Grade 4
Fourth grade students transition into upper elementary school with increasing expectations. The reading curriculum builds upon the trend begun in third grade of movement away from dependence on a basal reader to the use of selected, quality trade books at each student’s instructional level. Using the Literature Circle format, the students read Newberry Award or Honor books including realistic fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction and fantasy.
Writing workshop is an integral part of the language arts curriculum, and writing assignments often flow from the literature read. Grammar instruction reinforces the use of standard conventions in writing and encourages descriptive word choice and varied sentence structure.
Mathematics builds on the basic skills students have mastered to this point, offering instruction in topics such as place value and money, adding and subtracting whole numbers and money, multiplication and division concepts, time, data, and graphs, geometry and measurement, fraction concepts, decimal and metric measurement, graphing and probability.
In science, fourth graders study plant growth and identification, meteorology and weather conditions, the layers of the earth, earthquakes and volcanoes, matter and energy, electricity and magnetism, and simple machines. The curriculum relies heavily on hands-on activities and investigations supplemented by a textbook with additional readings.
The fourth grade history and geography core curriculum themes provide a rich sampling of topics including maps, mountains, Europe in the Middle Ages, Africa, China, the American Revolution and Maryland history. Field trips to St. Mary’s City and Annapolis provide visual and experiential depth to the study of Maryland history.
In fourth grade, students participate in six mini plays throughout the year that are built into our Bible curriculum. They write, memorize and perform a monologue of a famous person from the Middle Ages during the annual Medieval Festival in December. During their study of the American Revolution, they research, write and present a debate between the Loyalists and the Patriots.
September 4, 2008 Newsletter
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