Fourth Grade Curriculum

Holy Spirit students in Fourth Grade will:

• Develop an understanding of the Christian way of life
• Understand that we are called to live life as Jesus did: choosing a life of love, service and obedience to God
• Examine concepts of right and wrong based on Christian teaching and the Ten Commandments
• Appreciate the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a sign of God’s love

• Use the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) with whole numbers to solve problems
• Gain familiarity with factors and multiples
• Generate and analyze patterns

• Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers
• Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic

• Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering
• Build fractions from unit fractions by extending and applying previous understandings of operations on whole numbers
• Understand decimal notation for fractions and compare decimal fractions

• Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit
• Represent and interpret data
• Understand concepts of angle and measure angles (geometric measurement)

• Draw and identify lines and angles
• Classify shapes by properties of their lines and angles

• Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text
• Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text
• Discover the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology
• Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first and third person narrations

• Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reason and evidence
• Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly
• Write, plan and deliver narratives to develop real and imagined experiences or events using effective techniques including clear description, ascriptive details, and clear event sequences
• Produce clear and coherent writing
• Use technology to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others
• Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of a topic
• Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection and research

• Demonstrate an understanding of physical and human geographic features that define places and regions in California
• Describe the social, political, cultural and economic life and interactions among people in California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and Mexican rancho periods
• Explain the economic, social and political life in California from the establishment of the Bear Flag Republic throughout the Mexican American War, the Gold Rush and the granting of statehood.
• Articulate how California became an agricultural and industrial power, tracing the transformation of the California economy and its political and cultural development since the 1850’s
• Understand the structures, functions and powers of the local, state, and federal governments as described in the U.S. Constitution

• Review all the notes, rests and music symbols they learned in third grade
• Learn to play hand bells for the Advent Program
• Add the bass clef notes to their musical knowledge
• Play music bingo and other music games to help them identify the notes of the staff and will learn new music symbols. 
• Learn about modern composers and their impact on music as we know it today
• Sing and develop choreography for them 
• Perform in the Advent Program and the Spring Sing musical program
• Music class meets once per week for 40 minutes.