Fourth Grade Curriculum

Subjects of Study:

Reading
Students will:

• Read fluently with expression
• Apply phonetic and decoding skills in sounding out words
• Learn and effective apply a variety of reading strategies for comprehension, including making a mental picture, categorizing information, clarifying by asking questions, remembering critical details, identifying author’s purpose, sequencing the main idea, retelling the story in the their own words, making inferences, making predictions, drawing conclusions, expressing points of view, determining the importance of a piece of literature, synthesizing
• Focus on the development and mastery of story elements such as characters, setting, plot, climax, resolution, cause and effect, compare and contrast, fact or opinion
• Study a variety of literary genre such as fairy tales, fables, novels, short stories, biographies, poems, and historical fiction
• Memorize selected passages such as famous speeches, scripture and definitions to vocabulary
• Participate in shared inquiry literature circles
• Use the Lucy Calkins Reading program to analyze and comprehend reading passages

Grammar and Creative Writing
Students will:

• Write a complete sentence with appropriate subject and predicate, grade level appropriate spelling, grammar and punctuation
• Identify eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections
• Write neatly in complete sentences and answer questions fully (restate question)
• Recognize and use various types of sentences
• Develop a well-written paragraph(s) with a topic sentence and details to support the main idea
• Understand the writing process: prewriting, revision, proofreading, and publishing
• Use a variety of methods to assist in the writing process such as key word outlines, word webs, and story maps
• Further develop and master types of writing including but not limited to personal narrative, descriptive and expository, comparison and contrast, cause and effect

Math
Students will:

• Master basic math skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
• Add, subtract, multiply and divide (up to six figures) with regrouping
• Add and subtract fractions with like denominators
• Master multiplication facts up to the “12s”
• Understand place value to the millions
• Solve 4-step mental math problems
• Study, practice, and solve equations based on specific grade level concepts, including 2-step word problems, finding averages, comparing fractions, multiplying fractions, finding area/perimeter/volume, working with decimals and currency, understanding and determining probability and ratios
• Work long division problems

Science
Students will:

• Further develop understanding of scientific process, inquiry and reasoning
• Practice the scientific method using hands-on activities and experiments
• Focus on Space, Earth’s land, rocks and minerals, and weather
• Study the human body systems such as digestive and respiratory
• Study cells and heredity
• Study animal classification
• Study concepts of physical science such as electricity, light and sound
• Study weather, oceanography, Earth structure, space travel, and chemistry
• Participate in Science Fair

Social Studies
Students will:

• Focus on State of California history and geography
• Use archaeological evidence to learn the origins and cultural practices of the early people who settled in California
• Study the life of Native Americans (who lived in the state) and Hawaiians today and their lives a century ago
• Explore the reasons for settlement and the ways in which early explorers and settlers adapted to, used, and changed the natural environment of California
• Analyze the geographic, economic, and religious reasons that brought the first explorers and settlers to California, who they were and why they settled
• Review famous explorers to the state of California; cultural and ethnic groups who settled in California
• Identify the contributions of early settlers to the state along with human and physical factors that determined location of academic activities
• Review when California was admitted to the Union including important dates, events, and people
• Discuss specific historic conditions in relation to the rest of the country as the state was developing
• Review the contemporary history of California including important dates, events, significant people and places
• Identify state symbols, bird, song, tree and flower
• Discuss the California state economy, natural resources, trade, employment, and economic development
• Identify types of industry, major products, trade, and state government
• Discuss state geography including physical features such as landforms, vegetation, climate and the origin of the names of place, rivers, cities, and counties
• Review human features such as important buildings statues, and monuments in the state’s history
• Further develop understanding of maps and globes including continents, landforms, mountains, valleys, bodies of water, political boundaries, cities, and terms such as legend, scale, compass, cardinal and intermediate directions, hemispheres, meridians, parallels, longitude and latitude, geographical features and patterns, spatial organization of people, places, and environment
• Identify and use physical, political and thematic maps
• Identify criteria that gives regions of North America identity, such as human actions that modify the physical environment and their consequences, physical environment and its effects on human life and activities, human systems in response to conditions in the physical environment, renewable and non-renewable resources

Religion
Students will:

• Read stories of the Old Testament leading up to the life of Christ
• Study the works and teachings of Christ in His ministry here on Earth as well as the message learned from each Bible reading
• Understand and explain the meaning of the seven Sacraments
• Recognize Church celebrations and seasons according to the Liturgical Calendar
• Recognize one’s Christian mission to love and serve others
• Recognize the power between the body and friendship through Theology of the Body curriculum
• Understand the link between the body and Heaven through Theology of the Body curriculum
• Read the prayers of the faithful at weekly Mass
• Use Sacred Story as a reflective practice to learn how to pray

Fourth grade students also attend classes in Art, Music, Spanish and Physical Education.

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