Grade 4
Welcome to Grade Four
In grade four at KMS, students engage in standards-based lessons in math, English Language Arts, and social studies. Classroom teachers also instruct students in social-emotional learning in order to build a positive and safe school environment.
Social-emotional learning provides a common language and vision for how to treat others and ourselves at school. In fourth grade we use lessons from the Second Step curriculum to teach about empathy, managing strong emotions, and problem-solving. We also use lessons from the RULER curriculum to teach students emotional intelligence, and as needed we provide instruction in the moment to help students with positive thinking and getting along with others.
In English Language Arts we use the Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) curriculum. Students in grade four are shifting from learning to read to reading to learn. We cover nonfiction content areas such as the Middle Ages, geology, and the American Revolution. We also study literature with units on poetry, contemporary literature using excerpts from The House on Mango Street, and classic literature using an adapted version of Treasure Island. We also study grammar, morphology, and composition. Reading and writing are integrated together in the curriculum, so students write about each subject area as they are learning. In addition to our ELA block, all students receive targeted intervention or enrichment in our What I Need (WIN) Block. This allows us to backfill important skills such as decoding, encoding, fluency, and comprehension.
We teach mathematics using the Illustrative Math curriculum. This guides students through operations with fractions, operations with whole numbers, measurement, geometry, and algebraic thinking. The most major skills covered in fourth grade are multiplication of 1-digit by 3- and 4-digit numbers, multiplication of 2-digit by 2-digit numbers, division of 4-digit numbers by 1-digit divisors, and solving multistep problems. To this end, it is critical that students are fluent in their multiplication facts up to 12x12.
In social studies, we use two programs: Social Studies Alive! from TCI, and The American Revolution from Core Knowledge History and Geography (CKHG.) We begin the year teaching about the domains of social sciences and an overview of the five regions of the United States. Then we study the Northeast and Southeast regions with more attention before pausing to learn about the American Revolution—this helps build background knowledge to support our later learning about that same historical period in ELA. After that, we return to the regions and study the Midwest, Southwest, and West regions. We also take the time in social studies to reinforce the skill of answering questions using complete sentences and text evidence.
Our grade four teachers work as a team to create a culture of curiosity, respect, and perseverance. Check out our KMS Habits of Work rubric for more information on what this means to us.
