Grade: 4th

27 Jan 2023

Arts in the Natural World Series: Clay

August-October 31; March 15-June

From the creek to the art studio, this program explores all things clay! Students will learn the procedures of hiking to the creek to harvest clay from natural creek beds and processing it in an art studio. This is a hands-on program that includes an uphill hike (weather permitting), so come prepared to get your hands dirty and your body moving! Programs in the Arts in the Natural World series seek to demonstrate intersections between the arts and the world around us. This program only operates in warmer months (August-October 31; March 15-June).

Fine Arts Standards:

  • VA.4.1PE Engage and persist in artistic risk-taking.
  • VA.4.2PE Select and vary materials, tools, and processes to achieve innovative outcomes.

Ohio Science Standards:

  • ESS.4.1 Earth’s surface has specific characteristics and landforms that can be identified.
  • NGSS: 4-ESS1-1: Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.

Vocabulary:

clay, natural resource, hand building, wheel throwing, stages of clay

07 Feb 2022

Maple Inquiry (4th -8th)

(Jan 21 to Feb 25, 2026)

Maple sugaring is the tradition of making maple syrup from the sap gathered from maple trees in late winter. Plan to make observations, ask questions, collect data using scientific tools, and analyze the data you collect. Explore our authentic sugar bush and sugar shack as science comes to life through this hands-on, guided inquiry program. (Jan 21-Feb 26, 2026)

Ohio Science Standards:

  • SIPA Grade 3-5: Observe and ask questions about the world that can be answered through scientific investigations.
  • SWK Grade 3-5: Science is a way of knowing about the world around us based on evidence from experimentation and observations.
  • SWK Grade 6-8: Science is a way of knowing about the world around us based on evidence from experimentation and observations.
  • SWK Grade 6-8: Science is a continual process and the body of scientific knowledge continues to grow and change.
  • LS Grade 4: Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial and sometimes harmful.
  • LS Grade 5: Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem. All of the processes that take place within organisms require energy.
  • LS Grade 7: Energy flows and matter is transferred continuously from one organism to another and between organisms and their physical environments.

NGSS Standards:

  • 3-LS4-3 Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
  • 5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
  • 5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment
  • MS-LS2-3: Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
  • MS – LS2-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

Ohio Social Studies Standards:

  • SS Grade 4: Geography- The economic development of the United States continues to influence and be influenced by agriculture, industry and natural resources in Ohio.
  • SS Grade 5: History- Early Indian civilizations (Maya, Inca, Aztec, Mississippian) existed in the Western Hemisphere prior to the arrival of Europeans. These civilizations had developed unique governments, social structures, religions, technologies, and agricultural practices.
  • SS Grade 6: Economics- When selecting items to buy, individuals can weigh costs and benefits and compare the price and quality of available goods and services.

Vocabulary: sugar bush, sugar shack, sap, diameter, density, xylem, phloem, glucose, hypothesis, observation, investigation, comparative question, data, analysis

Video Introduction: CLICK HERE for Maple video with a Greenacres educator

01 Mar 2021

Energy on the Farm

August-June 

See how our farmers, livestock, and plants use energy and other resources to grow and create food for our community. Through an interactive game, students will work in groups to see the best energy-efficient practices to keep crops alive during a frost, provide water during a drought, and care for the animals on your farm.  

Ohio Science Standards:

  •  4.PS.2: Energy can be transferred from one location to another or can be transformed from one form to another.

NGSS Standards:

  • 4-PS3-2 Energy. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
  • 4-PS3-4 Energy. Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

Ohio Social Studies Standards:

  • Geography – Places and Regions: The economic development of the United States continues to influence and be influenced by agriculture, industry and natural resources in Ohio

Vocabulary:

Energy, heat energy, solar energy, energy transfer, energy loss, greenhouse, compost

01 Mar 2021

Farm to Market: Dried Herbs

August-June 

Join us as we follow the journey of food, from the field to the consumer.  Help us figure out how we can make this season’s harvest profitable! 

Ohio Science Standards:

  •  4.LS.1: Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful.

Indiana and NGSS Standards:

  • 3-5-ETS1-1 Engineering Design. Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
  • 4-ESS2-1. Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.
  • 4-ESS3-2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

Ohio Social Studies Standards:

  • Geography – Places and Regions: The economic development of the United States continues to influence and be influenced by agriculture, industry and natural resources in Ohio
  • Geography – Human Systems: People have modified the environment throughout history resulting in both positive and negative consequences in Ohio and the United States
  • Economics – Production and Consumption: Entrepreneurs in Ohio and the United States organize productive resources and take risks to make a profit and compete with other producers.

Ohio Math Standards:

  • 4.MD.2 Solve real-world problems involving money, time, and metric measurement.

Vocabulary:

farm, product, economics, market, profit, consumer, production, supply and demand

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