray? grams

Which statement best connects the sandstone observations with the word model?

A. Repeated freezing and thawing may have widened the water-filled crack.
B. The sandstone became smooth because wind polished the slab.
C. Rain carried the sandstone slab downhill after each cycle.
D. The crack narrowed because frozen water took up less space.

Use evidence to explain changes

Use the field notes, measurements, and word models. Choose the best answer, or write a claim supported by evidence.

What does the change in the stone-border crack from spring to fall suggest?

A. The root kept the crack the same width as it grew.
B. The root carried soil away from the garden bed.
C. The root may have helped widen the crack as it grew.
D. The root made the stone crack narrower over time.

Select the two claims supported by the model measurements.

Straw was linked with less soil loss in the water model.The low screen was linked with less soil loss in the wind model.Straw stopped the water from moving through the tray.The low screen made the fan blow toward the soil.The water model measured how wide the stone crack became.

10.

A student says, “The straw-covered tray lost less soil because it started with less soil.” Which detail challenges that explanation?

A. The straw-covered tray was tested after the bare-soil tray.
B. The straw-covered tray was placed on a slope.
C. The class tested the trays during apple harvest.
D. Both water-model trays started with 120 grams of soil.

11.

The class repeats the wind model with a new tray that has a low screen. Which prediction is best supported by the first test?

A. The screened tray may lose less soil than an unscreened tray.
B. The screened tray will collect more soil than the unscreened tray.
C. The screen will make the soil turn into sandstone.
D. The screened tray will measure the width of a rock crack.

12.

Which follow-up would give the clearest evidence about whether a growing root widens a stone crack?

A. Measure two different kinds of stone, one with roots and one without, in different weather.
B. Measure matching cracked stones with roots and without roots over the same time.
C. Compare a rooted stone in spring with a dry soil tray in fall.
D. Place different stones in different weather and measure them once.

13.

Which statement correctly distinguishes the two changes in the field notes?

A. A widened crack shows material moving away, while downhill soil shows material changing in place.
B. A widened crack shows soil moving, while downhill soil shows rock freezing.
C. Both observations show that material stayed in its original place.
D. A widened crack shows material changing in place, while downhill soil shows material moving.

14.

Make a claim about how the straw cover affected water erosion in the model. Support your claim with both water-model measurements and explain what the numbers show.

15.

Use two field observations to explain how more than one Earth-changing agent could change the cider-shed area over time. Include one example of rock or soil being changed and one example of material being moved.