Fourth Grade Curriculum

Shaping self-motivated, voracious readers is the goal of our fourth grade reading curriculum. Upon entering the classroom, you’ll either hear the excited chatter of students discussing the latest book series or the beautiful silence that can only be a room filled with engaged readers. Periods of independent reading build a student’s reading stamina, allow students to practice self-monitoring, and provide time for teacher-student conferencing, supporting goal-setting, book choice, vocabulary and spelling instruction, and oral reading fluency development.

In addition to student-chosen independent novels, our fourth grade curriculum incorporates highly engaging whole-class novels that beg to be interpreted and analyzed by our inquisitive readers. From the highly sought-after new releases to the unforgettable classics, these shared stories allow our students to collaborate with their reading community, analyzing the complexity of characters, exploring the literary theme, asking questions, evaluating the author’s purpose, breaking down challenging vocabulary, and mapping plot structures. By the end of fourth grade, our students are bound to find an author or series that excites them, instilling in them an everlasting love of reading. 

Fourth graders expand place value understanding to 1,000,000 and develop fluency in multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They deepen fraction knowledge by comparing, adding, and subtracting fractions with like denominators and begin working with decimals. Measurement skills include converting metric and customary units and understanding angles and geometric properties. Students explore coordinate planes and analyze numbers. 

From compelling stories to research reports with multimedia components, fourth grade opens up a whole new writing world. The exploration of stories, drama, poetry, literary nonfiction, as well as historical, scientific, and technical texts, offers students a wide range of materials to build their writing prowess. Students write for a variety of authentic audiences and experience many writing opportunities that span across the subject areas; perhaps a joint venture of writing unique myths while learning about Greek Mythology in reading class. Fun, relevant, and meaningful writing topics and grammar lessons provide students with the strong foundational skills necessary to become effective and solid communicators.

The fourth grade STEM program allows students to practice and gain expertise in the essential skills of collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication. Through the use of these skills, students participate in an inquiry-based, student-centered environment to discover concepts through the Next Generation Science Standards, with a focus on the phenomenon of experiments and creating connections to the world around them. Through interactions with technology and engineering, students are immersed in the STEM experience and engineering design process while developing a deep understanding of scientific content.

The study of people, time, and places is infused throughout our curriculum, as are the core values that promote civic competence. Learners study early Native Americans, explorers, early colonization, and Florida history. Through class discussions and meaningful, hands-on projects, learners use collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication to demonstrate their understanding of events, people, and places.

The MITT (Meaningful, Innovative, and Transformative Transliteracy) curriculum is comprised of interwoven strands that explore transliteracy. Using a design thinking framework, students learn to access, use, produce, and share information. They develop as curious and independent learners who are aware of their rights and responsibilities as a digital citizen. In Fourth Grade, using the LAUNCH design thinking framework, students think critically, collaborate, and communicate while discovering how they influence a larger community of learners.

Fourth grade art class will learn to use the elements of art and principles of design in their artwork. They will use this knowledge to create artwork such as portraits, abstract designs, and landscapes. Students will use their iPads to create digital art as well as to manipulate their original art digitally. During each unit, time is also spent reflecting on our own and others’ art through discussions, gallery walks and talks, sketchbook writing and drawing prompts, as well as student artist statements. Students will learn new drawing techniques through guided drawing, but will be encouraged to incorporate their own ideas into their artwork.

In fourth grade Spanish, students learn about South American countries, people, music, and culture. They also acquire a more refined proficiency in listening and speaking. In addition, students learn practical vocabulary and basic phrases. Listening skills are particularly important as they develop an ear for pronunciation and explore their own linguistic awareness. Many of the concepts learned at the pre-kindergarten - grade 3 level are revisited with complexity, deeper understanding, and mastery. During fourth grade Spanish, the students will also begin to understand the grammatical implications of the language as well as its practical uses. Concepts include greetings, noun/adjective agreement, food/restaurant lingo, pronouns, classroom objects, school subjects, action words, weather, telling the time to the 1/4 hour, the date, gender of nouns, extended family and their relationship to us, definite and indefinite articles, numbers to 1,000, introduction to verb conjugation concepts, and sharing conversations.

Students are introduced to competitive sports such as volleyball, soccer, basketball, kickball, batball, football, floor hockey, lacrosse, and team handball. Small group games are played to maximize participation, and a variety of large group field games such as speedball, trackball, capture the flag, and ultimate ball develop teamwork. Good sportsmanship and fair play are emphasized at all times. The students also participate in collaborative games designed to fine-tune cooperation, critical thinking, and leadership skills.

In fourth grade, students will learn the fundamental principles of sound production on their chosen band instrument, which could be flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone, or percussion.  These principles include embouchure, air production, posture, hand placement, and fingering positions.  Along with these principles, students will learn note names, notation counting, and pitch production. All of these skills will then be put into playing different styles of instrumental music and performing as an ensemble.

Orchestra students explore and learn the basics of stringed instruments. They choose violin, viola, cello, or string bass and learn basic techniques of posture, sound production, timbre, note-reading, and making music with an ensemble. Students who have played before serve as mentors to the new students.

Music fosters the creativity skills needed to solve problems and help students see other subjects in a new light. It allows students to explore their creativity, teamwork, self-worth, problem­ solving skills, and cultural awareness. Chorus students will learn to use their vocal instruments to create a correct and pleasing singing sound.  In addition to learning proper vocal production and technique, students will also learn music reading skills, sight-singing skills, and performance skills.  Chorus also offers opportunities for students to develop team building and leadership skills. This is a performance-based class.  

Our immersive broadcasting class offers students a unique opportunity to dive deep into the world of media and communication. In this hands-on program, learners will explore various aspects of broadcasting, from scriptwriting and audio production to video editing and on-air presentation. Students will engage in real-world projects that allow them to create their own news segments, podcasts, and live broadcasts, fostering collaboration and creativity. With access to professional-grade equipment and industry-standard software, participants will gain valuable skills that prepare them for future careers in journalism, media production, and beyond. Our immersive broadcasting class not only enhances technical abilities but also encourages critical thinking and storytelling skills, making it an ideal choice for aspiring broadcasters and media enthusiasts alike.