Grade 4
In fourth grade, students continue to reinforce the lessons they learned from the previous grade levels while taking on more academic challenges. They are given more opportunities to work collaboratively with their peers and be challenged to build on their organizational and time management skills. Students are asked to be responsible decision makers who know the consequences of their actions, both positive and negative. In language arts, students continue the development of their writing skills using more complex sentence structures and read grade level appropriate chapter books. Using technology and library research, students organize information, display their findings, and present their results to the class. In math, students refine their arithmetic skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Furthermore, students work on fractions, geometry, and probability. Life science is the thrust of the science curriculum; topics include insects, plants, and sea animals. Students learn to understand the vital role all creatures play in their habitats and the necessity to care for them. For history, the students learn about the rich past of our state, from the natural resources to the Native Californians, to the Mission era, to the American era. To develop a firmer relationship with God, in Bible Study, students study Israel's first three kings with a focus on learning from their mistakes as well as what they did right.
Topics covered in grade 4 include:
Language Arts
Reading and Literature
Oral reading.
Reading comprehension.
Vocabulary building.
Sentence structure, kinds of sentences.
Punctuation, capitalization facts.
Abbreviations.
Possessive words.
Letters – friendly, thank you notes.
Gathering information, researching.
Writing with details.
Writing reports.
Writing book reports.
Creative writing.
Dictionary and thesaurus skills.
Penmanship
Spelling and Poetry
Weekly word lists based on phonics and spelling rules, challenging words, and vocabulary.
Reinforcement activities.
Language – Grammar
Recognizing and using all eight parts of speech.
Oral
Presentation
Mathematics
Number sense.
Simple equations.
Multi-digit addition and subtraction.
Multiplication and division.
Graphing.
Multiplying with multi-digit numbers.
Fractions, decimals, percentages.
Probability and measurement.
Geometry.
Organizing and interpreting data.
Science
Plants
Provision for man and beast.
Rainforest.
Redwoods.
Animals
Insects.
Birds.
Oceanography
Wonders of the sea.
Coral reefs.
Chinese
Topics
Telephone numbers
I speak Chinese
What time is it?
I get up at 7:00.
I eat chow mein for lunch.
I go to school by school bus.
I am hungry.
It's raining.
I am wearing the sweater.
My room
I am watching TV.
Our School
I like to learn Chinese
I am running in the park.
Objectives
Recognize and name basic word strokes and order of strokes.
Understand lesson contents and recognize the shape, sound, and meaning of vocabulary words.
Know Chinese culture.
Be able to listen, speak, read and write what they have been taught.
Be able to use words in a sentence and short paragraphs.
Be able to use Pinyin to spell Chinese characters.
Be able to use Pinyin to type Chinese characters on the computer.
History and Geography
California history and geography.
Bible
Memorization of Romans 12.
Study of the Kings (Saul, David, Solomon).
Birth and death of Christ.