Grade 4

Welcome to 4th Grade at Griswold Elementary School

Fourth grade is an important year for building on foundational skills and preparing students for middle school success. Students deepen their knowledge in core subjects, strengthen independent learning habits, and explore new concepts in science, social studies, and the arts — all within a supportive and engaging environment.

What are students learning?

Academic goals for the 4th grade year include:

• Enhancing and reinforcing English Language Arts and Math foundations

• Introducing more formal Science and Social Studies concepts

• Developing independent learning and self-management skills

• Preparing for the demands of the Middle School curriculum
   

📚 English Language Arts

• Strengthen vocabulary, spelling, and reading fluency

• Recognize parts of speech and understand text features, themes, and genres

• Write narrative, informational, and opinion pieces

• Read and analyze selected novels

• Develop paragraphs with main ideas and supporting details

Lexia: Students use Lexia 4 times a week to reinforce reading skills, completing CORE5 lessons with 80% accuracy before progressing to the Power Up (Middle School) phase of this program.

➗ Mathematics

• Use Illustrative Math to reinforce operations and problem-solving

• Multiply up to 3-digit factors and divide with up to 2-digit divisors

• Work with fractions (add, subtract, multiply)

• Find area and perimeter of quadrilaterals

• Apply basic geometry terms

• Solve multi-step word problems and explain reasoning with math models
   

🌍 Social Studies & 🔬 Science

Social Studies:

• U.S. geography with focus on five regions and how geography shaped their development

• Map skills, continents, oceans, landforms, bodies of water, and states in each region

Science:

• Mystery Science curriculum exploring Earth systems, sound waves, communication, the human body, energy, and forces of motion
   

🎨 Exploratory Classes

Students attend weekly exploratory classes including music, art, technology, physical education, and health. They also participate in weekly book exchanges at the school library media center. These experiences enrich their learning and make school more meaningful and engaging.

A Day in Fourth Grade*

The Fourth Grade follows the Middle School model where students change classes and teachers for the 4 Core disciplines: Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. One Core is shared by both Science and Social Studies for half of each marking period.

• 8:40–9:00am: Homeroom: breakfast, jobs, morning announcements

• 9:05–9:50am: Exploratory

• 9:55–11:10am: Core 1 + Snack

• 11:15–12:30pm: Core 2

• 12:35–1:20pm: Lunch & Recess

• 1:30–2:45pm: Core 3

• 2:50–3:10pm: Pack-up and dismissal prep

• Schedule may vary for shortened days or special events.

*Schedule may be adjusted based on GES building schedule and vary for shortened days or special events.

Fourth Grade Resources

What Do Students Need for Fourth Grade?

Here is the Grade 4 Supply List:

• Headphones and optional computer mouse for Chromebook

• #2 pencils

• Multiplication flash cards

• Medium point dry erase markers

• Magic Erasers (small pack)

• Large packs of colored pencils and crayons

• Personal manual pencil sharpener

• Highlighters

• (Additional materials may be requested as needed)

Student Resources

• Epic Books - Digital library for students
• Lexia - Digital independent reading program
• Google Classroom
  Google Login - Email, Google Classroom, and Google Tools
  How to Sign Into Google Classroom
  Google Workspace for Education Account Username: Your username is your GPS email address, which is your Year of Graduation, First Initial, Last Name @griswoldpublicschools.org. (example: 25jsmith@griswoldpublicschools.org)
  Students have each created their own passwords.

Parent Resources

• Google Classroom
• Student/Family Link to Infinite Campus Portal (more Infinite Campus information can be found here)
• ClassDojo for SMS communications