Common Core Standards: https://iowacore.gov/iowa-core/grade/4
Reading: The Wonders series will be implemented to enhance reading skills at the 4th grade level. A variety of reading strategies, included but not limited to summarizing, making connections, making inferences, monitoring for comprehension, visualizing, and determining importance will be used in context across fictional and non-fictional texts. Other strategies include comparing/contrasting multiple texts, finding the main idea, and identifying the author’s purpose and theme of a given story.
Language Arts: Students are required to create complete sentences and recognize and fix fragments. Spelling, capitalization, and appropriate use of punctuations are mastered by the end of the year. Students are introduced to prepositional phrases, common idioms and similes, relative pronouns, and auxiliary verbs. Common root words, suffixes, and prefixes are identified from the Greek and Latin languages to help build vocabulary and understanding of words in context clues.
Math: The Engage NY series will guide our students in computing math problems related to place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, measurement, and geometry. 4th graders will be taking fractions to another level by multiplying and dividing them properly. Students will be required to explain their answers to problems in multiple ways, as well as create tape diagrams to solve number equations and word problems.
Science: 4th grade students have a heavy emphasis on physical science and earth science. Electricity and motion are used in hands-on experiments to describe how energy transfers on multiple levels. They must also create models that demonstrate the properties of waves and light. Students also study rock formations and collect/measure data to determine how the Earth is constantly changing in situations such as weathering. 4th graders must also create an argument on how plants and animals have structures to support themselves in their survival.
Religion: Students will be focusing on the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes and relating these holy lessons to other factions of the Catholic faith and everyday life. 4th graders will also be studying the seven Sacraments, the Holy Trinity, the Eucharist, and reflecting on how their own vocations can bring God’s message to the world.
Social Studies: 4th grade will be answering compelling questions on topics based on how our world is constantly changing. Topics of study include evaluating civic virtues and laws, explaining economic concepts such as scarcity and competition, and comparing/contrasting conflicting perspectives in geography and history. These studies will be based on the geography, culture, and history of different regions of the United States.