Grade 4

A significant focus in fourth grade is on developing and strengthening the skills involved in reading informational texts. The students practice identifying key details in historical texts that help them to understand what happened and why.  They practice integrating information from multiple sources in order to write and speak about a subject knowledgeably. They also compare and contrast various accounts of the same event or topic, identifying the points of difference, and then applying critical thinking skills to attempt to explain the reasons behind those differences. 

Students in Grade 4 apply various reading strategies to enhance comprehension, make their thinking visible as they write down ideas, and make connections and ask questions while reading a text. They understand the features of texts (e.g., table of contents, titles, subtitles, captions, diagrams, graphs, index, glossary) and read at different speeds, using scanning, skimming, or careful reading for various purposes. To increase phonics mastery, word recognition, and additional reading strategies and increase fluency and comprehension, students discuss literary elements and devices in stories, including setting, characters, plot, theme, mood, foreshadowing personification, and metaphor. They distinguish cause and effect, fact and opinion, the main idea, and supporting details in nonfiction texts and poetry. They also provide evidence from the texts to support conclusions and responses and summarize central ideas in informational texts.

All students read a minimum of two independent books per trimester while maintaining an independent reading log. Students continue to use the developmental writing program, Write from the Beginning, to help strengthen and advance their expository and narrative writing. Grade 4 students publish multiple individual and/or group works, using various methods to organize information. They also enhance fluency in writing by using transitional words and phrases to connect ideas and present their work in complete sentences. They apply elements of grade-appropriate guidelines to improve and evaluate their writing. The students produce writing in the following genres: reflection, narrative, expository, descriptive/creative, and persuasive. Students spell grade-level high-frequency words correctly and apply knowledge of word families, spelling patterns, and syllabication to spell new words.

Students use notes and other aids to memorize a short presentation and employ techniques to maintain audience interest during formal presentations. They incorporate adequate volume, proper pacing, and clear enunciation while incorporating peer feedback and teacher suggestions for revisions in content, organization, and delivery in their presentations. Through a multi-sensory study of grade-level Greek and Latin affixes and roots, students learn the meaning of word parts which supports their reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. They use these affixes and roots as clues to determine the meanings of words. When writing, they choose words and phrases to convey their ideas precisely.

Supported by their previous training, students in grade four increase automaticity with the basic facts of mathematics. They are encouraged to continue to apply their understanding of models (arrays, equal-size groups, and equal intervals on a number line), place value, and properties of operations to develop and use efficient and accurate methods to multiply and divide multi-digit numbers. They accurately estimate products and calculate them mentally and using pencil and paper.

Students at this level also develop an understanding of decimal notation as an extension of the base-ten number system. They understand fractions and decimals as representing more numbers between 0 and 1, between 1 and 2, and so on. Students compare and order decimals and, by working with decimals, they extend their ability to recognize equivalent fractions. They recognize area as an attribute of two-dimensional regions, and understand that a square unit is the standard unit for measuring area.

They build on their earlier work with symmetry and congruence to encompass transformations, including line and rotational symmetry. As part of understanding two-dimensional shapes, students measure and classify angles. 

Through an Inquiry-based social studies curriculum, fourth graders explore a guiding question each trimester through multiple lenses.  Students engage in research, travel to important historical locations, and learn from guest speakers in order to discover the answers to the guiding questions listed below. Some of the lenses used to answer each question are Native Americans (Lenape, Iroquois and Powhatan) from long ago and from today, explorers and early settlers of North America, colonists during the pre-Revolutionary War era and during the American Revolution.  While exploring these questions, empathy is developed as the students seek to understand why people at different times in history made the choices that they did.

They answer these essential questions: How Do People Utilize the Land For Their Survival and For Their Advantage? What are the possible outcomes when different cultures encounter each other? Within a singular culture, how does an individual contribute to a larger society? and How and why do individuals or groups of people in a community share their ideas and experiences to make their perspectives known widely?

In addition to empathy, fourth graders practice skills such as identifying critical details in nonfiction texts, note-taking (summarizing, paraphrasing, organizing), and comparing and contrasting different points of view.

Students in Grade 4 learn that writing can be used to make meaning of one's own experience, as well as other information and ideas. They become aware that to be effective, writing must be a sufficiently developed, coherent unit of thought to address the needs of the intended audience. They also begin to understand structural elements such as context, meaningful order of ideas, transitional elements, and conclusion—learning that all of these components help make meaning clear for the reader.

Fourth-graders use concrete words, phrases, and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely, and use the writing process in order to strengthen writing as needed. Using technology, they produce and publish writing, collaborate with others, and demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills.

For Grade 4 students, the library, technology, and media use continue to integrate with classroom projects and lessons. Fourth-graders use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas to multiple audiences. They locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and use information from various sources and media with increasing independence. They also continue to process data and report results using an increasing variety of sophisticated tools. At this level, the students’ use of technology and media expands to include the selection and use of diverse applications, including word processing functions, graphing, multimedia presentation platforms, and collaborative learning environments, such as wikis and blogs. Students also learn and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology by understanding the meaning of plagiarism and the importance of copyrights, network etiquette, and internet safety.