Exploring Traits Activities for 4th Grade Science

Make teaching exploring inherited and learned behavior traits easy and effective with the Kesler Science Exploring Traits 4th Grade Complete 5E Lesson! This comprehensive, student-led lesson plan requires minimal prep while keeping students engaged in real scientific inquiry.

Students will explore essential questions such as, "What are examples of inherited traits?" and "What are examples of learned behaviors?" This lesson is designed with differentiated materials to support all learners, with flexible formats including printable, digital, and editable resources. It also offers Spanish translations for vocabulary and reading passages to ensure accessibility.

The lesson follows the 5E model (Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation), including interactive activities like hands-on experiments, research tasks, and student-choice projects. With options for both in-person and virtual learning, this lesson makes exploring traits a dynamic and engaging experience for your 4th graders.

The Kesler Science Exploring Traits Station Lab offers 4th grade students an engaging, student-led approach to exploring inherited and learned traits. With nine differentiated stations, students have the opportunity to explore traits like eye color, leaf shapes, and learned behaviors in a hands-on way. The modular format saves teachers prep time while providing a flexible, student-centered learning experience.

The stations include multimodal input activities such as experiments, readings, research tasks, and videos to introduce new concepts. Output stations allow students to demonstrate their knowledge through hands-on sorting, illustrations, writing prompts, and assessments, all designed to reinforce key concepts about inherited and learned traits.

For differentiation, the lab includes materials for students needing extra support, as well as challenge activities for advanced learners. With the flexibility to work both in-class and virtually, these station labs are a versatile and dynamic way to engage your students in life science learning.

The Kesler Science Exploring Traits Student Choice Projects offer 4th grade students a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning, with six project options plus a “design your own” choice. The flexible format encourages creativity, allowing students to select a project that best fits their output style. A grading rubric is included, which can be modified for teacher, peer, or self-assessment.

With nine project options and a customizable rubric, these projects are adaptable for all learners. The activities are designed to support multimodal learning, allowing students to express their understanding in personalized ways. Whether in-person or digital, the materials are easy to use and require basic classroom supplies.

The Student Choice Projects are differentiated for students with varying needs. Three options support remediation, while more advanced students can be challenged with combinations of projects. Whether students are working with digital tools or traditional crafting supplies, the projects are designed for maximum flexibility and engagement.

The Kesler Science Exploring Traits Science and ELA Integrated Writing Activity invites 4th grade students to delve into animal behavior using a “day in the life” format. This fun and engaging activity allows students to creatively demonstrate their understanding of traits and behaviors in animals, fostering both their science reasoning and writing skills. It’s designed to be flexible for both virtual and in-person learning environments.

Aligned with TEKS and NGSS standards, the activity includes a range of teacher resources like answer guides, rubrics, and project ideas. It also offers multiple formats for student engagement, such as full-sized handouts, half-sheet handouts, and digital versions that can be used in Google Slides or PowerPoint, making it easy for teachers to adapt it to their classroom needs.

The Exploring Traits writing prompt activity is ideal for differentiation, offering opportunities for pre-assessment, student choice projects, and elaboration for early finishers. It's also great for extra credit, make-up work, or as a TELPAS sample, allowing for flexibility and support in varied learning environments.

The Kesler Science Life Science WIKI Tickets provide fun, easy formative assessments for 3rd–5th grade science. This set includes 28 engaging exit tickets aligned to NGSS and TEKS, covering topics like ecosystems, traits, life cycles, and food webs.

Each topic features five formats: a full-screen display for projection, three printable handout sizes, and an interactive digital version compatible with PowerPoint and Google Slides. A bonus table of contents file ensures easy standard alignment.

WIKI Tickets (“What I Know Is”) serve as exit tickets, bellringers, or quick checks for understanding, making them a flexible tool for both in-person and virtual learning environments.

Year-Round Resources

These year-round activities will increase your students' understanding of many middle school science topics. All of these activities are also included in the Kesler Science Membership.

Visual Data & Graphing

You're not alone if your students struggle with understanding graphs, charts, and tables. It's a skill that takes an enormous amount of practice. This resource will help students build a strong foundation in analyzing data and creating their own data visualizations.

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Bell Ringers and Warm-Ups

These middle school science bell ringers are an excellent way to engage your students as soon as they walk into your classroom. This comprehensive FULL YEAR resource includes everything you need to start off each science class with an interesting warm-up activity.

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Review Board Games

Each game board has been carefully designed to keep students engaged. There are 10 different action spaces on each board and dozens of question cards. All of the actions are related to science concepts and keep the students motivated throughout the game.

Each game is ready to play. Simply print out the board and the cards and let the students enjoy reviewing nine different units.

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Essential Questions

Below are the essential questions associated with the lessons and activities included in this unit. This topic is only one of more than 100 middle school science topics included in the Kesler Science Membership.

Essential Questions

What are examples of inherited traits?
What are examples of learned behaviors?