Grade 4

The fourth grade’s study of different cultures emphasizes the importance of knowing one’s own culture, understanding others, and how this impacts and develops our values. In particular, the fourth grade studies the cultures of ancient Greece and the Yourba of Nigeria, examining aspects of religion, concepts of family, decision making, fairness, and justice.

Examples of Thematic Projects:

• Researching and presenting on the Greek Pantheon
• “Lost in the Woods” simulation to experience the natural development of culture based on the natural resources available for use meeting fundamental needs
• West African Folktales and oral history / storytelling

Language Arts is integrated into all areas of the curriculum. Students develop their communication skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening, learning how to receive information and express themselves as clearly as possible. Students become involved readers of high-interest materials wherever and whenever they read. Personal experiences, poetry, expository paragraphs, formal letters, research reports, and general fiction make up a fourth grader’s writing experiences. Students use the writing process (including brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) throughout the year.

Developmental Skills:

• Literal comprehension (find the main idea, read for detail, sequence events in a story, summarize)
• Inferential comprehension (predict outcomes, understand characterization and motivation, identify cause and effect, find supporting evidence in text to verify conclusions)
• Develop rich, descriptive vocabulary
• Answer literal, inferential, and critical thinking questions
• Plan, organize, and revise writing
• Analyze writing and provide constructive feedback
• Identify and use poetic devices: Simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, alliteration, hyperbole, personification, assonance

In grade 4, students deepen their analytical thinking by extending place value into the millions, mastering fraction computation, investigating factors and multiples, and measuring angles.

• Unit 1: Factors and Multiples Investigating factor pairs, prime and composite numbers, and numerical patterns.
• Unit 2: Fraction Equivalence and Comparison Visualizing and comparing fractions with different numerators and denominators.
• Unit 3: Extending Operations to Fractions Adding and subtracting fractions with common denominators, and multiplying fractions by whole numbers.
• Unit 4: From Hundredths to Hundred-Thousands Expanding place value up to 1,000,000 and introducing decimals to hundredths.
• Unit 5: Multiplicative Comparison and Measurement  Solving comparison story problems (“3 times as many as”) and converting measurement units.
• Unit 6: Multiplying and Dividing Multi-digit Numbers  Applying multi-digit multiplication strategies and division with remainders.
• Unit 7: Angles and Angle Measurement Understanding rays, measuring angles with protractors, and finding missing angle measures.
• Unit 8: Properties of Two-dimensional Shapes Identifying parallel/perpendicular lines and lines of symmetry in geometric figures.
• Unit 9: Putting It All Together Applying place value, fraction operations, and geometry skills to capstone projects.

Fourth grade’s study of different cultures emphasizes knowing one’s own culture, understanding others, and recognizing how culture shapes our values. Students learn about Zaretta Hammond’s Culture Tree, which identifies surface, shallow, and deeper cultural elements. Students deeply study the cultures of ancient Greece and several countries within West Africa, including the Yourba of Nigeria. Overarching threads between thematic units include architecture and stories, and fourth graders discuss how investigating and analyzing these topics can reveal elements of culture. 

Examples of Thematic Units and Projects:

• “Lost in the Woods” simulation to experience the natural development of culture based on the natural resources available for use in order to meet fundamental needs
• Ancient Greek architecture and geography
• Ancient Greek stories, including the Pantheon and heroes
• Olympics simulation
• Researching and presenting ancient world religions
• Exploring cultures of different African countries
• The culture of the Yoruba of Nigeria, including architecture
• West African folktales and oral history through storytelling
  

Example Skills Include:

• Geography (focus on Greece and Africa), including landforms and how geography impacts the development of culture
• Identifying aspects of culture in research

The science program is hands-on, enabling students to learn about the scientific process and develop critical thinking skills through collaboration and age-appropriate experiments.

Major units include a study of The Human Brain (structure, function, and how culture affects cognition), Electricity (circuits, conductors, and how current is generated), the Solar System (planets, moon phases, scale, and relative size), Renewable Energy, and a Wetland Study focusing on its role in water filtration. The program emphasizes skills, such as asking questions, hypothesizing, developing and using models, collecting and analyzing data, and constructing explanations.

In fourth grade, French follows the thematic scope and sequence of the fourth grade curriculum, cultural observers. In the fall, students study the geography of the Francophone world ahead of choosing one in which to study more deeply.  Students explore their French-speaking country’s major cities, sites, their flag and popular sports. 

After a unit on olympic sports, each student designs a shirt to represent their country in a short Modern-day Olympic opening ceremony.  During the second half of the year, focus shifts to Africa. Students study Francophone countries and capitals in Africa and then learn about the animals living in those regions. As a culminating project, students create an audio-visual presentation of the animals of the desert, the savannah and the tropical rainforest of the Congo.

The grade 4 curriculum marks a shift to balancing digital creation, physical fabrication, and engineering. Rather than just building on the screen, students actively bridge the gap between software and tangible objects in a makerspace environment. The year begins with students thinking creatively about interactive storytelling using Google Slides (“Choose-your-own-adventure”) and game design using Scratch. As they transition into late fall, students explore 2D and 3D spatial thinking via digital animation and architectural modeling using TinkerCAD. The core of the second half of the year focuses on engineering and fabrication. Students learn to use vector graphic software (Inkscape) to program the laser cutter, create electrical circuits and learn to solder, and ultimately design physical computing programs to interact with the real world using Playground Express mini computers.

Example Projects Include:

• Interactive “Choose your own adventure” slideshows
• Coding games with Scratch
• Digital art with ShapeGrams
• Soldering electrical circuits for Science Quiz Boards
• Fabricating charms with the laser cutter
• Designing an outdoor classroom with TinkerCAD (3D Modeling software)
• Physical computing with Playground Express circuit boards (gyroscopes, light and sound sensors, etc.)

The Physical Education program is developmental and skill-based. The program includes cooperative games, standard games, such as capture the flag and ultimate Frisbee, and team sports including field hockey, soccer, and basketball. The fourth grade developmental focus is on developing cooperation, teamwork, and sportsmanship, body and spatial awareness, social skills and positive self-image. 

Example Skills Include:

• Locomotor Movements: Walk, run, hop, slide, jump, crawl, roll
• Non-locomotor movements: Swing, bend, stretch, twist, turn, dodge, push, pull
• Sports skills: Throw, dribble, kick, bat, batch, shoot (basketball), volley

In fourth grade, the library curriculum furthers students’ appreciation and enjoyment of literature and focuses on an in-depth study of the various fiction genres (e.g. fantasy, mystery, realistic fiction and historical fiction). The curriculum also provides students with opportunities to plan a search strategy for information, using print and online reference sources, and to synthesize information to organize and produce new meaning. Students are introduced to digital “Breakout” puzzles, where they work collaboratively to solve puzzles requiring critical thinking, problem solving, and information gathering.

Example literature Appreciation and Information Literacy Skills include:

• Demonstrate awareness of literature from various cultures and genres
• Identify keywords to find information on a topic
• Demonstrate the use of print and online dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, and atlases in finding relative information
• News Literacy: identify news credibility and reliability, and demonstrate reading closely for information and analysis

In grade 4 classes, students use critical thinking skills to compare and contrast the music of the cultures examined in thematic studies, as well as to learn the initial skills of creative, interactive musical participation. Students learn music appreciation through singing, movement, composition, and playing instruments. They study West African drumming and dance with a guest artist. Students also continue their study of the recorder and continue to learn to read and write standard notation. 

Examples of Skills Include:

• Develop a full, relaxed vocal quality
• Compose and perform rhythm and melodic pieces
• Improvise melody, exploring different ways to put melodies together
• Reading and writing beginning music notation in treble clef
• Playing the recorder and djembes

The fourth grade art curriculum is tied closely to the students’ academic classroom work. Using thematically based projects as a vehicle, art assignments focus on the interrelation of two and three dimensional perception. Students develop new skills and techniques, hone spatial reasoning skills, and work towards a more considered approach to craft.

Example projects include:

• 3D Drawing: Relief style illustrations that capture realistic sense of physical space through scale and overlap. 
• Three dimensional sculptures of artifacts from world religions. Students experiment to identify the best materials and building techniques to address unique challenges.
• Collaborative mural based on West African folklore

Communication-Presentation (“Comm Pres”) is a unique class to CRS that blends skill-building and performance opportunities for public speaking, presentations, theater, and interpersonal communication. In fourth grade, students have many opportunities to share, present, perform, communicate, and collaborate.

Units cover interpersonal communication, including verbal and non-verbal communication, and the art of listening through practical application, activities, and games. Comm Pres also partners with fourth grade classes to prepare students for public speaking and performance events such as the Griot Gala, Olympics, and the ancient religion project, while enhancing social-emotional learning.

Skills: 

• How to ask questions for deeper listening, including open-ended clarifying, and probing questions 
• Oral storytelling techniques  
• Public speaking delivery to emphasize important points while remaining engaged with the audience 

In fourth grade, students focus on strengthening self-management, organization, and executive functioning skills while building resilience and perseverance. Lessons explore communication, teamwork, leadership, empathy, and respectful disagreement. Students also examine identity, inclusion, cultural awareness, and personal values. They develop self-advocacy and goal-setting skills as well. Students continue to identify and strengthen connections with trusted adults, recognizing when and how to seek support for academic, social, or emotional challenges.