FOURTH GRADE CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Language Arts

Reading Skills
• sequencing plot events
• making inferences
• following directions
• text organization (topic, main idea, supporting ideas)
• cause and effect
• drawing conclusions
• fact and opinion
• author’s viewpoint
• compare and contrast
• problem solving and decision making
• story structure
• context clues
• making generalizations
• drawing conclusions

Genres:
• Fiction
• Non-Fiction
• Biography
• Historical Fiction

• Realistic Fiction

Writing Skills
• spelling rules (suffixes, prefixes, base words, contractions, compound words)
• types of sentences
• punctuating sentences
• commas
• titles and quotation marks
• homophones
• compound sentences
• compound subjects
• compound predicates
• conjunctions
• nouns
• verbs
• adjectives
• adverbs
• pronouns
• prepositions

Styles:
• Informational
• Autobiography
• Poetry
• Character Sketch
• Friendly Letter
• Personal Narrative
• Summary
• Creative/ Fiction
• Descriptive

• Revision Writing

Mathematics

• Numerical Sequence
• Basic addition and subtraction facts
• Multidigit addition and subtraction
• Detecting obviously wrong answers
• Basic multiplication facts
• Common multiples and common factors
• Multiplying multidigit numbers
• Basic division facts, including remainders
• Dividing by one and two digit divisors
• Functions and inverses
• Graphing functions
• Mean, Median, mode and range
• Adding and subtracting fractions
• Understanding decimals and percents
• Adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals
• Measuring length, weight and volume
• Converting metric units
• Perimeter and area
• Lines, angles, quadrilaterals and other polygons
• Congruence and similarity
• Symmetry
• Calculating area
• Measuring and calculating perimeter

• Problem-Solving

Science

The fourth grade curriculum is an inquiry-based science program utilizing varied hands on activities to strengthen the student’s ability to use the scientific process. Students work together in cooperative groups to explore open-ended challenges in developing science knowledge. Projects are assigned to enhance research skills and target the multiple intelligences.

Physical Science

• Electricity: experiment with circuits to study components, compare different circuits and their application

• Force and Motion: exploring Newton’s Laws of Motion, identifying forces on objects, measuring the effects of force

• Simple machines: identification and construction of simple machines, communicating the uses of simple machines in everyday life

Earth Science

• Rocks and Minerals: classification of rocks and minerals through geological tests

• Earth’s Surface: classifying types of volcanoes, examining earthquakes, comparing the layers of the earth, investigating plate tectonics

Social Studies

• NC Geography
• NC History
• NC Economy
• Culture/ Traditions of NC
• The Land and Early People of NC
• Colonial North Carolina
• NC in the Revolutionary War
• NC in the Civil War
• Recognizing and Preserving Culture
• State Government
• Map Skills