Fourth-grade students will read a variety of fiction and nonfiction literature and will apply a variety of reading comprehension strategies to enhance understanding in all content areas. Students will continue to increase communication skills in large and small group settings.

In addition, students will plan, draft, revise, and edit narratives and explanations and will routinely use information resources and word references while writing. All aspects of literacy will be taught through a balanced literacy framework for instruction, enabling all students to become independent and strategic readers, writers, thinkers, and communicators.

Fourth-grade mathematics provides students with many opportunities to engage in experiences involving problem solving, data collection and analysis, and algebraic thinking. Major topics included in the course of study are double-digit multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, and geometry.

The fourth-grade standards stress the importance of using information, analyzing data, and validating experimental results. Defining variables in experimentation is emphasized, and making simple predictions from picture, bar, and basic line graphs is underscored. Questioning and hypothesizing become more detailed at this level. Students are introduced to basic principles of electricity and to the concept of motion. Students explore basic information about our solar system and investigate the interactions among Earth, the moon, and the sun. Students explore basic plant anatomy, plant adaptations, and investigate relationships among plants and animals and their environments. In examining weather phenomena and conditions, students identify various factors, make predictions based on data, and evaluate the results. The importance of natural resources in Virginia is emphasized.

Moving from the study of ancient civilizations, the fourth-grade students will study the state of Virginia beginning with the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown to the end of the Twentieth Century. Students will explore how the geography of Virginia and the state’s resources, its economic systems, and cultural makeup have influenced Virginia history from pre-colonial times to the end of the Twentieth Century. Reading and writing about famous Virginians and studying important historical documents and events that have influenced Virginia history will prepare students to develop problem solving and decision making skills.