Fourth Grade

Fourth grade at St. Paul’s recognizes and supports the maturation and development of students as learners and scholars. The curriculum, supervised by a teacher and shared intern, provides the students with many opportunities to develop their individual intellects and strengthen their skills. Each day begins with Morning Meeting, which is followed by a combination of long-term and short-term, individual and group projects, daily tasks and responsibilities, presentations, peer observations and support, as well as separate classes with specialists in Spanish, art, computers, music, and physical education. Fourth graders perform in the Intermediate Choir at concerts and events.

The curriculum includes day and overnight field trips related specifically to classroom study, service learning, cross-grade activities, and the three-year Parent Educator Program (PEP) in which St. Paul’s parents with training work with the students to help them learn responsible decision-making and resistance skills and develop self-esteem, particularly with regard to age-appropriate information about alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. They also work on positive peer interaction including specific conflict resolution skills. In St. Paul’s Buddy Program, fourth graders both provide buddy support to younger students and receive it from older ones. Like all other grades, fourth graders lead Chapel twice each year. They take the Educational Records Bureau (ERB) test as an independent evaluation of student progress. They also receive written progress reports at the end of each quarter.

Following is a brief list of content items in the fourth grade curriculum:

• Summarizing information and retelling stories

• Expand use of 6+1 Trait Writing across writing genres and subject areas

• Practice presentation skills and public speaking

• California, U.S., and world geography

• Interactive simulation: California Missions

• Fractions, probability, statistics and graphing, measurement and geometry

• Buddy projects with 7th grader: narcissus bulbs and invertebrates

• Earthquakes and plate tectonics

• Introduction to fundamental Spanish vocabulary and grammar

• Multimedia document creation

• Watercolor techniques/landscape drawing

• Singing scales and arpeggios

• Develop muscle strength and endurance