Fourth Grade Curriculum
In fourth grade, children take on new types of work and social experiences. Fourth graders will be required to follow
the many directions and long-range planning that their school assignments require. They also have to learn to
collaborate with their peers of group projects while navigating changing social dynamics. Students will be required
to organize more books and materials, as well as multiple folders for each subject area. Fourth grade work gets
harder, as students have separate teachers for more subjects. Students will need to manage their work more
independently-that includes homework assignments in multiple subjects, as well as, keeping track of long-range
assignments and tasks. St Elizabeth Ann Seton School recognizes the additional organizational skills needed at this
age and offers additional instruction in organizational and study skills for the fourth and fifth grades.
Your child's progress will be reported through conferences, email, SIS and Standard-Based check list. The check list
will indicate progress on the objectives identified in the Fourth Grade curriculum. Please find below a sampling of
the St Elizabeth Ann Seton Fourth Grade curriculum. For a complete list of the standards covered in Fourth Grade,
please click on the Curriculum Map for Fourth Grade.
CHARACTER EDUCATION
The objective of character education at St Elizabeth Ann Seton is to shape, nurture, and develop the total child.
Character development improves school and classroom climate by focusing on basic principles of character. This
objective is achieved through daily actions and integration of the following principles of character education into the
curriculum at all levels.
Good Judgment - To choose worthy goals and set proper priorities; to think through the consequences of your
actions; to base decisions on practical wisdom and good sense.
Responsibility - To be dependable in carrying out obligations and duties; to show reliability and consistency in
words and conduct; to be accountable for your own actions; to be committed to active involvement in your
community
Respect - To show high regard for authority, for other people, for self, for property, and for country; to understand
that all people have value as human beings
Good Citizenship - Obeying the laws of the nation and this State; abiding by school rules; and understanding the
rights and responsibilities of a member of a republic
Service to Others / Kindness - To be considerate, courteous, helpful, and understanding of others; to show care,
compassion, friendship, and generosity; to treat others as you would like to be treated
Courage - To have the determination to do the right thing even when others don't, and to have the strength to follow
your conscience rather that the crowd
Self-Discipline - To demonstrate hard work and commitment to purpose; to regulate yourself for improvement; to
refrain from inappropriate behaviors; to be in proper control of your words, actions, impulses, and desires; and to do
your best in all situations
Perseverance - To be persistent in the pursuit of worthy objectives in spite of difficulty, opposition, or
discouragement; to exhibit patience and be willing to try again when confronted with delays, mistakes, or failures
Integrity - To have the inner strength to be truthful, trustworthy, and honest in all things; to act justly and honorably
Responsibility for School Safety - Helping to create a harmonious school atmosphere that is free from threats,
weapons, and violent behavior; cultivate an orderly learning environment in which students and school personnel
feel safe and secure; and encourage the resolution of disagreements through peaceful means including peer
mediation
RELIGION
St Elizabeth Ann Seton’s religious education is an on-going process to provide spiritual formation and instruction
for all children. We believe that we are called to respond to Christian witness throughout our lives. We are called to
be Intentional Disciples of Christ. The children will act in accordance with the basic doctrines of the Catholic
Church while experiencing the faith community within our school.
The rosary will be prayed frequently throughout the year, but especially in October and May (the months of Mary).
Students will attend Mass weekly, either as a class or with the entire school. Service projects are built into the
overall curriculum for each grade level. A specialized focus will be given to Mission and Vocation Awareness.

Recognize Jesus as the center of our Faith and is both human and Divine

Recognize the need for Jesus as Our Savior

Identify and explain moral responsibility and respect as members of the family of God.

Identify the four parts of the Mass (Introductory Rites, Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist, and
Concluding Rites) and the articles and vestments used during Mass

Planning and implementation of the celebration of the Mass

Explain the concepts related to the resurrection and eternal life

Acknowledge the existence of their conscience and the need for the Sacrament of Reconciliation

Demonstrate knowledge of the two main parts of the Bible, and how to find a given scripture passage

Demonstrate responsibilities to self, as a family member, as a Church member, and as a member of the
school community

Demonstrate an awareness of God and an appreciation for His creation

Participation in daily prayer both as a class and an individual

Demonstrate an appreciation for the daily 'life of the Saint'

Demonstrate knowledge of prayers (Prayer to the Holy Spirit, rosary, meditation, Apostles' Creed, Nicene
Creed, spiritual adoption prayer)

Demonstrate respect for others in their classroom

Demonstrate knowledge of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes and how to live them

Demonstrate respect and proper behavior while at Mass

Exhibit behavior that demonstrates chastity, virtue, justice, and respect

Discuss and participate in seasonal events of the Church year and Holy days

Recognize different Church celebrations

Recognize the importance of saints as examples

Respond to opportunities for service in and out of school

Apply the Church teachings to their daily lives
LANGUAGE ARTS
The fourth grade language arts program focuses on the broad areas of oral language, reading, writing, and word
study. Students will be introduced to a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction literature which will serve as a basis for
instruction and practice in phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and writing.
Reading

Read and comprehend different types of stories appropriate for fourth grade (fantasy, realistic fiction,
poetry, fable, legend, informational, recipe, play, charts, maps, autobiographies, journals, and biographical)

Identify literary genre

Read fluently using punctuation, appropriate expression, intonation, and an appropriate rate

Use a variety of reading comprehension strategies (i.e. predicting, inferring, making connections, drawing
conclusions, reread, read ahead, question, paraphrase, using prior knowledge)

Monitor and self-correct errors while reading

Use different strategies before, during, and after reading to set a purpose, make predictions, question, and
make connections

Determine usefulness of information and ideas

Choose appropriate level books and reads independently for 30 minutes daily to increase vocabulary,
concepts, and reading stamina

Read for a variety of purposes (such as information, pleasure, problem-solving)

Respond to literature orally and in writing.

Identify elements of fiction and nonfiction to determine author's purpose, plot, conflict, sequence,
problem/solution, main idea, supporting details, cause and effect, fact and opinion, mood, author's use of
figurative language, and point of view

Focus on detail to locate specific information and clarify meaning

Identify and generate antonyms, synonyms, homonyms, idioms, acronym, metaphors, similes, and multiple
meaning words

Apply meaning of roots, prefixes and suffixes to read unfamiliar words

Use reference materials for spelling , reading, and decoding (such as dictionary, thesaurus, glossary)

Identify main idea and supporting details of a text

Identify story elements by recalling facts and details from the text

Compare and connect information across informational text

Describe causes and effects of actions or events

Identify first person and third person points of view

Summarize and record information from the story using characters (including main), setting, sequence of
events, problem/solution, plot, and author's purpose, while relating the story to life experiences

Compare and contrast two works (i.e. by different authors, the same author, and/or illustrator, genre, theme)
Written and Oral Communication

Write for a variety of reasons to various audiences using different formats (stories, reports, friendly letters,
business letters, advertisements, interviews, news articles, etc)

Plan and organize ideas before beginning to write

Stay on topic when writing

Use writing informally for their own purposes

Compose a rough draft that focuses on major ideas and details, revises written work focusing on aspects of
writing such as organization, word choice, and clarity, edits written work to use correct grammatical
conventions, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation

Incorporate strategies and skills to enhance writing

Respond to text, in writing, and verbally by making personal connections, looking at different points of
view, making inferences, and reflecting

Create at least 35 written pieces throughout the year including narrative, informational, descriptive,
explanatory, response to literature, and poetry

Correctly spell previously studied words and spelling patterns

Uses writing as a tool for thinking, learning, and reflecting

Write to inform, to persuade, and to tell a personal or imaginative narrative

Write a variety of literary, informational, and practical texts (fairy tales, poetry, recipes, news articles,
interviews, etc)

Generate and answer literal, inferential, interpretive, and evaluative questions based on text

Engage reader with the opening paragraph and provides a conclusion

Indent paragraphs

Create a setting and introduce characters through precise choice of detail

Develop a plot with a sequence of events

Describe the actions and emotions of the characters using descriptive details, actions, and dialogue

Add reflective comments in autobiographical narrative

Demonstrate effective oral communication (fluency and pace, punctuation skill, projection, enunciation,
and expression)

Experiment using published authors' techniques in their own writing

Use diagrams, charts, and illustrations as appropriate to the text

Demonstrate attentive and responsive listening skills

Use media and technology as a tool to create a written product

Use cursive handwriting

Creation of a writing portfolio containing at least 4 pieces of independent student writing (one from each
quarter of the school year)
MATHEMATICS
"Real-life Application" is integrated throughout the fourth grade and is an essential goal at this grade level. Students
have many opportunities to use the skills involved with computation, estimation, time, money, measurement,
geometry, graphing, probability, and algebra to solve a wide variety of everyday problems.
Number and Numeration

Read, write, and identify place and value of whole numbers up to 1,000,000,000

Read, write, and identify place and value of decimals expressed through the thousandths

Read, write, compare, order, and model fractions

Solve problems involving fractional parts of a region or a collection

Demonstrate knowledge of GCF (greatest common factor) and LCM (least common multiple)

Name multiples of whole numbers less than 10

Identify prime and composite numbers

Find factors of numbers

Use numerical expressions and grouping symbols to give equivalent names for whole numbers

Use numerical expressions to find equivalent names for fractions and decimals

Rename fourths, fifths, tenths, and hundredths

Compare and order numbers up to 1,000,000,000

Compare and order decimals through thousandths

Compare and order integers
Operations and Computation

Know all basic addition and subtraction facts and fact extensions quickly and accurately

Recall quickly and accurately multiplication facts and have a strategy to compute related division facts

Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of whole numbers and decimals through hundredths

Solve problems involving multiplication and division of whole numbers using mental arithmetic, paper and
pencil, and calculators

Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions with like and unlike denominators using
manipulatives, literature, mental arithmetic, and calculators

Uses the basic properties (identity, commutative, associative, order of operations) for addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division

Make reasonable estimates for whole number and decimal addition and subtraction problems and explain
how the estimates were made

Make reasonable estimates for whole number multiplication and division problems and explain how
estimates were made

Use repeated addition, skip counting, arrays, area, and scaling to model multiplication and division
Data and Chance

Collect and organize data to create tally charts, tables, line plots, Venn diagrams, pictographs, and bar
graphs

Use graphs to answer simple questions and draw conclusions

Find the maximum, minimum, range, mode, and median of a data set

Describe events using certain, very likely, likely, unlikely, possible, impossible, and other basic probability
terms and explain the choice

Use more likely, equally likely, same chance, 50-50, less likely, and other probability terms to compare
events

Express the probability of an event as a fraction
Measurement and Reference Frames

Estimate length with and without tools

Measure length to the nearest ¼ inch and ½ centimeter

Estimate the size of angles without tools using terms (acute, right, obtuse)

Describe and use strategies to measure the perimeter and area of polygons

Estimate the area of irregular shapes

Find the volume of rectangular prisms

Describe the relationships among U.S. customary units of length and among metric units of length

Use ordered pairs to name, locate, and plot points in the first quadrant of a coordinate grid

Estimate and measure volume/capacity and weight/mass using metric and English units
Geometry

Identify and draw points, intersecting, perpendicular, and parallel line segments, and lines, rays, and right,
acute, and obtuse angles

Describe, compare, classify plane and solid figures including circles, polygons, triangles, parallelogram,
squares, rectangles, spheres, cylinders, rectangular prisms, pyramids, cones, and cubes using terms face,
edge, vertex, congruent, and base

Identify, describe, and sketch examples of reflections

Identify and describe examples of translations and rotations
Patterns, Functions, and Algebra

Extend, describe, and create numeric patterns

Describe rules for patterns and use them to solve problems

Read, write, and explain number sentences using the symbols +,-, =, x, /,<, and > (as well as congruent
symbol )

Determine whether number sentences are true or Calculates elapsed time in a story problem

Solve open sentences and explain the solutions

Write number sentences to model number stories
SCIENCE
The fourth grade science objectives stress the importance of a variety of hands-on investigations to study life,
physical, and earth sciences. Students will continue to use science skills to explore the world around them. These
skills include observing, asking questions, measuring, classifying, inferring, predicting, analyzing data, and
validating experimental results.
Defining variables in experimentation and interpreting data from picture, bar, and line graphs are emphasized.
Questioning and hypothesizing become more detailed. Students are introduced to basic principles of electricity,
energy, and to different activity levels of molecules. Interactions among the earth, moon, sun, and among plants and
animals and their environments are investigated. In examining weather, students use meteorological tools and chart
data to predict the various factors that produce weather conditions. The importance of natural resources of Missouri
is also emphasized.
Electricity, Energy, and Work

Identify and explain the forces which affect the motion of objects

State the relationship between kinetic and potential energy and provide examples

Create, diagram, and differentiate between different types of circuits (series, parallel, open, and closed)

Differentiate between a permanent magnet and electromagnet
Ecosystems, Plant Anatomy, and Life Processes

Identify the parts of the plant and explain their function

Identify the parts of animal and plant cells

Create and explain a model/diagram illustrating the reproductive process of flowering plants, ferns, and
mosses

Explain the process of photosynthesis

Analyze the components of different ecosystems: nonliving elements, plants, food webs, communities, and
animal niches

Identify and describe fossils, fossil formation, and fossil fuels

Explain how organisms adapt to different environments through structural and behavioral adaptations in
order to survive
Earth, Moon, and Sun Systems

Describe the layers of the Earth

Create and describe a model of the sun and planets in the solar system including physical characteristics of
each body and related movements (rotation, revolution, moon, phases, eclipses)

Describe how previous astronomers based their conclusions on their observations and how our
understanding continues to change with new scientific discoveries
Weather

Explain and use key terminology such as humidity, high-low pressure, air masses, warm and cold fronts,
cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and cumulonimbus

Compare and contrast the formation of different types of precipitation and describe the weather conditions
associated with each one

Plan, design, and conduct an investigation where weather data are gathered using meteorological tools and
charted to make weather predictions
Natural Resources of Missouri

Compare and contrast natural and man-made resources

Describe a variety of soil and land uses

Investigate composition and uses of rocks and minerals

Create and interpret a model of a watershed to demonstrate the interrelationship between soil, land, rivers,
and lakes

Participate in a recycling project
Respect for Self

Demonstrate knowledge of personal hygiene

Demonstrate knowledge of the skeletal, muscular, respiratory, digestive, nervous, circulatory, and excretory
systems of the human body

Identify basic nutrition and healthy eating habits

Demonstrate knowledge of methods of safety (fire, earthquake, tornado, strangers)

Apply morally responsible scientific knowledge to daily life
SOCIAL STUDIES
In fourth grade, students will explore the history of the regions of the United States from the Ice Age to the
American Revolution-specifically that of Missouri. Students will study the reasons why early settlers wanted to
make the United States their home. They will become aware of how the geography of each region varies and its
impact on each region's economy. The course of study will also examine the relationships between events in world
history as it relates to United States history.
History

Analyze primary and secondary sources to acquire information about a region's history

Identify the Native Americans who were the original inhabitants in each region

Identify people of different ethnic groups who settled in each region

Summarize the reasons for people wanting to make a certain region their home

Identify the major historical events that occurred in each region and their impact on America

Demonstrate knowledge explaining the relationship between the Powhatan Indians and the English settlers
at Jamestown focusing on the cultural interactions between the natives already living in the region and
newly arriving colonists.

Compare and contrast the English colonies of Jamestown, Plymouth, and Roanoke

Explain the connection between Colonial America, England, and France

Identify the significance of the Columbian Exchange
Geography

Develop map skills as the continents, oceans, and hemispheres are investigated and identified

Locate the European countries of England, France, Scotland, Ireland, and Germany and identify their
relative location to North America

Identify world geography significant to the creation of the United States

Use a map legend to interpret different maps

Demonstrate knowledge of longitude and latitude

Identify how the United States is shaped by the five themes of geography (location, movement, place,
regions, human/environmental interaction)

Compare each region and the influences of geography on each

Identify and locate major physical features of each region

Describe the climate of each region and draw conclusions for the varied climates throughout the United
States

Interpret the impact of geography on American Indians in Missouri

Locate three American Indian language groups ( the Osage, Chickasaw and Illini) on a map of Missouri
and summarize their interaction with each other

Describe how Native American in Missouri related to the climate and their environment in order to secure
food , clothing, and shelter

Analyze how Missouri's geography influenced its history and culture

Locate and identify the five geographic regions of Missouri (Dissected Till Plain, Ozark Highlands,
Western Plain, Coastal Plain, Till Plain)

Recognize places in time are unique and differ in human characteristics

Identify similarities and differences between and among United States regions
Economics

Identify the major resources of each region

Demonstrate knowledge that economic decisions are based on needs and have consequences.

Demonstrate knowledge of the terms; productivity, scarcity, supply &demand, import, export

Identify the importance of the economic factors during Colonial America

Explain the economic reasoning behind taxes (tariffs) placed on the colonists by England. Discuss the
consequences of the tariff in the short and long terms

Demonstrate knowledge of the triangular trade system
Civics

Identify the three branches of state and federal governments

Identify the titles of major position in state and federal governments

Identify the citizen's rights to petition the government for changes in the law during Colonial America

Identify the purpose , functions, and powers of the local, state, and national government during Colonial
America

Use technology (such as websites, electronic encyclopedias, almanacs, and atlases, newspapers, and
magazines) to connect past and current events in government

Identify early American political groups :Tories, Whigs, Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Loyalists, and
Separatists

Explain the factors that helped unite us as one country (patriotism and participation in democratic
government) during Colonial times

Define a person's responsibilities as a state resident and a citizen of the United States during Colonial times