Fourth Grade

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

- Dr. Seuss

Below are suggested summer activities in the areas of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics that will help keep your skills sharp. This is not mandatory summer work, but your teachers and schools know that doing a little bit each day is very helpful in making you the best 5th-grader you can be at the start of next year! In addition to all of these activities, please make sure to check with the Technology Extension and Enrichment Activities webpage for additional resources. Please note that your child should be working in the grade they just completed.

When in doubt, here is a quick list of the most important activities.

Play! Have fun outside!
Set a routine to read every day. Find new and interesting books that are "just right" for you. Read for a good chunk of time!
Start a summer writing journal with various types of writing.
Keep your math skills fresh by practicing math facts.

See below for more detailed resources in each area...

Reading

Read daily for at least 30 minutes. Students can also respond to what they've read (list of possible response topics)
See the Millburn Library website for their summer offerings.
Here is the link to the Millburn Public Library’s Summer Reading Challenge
For access to ebooks during the summer:
- See the Millburn Library page and click on "eBooks & Audiobooks" under Digital Resources.
- Epic!- Free 30-day trial for parents that allows access to over 40,000 premium books.
- Epic Free- If students have access to EPIC already, students will have 2 hours of free reading a week in a limited library from 7:00 am until 3:00 pm Monday through Friday.
Practice Language Arts skills on Starfall.com, ABCYA, or IXL.com (limited free access).
Consider creating a book club to do with a small group of interested readers.

Writing

Keep a summer journal. Each day record what you’ve done that day. A list of ideas is linked.
Students at this level may choose to keep this journal digitally using Google Docs. Students have had some instruction in typing and should be able to type somewhat efficiently, though they may not yet be using formal hand position.
Students should rely on their word knowledge as well as digital tools to correct their spelling. Sentence structure including capitals, end punctuation and more complex sentences are expected.
Students should be able to write at greater length, but given that this is a summer journal, it may just be in the format of a couple of well connected paragraphs or one longer paragraph.

Math

Math Games and Activities

Below are a few resources your family can use to explore math together at home. These activities are developmentally appropriate and encourage mathematical reasoning, problem-solving, and curiosity.

SplashLearn, Starfall, and IXL: Engaging math games that build fluency and problem-solving (free and limited access versions).
Easy Math Games to Build Number Sense: Primary to Intermediate games the whole family can play!
Math Games with a Deck of Cards: Primary to Intermediate games the whole family can play!
Math Games with a Pair of Dice: Primary to Intermediate games the whole family can play!
K5 Learning Grade 4 Extra Practice: Free printables that provide additional practice with multiplication and division, fractions and decimals, measurement, geometry, factors and multiples, data analysis, and word problems for students who enjoy extra practice at home.

Simple Family Math Ideas

Have your child calculate discounts, sales tax, or final prices while shopping.
Compare unit prices at the grocery store to determine which product is the better value.
Use recipes to practice converting measurements (for example, changing cups to half-cups or doubling a recipe).
Ask your child to estimate and then calculate the total distance, time, or cost of a family trip.
Have your child track a collection of data (daily temperature, rainfall, reading minutes, steps walked, etc.) and create graphs to analyze trends.
Use sports statistics, weather reports, or other real-world data to compare numbers and make predictions.
Challenge your child to find common factors and multiples of numbers they encounter in everyday situations.
Practice working with money by creating a budget for a family activity, meal, or shopping trip.
Measure and compare the area and perimeter of different spaces around your home or yard.

Fourth grade math helps students develop fluency with multi-digit multiplication and division, deepen their understanding of fractions and decimals, analyze data, explore geometry and measurement, and solve increasingly complex multi-step problems. More importantly, it is about helping students think critically, make sense of mathematical relationships, justify their reasoning, and apply what they know to real-world situations with confidence and independence.

Page updated

Report abuse