Home › learning › elementary-school › Grade 4

Grade 4

Fourth grade is a time when students become more independent and take more responsibility for their learning. In grade four, students gain an understanding and appreciation for creative and expository writing, poetry and drama, and learn to communicate effectively through written and spoken language. The celebration of literature is the organizing principle for the language arts program as children become further acquainted with literary quality and a variety of genres. Students read across many genres and begin to join book clubs and literature circles, engaging in oral conversations that enable them to go deeper in their thinking. They engage in a workshop that supports narrative and nonfiction texts. Using the writing process, fourth graders integrate into the content areas, as well as improve their skills in fiction and personal narrative writing. An integrated-individualized spelling program is used to meet the needs of students as they learn to use more sophisticated vocabulary in writing. Computational fluency is a primary goal in grade four, and number sense continues to be developed and strengthened. In social studies, the students learn about different aspects of early American culture as related to the growth of the nation. Children use the process of inquiry to explore various facets of science and the effect of humans on the environment. Through a myriad of experiences, fourth graders grow and develop their academic strengths, as well as their social and personal skills.