4th Grade

The Arts provide an opportunity for students to explore ideas and express thoughts and emotions. Over their time in the Lower School, they develop skills in music, woodshop, and visual arts. 

Woodshop

In woodshop, students learn general shop protocols and tool safety while basic tools, including with hammers, saws, and drills. They practice proper ergonomic use of hand tools including body position, alignment to work, and repetitive body logistics. Students engage in group and independent projects learning to create a design plan, select materials, sequencing of construction, learn about wood finishes, and clean up practices.

Visual Arts

Students explore, experiment and communicate while practicing the visual arts. Inspired by other artists, the world around them, and their own imaginations; they engage with various media including drawing, painting, paper arts, clay, printmaking and fiber arts. 

Music

Based in the Orff music education tradition, music provides time for students to express themselves through sounds and movement. Inspired by artists across cultures and by their own musicality, students practice both ensemble and individual musical skills. They learn concepts of rhythm, tone, and pitch by playing instruments such as the xylophone, glockenspiel, and marimba.

Having developed reading competency in previous grades, students in fourth grade begin reading as a means to gain knowledge and understanding. The focus on comprehension carries over to their own writing as they develop their skills in informational and report writing.

Reading

Students make the shift from learning to read to reading to learn with an emphasis on comprehension and nonfiction. They are presented with high interest, theme-based, or genre-related literature and allowed to choose what they read.

Students move between discussion-based read-alouds, reading partnerships, small group literature circles, and self-selected independent reading workshops. Workshops focus on students developing skills in metacognition, predicting, making connections with the text, summarizing, questioning, and determining importance.

Writing

We focus on several writing practices: note-taking, organization, paragraph structure, idea generation, author’s voice, and elaboration. Students learn a variety of writing forms including informational, opinion, and literary analysis. Throughout the writing process, students practice the different stages of writing through rough drafts, editing, revising and publishing.

Using relevant and focused literature as examples, students learn through mini-lessons, one-on-one interactions, and in small groups. Components of writing are incorporated into project-based learning where students use their composition skills to demonstrate understanding and share information.

Vocabulary and morphology are important components of literacy studies.

Word Study

Vocabulary building is part of every aspect of literacy studies. More than simply memorizing new words, students are engaged weekly in the practice of sorting, building, reading, writing, and looking for patterns in their spelling words. They investigate the etymology of words to make meaning of the spelling system.

Students begin to develop an understanding of mathematical concepts that are complex, abstract, and powerful. They are increasingly capable of solving a wide variety of real-world problems. Fourth-graders explore concepts of multi-digit numbers and fraction numbers while increasing mathematical vocabulary to develop a deep and flexible understanding of math. They begin to understand how and why the algorithms for multiplication and division work while still using partial product and partial quotient methods. Fourth graders work independently, in partnerships, with small flexible groupings, and with the whole group to grapple with and solidify their learning. They synthesize their ideas and make connections with their peers’ ideas through a strong mathematical community. 

Big Ideas in 4th Grade

• Fraction Equivalence and Comparison
• Extending Operations to Fractions (addition, subtractions, equal groups)
• Decimal Place Value
• Multiplying and Dividing Multi-Digit Numbers
• Measurement Conversions
• Angles, Measuring Angles, and Properties of Two Dimensional Shapes

First through fifth grade students study either Mandarin Chinese or Spanish. During their time in the Beginning and Lower School, they acquire cultural understanding and build a foundation for language acquisition and fluency. Students are immersed in situations where they develop language skills by drawing on their own experiences to engage in conversations with the teacher and peers. Through movement, song, play, art, conversation, and oral and written activities they begin to learn to listen, speak, read and write in their studied language.

Students are empowered to develop their own investigatable questions, driving their curiosity and exploration as they conduct experiments and uncover answers through active inquiry and discovery. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Science and Engineering Practices are used to promote deeper understanding and engagement in scientific learning. Throughout the year, they engage in studies of physical science, life science, earth and space science, and engineering and technology. 

Questions explored in Fourth Grade include

• What patterns can we see in Earth’s features?
• What is energy and how is it related to motion? How is energy transferred? How can energy be used to solve a problem? 
• How do internal and external structures support the survival, growth, and behavior of humans?

The theme of our year-long social studies investigation is perspective. We use the lens of perspective to study the interaction between people and place. This study begins with a look at the natural history of the Pacific Northwest. We build our schema of the place we live, and then begin to develop an understanding of how where you live impacts how you live. We focus on learning about Indigenous People of Cascadia, studying specific tribal nations and their cultures.

Beyond the Northwest

The people and place inquiry expands into an exploration of the interactions between people, places, and systems. History, geography, conflict, and politics are integrated into this study.

Responsible Action

Throughout the year, students reflect on social justice issues, with an emphasis on multiple perspectives and lifting up underrepresented voices. Students are asked to reflect on and describe their own identity while learning to honor and recognize the diverse identities within their classroom. They explore current events in the news cycle, and bring their own questions and concerns to their classroom community for further research and discussion.

Our holistic approach to wellness helps children develop habits for healthy living that will last across their lives. Children develop skills across four domains:

Physical

• Moving body is various ways; developing gross motor skills
• Understanding what helps a body perform well

Mental

• Noticing what causes emotions and stress
• Developing a toolbelt of strategies to regulate emotions and stress

Intellectual

• Trying new activities
• Using strategies in games
• Reflecting on progress

Social

• Working with others in productive ways
• Being a good sport
• Showing appreciation for others