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, so they can receive information and express themselves as clearly as possible. We help children to become involved readers of high-interest materials wherever and whenever they read. Material in the reading program is typically high interest trade/chapter books for direct reading instruction supplemented by various materials related to theme.  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, 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 character and motivation, Identify cause and effect, find supporting material in text to verify conclusions)

• Develop rich, descriptive vocabulary
• Formulate literal, inferential, and critical thinking questions
• Plan, organize, and revise writing
• Analyze writing and provide constructive feedback
• Identify poetic devices: Simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, alliteration, hyperbole, personification, assonance

Fourth grade students expand their understanding of the field of mathematics to include both computational and non-computational skills/concepts. The focus is on helping students develop a firmer foundation of place value, number sense, and strategies to help solve a variety of problems, rather than on rote memorization and procedure. We explore the concepts of  multiplication, division, real-life problems, measurement, data interpretation, logical reasoning, area, perimeter, as well as the visual-spatial aspects of mathematics. Math lessons revolve around real data, number patterns, and discovery through exploration. Students are encouraged to solve increasingly challenging problems using what they know, as well as to appreciate that there are differing methods of approaching and solving problems. They also are given opportunities to share and discuss their mathematical thinking through different modalities. Through these experiences, students begin to develop an appreciation of mathematics as encompassing far more than mathematical computations.

Example of Skills include

• Computation: add and subtract whole numbers and fractions, two-digit multiplication, multiplication by multiples and powers of 10, division facts and division by multiples and powers of 10, prepare and solve word problems
• Relationships: understand and extend number patterns, collect data and prepare graphs, use equalities and inequalities, understand fractional equivalents
• Measurement:  Length, area with formula, money, Metric system
• Geometry: Understand two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes, Study triangles and other polygons, Study types of angles (right, acute, obtuse)

To increase awareness of both the diversity and the commonality of human experience, fourth graders consider and compare different cultures with an emphasis on classical Greek and Yoruba. Before delving into these cultures, students learn how culture develops through exploring the fundamental needs of all humans and how they solve these needs by using the natural resources around them. Next, they reflect on their own family’s culture. We examine how values are taught, the role of oral tradition, artistic expression, and forms of worship.

Example Units Include:

• Exploration of culture
• Aspects of Greek culture, Ancient Olympics, Greek Gods & Goddesses
• Geography of Africa, Yoruba traditions
• Map study of continents, Greece and the Mediterranean, and Africa

Example Skills Include:

• Geography (focus on Greece and Africa), landforms and biomes
• Aspects of Culture and it’s evolution- meeting fundamental needs using natural resources available
• Reading various types of maps, Interpreting information, Latitude and Longitude

Our science program enables students to learn about the scientific process through a hands-on program. Students learn how to collaborate, communicate, and develop critical thinking skills through age-appropriate experiments and activities that allow them to work together, discuss and predict, and make connections.

Example Units Include:

• Our brain: the makeup of our brain, how culture has affected/shaped cognition, functions of the brain
• Solar system – planets, moon phases, tides, scale & relative size, life cycle of stars, the Sun, solar energy, and other forms of renewable energy
• Wetland study: Water cycle, wetland role in water filtration

While the process of learning new tools is inherently valuable (growth mindset, exploration, logic, sequential thinking, curiosity), ultimately we teach technology because of the opportunities it can provide for students to improve themselves and make a positive impact on the world. In the fourth grade, we focus on introducing online collaboration, programming robots to interact with the environment, learning a formal design thinking process, physical computing, and electronic components.

Example Skills Include:

• Introducing online collaboration & responsible use
• programming robots to interact with the environment
• 3D modeling both existing and original objects
• formal design thinking process – Stanford Design Process
• digital photography
• soldering electrical components
• green-screen movie editing.

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 fourth grade 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. They learn music appreciation through singing, movement, composition and playing instruments. They study West African drumming and dance with a guest artist. Students will also play and compose music on xylophones and glockenspiels.

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

• Listen to and discuss components of selected compositions: Pitch, duration, volume, timbre, texture, form, style

• Reading and writing beginning music notation in treble clef