Grade 4
In Grade 4, students continue to flourish as independent thinkers and learners. The curriculum is structured to help students broaden their abstract-thinking skills. Literacy, social studies, math, science and art are often integrated to help students deepen their understanding of concepts and expand their learning processes. Group work allows students to enhance their critical- and creative-thinking skills, and collaboration further strengthens their ability to respect and build upon different learning styles and opinions. One of the first Grade 4 field trips is an extended day trip to a local coastline. Teachers of all disciplines chaperone the students as they set up camp on the beach; engage in physical-education activities; and participate in science projects, including monitoring ocean salinity. This trip fosters team-building skills and group work, which translate back to the classroom. K–4 teachers help establish their classroom community within the first six weeks of school and throughout the year. As part of the Responsive Classroom practice, students help create their classroom rules, engage in morning meetings and use collaborative problem-solving strategies. Students are encouraged to care for themselves, one another and their school community. As the oldest students in our building, Grade 4 students assume additional responsibility, including helping to run the weekly assembly. By the end of the year, each student has at least one opportunity to lead a community assembly.
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Students solve weekly challenges using LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robotics kits and software. Challenges involve programming their robotic cars using motors and ultrasonic, touch and color sensors. They also learn about debugging—how to identify and resolve programming problems—and also use partnership skills when working on shared projects. Students also design and build their own robotic projects and create programs and applications for real-world scenarios.
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Students explore the relationship between them- selves, their art, community and culture. While building upon their personal art-making and depiction skills, students begin to consider the many ways art functions in different cultures and disciplines, whether it be fashion, activism or performance. Examples include creating art and selling it to raise funds for disaster relief; investigating functional and fantastical designs and collaborating to create the scenery for the Grade 4 dance performance.
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Students learn the dance technique of Lester Horton and use that vocabulary as an entry point for their own choreography. They also continue to build movement skills in modern dance technique. In preparation for the end-of-year concert, students learn teacher-generated choreography in addition to developing their own phrases.
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In Grade 4 humanities, students reinforce their independence as readers while they explore a variety of genres, including realistic fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction and poetry. They participate in literature discussion groups, and explore the craft of writing through responses to literature, creative writing and the composition of expository text. Fourth-graders engage in an integrated research project about women in history and learn to write research papers and bibliographies. Revising and editing strategies are taught to help students write clearly and expressively. Vocabulary, spelling and study skills are integral parts of the humanities curriculum.
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Students learn to solve multistep problems and explain their reasoning orally, in writing and through col- laborative classroom projects. Students work on factors and multiples and master multiplication, division strategies and fractions. Students also study historical time as a way to see the connection between math and history, time and measurement. They also work to create proofs that explain their logic and strategy.
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Students learn fundamental sport skills as they combine mature motor patterns with perceptual skills (throwing to a teammate, dribbling a ball, receiving a pass or striking a pitched ball). They discover ways of working with one another within a team setting as they acquire the basics of team strategies and competition.
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Students conduct science fieldwork at the Orchard Beach salt marsh. Using water quality data and survey of species, they identify patterns and relationships and draw inferences about the health of the salt marsh. In the lab, students continue their exploration by studying a live marine organism. In collaboration with the STEAM program, students also solve challenges using LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robotics kits and software.
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Students focus on two main units: identity and women change-makers. They deepen their understanding of identity through family stories and explore how gender, race and culture are parts of one ’s identity. They consider how sharing our ideas, beliefs and perspectives allows us to express who we are in the world. As a part of their study of history and geography, focusing particularly on the role of pioneering women, students learn what history teaches us about change and ways they can change the world through activism.
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In their written practice, our young linguists learn how to write questions and answers in full sentences. Pronunciation is emphasized through group/paired readings and through interactive games. Students learn about how to describe families, pastimes, occupations and the physical appearance of a person. They also learn about identity and self-descriptions based on Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits.
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In chorus, singing in harmony requires the students to hone concepts such as musical memory and melodic and rhythmic accuracy. The students continue to work in three distinct instrumental ensembles—recorder, ukulele and Orff instruments—developing strong foundational techniques on each instrument while increasing their overall music reading fluency.
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Taught by Lower School Learning Specialists, our Readers and Writers Workshop classes focus on helping students develop skills in the areas of decoding, spelling, reading comprehension and vocabulary in order to help them develop into efficacious and independent learners.
