Below you will find a summary of the things your child will learn in fourth
grade based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills that are given to us
by the State of Texas.
What your child will be learning in 4th Grade…
English Language Arts and Reading
In Grade 4, students spend significant blocks of time engaged in reading and
writing independently. Fourth grade students are critical listeners and
analyze a speaker's intent such as to entertain or to persuade. When
speaking, they adapt their language to the audience, purpose, and occasion.
Students continue to read classic and contemporary selections. Fourth grade
students read with a growing interest in a wide variety of topics and adjust
their reading approach to various forms of texts. Students expand their
vocabulary systematically across the curriculum. Students read for meaning
and can paraphrase texts. Students are able to connect, compare, and
contrast ideas. Fourth grade students can identify and follow varied text
structures such as chronologies and cause and effect. Students produce
summaries of texts and engage in more sophisticated analysis of characters,
plots, and settings. Fourth grade students are able to select and use
different forms of writing for specific purposes such as to inform,
persuade, or entertain. Their writing takes on style and voice. Fourth grade
students write in complete sentences. Students vary sentence structure and
use adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and conjunctions. Fourth
grade students are proficient spellers. Students edit their writing based on
their knowledge of grammar and usage, spelling, punctuation, and other
conventions of written language. Students can produce a final, polished copy
of a written composition. Fourth grade students understand and use visual
media and can compare and contrast visual media to print.
Mathematics
Within a well-balanced mathematics curriculum, the primary focal points at
Grade 4 are comparing and ordering fractions and decimals, applying
multiplication and division, and developing ideas related to congruence and
symmetry.
Throughout mathematics in Grades 3-5, students build a foundation of basic
understandings in number, operation, and quantitative reasoning; patterns,
relationships, and algebraic thinking; geometry and spatial reasoning;
measurement; and probability and statistics. Students use algorithms for
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as generalizations
connected to concrete experiences; and they concretely develop basic
concepts of fractions and decimals. Students use appropriate language and
organizational structures such as tables and charts to represent and
communicate relationships, make predictions, and solve problems. Students
select and use formal language to describe their reasoning as they identify,
compare, and classify two- or three-dimensional geometric figures; and they
use numbers, standard units, and measurement tools to describe and compare
objects, make estimates, and solve application problems. Students organize
data, choose an appropriate method to display the data, and interpret the
data to make decisions and predictions and solve
problems.
Throughout mathematics in Grades 3-5, students develop numerical fluency
with conceptual understanding and computational accuracy. Students in Grades
3-5 use knowledge of the base-ten place value system to compose and
decompose numbers in order to solve problems requiring precision,
estimation, and reasonableness. By the end of Grade 5, students know basic
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts and are using them
to work flexibly, efficiently, and accurately with numbers during addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division computation.
Problem solving, language and communication, connections within and outside
mathematics, and formal and informal reasoning underlie all content areas in
mathematics. Throughout mathematics in Grades 3-5, students use these
processes together with technology and other mathematical tools such as
manipulative materials to develop conceptual understanding and solve
meaningful problems as they do mathematics.
Science
In Grade 4, the study of science includes planning and implementing field
and laboratory investigations using scientific methods, analyzing
information, making informed decisions, and using tools such as compasses to
collect information. Students also use computers and information technology
tools to support scientific investigations.
As students learn science skills, they identify components and processes of
the natural world including properties of soil, effects of the oceans on
land, and the role of the Sun as our major source of energy. In addition,
students identify the physical properties of matter and observe the addition
or reduction of heat as an example of what can cause changes in states of
matter.
Students learn the roles of living and nonliving components of simple
systems and investigate differences between learned characteristics and
inherited traits. They learn that adaptations of organisms that lived in the
past may have increased some species' ability to survive.
Science is a way of learning about the natural world. Students should know
how science has built a vast body of changing and increasing knowledge
described by physical, mathematical, and conceptual models, and also should
know that science may not answer all questions.
A system is a collection of cycles, structures, and processes that interact.
Students should understand a whole in terms of its components and how these
components relate to each other and to the whole. All systems have basic
properties that can be described in terms of space, time, energy, and
matter. Change and constancy occur in systems and can be observed and
measured as patterns. These patterns help to predict what will happen next
and can change over time.
Investigations are used to learn about the natural world. Students should
understand that certain types of questions can be answered by
investigations, and that methods, models, and conclusions built from these
investigations change as new observations are made. Models of objects and
events are tools for understanding the natural world and can show how
systems work. They have limitations and based on new discoveries are
constantly being modified to more closely reflect the natural world.
Social Studies
In Grade 4, students examine the history of Texas from the early beginnings
to the present within the context of influences of the Western Hemisphere.
Historical content focuses on Texas history including the Texas revolution,
establishment of the Republic of Texas, and subsequent annexation to the
United States. Students discuss important issues, events, and individuals of
the 19th and 20th centuries. Students conduct a thorough study of regions in
Texas and the Western Hemisphere that result from human activity and from
physical features. A focus on the location, distribution, and patterns of
economic activities and of settlement in Texas further enhances the concept
of regions. Students describe how early Native Americans in Texas and the
Western Hemisphere met their basic economic needs and identify economic
motivations for European exploration and colonization and reasons for the
establishment of Spanish missions. Students explain how Native Americans
governed themselves and identify characteristics of Spanish and Mexican
colonial governments in Texas. Students recite and explain the meaning of
the Pledge to the Texas Flag. Students identify the contributions of people
of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups to Texas and describe the
impact of science and technology on life in the state. Students use critical-
thinking skills to identify cause-and-effect relationships, compare and
contrast, and make generalizations and predictions.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a
variety of rich primary and secondary source material such as biographies;
novels; speeches and letters; and poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged.
Selections may include a children's biography of Stephen F. Austin.
Motivating resources are also available from museums, historical sites,
presidential libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
The eight strands of the essential knowledge and skills for social studies
are intended to be integrated for instructional purposes with the history
and geography strands establishing a sense of time and a sense of place.
Skills listed in the geography and social studies skills should be
incorporated into the teaching of all essential knowledge and skills for
social studies. A greater depth of understanding of complex content material
can be attained when integrated social studies content from the various
disciplines and critical-thinking skills are taught together.
Throughout social studies in Kindergarten-Grade 12, students build a
foundation in history; geography; economics; government; citizenship;
culture; science, technology, and society; and social studies skills. The
content, as appropriate for the grade level or course, enables students to
understand the importance of patriotism, function in a free enterprise
society, and appreciate the basic democratic values of our state and nation
as referenced in the Texas Education Code, §28.002(h).
Health Education
In health education, students acquire the health information and skills
necessary to become healthy adults and learn about behaviors in which they
should and should not participate. To achieve that goal, students will
understand the following: students should first seek guidance in the area of
health from their parents; personal behaviors can increase or reduce health
risks throughout the lifespan; health is influenced by a variety of factors;
students can recognize and utilize health information and products; and
personal/interpersonal skills are needed to promote individual, family, and
community health.
In addition to learning age-specific health information on a variety of
health topics, students in Grade 4 learn how their behaviors affect their
body systems.
Students are taught the consequences of unsafe behaviors, and how to protect
themselves from harm. Students also learn the value and use of social skills
in dealing with peer pressure, communicating effectively, and assisting in
forming healthy social relationships.
Physical Education
In Physical Education, students acquire the knowledge and skills for
movement that provide the foundation for enjoyment, continued social
development through physical activity, and access to a physically active
lifestyle. The student exhibits a physically active lifestyle and
understands the relationship between physical activity and health throughout
the lifespan.
Fourth grade students learn to identify the components of health-related
fitness. Students combine loco motor and manipulative skills in dynamic
situations with body control. Students begin to identify sources of health
fitness information and continue to learn about appropriate clothing and
safety precautions in exercise settings.
Art
Four basic strands--perception, creative expression/performance, historical
and cultural heritage, and critical evaluation--provide broad, unifying
structures for organizing the knowledge and skills students are expected to
acquire. Students rely on their perceptions of the environment, developed
through increasing visual awareness and sensitivity to surroundings, memory,
imagination, and life experiences, as a source for creating artworks. They
express their thoughts and ideas creatively, while challenging their
imagination, fostering reflective thinking, and developing disciplined
effort and problem-solving skills.
By analyzing artistic styles and historical periods students develop respect
for the traditions and contributions of diverse cultures. Students respond
to and analyze artworks, thus contributing to the development of lifelong
skills of making informed judgments and evaluations.
Music
Four basic strands--perception, creative expression/performance, historical
and cultural heritage, and critical evaluation--provide broad, unifying
structures for organizing the knowledge and skills students are expected to
acquire. In music, students develop their intellect and refine their
emotions, understanding the cultural and creative nature of musical artistry
and making connections among music, the other arts, technology, and other
aspects of social life. Through creative performance, students apply the
expressive technical skills of music and critical-thinking skills to
evaluate multiple forms of problem solving.
By reflecting on musical periods and styles, students understand music's
role in history and are able to participate successfully in a diverse
society. Students analyze and evaluate music, developing criteria for making
critical judgments and informed choices.
Theatre Arts
Four basic strands--perception, creative expression/performance, historical
and cultural heritage, and critical evaluation--provide broad, unifying
structures for organizing knowledge and skills students are expected to
acquire. Through perceptual studies, students increase their understanding
of self and others and develop clear ideas about the world. Through a
variety of theatrical experiences, students communicate in a dramatic form,
make artistic choices, solve problems, build positive self-concepts, and
relate interpersonally.
Students increase their understanding of heritage and traditions through
historical and cultural studies in theatre. Student response and evaluation
promote thinking and further discriminating judgment, developing students
that are appreciative and evaluative consumers of live theatre, film,
television, and other technologies.
Technology Applications
The technology applications curriculum has four strands: foundations,
information acquisition, work in solving problems, and communication.
Through the study of technology applications foundations, including
technology-related terms, concepts, and data input strategies; students
learn to make informed decisions about technologies and their applications.
The efficient acquisition of information includes the identification of task
requirements; the plan for using search strategies; and the use of
technology to access, analyze, and evaluate the acquired information. By
using technology as a tool that supports the work of individuals and groups
in solving problems, students will select the technology appropriate for the
task, synthesize knowledge, create a solution, and evaluate the results.
Students communicate information in different formats and to diverse
audiences. A variety of technologies will be used. Students will analyze and
evaluate the results.