Fourth grade is an exciting year! BSS fourth graders, as the oldest in the elementary school, are leaders and role models in our school community and take part in a variety of service projects and opportunities to give back to the younger students, teachers, and community. We spend the year preparing for the jump to middle school in fifth grade.
Students deliver placemats for Meals on Wheels recipients to be included with their deliveries. We create these at least 2-3 times per school year!
Our curriculum meets or exceeds the expectations of the Diocese of Raleigh Standards and the NC Standard Course of Study for fourth grade.
Math: We utilize Zearn for our lessons, classwork, and unit assessments. We work mainly on utilizing what we have learned in previous years, diving deeper into multiplication, division, and fractions, and synthesizing our knowledge in order to solve a variety of multi-step problems. See a review of Zearn here!
Literacy: We read and analyze a diverse group of grade-level texts, including novels, short stories, nonfiction texts and articles, and poetry throughout the year. Our focus this year is to shift from "learning to read," as we did in previous years, to "reading to learn," as we begin to deeply analyze themes, characters, and author's purpose while reading. We also work on honing our craft of writing, completing a wide array of writing assignments throughout the year.
Students are able to show their learning in many ways, with a variety of fun activities and cross-curricular projects throughout the year!
Students build an egg drop device in preparation for our annual May the 4th Be With You event!
Science: We continue with our LabLearner curriculum, which provides students with a strong foundation in a wide variety of science topics, as well as ample time in our Elementary Science Lab, where they are able to use scientific tools on a regular basis. In addition to our comprehensive science curriculum, students participate in a variety of STREAM projects throughout the year, where they use what they've learned in the Lab to engineer and create new ideas.
Social Studies: We utilize the Studies Weekly curriculum, which correlates with the NC Standard Course of Study. Fourth graders will focus on the history of our great state of North Carolina, beginning with the native people of our state, through the colonial era and industrial revolution, to our modern times.