4th Grade Curriculum
Students rotate between classrooms for subjects like language arts, science, and social studies, engaging in hands-on activities, virtual field trips, and focused studies in U.S. history and literature.
4th Grade Curriculum Highlights
- Students will switch classroom for many of their classes throughout the day. They will travel as a group to the other fourth and fifth grade teachers for language arts, science, social studies and math.
- In social studies, students focus primarily on U. S. history and geography. For example, students complete a region tour to learn about the geography and important history of the 50 United States. Virtual field trips and tours across the country are used to enhance the learning experience. Students actively participate in hands-on activities to better understand specific events in history. A favorite is always wrapping Hershey Kisses in Hershey, PA as part of an assembly line. Historical concepts acquired in fourth grade will continue into their 5th grade social studies class, where students begin their first year of US history- the year 700 to the beginnings of the Civil War.
- In reading the students study a wide variety of fictional and informational texts. Students identify and analyze story themes, character development, plot sequence, and setting. Several novels are read in class throughout the year to develop reading comprehensive skill, including summarizing, inferencing, drawing conclusions, conflict resolution, as well as self, text, and real-world connections. Students are given weekly opportunities to read and reflect on current news articles on topics related to social studies and science. The current election, environmental concerns, space travel, advances in technology, globalization, and real world problems are some of the many topics that are covered in these informational texts.
4th Grade Curriculum
Religion
Our Goals:
- Develop a personal and ongoing relationship with God
- Build reverence for and knowledge of Holy Scripture
- Emphasize Catholic practices, images, and models of faith
- Incorporate five forms of prayer into personal devotion
- Encourage family devotion
- Stress Christian values
Reading
- Genres include Fiction, Literature, and Nonfiction
- 7-8 New Vocabulary Words weekly
- Listening comprehension skills: Read aloud & model oral fluency
- Focus skills: Plot, conflict resolution
- Thinking comprehension skills: Summarizing, questioning, author’s purpose
- Novel studies, Scholastic News, and Book Reports
Spelling
Weekly lesson words and spelling menu activities
Science
Students continue their studies of Physical, Life & Earth Science following the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). We focus on a STEM approach education that is a hands-on & problem-based learning approach. Our program focuses on:
- Asking Questions
- Developing and Using Models
- Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
- Analyzing and Interpreting Data
- Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
- Constructing Explanations
- Engaging in Argument from Evidence
- Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
- Emphasis to Engineering Design & Practices and to Scientific Inquiry.
Physical Science: Light, Sound, Force & Motion
Life Science: Plant/Animal Structures & Ecosystems
Earth Science: Soil, Weathering, Erosion, Deposition, Fossils
Math
- Numbers and Operations in Base 10: Estimating, place value, operations
- Fractions: Visuals, comparisons, adding/subtracting, decimals
- Geometry: Polygons, perimeter, area
- Measurement: Graphing, sizes, unit conversion, elapsed time
- Operations & Algebraic Thinking: Variables, patterns, analyzing relationships
Social Studies
- Learn about the five U.S. regions with embedded history
- Chapter lessons, region tours, study guides, projects, and scrapbook pages
Language and Arts
- Grammar and Mechanics: Types of sentences, nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions
- Writing: Personal narrative, comparative, persuasive, explanatory, expository
- Skills: Note-taking, summarizing, outlining, vocabulary, test strategies, using reference materials
- Composition Skills: Main ideas, writing leads and endings, organization, dialogue, revision, and editing