4th Grade

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

In the Woodshop, students develop general shop and safety skills 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 attending to planning, material selection, step by step sequencing of construction, artistic finishing, and clean up practices. 

First through fifth graders visit the Art Barn to explore the visual arts. Inspired by other artists, the outdoors, and their own imaginations they engage across mediums including drawing, painting, and building with clay, sewing, and collage. 

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 have the opportunity to 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

Throughout the year students focus on six writing traits: conventions, organization, ideas, word choice, voice, and sentence fluency. They learn a variety of writing forms, ranging from poetry and informational to report writing.

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.

Handwriting and spelling are important components of literacy studies. Students learn cursive italic penmanship by practicing four times a week.

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 multidigit 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. 

• 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.

In Science students participate in ongoing inquiry cycles, where they are presented with a provocation to spark their curiosity, immerse themselves in a topic, investigate by learning new information, and share their thinking in multiple ways. They engage in studies of physical science, life science, earth and space science, and engineering and technology. 

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

The theme of a year-long social studies investigation is immigration. Students begin with an inquiry into where each of them and their ancestors are from. As they build their understanding about why people come to Oregon, they look at geography, economics, history, and government. The unit continues with a look at a specific period in Oregon’s history to help students understand why people moved to the Pacific Northwest.

Beyond the Northwest

The immigration inquiry expands into an exploration of the regions of the United States, and why and how people immigrated to this country or moved within it. History, geography, economics, 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.

Students engage in Wellness classes in the indoor tennis court, on the track, and across outdoor spaces on campus. 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