Fourth Grade Curriculum

All fourth grade students are issued a Chromebook for use at school to access enhanced curriculum materials, research and learn both individually and collaboratively, and strengthen their technology skills.

RELIGION

The fourth grade Religion curriculum continues to explore the ways God is present in our daily lives and the choices we make. Students attend Mass regularly and also lead Masses and prayer services throughout the year. The first half of the year is spent focusing on the Old Testament and the second half focuses on the New Testament, specifically the Book of Mark. Students will grow stronger in their faith through plays, videos, journaling, and online resources. Additionally, the children participate in class meetings throughout the year where they are encouraged to share their thoughts and feelings on various topics, which helps them grow and strengthen their social-emotional learning.

LANGUAGE ARTS

In fourth grade, students do novel studies throughout the year. As a class, they will read a variety of genres of novels, answer comprehension questions, expand students’ vocabulary, and complete activities related to the novels.

Every child should read 20-30 minutes a day. Students are participating in an optional 20 book challenge. If students complete the book challenge, there will be a party at the end of the year to celebrate their accomplishment. Students can track the books that they are reading throughout the challenge on the given reading log.

Vocabulary words will be given to students at the beginning of the week. These words correspond to the words that they will be reading or using with each novel read. There are typically about 10 words per week. Students will have opportunities in class to use and practice their words. At the end of the week, an exit slip will be their assessment on their vocabulary words. They will need to understand the meaning of each word as well as how they can use it in a sentence.

In order to improve students’ writing and teach them the writing process, a Writer’s Workshop is integrated into the class weekly plan. During the first trimester, students learn about narrative writing. In the second trimester, they focus on opinion and persuasive writing. Lastly, in the third trimester, students learn how to write informational compositions. Spelling and grammar skills are reinforced throughout each writing unit.

MATH

The My Math curriculum utilizes word problems and real-world applications to enrich their math lessons and to help prepare them for standardized testing. The topics covered in fourth grade math include place value; compare, order, and round whole numbers; money; addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of multi-digit numbers; algebraic reasoning; number theory; measurement; geometry; and collecting, analyzing, and graphing data. This includes hands-on exploration to help children visualize math concepts. Students have story problem spirals, in which they practice the strategy of analyze, create, check, reflect, write, and share their answers with other students.

SCIENCE

The fourth grade Science curriculum covers Life Science, Earth Science, and Energy. Science is a hands-on experience, which allows the students to learn through experiments and projects and acts as a way to reinforce concepts the students are learning. Project examples include creating a model of an animal or plant cell, researching a space mission and recreating the spacecraft using only recyclable materials, and creating a pulley system using supplies and materials from the classroom. Classroom experiments are also integral to science education and include: walking water, seeing sound, moving heat, and oil bubbles. Students will also participate in a variety of hands-on STEM activities, which promote real-world problem solving skills.

SOCIAL STUDIES

In fourth grade Social Studies students cover the history and geography of the United States of America. Students learn about the following topics: early settlers, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and the geography and people of the different regions of our country. The children will learn where all 50 states are located on a map and be able to name the capital city of each state. Our year culminates with the “State Fair” project. Each student studies their assigned state and creates a trifold poster displaying the information that they researched. Students also choose a famous person born in their state and present a speech about them. They are encouraged to dress up like the person when the “State Fair” is presented.

Please refer to the Specials/Fine Arts page to learn more about our fourth grade curriculum in the areas of Art, Music, Physical Education,  and Technology.