Fourth Grade

 

Bible

Record of God's Nation, written and published by Christian Schools International, teaches students to learn about the Bible as a book.  The lessons concentrate on the Kings and Prophets of Israel and Judah through the rebuilding of Jerusalem.  The studies help students understand and imaginatively experience the context in which the Bible stories happened.  The teacher helps the students focus on understanding Bible times, the books of the Bible, and the kinds of writing in the Bible.  Bible Memory is an important part of our Bible program.  It is consistent with our mission as a Christian school to equip our students for kingdom work. Bible memory is assigned each week.

 

Language Arts

4th grade is packed with READING quality literature.  Through the reading of good books, classic and modern poetry, fairy tales, myths, fables, and fantasy, students learn and practice skills that good readers of all ages use to understand the text.  Lessons are designed to increase skills in building appreciation, word meaning, fluency, comprehension, literary analysis, and figurative language.  In addition to studying four full length children's novels as a class, every nine weeks each student reads four books of his choice from a timeless reading list.  Students use their writing skills to turn each book into an interesting multi-paragraph summary that includes elements of a narrative.  Students share their summaries by oral presentations that entice others to read new books.

             Writing:  The writing program is a blend of the 6+1 writing traits and The Simple Six.  The how to of writing is broken down in the traits that good writers use: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.  These traits are applied to everything we write - letters, book summaries, descriptions, personal narratives, fantasy and reading journal responses.  By the end of the year students should know and apply what it means to stick to the topic, write in logical order, use interesting words, choose different sentence  patterns, write descriptive sentences, and appeal to an audience.

             Grammar and Spelling: Both are used to improve writing and speaking.  Each week spelling rules are learned from the challenging spelling program, Spelling Workout.  Challenge words come from subject area content and misspelled words found in student writing.  Grammar focuses on punctuation and parts of speech.  This instruction helps to improve and enhance writing skills.  The Indiana State Standards for 4th grade Language Arts are covered throughout the year.

  

Math

Everyday Mathematics

The intent of this curriculum is to enable students to learn more mathematical content and become life-long mathematical thinkers.  Students develop easy strategies, and then move on to more sophisticated methods of solving problems as they progress through each grade level.  Some of the themes that are followed:

  • Mental Arithmetic Skills and Reflexes
  • Estimation and Number Sense
  • Problem Solving and Mathematical Modeling
  • Algorithmic and Procedural Thinking

            4th grade unit content:

    • Naming and Constructing Geometric Figures
    • Using Numbers and Organizing Data
    • Multiplication and Division; Number Sentences and Algebra
    • Decimals and Their Uses
    • Big Numbers, Estimation, and Computation
    • Division: Map Reference Frames; Measures of Angles
    • Fractions and Their Uses; Chance and Probability
    • Perimeter and Area
    • Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
    • Reflections and Symmetry
    • 3-D Shapes, Weight, Volume, and Capacity
    • Rates

Social Studies

4th grade students study Indiana History

  

Science

A student inquiry curriculum developed by the Battle Creek Area Mathematics and Science Center.  Guided inquiry instruction takes advantage of the students' natural curiosity and thinking ability to focus their learning.  Students learn from thinking about their own experiences, using research-based materials and teacher guidance.  God's power, creativity, and design are revealed to 4th graders in:

  • Motion, Force, and Energy
  • Magnetism and Electricity
  • Earth Materials
  • Animal Behavior

Art, Music, Physical Education, Computer, and Library Time are offered as part of the curriculum.