Grade 4

Your child will build the stamina and skills that will allow him or her to read challenging fiction, nonfiction and other materials. They will continue to learn about the world and build vocabulary skills by reading more complicated stories and poems from different cultures, along with a range of books about history, science, art and music. Students also will make important strides in their ability to plainly explain in detail what a book says — both explicitly and what is implied from its details. Your child will write effective summaries, book reports and descriptions of characters or events that use correct grammar and punctuation.

Examples of Your Child’s Work at School:

• Compare ideas, characters, events and settings in stories and myths from different cultures.

• Write summaries or opinions about topics that are supported with a set of well-organized facts, details and examples.

• Independently conduct short research projects about different aspects of a topic using evidence from books and the Internet.

• Paraphrase and respond to information presented in discussions, such as comparing and contrasting ideas and analyzing evidence that speakers use to support particular points.

• Write complete sentences with correct capitalization and spelling.

• Relate words that are common in reading to words with similar meanings (synonyms) and to their opposites (antonyms).

How to Help Your Child at Home:

• Urge your child to use logical arguments to defend his or her opinion. If your child wants a raise in allowance, ask him or her to research commonsense allowance systems and, based on that research, explain reasons why an increase is warranted, supported by facts and details.

• Talk about the news together. Pick one story in the news, read it together, and discuss with your child what it means.

• Keep books, magazines, and newspapers at home. Make sure your child sees you reading.

   

Your child will develop efficient and accurate methods by which to multiply and divide whole numbers. They also will build knowledge and skills with fractions to prepare for mastering this topic in 5th and 6th grades and to ensure they are ready for algebra and advanced math.

Examples of Your Child’s Work at School:

• Use whole-number computation to solve word problems that include problems with remainders and measurements.

• Add and subtract whole numbers efficiently (numbers up to 1 million).

• Multiply and divide multi-digit numbers (e.g., multiply 1,638 × 7, or 24 × 17, and divide 6,966 by 6).

• Understand and apply equivalent fractions (e.g., recognize that ¼ is less than 3⁄8 because 2⁄8 is less than 3⁄8).

• Add, subtract and multiply fractions (e.g., 2 ¾ − 1 ¼, or 3 × 5⁄8) and solve related word problems.

• Measure angles and find unknown angles in a diagram.

How to Help Your Child at Home:

• Look for “word problems” in real life. Some 4th grade examples might include:

       ○   Ask your child to compare numbers using such phrases as “times as much.” For example, if the family cat weighs 8 lbs. and the family dog weighs 56 lbs., how many times as much does the dog weigh?

    ○   Ask your child to help you compare fractional amounts. For example, if one recipe calls for 2⁄3 of a cup of oil, but another recipe calls for ¾ of a cup of oil, which recipe calls for more oil? (In 5th grade, your child will learn ways to determine exactly just how much more oil.)

Students in fourth grade will use quantitative and qualitative data to formulate arguments about evidence, develop models, analyze and interpret data from maps, and construct explanations related to the transfer of matter and energy on earth, in physical interactions, and in organisms. Students will engage in learning activities and investigations designed to formulate answers to questions such as “What are waves and what are some things they can do? What is energy and how is it related to motion?”

Examples of Your Child’s Work at School:

• Describe how the internal and external structures of different plants and animals function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

•  Plan and conduct investigations to explore how light and sight are related.

• Design a device that uses an electrical current to produce motion, sound, light or heat.

• Explore wave properties and discover how waves can cause objects to move.

•  Use patterns of rock formations and fossils to construct an explanation of how environments change over time.

• Make observations or take measurements to determine the effects of weathering and erosion on shaping the land.

How to Help Your Child at Home:

• Have your child collect items found in nature such as rocks, leaves, insects, plants, or seeds. Encourage your child to develop questions about those items and help him/her find answers to those questions either through investigations, by reading nonfiction texts, or by asking appropriate experts.

• Take a nature walk through your neighborhood, visit parks and hiking, biking, and cross-country trails. Observe how animals use their senses to respond to information from their environment.

• Identify examples of how water, ice, wind, and vegetation have changed or can change the land. Ask your child to consider what things humans have done to lessen the impact of those changes.

In fourth grade, students focus on how society has changed and stayed the same over time. Students see how change is inevitable and the patterns and consequences of change across different historical eras.

Examples of Your Child’s Work at School:

•  Identify challenges and opportunities when taking action to address civic problems, including predicting results. 

• Explain why the prices of goods and services rise and fall.

• Describe how environmental and cultural characteristics influence where people live.

•  Analyze the impact of technological changes in Iowa over time.

• Describe how societies have changed in the past and continue to change.

• Analyze conflicting perspectives on historical and current events/issues.

How to Help Your Child at Home:

• Visit museums and cultural institutions such as Living History Farms or the World Food Prize. Discuss how technological change has influenced Iowa’s agriculture over time. 

• Discuss the prices of various goods and services and why sometimes the prices of those goods and services rise and fall.

• Discuss financial responsibility and concepts such as saving, spending, budgeting, etc.

• Explain why and how the enforcement of laws helps society.

• Visit a farm, farmer’s market, or pumpkin patch.  Talk about what agriculture industries exist in Iowa.

What Are 21st Century Skills?
21st-century skills are essential knowledge, life abilities, career aptitudes, habits, and traits crucial for student success in the modern world. WDMCS creates age-appropriate learning opportunities to grow these skills in all students.

Students will learn how to use technology in all curricular areas to communicate and appropriately work with others. They will practice work habits and social skills that will help them become successful students.

Examples of Your Child’s Work at School:

• Compare positive and negative health and safety practices.

• Give examples of personal rights and responsibilities as members in a classroom.

• Use technology to illustrate and communicate ideas related to class projects.

• Follow steps or processes to complete increasingly complex tasks.

How to Help Your Child at Home:

• Read with your child from books with 21st Century skills content.  Examples: Jobs People Do series by DK publishing.

• Help your child select physical activities to keep moving and have fun.

• Show your child how to appropriately use technology to find games, activities and information.