In fourth grade, students learn effective use of technology in the classroom and how to incorporate it into assignments and projects. Listed below are highlights of the fourth-grade curriculum that students work on throughout the school year.

We look forward to an exciting school year along with plenty of learning. Come join us for your child’s fourth-grade year at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School.

What Students Learn in Fourth Grade

In fourth grade, students use the Christ Our Life: New Evangelization edition, and they practice their cursive-handwriting skills in the Writing Our Catholic Faith workbook. All fourth-graders are encouraged to become altar servers for their community church, and they are required to visit a nearby California Mission to complete their California Mission project. Fourth-graders learn about God through Jesus, Scripture and Church. They also study the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.

Fourth-grade students use Houghton Mifflin’s Journeys reading series. Every week, a new story from the anthology is introduced, and students complete skills based on activities related to what they read. Fourth-grade students also complete three novel studies throughout the year. They include Island of the Blue Dolphins, By the Great Horn Spoon! and A Jar of Dreams. Lastly, students use the Accelerated Reader program, and they take quizzes to reach their individual reading goal.

Fourth-graders take a spelling test every Friday. The spelling words come from Spelling Connections by Zaner-Bloser. Students complete spelling activities each week.

For grammar, students use Easy Grammar: Grade 4. In the workbook, fourth-graders first identify prepositional phrases and delete them from the sentence. This helps students find the subject and verb. They also learn to identify nouns, sentence types, conjunctions, interjections, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns. Students practice writing every day in their journals.

Fourth-graders use the enVision Math Common Core series. Students review concepts they learned in third grade and then move on to more advanced topics such as fractions, decimals and algebraic thinking. They also use MobyMax to track their progress on basic math facts. Students practice to master multiplication and division facts up to 15.

In fourth grade, students use the California Inspire Science series by McGraw Hill Education. They learn about using energy, renewable and nonrenewable resources, and the impact of energy use. The program is very interactive and engaging for the fourth-graders. It includes many hands-on activities. They also learn about Earth, information processing and living things.

In the fourth-grade class, students use the California: A Changing State textbook from the Impact California Social Studies curriculum. It covers early Native American history through current-day issues, including the California Gold Rush, California Missions and how California became a state. Students will get a chance to pan for gold, make butter, wash clothes like a miner and create adobe bricks during the class field trip based on the California Gold Rush.

Please Label With Child’s Name:

  • 1 plastic pencil box
  • 1 pair scissors
  • 1 box twistable Crayons (12- or 24-count)
  • 1 box Crayola classic markers (12-count)
  • 1 box twistable colored pencils
  • 3 black and 3 red ballpoint pens
  • 2 highlighters (varied colors)
  • No. 2 Ticonderoga pencils (year supply)
  • 4 glue sticks
  • 1 4-oz bottle Elmer’s glue
  • 1 ruler (standard and metric)
  • 1 protractor
  • 3 One subject notebook (college-ruled)
  • 1 graph paper notebook (math)
  • 1 composition book (journal)
  • 3 colored plastic double-pocket folders
  • 1 pair headphones for iPad (3.5 mm)
  • 1 set watercolors (8 colors)
  • 1 set oil pastels  (12 colors)
  • 1 set chalk pastels (12 colors)
  • 2 black Sharpies (fine point)
  • 2 black Sharpies (ultra-fine point)

Do Not Label These Items:

  • 2 boxes Kleenex
  • 1 cylinder Lysol/Clorox wipes
  • 1 package baby wipes
  • 1 roll paper towels
  • 1 pack pencil-top erasers
  • 1 jumbo chalk window marker

Novels:

  • A Jar of Dreams – Yoshiko Uchida
  • Island of the Blue Dolphin
  • The Great Horn Spoon

Last Name A-L

  • 1 ream white card stock
  • 1 Scotch double-sided tape

Last Name M-Z

  • 1 ream primary colored card stock
  • 1 Scotch tape

Optional Gift Cards:
Walgreens (for photo developing), Amazon, Hobby Lobby, Joann (These cards help with the expensive class projects for Mother’s Day/Father’s Day, Christmas and Valentine’s Day.)

TeachersPayTeachers.com

Each student should bring one or more reams of 500 sheets or more of white copy paper for the school office labeled with his or her name.