The fourth grade literacy program is designed to improve each student’s reading and writing skills and to further develop a love of reading and writing. They develop deep understanding of more complex texts and build higher-order thinking skills through weekly routines and Close Reading. Weekly and unit instruction is built around science and social studies concepts that connect each piece of literature, vocabulary, and writing allowing students to build deep knowledge. Independent reading is also expected and encouraged as students select reading-level appropriate books in a wide variety of genres. Their genuine love for reading is encouraged and cultivated by acknowledging their achievements during a school wide AR party.
Writing is an integral part of fourth grade language arts. Children grow as writers as they learn to communicate and support their ideas in organized paragraphs. A Writer’s Notebook gives students the chance to learn the basics of writing conventions as they analyze the writer’s craft, explore various genres, and grow in mastery.
The fourth grade math curriculum provides the students opportunities to apply the skills learned in the lower grades and extend their knowledge as they learn new skills. In Grade 4, math instruction focuses on three critical areas:
• developing understanding and fluency with multi-digit multiplication and division involving multi-digit dividends,
• developing an understanding of fraction equivalence, addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators, and multiplication of fractions by whole numbers, and
• understanding that geometric figures can be analyzed and classified based on their properties.
By the end of fourth grade, students develop an understanding of how plants, animals, and nonliving things in an ecosystem interact with each other. They analyze temporary and permanent changes caused by weather and living things on Earth’s land and water, and they investigate how the placements of certain landforms create a predictable pattern. Students examine various types of energy transfer, including sound, light, heat, and electric currents, and model how energy transforms with added speed or in a collision. They create models to explain how waves travel and how waves of light become visible to humans.
Fourth grade curriculum focuses on the founding of the Thirteen Colonies and the American Revolution. They learn the early development of democratic institutions and a national government. They explore the causes and effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Students will utilize primary and secondary sources, geographic tools, analysis, and critical thinking within this concentrated study of early U.S. history.
Our elementary school provides a warm, friendly, and dynamic environment that fosters critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity, developing a lifelong love of learning. It implements a high-quality curriculum that is aligned with state standards, built on high expectations, highly rigorous, and meets the needs of all students.
