Subject Overview

We use the Arts & Letters curriculum in 4th grade Language/Literature classes. Arts & Letters incorporates a variety of texts, fine art, and multimedia materials into four modules; each module focuses on a topic essential to building knowledge, vocabulary, and writing skills. Fourth grade students read and discuss whole books, including Love That Dog, The Circulatory Story, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and The Scarlet Stockings Spy. Students incorporate weekly lessons on spelling patterns and grammatical rules into writing informative paragraphs, personal narratives, sensory descriptions, and poetry. In 2025-26, we are piloting the Megawords spelling curriculum. Cursive handwriting instruction continues with Zaner-Bloser Handwriting. In the spring, 4th and 5th grade students write, memorize, and perform original poems in the annual Poetry Slam. 

Fourth grade Science begins with a life science unit on heredity and genetics, including inherited vs. acquired traits, DNA, and adaptations. We then move on to predator/prey relationships and symbiotic relationships. We study the variety of Earth's biomes as part of Earth science, and continue with the Earth's layers, rocks, weathering, and erosion. We explore physical science through hands-on experiments with magnets and electrical circuits. The 4th grade Science curriculum wraps up with an astronomy unit on humans in space, and stars and constellations. Throughout the year, students go outside to maintain the Mater Christi garden and to make sketches and notes in their nature journals.