Grade 4

Fourth grade is an important time in your child’s life. Your child is now an intermediate scholar. This guide provides an overview of the academic standards and social emotional milestones that your child will experience this year. Academic standards are important because they help ensure that all scholars are prepared for success. Your child is now using reading to understand complex ideas and is focusing on applying multiplication and division skills. This guide is meant to support you in understanding what your child is learning, and provide ways you can speak with your child’s teacher about their progress and growth over the year.

Learning Partnership Guides

A Guide to Your Scholar's Success

English Language Arts

Reading

Scholars will read to learn about types of text and how to use and learn from them.
Scholars will read closely to understand and analyze texts.
Units are organized around related topics and themes that help build knowledge.
Scholars will read a variety of narrative and informational texts.
Read to learn about a topic and support their thinking with reasons, facts, and details from the text.
Scholars will use context clues and parts of words to determine the meaning of new vocabulary words.

Ways to talk with your child's teacher:

What is my child’s reading level? Is that level below, on or above grade level?
What is my child’s independent reading Power Goal? A Power Goal is a specific skill or strategy that your child is working on to move to the next reading level.
How is my child progressing in terms of meeting standards in reading, writing, speaking and listening? What are their strengths? What are areas to improve?

Writing & Communication

Use text-based evidence to answer questions in writing and speaking.
Read to learn about a topic and support their thinking with reasons, facts, and details from the text in writing and speaking.
Scholars will research multiple texts and other resources to build knowledge and write about a topic.
Scholars will process their learning through small-group and partner discussion

Ways to support your scholar at home:

Set aside time (20–30 minutes) for your child to read every day. Have them read to you. Talk to them about what is happening in their book(s).
Ask your scholar to share what they are working on in class. Ask them questions like, “What text did you read and/or discuss in class today?” “How did what you read today connect to real life?” “What was challenging for you and how did you deal with that challenge?” “What did you write about today?”

Math

SEMESTER 1: SEPTEMBER–JANUARY

Scholars solve multistep word problems including problems in which remainders must be interpreted.
Example: There are 87 students going on a field trip. Each van only holds 9 students. How many vans are needed to take all the students?

Ways to talk with your child's teacher:

Is my child on track? What are areas of strength and growth?
Ask to see a piece of your child’s work. Is this work satisfactory? What could be improved?

SEMESTER 2: FEBRUARY–JUNE

Scholars explain and generate equivalent fractions using visual models.
Example: Draw models of 2 fractions equivalent to 1/4.
Scholars compare two fractions with different numerators and different denominators.
Example: Complete the inequality using >, <, or = symbols:
1/3 __ 2/4

Ways to support your scholar at home:

Ask your child to compare fractional amounts. For example, “If one recipe calls for 3/4 a cup of sugar and another calls for 2/3, which has more? How do you know?”
Many real-life scenarios allow us to interpret remainders! Ask students to think about questions like, “If 5 people each want 4 pieces of pizza and each pizza has 8 slices, how many pizzas do we need?”

Science

What are sound waves and what are some things they can do?
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, behavior, and reproduction of plants and animals?
How can water, ice, wind and vegetation change the land? What patterns of Earth’s features can be determined with the use of maps?

Social Studies

Washington State History and Perspectives

Washington State Natural Resources: How do the resources of Washington impact our economy?
Regions of Washington State: What is the topography, geography, climate, and population distribution in our state?
Who am I? Who is in my class? What do we all need to learn together?
What is a perspective? How and why might people have different perspectives?
How does understanding other’s perspectives help me grow and learn?

Music

Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or recording technology to document personal rhythmic, melodic, and simple harmonic musical ideas.
Perform music, alone or with others, with expression, technical accuracy, and appropriate interpretation.
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).

Health & PE

Tech Skills

SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL - Fourth Grade Milestones

May be more individualistic
Like to work with partner of choice—usually of same gender; may begin to form cliques
Can work in groups but may spend more time arguing about facts, rules, directions than doing the activity
Often feel worried or anxious; need adult patience and clarity when giving directions or setting expectations
Impatient; tend to give up on tasks; encouragement to try again builds up sense of competence
Very self-critical; sarcastic humor from adults can be very hurtful
Often complain about fairness issues; like to negotiate
Critical of self and others (including adults)
Can be sullen, moody, negative; often say “I hate it,” “It’s boring,” etc.

QUESTION & ANSWER

Q: Who do I contact if I have a concern about my child?

A: First, always contact your scholar’s teacher/s and discuss your concern. If your concern has not been fully addressed, you can contact the school's family liaison or principal.

Q: How can I support my child in understanding multiplication and division?

A: Ask your child to sort things into equal groups (pairs of socks, types of blocks, game cards) and ask them to count by group. Ask your child to divide large groups of objects into smaller groups of the same number.

OUR COMMITMENT TO SCHOLARS AND FAMILIES

All scholars learn best when they experience physical and emotional safety in classrooms and schools. Scholars and families should expect to see the following adult actions:

Provide a welcoming environment to support building trusting, encouraging relationships with all families.
Prioritize scholar voice and participation in shaping the learning and classroom culture.
Teach for understanding to assure scholars have high expectations and academic supports to grow intellectually.
Focus on scholar cooperation to encourage scholars to learn from and help others.
Implement school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports so that all scholars and adults live out their shared beliefs and actions that make school a safe and fun place to learn.
Teach social and emotional learning skills and strategies during morning meetings and reinforce SEL skills throughout the school day.

Getting Ready for College & Career

The ABC's for College & Career Readiness

Attendance

Scholars who maintain good attendance through all years of school:

Achieve grade level standard at a higher rate
Graduate from high school at a higher rate
Develop good habits that contribute to success in school and in future careers
For each day a scholar is absent it takes an average of three days to catch up.

Behavior & Social Emotional Learning

The purpose behind Culturally-Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (CR-PBIS) is to make schools more effective, efficient, and equitable learning environments for all scholars. By teaching scholars expectations and acknowledging positive behavior, adults increase the predictability, consistency, positive climate, and safety of all at school. Social emotional learning lessons are taught and embedded throughout the school year. To learn more about CR-PBIS and social emotional learning at your school, contact your scholar's teacher or principal.