Grade 4
Our George Hersey Robertson School Curriculum Guides provide an overview of our comprehensive academic program for our students in Grades 3,4, and 5. Our curriculum is standards based, aligning with the Connecticut Core Standards which indicate what a student should know and be able to do at each grade level, and state and national standards in the content area. Taken together, the standards, our high quality curriculum, and outstanding instruction will prepare every student for life, learning, and work in the 21st century and allow us to develop empowered learners who have the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind to thrive as members of a complex society.
- Language Arts
- Mathematics
- Science
- Social Studies
- Computer Science Program
- Art Program
- Music Program
- Physical Education Program
- Health Program
- Library Media Center Program
- Social Emotional Learning
Language Arts
Fourth graders will engage in a variety of learning opportunities to promote their foundational skills as well as their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. In Grade 4 students read widely from a broad range of high-quality increasingly challenging literary and informational texts including texts in social studies, science, and other disciplines. Teachers use a variety of research based instructional strategies to promote student practice and mastery of skills embedded in the curriculum.
Reading
Phonics & Word Recognition Skills:
- Know and apply grade level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words:
- Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology (e.g. roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context.
Fluency:
- Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension:
- Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
- Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
- Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
Key Ideas & Details:
- Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
- Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
- Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g. a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
- Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
- Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.
- Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
Craft & Structure:
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g. Herculean).
- Explain major differences between poems, drama, and proses, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g. verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g. casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.
- Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.
- Describe the overall structure (e.g. chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text.
- Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.
Integration Of Knowledge & Ideas:
- Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
- Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g. opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g. the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.
- Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g. in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.
- Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.
- Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeable.
Range Of Reading & Level Of Text Complexity:
- By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
- By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Language
Conventions Of Standard English:
- Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking:
- Use relative pronouns (who, whose, whom, which, that) and relative adverbs (where, when, why).
- Use modal auxiliaries (e.g. can, may, must) to convey various conditions.
- Order adjectives within sentences according to conventional patterns (e.g. small red bag rather than a red small bag).
- Form and use prepositional phrases.
- Produce complete sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate fragments and run-ons.
- Correctly use frequently confused words (e.g. to, too, two; there, their).
- Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing:
- Use correct capitalization.
- Use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text.
- Use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text.
- Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence.
- Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed.
Knowledge Of Language:
- Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening:
- Choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely.
- Choose punctuation for effect.
- Differentiate between contexts that call for formal English (e.g. presenting ideas) and situations where informal discourse is appropriate (e.g. small-group discussion).
Vocabulary Acquisition & Use:
- Determine and clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on Grade 4 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies:
- Use context (e.g. definitions, examples, or restatements in text) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
- Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g. telegraph, photograph, autograph).
- Consult reference materials (e.g. dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both in print and digital, to find the punctuation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of keywords and phrases.
- Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings:
- Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g. as pretty as a picture) in context.
- Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.
- Demonstrate understanding of words by relating them to their opposites (antonyms) and to words with similar but not identical meanings (synonyms).
- Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (E.g. quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).
Writing
Text Types and Purposes:
- Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information:
- Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.
- Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.
- Link opinion and reasons using words and phrases (e.g. for instance, in order to, in addition).
- Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.
- Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly:
- Introduce a topic and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g. headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
- Develop the topic with facts, definitions,concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
- Link ideas within categories of information using words and phrases (e.g. another, for example, also, because).
- Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain a topic.
- Provide a concluding statement of section related to the information or explanation presented.
- Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences:
- Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
- Use dialogue and descriptions to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
- Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events.
- Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.
- Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.
Production and Distribution of Writing:
- Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
- With guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge:
- Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
- Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital resources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.
- Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research:
- Apply grade 4 Reading standards to literature (e.g. “Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text [e.g. a character’s thoughts, words, or actions]”).
- Appy grade 4 Reading standards to informational texts (e.g. “Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text”).
Range of Writing:
- Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration:
- Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly:
- Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
- Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.
- Pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow up on information, and make comments that contribute to the discussion and link to the remarks of others.
- Review the key ideas expressed and explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.
- Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
- Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker provides to support particular points.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas:
- Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
- Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.
- Differentiate between contexts that call for formal English (e.g presenting ideas) and situations where informal discourse is appropriate (e.g. small-group discussion); use formal English when appropriate to task and situation.
Mathematics
In Grade 4, instructional time should focus on three critical areas: (1) developing understanding and fluency with multi-digit multiplication, and developing understanding of dividing to find quotients involving multi-digit dividends; (2) developing an understanding of fraction equivalence, addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators, and multiplication of fractions by whole numbers; (3) understanding that geometric figures can be analyzed and classified based on their properties, such as having parallel sides, perpendicular sides, particular angle measures, and symmetry.
STANDARDS FOR MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE
The Standards for Mathematical Practice describe ways in which developing student practitioners of the discipline of mathematics increasingly ought to engage with the subject matter as they grow in mathematical maturity and expertise. Teachers attend to the need to connect the eight mathematical practices to mathematical content in mathematics instruction.
- Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
- Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
- Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
- Model with mathematics.
- Use appropriate tools strategically.
- Attend to precision.
- Look for and make use of structure.
- Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
- Operations and Algebraic Thinking
- Numbers and Operations Base Ten
- Numbers and Operations - Fractions
- Measurement and Data
- Geometry
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems:
- Interpret a multiplication equation as a comparison, e.g., interpret 35 = 5 × 7 as a statement that 35 is 5 times as many as 7 and 7 times as many as 5. Represent verbal statements of multiplicative comparisons as multiplication equations.
- Multiply or divide to solve word problems involving multiplicative comparison, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem, distinguishing multiplicative comparison from additive comparison.
- Solve multistep word problems posed with whole numbers and having whole-number answers using the four operations, including problems in which remainders must be interpreted.
- Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity.
- Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies including rounding.
Gain familiarity with factors and multiples:
- Find all factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1-100.
- Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors.
- Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1-100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number.
- Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1-100 is prime or composite.
Generate and analyze patterns:
- Generate a number or shape pattern that follows a given rule.
- Identify apparent features of the pattern that were not explicit in the rule itself:
- For example, given the rule "Add 3" and the starting number 1, generate terms in the resulting sequence and observe that the terms appear to alternate between odd and even numbers. Explain informally why the numbers will continue to alternate in this way.
Numbers and Operations Base Ten
Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers:
- Recognize that in a multi-digit whole number, a digit in one place represents ten times what it represents in the place to its right. For example, recognize that 700 ÷ 70 = 10 by applying concepts of place value and division.
- Read and write multi-digit whole numbers using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form.
- Compare two multi-digit numbers based on meanings of the digits in each place, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.
- Use place value understanding to round multi-digit whole numbers to any place.
Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic:
- Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.
- Multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit whole number, and multiply two two-digit numbers, using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations.
- Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.
- Find whole-number quotients and remainders with up to four-digit dividends and one-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division.
- Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.
Numbers and Operations - Fractions
Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering:
- Explain why a fraction a/b is equivalent to a fraction (n × a)/(n × b) by using visual fraction models, with attention to how the number and size of the parts differ even though the two fractions themselves are the same size. Use this principle to recognize and generate equivalent fractions.
- Compare two fractions with different numerators and different denominators, e.g., by creating common denominators or numerators, or by comparing to a benchmark fraction such as ½.
- Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two fractions refer to the same whole. Record the results of comparisons with symbols >, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.
Build fractions from unit fractions:
- Understand a fraction a/b with a > 1 as a sum of fractions 1/b.
- Understand addition and subtraction of fractions as joining and separating parts referring to the same whole.
- Decompose a fraction into a sum of fractions with the same denominator in more than one way, recording each decomposition by an equation.
- Justify decompositions, e.g., by using a visual fraction model. Examples: 3/8 = 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8 ; 3/8 = 1/8 + 2/8 ; 2 1/8 = 1 + 1 + 1/8 = 8/8 + 8/8 + ⅛.
- Add and subtract mixed numbers with like denominators, e.g., by replacing each mixed number with an equivalent fraction, and/or by using properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction.
- Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole and having like denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.
- Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction by a whole number.
- Understand a fraction a/b as a multiple of 1/b. For example, use a visual fraction model to represent 5/4 as the product 5 × (1/4), recording the conclusion by the equation 5/4 = 5 × (1/4).
- Understand a multiple of a/b as a multiple of 1/b, and use this understanding to multiply a fraction by a whole number:
- For example, use a visual fraction model to express 3 × (2/5) as 6 × (1/5), recognizing this product as 6/5. (In general, n × (a/b) = (n × a)/b.).
- Solve word problems involving multiplication of a fraction by a whole number, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem:
- For example, if each person at a party will eat 3/8 of a pound of roast beef, and there will be 5 people at the party, how many pounds of roast beef will be needed?
- Between what two whole numbers does your answer lie?
Understand decimal notation for fractions, and compare decimal fractions:
- Express a fraction with denominator 10 as an equivalent fraction with denominator 100, and use this technique to add two fractions with respective denominators 10 and 100:
- For example, express 3/10 as 30/100, and add 3/10 + 4/100 = 34/100.
- Use decimal notation for fractions with denominators 10 or 100:
- For example, rewrite 0.62 as 62/100; describe a length as 0.62 meters; locate 0.62 on a number line diagram.
- Compare two decimals to hundredths by reasoning about their size:
- Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two decimals refer to the same whole.
- Record the results of comparisons with the symbols >, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual model.
Measurement and Data
Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements:
- Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min, sec.
- Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Record measurement equivalents in a two-column table:
- For example, know that 1 ft is 12 times as long as 1 in.
- Express the length of a 4 ft snake as 48 in. Generate a conversion table for feet and inches listing the number pairs (1, 12), (2, 24), (3, 36), …
- Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit.
- Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale.
- Apply the area and perimeter formulas for rectangles in real world and mathematical problems:
- For example, find the width of a rectangular room given the area of the flooring and the length, by viewing the area formula as a multiplication equation with an unknown factor.
Represent and interpret data:
- Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4, 1/8).
- Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information presented in line plots:
- For example, from a line plot find and interpret the difference in length between the longest and shortest specimens in an insect collection.
Geometric measurement: understand concepts of angle and measure angles:
- Recognize angles as geometric shapes that are formed wherever two rays share a common endpoint, and understand concepts of angle measurement:
- An angle is measured with reference to a circle with its center at the common endpoint of the rays, by considering the fraction of the circular arc between the points where the two rays intersect the circle. An angle that turns through 1/360 of a circle is called a "one-degree angle," and can be used to measure angles.
- An angle that turns through n one-degree angles is said to have an angle measure of n degrees.
- Measure angles in whole-number degrees using a protractor. Sketch angles of specified measure.
- Recognize angle measure as additive. When an angle is decomposed into non-overlapping parts, the angle measure of the whole is the sum of the angle measures of the parts.
- Solve addition and subtraction problems to find unknown angles on a diagram in real world and mathematical problems, e.g., by using an equation with a symbol for the unknown angle measure.
Geometry
Draw and identify lines and angles, and classify shapes by properties of their lines and angles:
- Draw points, lines, line segments, rays, angles (right, acute, obtuse), and perpendicular and parallel lines. Identify these in two-dimensional figures.
- Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size.
- Recognize right triangles as a category, and identify right triangle.
- Recognize a line of symmetry for a two-dimensional figure as a line across the figure such that the figure can be folded along the line into matching parts. Identify line-symmetric figures and draw lines of symmetry.
Science
In Grade 4, science programming focuses on three standards, the three dimensions of science: science and engineering practices, cross cutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. Each dimension works with the other two to help students build a cohesive understanding of science over time. Science and Engineering Practices describe what scientists do to investigate the natural world and what engineers do to design and build systems. These practices better explain and extend what is meant by “inquiry” in science. Crosscutting Concepts help students explore connections across the topics in science. When these concepts, such as “cause and effect”, are made explicit for students, they can help students develop a coherent and scientifically-based view of the world around them. .Disciplinary Core Ideas are the key ideas in science which build on each other as students progress through grade levels and are grouped into the following four domains: Physical Science, Life Science, Earth and Space Science, and Engineering.
Science and Engineering Practices
Asking and Answering Questions:
- Asking questions and defining problems in 3-5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to specifying qualitative relationships.
- Ask questions about what would happen if a variable is changed. Identify scientific (testable) and non-scientific (nontestable) questions.
- Ask questions that can be investigated and predict reasonable outcomes based on patterns such as cause and effect relationships.
- Use prior knowledge to describe problems that can be solved.
- Define a simple design problem that can be solved through the development of an object, tool, process, or system and includes several criteria for success and constraints.
Developing and Using Models:
- Modeling in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to building and revising simple models and using models to represent events and design solutions. Identify limitations of models.
- Collaboratively develop and/or revise a model based on evidence that shows the relationships among variables for frequent and regular occurring events.
- Develop a model using an analogy, example, or abstract representation to describe a scientific principle or design solution.
- Develop and/or use models to describe and/or predict phenomena.
- Develop a diagram or simple physical prototype to convey a proposed object, tool, or process.
- Use a model to test cause and effect relationships or interactions concerning the functioning of a natural or designed system.
Planning and Carrying Out Investigations:
- Planning and carrying out investigations to answer questions or test solutions to problems in 3–5 builds on K– 2 experiences and progresses to include investigations that control variables and provide evidence to support explanations or design solutions.
- Plan and conduct an investigation collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence, using fair tests in which variables are controlled and the number of trials considered.
- Evaluate appropriate methods and/or tools for collecting data.
- Make observations and/or measurements to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of a phenomenon or test a design solution.
- Make predictions about what would happen if a variable changes.
- Test two different models of the same proposed object, tool, or process to determine which better meets criteria for success.
Analyzing and Interpreting Data:
- Analyzing data in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to introducing quantitative approaches to collecting data and conducting multiple trials of qualitative observations.
- When possible and feasible, digital tools should be used.
- Represent data in tables and/or various graphical displays (bar graphs, pictographs and/or pie charts) to reveal patterns that indicate relationships.
- Analyze and interpret data to make sense of phenomena, using logical reasoning, mathematics, and/or computation.
- Compare and contrast data collected by different groups in order to discuss similarities and differences in their findings.
- Analyze data to refine a problem statement or the design of a proposed object, tool, or process. Use data to evaluate and refine design solutions.
Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking:
- Mathematical and computational thinking in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to extending quantitative measurements to a variety of physical properties and using computation and mathematics to analyze data and compare alternative design solutions.
- Decide if qualitative or quantitative data are best to determine whether a proposed object or tool meets criteria for success.
- Organize simple data sets to reveal patterns that suggest relationships.
- Describe, measure, estimate, and/or graph quantities (e.g., area, volume, weight, time) to address scientific and engineering questions and problems.
- Create and/or use graphs and/or charts generated from simple algorithms to compare alternative solutions to an engineering problem.
Construction Explanations and Designing Solutions:
- Constructing explanations and designing solutions in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to the use of evidence in constructing explanations that specify variables that describe and predict phenomena and in designing multiple solutions to design problems.
- Construct an explanation of observed relationships (e.g., the distribution of plants in the back yard).
- Use evidence (e.g., measurements, observations, patterns) to construct or support an explanation or design a solution to a problem.
- Identify the evidence that supports particular points in an explanation.
- Apply scientific ideas to solve design problems.
- Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the design solution.
Engaging in Argument from Evidence:
- Engaging in argument from evidence in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to critiquing the scientific explanations or solutions proposed by peers by citing relevant evidence about the natural and designed world(s).
- Compare and refine arguments based on an evaluation of the evidence presented.
- Distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in an explanation.
- Respectfully provide and receive critiques from peers about a proposed procedure, explanation, or model by citing relevant evidence and posing specific questions.
- Construct and/or support an argument with evidence, data, and/or a model.
- Use data to evaluate claims about cause and effect.
- Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem by citing relevant evidence about how it meets the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information:
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to evaluating the merit and accuracy of ideas and methods.
- Read and comprehend grade appropriate complex texts and/or other reliable media to summarize and obtain scientific and technical ideas and describe how they are supported by evidence.
- Compare and/or combine across complex texts and/or other reliable media to support the engagement in other scientific and/or engineering practices.
- Combine information in written text with that contained in corresponding tables, diagrams, and/or charts to support the engagement in other scientific and/or engineering practices.
- Obtain and combine information from books and/or other reliable media to explain phenomena or solutions to a design problem.
- Communicate scientific and/or technical information orally and/or in written formats, including various forms of media as well as tables, diagrams, and charts.
Cross Cutting Concepts
Patterns:
- Students identify similarities and differences in order to sort and classify natural objects and designed products.
- They identify patterns related to time, including simple rates of change and cycles, and to use these patterns to make predictions.
Cause and Effect:
- Students routinely identify and test causal relationships and use these relationships to explain change.
- They understand events that occur together with regularity might or might not signify a cause and effect relationship.
Scale Proportion and Quantity:
- Students recognize natural objects and observable phenomena exist from the very small to the immensely large.
- They use standard units to measure and describe physical quantities such as weight, time, temperature, and volume.
System and System Models:
- Students understand that a system is a group of related parts that make up a whole and can carry out functions its individual parts cannot.
- They can also describe a system in terms of its components and their interactions.
Energy and Matter:
- Students learn matter is made of particles and energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.
- Students observe the conservation of matter by tracking matter flows and cycles before and after processes and recognizing the total weight of substances does not change.
Structure and Function:
- Students learn different materials have different substructures, which can sometimes be observed; and substructures have shapes and parts that serve functions.
Stability and Change:
- Students measure change in terms of differences over time, and observe that change may occur at different rates.
- Students learn some systems appear stable, but over long periods of time they will eventually change.
Disciplinary Core Ideas:
- The performance expectations in fourth grade help students formulate answers to questions such as:
- What are waves and what are some things they can do?
- How can water, ice, wind and vegetation change the land?
- What patterns of Earth’s features can be determined with the use of maps?
- How do internal and external structures support the survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction of plants and animals?
- What is energy and how is it related to motion?
- How is energy transferred?
- How can energy be used to solve a problem?
Social Studies
In Grade 4 students engage in the study of United States Geography as it relates to the regional cultural, economic, and political development of the United States. This approach supports in-depth inquiry through the examination and evaluation of multiple sources and allows students to explore regions of the United States supported by the disciplines of history, civics, and economics. The study of geography requires that students generate and research compelling questions such as:
- How does where we live affect how we live?
- How and why do places change over time?
- What characteristics make groups of people unique?
- What role does climate play in people’s lives?
- Why do people move from one region to another?
History
Civics
Economics
- Compare the benefits and costs of individual choices.
- Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.
- Identify examples of the variety of resources (human capital, physical capital, and natural resources) that are used to produce goods and services.
- Explain the relationship between investment in human capital, productivity, and future incomes.
Geography
- Construct maps and other graphic representations of both familiar and unfamiliar places.
- Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their environmental characteristics.
- Explain how culture influences the way people modify and adapt to their environments.
- Explain how the cultural and environmental characteristics of places change over time.
- Describe how environmental and cultural characteristics influence population distribution in specific places or regions.
- Explain how cultural and environmental characteristics affect the distribution and movement of people, goods, and ideas.
- Explain how human settlements and movements relate to the locations and use of various natural resources.
- Analyze the effects of catastrophic environmental and technological events on human settlements and migration.
Computer Science Program
In Grade 4 all students engage in a unit to continue to learn the concepts and practices of computer science. Students will develop a foundation of computer science knowledge and learn new approaches to problem solving that harness the power of computational thinking to become both users and creators of computing technology. Computer science is key to developing and integrating Coventry Public Schools Portrait of the Graduate Competencies such as critical thinking, engaged collaborating, effective communication, and authentic innovating.
- Computing Systems
- Networks and the Internet
- Data and Analysis
- Algorithms and Programming
- Impacts of Computing Culture
Computing Systems
Networks and the Internet
Data and Analysis
Algorithms and Programming
- Compare and refine multiple algorithms for the same task and determine which is the most appropriate.
- Create programs that use variables to store and modify data.
- Create programs that include sequences, events, loops, and conditionals.
- Decompose (break down) problems into smaller, manageable subproblems to facilitate the program development process.
- Modify, remix, or incorporate portions of an existing program into one's own work, to develop something new or add more advanced features.
- Use an iterative process to plan the development of a program by including others' perspectives and considering user preferences.
- Test and debug (identify and fix errors) a program or algorithm to ensure it runs as intended.
- Take on varying roles, with teacher guidance, when collaborating with peers during the design, implementation, and review stages of program development.
Impacts of Computing Culture
Art Program
Focused on visual arts including traditional fine arts such as drawing, painting, sculpture, and ceramics, our Grade 4 art program involves our students in four artistic processes: creating art , presenting art, responding to art, and connecting to art.
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work:
- Brainstorm multiple approaches to a creative art or design problem.
- Collaboratively set goals and create artwork that is meaningful and has purpose to the makers.
Organize and develop artistic ideas and work:
- Explore and invent art-making techniques and approaches.
- When making works of art, utilize and care for materials, tools, and equipment in a manner that prevents danger to oneself and others.
- Document, describe, and represent regional constructed environments.
Refine and complete artistic work:
- Revise artwork in progress on the basis of insights gained through peer discussion.
Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation:
- Analyze how past, present, and emerging technologies have impacted the preservation and presentation of artwork.
Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation:
- Analyze the various considerations for presenting and protecting art in various locations, indoor or outdoor settings, in temporary or permanent forms, and in physical or digital formats.
Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work:
- Compare and contrast purposes of art museums, art galleries, and other venues, as well as the types of personal experiences they provide.
Perceive and analyze artistic work:
- Compare responses to a work of art before and after working in similar media.
- Analyze components in visual imagery that convey messages.
Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work:
- Interpret art by referring to contextual information and analyzing relevant subject matter, characteristics of form, and use of media.
Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work:
- Apply one set of criteria to evaluate more than one work of art.
Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art:
- Create works of art that reflect community cultural traditions.
Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding:
- Through observation, infer information about time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created.
Music Program
Students in Grade 4 will create music, communicate effectively by performing diverse works of quality music, critically think and respond with social and emotional awareness to diverse musical genres and connect their learning and personal experience to music. Students will use mallet instruments, world percussion, and other learning tools to reach the Coventry Public Schools Music Department Program Goals.
Generate musical ideas for various purposes and contexts:
- Improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas, and explain connection to specific purpose and context (such as social and cultural).
- Generate musical ideas (such as rhythms, melodies, and simple accompaniment patterns) within related tonalities (such as major and minor) and meters.
Select and develop musical ideas for defined purposes and contexts:
- Demonstrate selected and organized musical ideas for an improvisation, arrangement, or composition to express intent, and explain connection to purpose and context.
- Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or recording technology to document personal rhythmic, melodic, and simple harmonic musical ideas.
Evaluate and refine selected musical ideas to create musical work(s) that meet appropriate criteria:
- Evaluate, refine, and document revisions to personal music, applying teacher provided and collaboratively developed criteria and feedback to show improvement over time.
Share creative musical work that conveys intent, demonstrates craftsmanship, and exhibits originality:
- Present the final version of personal created music to others, and describe connection to expressive intent.
Select varied musical works to present based on interest, knowledge, technical skill, and context:
- Demonstrate and explain how the selection of music to perform is influenced by personal interest, knowledge, context, and technical skill.
Analyze the structure and context of varied musical works and their implications for performance:
- Demonstrate understanding of the structure and the elements of music (such as rhythm, pitch, and form) in music selected for performance.
- When analyzing selected music, read and perform using iconic and/or standard notation.
- Explain how context (such as social and cultural) informs a performance.
Develop personal interpretations that consider creators’ intent:
- Demonstrate and explain how intent is conveyed through interpretive decisions and expressive qualities (such as dynamics, tempo, and timbre).
Evaluate and refine personal and ensemble performances, individually or in collaboration with others:
- Apply teacher-provided and collaboratively developed criteria and feedback to evaluate accuracy and expressiveness of ensemble and personal performances.
- Rehearse to refine technical accuracy and expressive qualities, and address performance challenges.
Perform expressively, with appropriate interpretation and technical accuracy, and in a manner appropriate to the audience and context:
- Perform music, alone or with others, with expression and technical accuracy, and appropriate interpretation.
- Demonstrate performance decorum and audience etiquette appropriate for the context, venue, and genre.
Choose music appropriate for a specific purpose or context:
- Demonstrate and explain how selected music connects to and is influenced by specific interests, experiences, purposes, or contexts.
Analyze how the structure and context of varied musical works inform the response:
- Demonstrate and explain how responses to music are informed by the structure, the use of the elements of music, and context (such as social and cultural).
Support interpretations of musical works that reflect creators’/performers’ expressive intent:
- Demonstrate and explain how the expressive qualities (such as dynamics, tempo, and timbre) are used in performers’ and personal interpretations to reflect expressive intent.
Support evaluations of musical works and performances based on analysis, interpretation, and established criteria:
- Evaluate musical works and performances, applying established criteria, and explain appropriateness to the context.
Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make music:
- Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate to personal choices and intent when creating, performing, and responding to music.
Relate musical ideas and works with varied context to deepen understanding:
- Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life.
Physical Education Program
Our Physical Education Program helps our children obtain the knowledge and skills they need to become physically educated. Our Grade 4 programming focuses on motor skills, concepts and strategies related to physical activity, physical fitness, respectful social behavior during physical activity, and promoting the understanding of the benefits of physical activity.
Motor Skill Performance:
- Students will demonstrate competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities.
- Demonstrate the ability to stop and start on a signal; combine sequences of several motor skills in an organized way; and move through an environment with body control.
Applying Concepts and Strategies:
- Demonstrate an understanding of body awareness concepts by identifying large and small body parts; show understanding of quality of movement concepts and apply them to psychomotor skills (e.g., demonstrating momentary stillness in balance activities, distinguishing when to kick a ball softly or with force); and show understanding of space concepts by identifying and demonstrating personal and general space.
- Follow safety and age-appropriate classroom and playground rules and procedures.
Engaging in Physical Activity:
- Engage in physical activities when presented with opportunities and with teacher encouragement. Engage in a wide variety of gross-motor activities that are child-selected and teacher-initiated.
- Participate in healthy physical activity, and demonstrate understanding that physical activity is beneficial to good health.
- Demonstrate understanding that different movements are performed by different body parts, singly and in combination (e.g., kicking with foot, throwing with hand).
Physical Fitness:
- Demonstrate understanding that different physical activities have different effects on the body (e.g., running, walking and sitting cause heartbeat and breathing to be faster, not as fast, and slow, respectively).
Responsible Behavior:
- Demonstrate safe behavior for self and toward others by following established class rules, procedures and safe practices with teacher guidance and reinforcement.
- Interact appropriately with peers and familiar adults (e.g., sharing, taking turns, following rules) with teacher guidance and reinforcement; stay on task for short periods with teacher supervision; listen quietly without interruption for short periods with teacher reinforcement; and exhibit self-control in group situations.
- Demonstrate willingness to play with any child in the class; and recognize similarities and appreciate differences in people.
Benefits of Physical Activity:
- Participate in creative movement and dance; identify several activities that are personally enjoyable; and use a variety of means for self-expression.
- Demonstrate recognition that physical activity is beneficial to good health.
Health Program
Our Health Program prepares students by providing them with learning experiences to support their abilities to access health information and services to maintain or improve their own health and the health of others; in addition students will acquire skills and knowledge that encourage lifetime healthy behaviors.
Alcohol, Nicotine, and Other Drugs:
- Explain why household products are harmful if intentionally absorbed or inhaled.
- Explain the benefits and correct use of medicines and potential risks associated with inappropriate use of medicines.
- Identify short- and long-term effects of alcohol and nicotine use, including secondhand effects.
- Explain the dangers of experimenting with nicotine and alcohol.
- Describe family rules about avoiding nicotine and alcohol use.
- Identify the social impacts of ANOD use (e.g. family, friends, peers).
Healthy Relationships:
- List healthy ways to express affection, love, and friendship.
- Identify characteristics and benefits of healthy family and peer relationships.
- Describe the value of others’ talents and strengths.
- Describe gender-role stereotypes and their potential impact on self and others.
- Define and discuss consent as it relates to personal boundaries.
Violence Prevention:
- Summarize the impact of teasing or bullying others.
- Identify nonviolent ways to manage anger.
- Describe the difference between mean spirited behavior, bullying, and harassment.
- Explain the difference between tattling and reporting aggressive or violent behavior.
- Explain what to do if you see bullying, fighting, and/ or violence.
Healthy Eating and Physical Activity:
- Name the food groups and variety of nutritious food choices for each food group.
- Explain the importance of eating a variety of foods from all the food groups.
- Describe the physical, mental, social, and academic benefits of healthful eating habits and physical activity.
- Identify nutritious and non nutritious beverages.
- Describe the benefits of consuming plenty of water. HEPA 1.6.5 Describe the benefits of limiting the consumption of solid fat, added sugar, and sodium.
- Explain the concept of eating in moderation.
- Explain body signals that tell a person when they are hungry and when they are full.
Sexual Health:
- Describe basic reproductive body parts and their functions.
- Explain common human sexual development and the role of hormones (e.g., romantic feelings, mood swings, timing of pubertal onset).
- Describe the range of physical, social, and emotional changes that occur during puberty.
- Explain how puberty and development can vary greatly and still be normal.
Optimal Wellness and Disease Prevention:
- Describe ways to prevent the spread of germs that cause infectious diseases.
- Describe the benefits of personal health care practices such as tooth brushing and flossing, hand washing, covering a cough and sneeze, washing hair and bathing regularly.
- Define the terms communicable and noncommunicable disease and identify ways to help prevent disease (e.g. HIV, diabetes, cancer, heart disease).
- Describe symptoms that prevent a person from daily activities (i.e. going to school, practices, playing with friends, etc.).
- Develop an awareness and empathy for health problems associated with common childhood chronic diseases or conditions such as asthma, allergies, diabetes, and epilepsy.
- Describe the importance of seeking help and treatment for diseases.
Sexual Assault and Abuse Prevention:
- Define consent in a variety of settings (e.g. social interactions, playground interactions, physical contact, holding hands, kissing, etc.).
- Distinguish between “appropriate” and “inappropriate” touch.
- Explain that inappropriate touches should be reported to a trusted adult.
- Explain that everyone has the right to tell others not to touch his or her body.
Mental and Emotional Health:
- Explain why sleep and rest are important for proper growth and good health.
- Explain what it means to be mentally or emotionally healthy.
- Describe the relationship between feelings and behavior and describe appropriate ways to express a variety of feelings (i.e. anger, happiness, sadness, frustration, excitement, etc.).
- Identify feelings and emotions associated with loss and grief.
- Identify role models who demonstrate positive emotional health.
- Explain the importance of talking with parents and other trusted adults about feelings.
- Describe the importance of being aware of one’s own feelings and of being sensitive to the feelings of others.
- Give examples of prosocial behaviors (e.g., helping others, being respectful of others, cooperation, consideration).
- Explain the importance of telling an adult if someone is in danger of hurting themselves or others.
Safety and Injury Prevention:
- Identify ways to reduce risk of injuries while riding in a motor vehicle.
- List examples of dangerous or risky behaviors that might lead to injuries.
- Describe how to ride a bike, skateboard, ride a scooter, and/or inline skate safely.
- Identify ways to reduce risk of injuries in case of a fire, around water, and from falls.
- Identify ways to protect vision or hearing from injury.
- Identify ways to reduce injuries from firearms.
- Identify ways to reduce injuries as a pedestrian.
- Identify safety precautions for playing and working outdoors in different kinds of weather and climates.
- List ways to prevent injuries at home, school and community.
- Identify ways to reduce risk of injuries from animal and insect bites and stings.
- Explain why household products are harmful if ingested or inhaled.
- Explain what to do if someone is poisoned or injured and needs help.
- Identify equipment needed for protection in sports and recreational activities, such as mouthpieces, pads and helmets.
- Explain how hearing can be damaged by loud sounds.
- Describe how vision can be damaged.
- Describe ways to prevent vision or hearing damage.
- Describe ways to prevent harmful effects of the sun.
Once every three years we provide a presentation to students in Grades 3-5 on firearm safety. Parents may choose to exempt their students from these presentations. Using developmentally age-appropriate instructional materials, our presentation focuses on the following key points:
- If you see an unattended firearm, leave it alone, do not touch it, and get an adult to put it away.
- Treat every firearm as if it is loaded.
- Never point a firearm at another person.
- Firearms are not toys-never play with a firearm.
- Never touch a firearm unless an adult you trust supervises and assists you and you have your parents’ or guardians’ permission.
- If your family has firearms in the house, your friends may find it an irresistible temptation. Never show a firearm to another child.
- Firearms are not illegal, nor is legally possessing a firearm any indication of a person’s character.
- Some professions require having firearms; police carry firearms to protect us.
Library Media Center Program
The GHR school library environment provides students access to information and technology, connecting learning to real-world events. In the library, learners engage with relevant information resources and digital learning opportunities. The Library Media Center promotes a culture of reading by providing access to high-quality print and digital reading materials that encourage students to become lifelong learners and readers.
Inquire:
- Learners display curiosity and initiative by:
- Formulating questions about a personal interest or a curricular topic.
- Recalling prior and background knowledge as context for new meaning.
- Learners engage with new knowledge by following a process that includes:
- Using evidence to investigate questions.
- Devising and implementing a plan to fill knowledge gaps.
- Generating products that illustrate learning.
- Learners adapt, communicate, and exchange learning products with others in a cycle that includes:
- Interacting with content presented by others.
- Providing constructive feedback.
- Acting on feedback to improve.
- Sharing products with an authentic audience.
- Learners participate in an ongoing inquiry-based process by:
- Continually seeking knowledge.
- Engaging in sustained inquiry.
- Enacting new understanding through real-world connections.
- Using reflection to guide informed decisions.
Include:
- Learners contribute a balanced perspective when participating in a learning community by:
- Adopting a discerning stance toward points of view and opinions expressed in information resources and learning products.
- Describing their understanding of cultural relevance and placement within the global learning community.
- Learners adjust their awareness of the global learning community by
- Evaluating a variety of perspectives during learning activities.
- Learners exhibit empathy with and tolerance for divers ideas by:
- Contributing to discussions in which multiple viewpoints on a topic are expressed.
- Learners demonstrate empathy and equity in knowledge building within the global learning community by:
- Reflecting on their own place within the global learning community.
Collaborate:
- Learners identify collaborative opportunities by:
- Demonstrating their desire to broaden and deepen understandings.
- Learners participate in personal, social, and intellectual networks by:
- Using a variety of communication tools and resources.
- Establishing connections with other learners to build on their own prior knowledge and create new knowledge.
- Learners work productively with others to solve problems by:
- Involving diverse perspective in their own inquiry processes
- Learners actively participate with others in learning situations by:
- Actively contributing to group discussions.
- Recognizing learning as a social responsibility.
Curate:
- Learners act on an information need by:
- Determining the need to gather information.
- Identifying possible sources of information.
- Making critical choices about information sources to use
- Learners gather information appropriate to the task by:
- Seeking a variety of sources of information.
- Collecting information representing diverse perspectives.
- Systematically questioning and assessing the validity and accuracy of information.
- Organizing information by priority, topic, or other systematic scheme.
- Learners exchange information resources within and beyond their learning community by:
- Accessing and evaluating collaboratively constructed information sites.
- Contributing to collaboratively constructed information sites by ethically using and reproducing others’ work.
- Joining with others to compare and contrast information derived from collaboratively constructed information sites.
- Learners select and organize information for a variety of audiences by:
- Performing ongoing analysis of and reflection on the quality, usefulness, and accuracy of curated resources.
- Integrating and depicting in a conceptual knowledge network their understanding gained from resources.
- Openly communicating curation processes for others to use, interpret, and validate.
Explore:
- Learners engage with the learning community by:
- Expressing curiosity about a topic of personal interest or curricular relevance.
- Co-constructing innovative means of investigation.
- Collaboratively identifying innovative solutions to a challenge or problem.
- Learners develop through experience and reflection by:
- Open-mindedly accepting feedback for positive and constructive growth.
Engage:
- Learners follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information by:
- Responsibly applying information, technology, and media to learning.
- Understanding the ethical use of information, technology, and media.
- Evaluating information for accuracy, validity, social and cultural context, and appropriateness for need.
- Learners use valid information and reasoned conclusions to make ethical decisions in the creation of knowledge by:
- Ethically using and reproducing other’s work.
- Acknowledging authorship and demonstrating respect for the intellectual property of others.
- Including elements in personal-knowledge products that allow others to credit content appropriately.
- Learners responsibly, ethically, and legally share new information with a global community by:
- Sharing information resources in accordance with modification, reuse, and remix policies.
- Disseminating new knowledge through means appropriate for the intended audience.
- Learners engage with information to extend personal learning by:
- Personalizing their use of information and information technologies.
- Reflecting on the process of ethical generation of knowledge.
- Inspiring others to engage in safe, responsible, ethical, and legal information behaviors.
Information Strategies:
- Students will understand and demonstrate a command of information skills and strategies to locate and effectively use print, non-print resources to solve problems and conduct research.
- Locate and use table of contents and index in nonfiction materials.
- Identify print and non-print characteristics, organizing features (e.g., table of contents, index) and purposes.
- Select appropriate resources from a variety of media formats, understanding that information is stored and accessed in different ways.
- Identify and use print and not-print reference sources (atlases, almanacs, encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc.).
- Use information presented graphically (e.g., pictures, captions, diagrams, or labels).
- Identify keywords for searching for information, with assistance.
Social Emotional Learning
Unit 1
Empathy and Skills for Learning
- Empathy and Respect
- Listening with Attention
- Being Assertive
- Respecting Similarities and Differences
- Understanding Complex Feelings
- Understanding Different Perspectives
- Conversation and Compliments
- Joining In
- Showing Compassion
Unit 2
Emotion Management
- Introducing Emotion Management
- Managing Strong Feelings
- Calming Down Anger
- Managing Anxiety
- Avoiding Jumping to Conclusions
- Handling Put-Downs
Unit 3
Problem Solving
- Solving Problems, Part 1
- Solving Problems, Part 2
- Making a Plan
- Solving Playground Problems
- Taking Responsibility for Your Actions
- Dealing with Peer Pressure
- Reviewing Second Step Skills