This is the Grade 4 Natural Sciences and Technology 2026 Annual Teaching Plan. It covers four strands in order: Life and Living, Matter and Materials, Energy and Change, and Planet Earth and Beyond, with practical investigations and design tasks throughout.
Each strand is planned topic by topic with a duration in weeks, core concepts, suggested resources and informal assessment, and ends with a week of remediation, revision and consolidation. The plan also lists 17 process and design skills, such as observing, measuring, investigating, designing and evaluating.
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What the Natural Sciences and Technology Grade 4 ATP covers
Term 1
- Living and non-living things
- Seven life processes
- Structure of plants and animals
- What plants need to grow
- Habitats of animals
- Designing an animal shelter
Formal assessment: Practical task or investigation, and a test.
Term 2
- Solids, liquids and gases
- Change of state and the water cycle
- Raw and manufactured materials
- Properties of materials
- Strengthening paper into pillars and struts
- Frame structures and building a bridge
- Indigenous traditional homes
Formal assessment: Practical task or investigation, and a test.
Term 3
- Energy for life from food and the Sun
- Food chains and energy transfer
- Input and output energy of appliances
- Musical instruments and movement
- Vibrations, volume and pitch
- Noise pollution and protecting hearing
Formal assessment: Practical task or investigation, and a test.
Term 4
- Features of planet Earth
- The Sun as our closest star
- Earth's orbit and the solar system
- Features and phases of the Moon
- Cultural stories about the Moon
- Making and testing a balloon rocket
Formal assessment: Test.
Source: Department of Basic Education, 2023/24 Annual Teaching Plans. DBE Circular S19 of 2025 keeps the 2023/24 ATPs in use, with some exclusions, so check with your school or district for any changes.