FOURTH GRADE CURRICULUM

Peers are becoming a source of approval in fourth grade. Searching for perfection, fourth graders tend to exhibit some anxiety. With guidance, these children are generally willing to help one another. (Some find exercising self-control difficult, but motivational strategies work very well at this level.) Firm guidance is appropriate for these children, but students also need to be given opportunities to develop independent and responsible behavior.

Though fourth graders are beginning to see the connection between effort and learning, they still have some difficulties listening attentively, bringing their work to a conclusion, accepting responsibility, or taking risks. Quite comfortable in working with a group, these students' organizational skills improve, and a crucial transition occurs in the students' ability to work independently with less teacher guidance. A predictable, structured work environment at home and school will allow the fourth grader to budget his or her time effectively and to feel more comfortable with the greater number of options present at this grade level. Reading comprehension advances again as students begin to distinguish between literal and figurative language and more complex plots. Learning differences become more apparent as the curriculum increases in difficulty.

I. Language Arts

A. Reading (Imagine It! SRA/ McGraw Hill, Copyright 2008)

1. Comprehension
2. Vocabulary
3. Spelling

B. Literature

1. Novels

a. Zia by Scott O'Dell
b. Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz
c. By the Great Hornspoon by Sid Fleischman
d. The Borrowers by Mary Norton
e. Silent Thunder by Andrea Davis Pinkney

C. Grammar

1. Language Arts Handbook (Imagine It! SRA/McGraw-Hill ,2008)
2. English Workbook Plus (Houghton Mifflin, 1995)
3. Daily Language Review

E. Penmanship (Zaner Bloser, 2003)

F. Composition

1. Six Traits of Writing (Scholastic)
2. Reading and Writing Workbook (Imagine It!, SRA/McGra-Hill, 2008)

A. Saxon Intermediate 4, (Book 2, Saxon Publisher, 2007)

1. Whole number concepts and computation, mental computation, patterns and functions, measurement, and statistics and probability.
2. Multiplication and division
3. Fractions, mixed numbers, decimals, and geometry.

A. Ideas and Inventions
B. Magnetism and Electricity
C. Earth Science
D. Human Body

A. Our California, Scott Foresman, 2006

1. The Land of California
2. Early People in California
3. Early History to Statehood
4. Growth and Development Since 1850
5. California Government

B. California Studies Weekly Newspapers (North Mountain Publishing)

A. Project Wisdom