4th Grade

Fourth grade is the final year of the Lower School art program. Projects are designed to synthesize the knowledge and skills acquired over the preceding years. As they engage in these projects, students are prompted to think deeply about their work, tapping into their imagination and honing their craftsmanship. Lessons in sewing and fiber arts offer a hands-on and tactile approach to the elements and principles of art and a new form of artistic expression. The fourth grade art curriculum also features large-scale sculpture projects, serving as the capstone to five years of artistic growth. Working on large-scale sculptures challenges students to think spatially and consider the impact of their creations in three dimensions. The curriculum is designed to culminate the skills, techniques, and creative thinking developed throughout the Lower School art program. As students embark on their projects in the fourth grade, they showcase their technical proficiency and demonstrate their ability to think critically and imaginatively about their art. Their artwork reflects a comprehensive and multidimensional approach to art education, preparing students for continued artistic exploration and growth as they transition into Upper school. 

The fourth grade reading program is a literature-based program, designed to expose students to a variety of short stories, poems, dramas, and novels. The emphasized reading skills include location of information, word analysis, use of contextual clues, organization and summarization of material, and figurative language. The focus is on increasing fluency by relating reading skills to a particular purpose. Comprehension is monitored through class discussions and follow-up writing assignments that provide opportunities for beginning literary analysis. Special emphasis is given to the literal, interpretive, and evaluative comprehension of a selection, and to the understanding of the elements of plot, character, setting, and mood. In addition, students are required to read independently chosen books and complete several book projects. When a student finishes the fourth grade reading program, he or she can automatically read and understand a full range of genres, including fantasy, historical fiction with elaborate plots and complex characters, and informational texts. In addition, a fourth grade student can process lengthy, complex sentences and understand new vocabulary words. He or she can also read and understand texts in a variety of layouts and formats and consistently search for information in illustrations and increasingly complex graphics.

Fourth grade students participate in a writing workshop, wherein they generate ideas and produce different genres of writing. Students practice journal writing, generating realistic fiction stories, and writing several literary essays, along with several different types of poetry. Nonfiction and expository writing are incorporated into the social studies curriculum. The originality of thought and clarity of expression are emphasized. Grammar instruction focuses on sentence structure, punctuation, and paragraph development. Instruction also reviews and builds on the recognition of four basic sentence patterns and the use of the following parts of speech: noun (common, abstract, proper, possessive), verb (action and linking), pronoun (subject, object, possessive), adjective, adverb, preposition, and conjunction. Punctuation of compound sentences is introduced. The spelling program combines the traditional study of spelling rules with the introduction of vocabulary. Students are introduced to the meaning, etymology, usage, and pronunciation of unfamiliar words used in the various curriculum areas. Cursive writing is practiced throughout the year. When a student finishes fourth grade, he or she has a mastery of the mechanics of paragraphs. He or she can write a clear topic sentence with supporting details and a basic conclusion. In addition, he or she can present ideas with logical sequence and sentences with advanced structure. Penmanship is fluid and legible.

Fourth grade students continue to develop their library skills and a love of reading through instruction in the Harbor Day School library. The students are exposed to various fiction and non-fiction books during a weekly library lesson. Fourth grade students explore various literary awards, such as the Newbery Medal, the California Young Readers’ Medal, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Schneider Family Medal. The students continue to develop their research skills as they learn how to create bibliographies using MLA style conventions, research using primary and secondary sources, and utilize skills related to finding, evaluating, and synthesizing information from print and digital resources. Fourth grade students continue to check out library books and utilize the online catalog, various award-winner lists, and other resources in order to find “just right books” at appropriate reading and content levels for each individual. Students are expected to navigate all areas of the library (various book collections, Tinkerspace, and catalog computers) respectfully and responsibly.

Throughout the year, students are exposed to a variety of genres in literature. The following list is a sampling of book titles incorporated into the Language Arts program in fourth grade.

Chapter Books 

Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing - Judy Blume
The War I Finally Won - Kimber Bradley
The War That Saved My Life - Kimberly Bradley
Bud, Not Buddy - Christopher Curtis
Matilda - Roald Dahl
The Witches - Roald Dahl
Tiger Rising - Kate DiCamillo
A Diamond In The Desert - Kathryn Fitzmaurice
Ban this Book - Alan Gratz
Full of Beans - Jennifer Holm
Dash - Kirby Larson
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Grace Lin
Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
Rain, Reign -  Ann M. Martin
Becoming Naomi Leon - Pam Munoz Ryan
Esperanza Rising - Pam Munoz Ryan
Paperboy - Vince Vawter

Picture Books 

Jabari Jumps - Gaia Cornwell
The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldon
The Bravest Knight That Ever Lived - Daniel Errico
The Best Part of Me - Wendy Ewald
Change Sings - Amanda Gorman
Rose Blanche - Roberto Innocenti
My Voice Is a Trumpet - Allen Johnson
A Big Mooncake for Little Star - Grace Lin
The Paper Bag Princess - Robert Munsch
Everything Weather - National Geographic Kids
Erosion - Darsy Pattison
A Different Pond - Bao Phi
Fox - Ron Brooks and Margaret Wild

Harbor Day School recognizes the importance of mathematics as a cornerstone of a student’s education. Our mission is to develop confidence and competence in mathematics as students learn to think critically and to problem-solve strategically and collaboratively. Throughout the grades, students are encouraged to communicate their understanding in verbal and written form and to consider and critique alternate solution strategies for problems. Lessons and activities are crafted to facilitate making connections, seeing patterns, and experiencing the joy and success that mathematics can bring.

The mathematics program utilizes Singapore Math strategies. These strategies help students build strong number sense, fluency, place value understanding, and problem-solving ability. The components of our K-5 math program are designed around these four pillars of Singapore Math. The use of concrete materials, pictorial representations, and bar modeling techniques provides students with a well-balanced approach to concept mastery. Through the use of manipulatives, students develop a solid foundation for the more abstract thinking and approaches required in later math courses. Mathematical practices and habits of mind are developed and reinforced as students develop confidence and enthusiasm for mathematics. In grades K-5, the scope and sequence is aligned with and utilizes the Dimensions textbook series. Many additional resources provide opportunities for students to extend and support their acquisition of skills and to apply them in problem-solving activities. Some of these resources include, but are not limited to: Marcy Cook Tiles, iPad apps, and IXL.

In fourth grade, students continue to study and increase their understanding of numbers. Students understand place values up to one million by using number disks and manipulatives, as well as the pictorial representation of large numbers. Students learn to compute whole numbers, fractions, and decimals. A part of the curriculum focuses on applying the four arithmetic operations to fractions with both like and unlike denominators. In fourth grade, students deepen their understanding of number sense, graphing and probability, measurement, unit conversions, geometry, and problem-solving. During this year, the students continue to apply a bar modeling approach to a variety of word problems, including, but not limited to, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, and measurement. In addition, perimeter, area, volume, and statistical graphs of data are included in the fourth grade curriculum. Students explain their reasoning and share their understanding both orally and in writing.

Students continue reading notes off the treble clef, as well as the Bass clef. Literacy concepts are introduced and reinforced in ways that build off of the kindergarten through second grade curriculum. Music play and creative movement still exist in the general music curriculum (3rd and 4th grades) but with more structure; games and creative movement are included as the last component of tiered Orff lessons. The students study the ukulele, its origin, chord fingering, and strumming patterns. In doing so, the students deepen their harmonic understanding of chord building and chordal function in polyphonic music. Throughout the year, the fourth grade curriculum explores a global ethnographic survey of the music, cultures, and people around the world through the Carnegie Hall Music Explorers program and Smithsonian Folkways. The students also begin learning technology-based composition using Noteflight Learn and Soundtrap, which assist them in notating and composing. To enhance their social and personal development, students learn to share, cooperate, take turns, take risks, perform in front of their peers, and experience personal success through performance. Fourth grade students perform in three major productions each year: the Holiday Program, Grandparents’ Day, and State Fair. 

Students in Fourth Grade will:

• Continue reading music using treble clef

• Begin reading the Bass clef

• Move expressively to live and recorded music

• Use solfege to understand melodic shape, sing melodies in solfege

• Reinforce proper embouchure, breath support, and fine motor skills through recorder performance

• Listen critically to music recordings

• Perform vocal rounds (two and three-part)

• Perform two-part vocal harmony

• Learn to articulate when speaking in front of an audience clearly

• Study chord structure and polyphonic music 

• Learn the origin and anatomy of the ukulele

• Integrate ukulele skills into song units and musical performances

• Learn chord building (major, minor, and dominant 7th)

• Compose music using Technology-Based Music Instruction 

• Utilize notation and compositions software Noteflight and SoundTrap

• Explore and perform music from cultures around the world

The purpose of the physical education program in third and fourth grade is for the students to apply the knowledge previously acquired toward more effective means of movement and skill. This is accomplished through refined locomotion and object manipulation, while the student is challenged with more difficult problems to solve with his or her body. At the same time, all students are provided with games and activities that increase group interaction, with an emphasis placed on cooperation, knowledge of the game, and sportsmanship. Students are challenged to improve their physiological efficiency by understanding the need for the use of good body mechanics and refined motor control in their actions. Patterns of movement and sequences that are more difficult are introduced to enhance a student’s ability to develop skills that may be used in a variety of sport-related games. Emphasis is placed upon form and accuracy when working on the refinement of a student’s ball skills and object manipulation skills. Group interaction includes a wider variety of partner, group, and team activities. Problem-solving skills within a group, cooperation with others, and teamwork and sportsmanship are topics of discussion during these activities. Sport lead-up games are utilized to provide an opportunity to learn skills, rules, strategies, and knowledge of a sport at a simplified level.

Activities in third and fourth grade may include: movement activities, ball activities, hoops activities, target activities, relays, scramball, pin blitz, scooters, tag games, dance, and station work. Sport-related skills, activities, and lead-up games may include: Newcomb volleyball, volleyball, basketball, soccer, pillo polo, hockey, ultimate ball, football, kickball, and wiffle-ball baseball.

At the conclusion of the year, fourth grade students should be able to demonstrate all of the third grade skills but with more refinement, control, accuracy, and power. An emphasis is placed on the pillars of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Particular attention is devoted to how the concepts are applied in the physical education setting, with an emphasis on sportsmanship. 

In the fourth grade, students attend science class three times per week. The core interactive and digital instructional resource used in this course is the Discovery Education Science Techbook for California Next Generation Science Standards Grade 4. This year in science, students study topics that help them to formulate answers to questions such as: “What are waves and what are some things they can do? How can water, ice, wind, and vegetation change the land? What pattern of Earth’s features can be determined with the use of maps? How do internal and external structures support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction in plants and animals?  What is energy and how is it related to motion? How is energy transferred? How does an engineer carry out a fair test in order to improve a model or prototype?” Students expand their understanding of these topics through individualized laboratory activities, teacher-led demonstrations, and the use of technology. Students are expected to demonstrate their understanding by asking questions, developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations, designing solutions, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.

The fourth grade social studies curriculum focuses on the United States, emphasizing our country’s physical and regional geography. An important feature of the year is the “State Report,” a student-produced, year-long, research-based project. This project is designed to give each student an in-depth look at one particular state and teach the students, in a structured manner, the steps involved in doing a research project. Students are taught how to gather information about their topic, take notes and compile information from appropriate sources, cite their sources and create a bibliography, synthesize their information, and share their knowledge. The culmination of the unit is the Fourth Grade State Fair. Students gather into regions; the groups share the information learned and sing patriotic songs. Students present the material learned in a school-wide assembly where parents are invited to enjoy a special celebration. Students explore the geography of the United States of America by incorporating a detailed overview of the topography and cultural history of the United States. Students progress through the study of the geography of the United States, learning the names and locations of the regions, states, capitals, and important physical features. The important industries of each region are also discussed. 

In the fourth grade, students continue the curriculum they began in third grade. This curriculum uses Comprehensible Input (CI) and Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) to strengthen their Spanish skills. Students continue to review and learn verbs in the third person. They also learn these verbs in the first and second-person singular. Fourth graders continue to develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Spanish through stories, acting, movie clips, translation, games, activities, writing exercises, and group and individual work. Some topics studied are characteristics, descriptions, telling time, more detailed weather descriptions, sports, numbers in the 100s and 1000s, and more emotions. Students finish the year reading a short novel in Spanish as well. In addition to learning the language, students study the history and culture of Ecuador throughout the year.

The fourth grade spelling program combines the study of spelling rules with the introduction of vocabulary. Students are introduced to the meaning, etymology, usage, and pronunciation of unfamiliar words used in the various curriculum areas. The objectives are to expand vocabulary and to develop precision of expression. As part of the weekly spelling lesson, students learn how to spell state names and capitals. An emphasis is placed on spelling words that are most frequently used in daily written work.

In the fourth grade, instruction takes place twice a week in the Lower School Technology Lab. Students continue their keyboarding practice using their personal accounts on the Typing Club website. Fourth grade is the first year that students are assessed on their typing speed four times during the year, with a year-end goal of 30 words per minute. Fourth graders are also given access to Google Apps for Education and the HDS Portal for the first time. Students learn about cloud storage, and create projects in Google Drive through Docs, Slides, and Sheets. Fourth graders also build and code robots using Lego EV3 Mindstorms.

Harbor Day School continues the traditional woodshop found in many eastern independent schools. Students in fourth grade have one 30-minute period of woodshop per week. The classes consist of eleven students each. Students continue to follow the engineering-design framework, as well as perfect the skills necessary to work with wood and spend time building from their own project ideas.