4th Grade
Fourth grade is an exciting year, full of unique experiences meant to take students’ learning from inside the classroom to real life experiences outside of the classroom.
The 4th grade core courses include; English Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, and Science. In English/Language Arts we currently use the Reading Street curriculum by Savvas. Our math curriculum is McGraw Hill, My Math and our science curriculum is Interactive Science by Pearson. Our core curriculum is implemented along with an enriched and unique Arabic and Islamic Studies program guided by experienced instructors.
Students are constantly challenged in our math units to develop higher level and critical thinking skills while also learning how to apply these lessons to our everyday lives. Throughout the year the students learn place value, multiplication, division, fractions, customary and metric measurements, perimeter and area, as well as geometry.
In Reading/Language Arts students express their creativity by writing across multiple genres including realistic fiction, mysteries, poetry, formal and friendly letters, invitations, argumentative and persuasive essays. Students also sharpen their reading and comprehension skills by participating in reading challenges and taking advantage of our classroom and online library resources.
Social studies and science come to life with interesting experiments, special activities, and research projects through both group and individual work. These projects also help improve students’ writing and grammar as well as public speaking skills.
Objectives/ Alabama State Standards
English/Language Arts
Foundational Skills
- Use knowledge of letter-sound relationships, syllables, prefixes, suffixes, and root words to read unfamiliar words
- Read grade level text with purpose, understanding, accuracy, expression, and appropriate rate
Reading Standards for Informational Text and Literature
- Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says; including the theme, characters, setting, and events in the story or drama.
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text.
- Explain major differences among poems, drama, and prose; understanding their unique structural elements and explain events, ideas, procedures, and structure in an informational text.
- Compare and contrast the point of view from stories; first-person and third-person.
- Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation
- Compare and contrast the themes and topics in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.
- Read and comprehend a variety of grade level appropriate literature independently and proficiently.
- Determine the main idea and supporting details of a text and be able to summarize the text.
- Read a text and determine what happened and why it happened based on the information given.
- Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic. Interpret information presented visually or orally and explain how the information contributes to the understanding of the text.
- Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.
- Combine information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject.
Writing Standards
- Write an opinion piece on a topic or text stating your point of view using text-based evidence.
- Write an informative/explanatory text to examine a topic; convey ideas and information clearly.
- Write a real or imagined narrative using effective techniques and sequences.
- Produce writing that is appropriate for grade level tasks, purposes, and audiences.
- Use guidance from peers and adults to plan, revise, and edit writing.
- Use digital tools to produce and publish writing, collaborate with others, and expand keyboarding skills.
- Conduct short research projects to build knowledge about a topic, recall relevant information, take notes, and provide a list of sources.
- Use evidence from literature and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
- Write routinely over different time frames and tasks.
Speaking and Listening Standards
- Prepare for and participate in class discussions and ask questions to clarify any confusion.
- Paraphrase portions of a text and identify the reasons and evidence a speaker provides.
- Speak clearly, audibly, and with appropriate volume.
Language Standards
- Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
- Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
- Determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases by flexibly using a variety of strategies.
- Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings
Maths
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
- Compare the factors in a multiplication equation as groups of each other to form the product.
- Multiply or divide to solve word problems.
- Solve multi-step word problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
- Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental math strategies.
- Find all factor pairs, multiples, and whether a number is prime or composite for a whole number from 1-100.
- Make a pattern using a rule.
Numbers and Operations in Base Ten
- Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers.
- Read and write multi-digit whole numbers using standard, word, and expanded form.
- Compare multi-digit numbers using less than ( <),greater than (>) ,or equal to ( =).
- Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic.
- Illustrate and explain calculations using arrays or area models.
- Round whole numbers to any place.
Numbers and Operations – Fractions
- Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering by using models & comparisons.
- Build fractions from unit fractions by applying and extending previous understandings of operations on whole numbers.
- Understand decimal notation for fractions and compare decimal fractions. Measurement and Data
- Solve problems using standard and metric conversions from a larger unit to a small unit.
- Use area and perimeter formulas.
- Represent and interpret data using line plots.
- Geometric measurement understanding concepts and measures of angles.
Geometry
- Draw and identify lines and angles, classifying shapes by their lines and angles.
Science
Energy
- Use evidence to explain the relationship of the speed of an object to the energy of that object.
- Plan and carry out investigations that explain transference of energy from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
- Investigate to determine changes in energy resulting from increases or decreases in speed that occur when objects collide.
- Design, construct, and test a device that changes energy from one form to another
- Compile information to describe how the use of energy derived from natural renewable and nonrenewable resources affects the environment
Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
- Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength, and including that waves can cause objects to move.
- Develop and use models to show multiple solutions in which patterns are used to transfer information
- Construct a model to explain that an object can be seen when light reflected from its surface enters the eyes.
From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- Examine evidence to support an argument that the internal and external structures of plants and animals function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
- Obtain and communicate information explaining that humans have systems that interact with one another for digestion, respiration, circulation, excretion, movement, control, coordination, and protection from disease.
- Investigate different ways animals receive information through the senses, process that information, and respond to it in different ways
Earth’s Systems
- Construct explanations by citing evidence found in patterns of rock formations and fossils in rock layers that Earth changes over time through both slow and rapid processes
- Plan and carry out investigations to examine properties of soils and soil types
- Explore information to support the claim that landforms are the result of a combination of constructive forces, including crustal deformation, volcanic eruptions, and sediment deposition as well as a result of destructive forces, including erosion and weathering. Analyze and interpret data to determine effects of weathering and rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, and vegetation using one single form of weathering or erosion at a time.
- Describe patterns of Earth’s features on land and in the ocean using data from maps
- Formulate and evaluate solutions to limit the effects of natural Earth processes on humans
Social Studies
- Compare historical and current economic, political, and geographic information about Alabama on thematic maps, including weather and climate, physical-relief, waterway, transportation, political, economic development, land-use, and population maps.
- Relate reasons for European exploration and settlement in Alabama to the impact of European explorers on trade, health, and land expansion in Alabama.
- Explain the social, political, and economic impact of the War of 1812, including battles and significant leaders of the Creek War, on Alabama.
- Relate the relationship of the five geographic regions of Alabama to the movement of Alabama settlers during the early nineteenth century
- Describe Alabama’s entry into statehood and establishment of its three branches of government and the constitutions.
- Describe cultural, economic, and political aspects of the lifestyles of early nineteenth-century farmers, plantation owners, slaves, and townspeople.
- Explain reasons for Alabama’s secession from the Union, including sectionalism, slavery, states’ rights, and economic disagreements.
- Explain Alabama’s economic and military role during the Civil War.
- Analyze political and economic issues facing Alabama during Reconstruction for their impact on various social groups.
- Analyze social and educational changes during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for their impact on Alabama.
- Describe the impact of World War I on Alabamians, including the migration of African Americans from Alabama to the North and West, utilization of Alabama’s military installations and training facilities, and increased production of goods for the war effort.
- Explain the impact the 1920s and Great Depression had on different socioeconomic groups in Alabama.
- Describe the economic and social impact of World War II on Alabamians, including entry of women into the workforce, increase in job opportunities, rationing, utilization of Alabama’s military installations, military recruitment, the draft, and a rise in racial consciousness.
- Analyze the modern Civil Rights Movement to determine the social, political, and economic impact on Alabama.
- Identify major world events that influenced Alabama since 1950, including the Korean Conflict, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and the War on Terrorism.
- Determine the impact of population growth on cities, major road systems, demographics, natural resources, and the natural environment of Alabama during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.