Where Success Starts
Go to Home Page Email Page Print Page

our fourth grade program

Math

Our mathematics program is built on the interaction of a mastery of basic skills and a strong conceptual understanding of applications through problem solving. We integrate mathematics into other subject areas and to incorporate the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics as set forth by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Each lesson is a problem-solving experience and deals with important mathematical concepts that will help students develop and extend their mathematical thinking. Students are encouraged to collaborate with classmates and teachers and to describe their thought process in writing.

Fourth Graders continue to develop, construct, test and reflect on their understanding of mathematical concepts at increasingly sophisticated and independent levels. Teachers use TERC’s Investigations in Number, Data, and Space as the key instructional textand the NCTM focal points as instructional guideposts. Communicating and making connections to prior knowledge as well as exploring and discovering mathematical connections and making sense of them are key elements at this grade level. The students demonstrate their understanding through processes that move from concrete, to pictorial, to symbolic representations. Assessment at this level is both informal and formal. Formal assessments are completed in pre- and post-assessment settings through observations and at scheduled times at the beginning, middle and end of the year, and include a variety of specific math skills and expectations.

Instruction at the Fourth Grade level focuses on these concepts, strategies and skills:

  • Mathematical thinking, reasoning, and communicating using various tools and models: solve problems involving addition and subtraction, deepen understanding of multiples and factors of 100 and create symmetrical designs; support an engaging environment of mathematic investigation
  • Exploring the structure of our number systems through “landmarks.” Study 1000, its factors and its multiples, construct representations of 1000 and 10,000 and solve problems using these numbers and build an understanding of place value in Base Ten number system
  • Adding/subtracting decimals and numbers in the hundreds and thousands and solving problems related to everyday uses of money: solve addition and subtraction problems involving decimals and numbers in the hundreds and thousands and develop estimation strategies in contexts including money and distance
  • Processes and applications of multiplication and division: learn all the multiplication pairs up to 12x12; practice those they find difficult; use arrays to visualize multiplication and division situations; develop strategies to solve multiplication and division problems. Emphasis is also placed on the expectation of developing multiplication and division fact fluency to 20.
  • Collecting, describing displaying and comparing categorical (non-numerical) data: deepen understanding of fractions of groups to collect and represent categorical data; use fractions to compare data sets and describe their findings
  • Recording, representing and analyzing simple data sets about familiar situations such as “How many people in a family?” describe what’s typical of a set of data and find ways to compare sets of data using these descriptions
  • Exploring and representing fractions, finding equivalent fractions and ordering fractions: represent fractions by dividing wholes into parts; find equivalent fractions and order fractions
  • Naming and locating points on a coordinate grid with ordered pairs: use ordered pairs to locate points and measure distances on coordinate grids and to study the properties of rectangles
  • Exploring the relationship between 3-D objects and their 2-D representations: construct cube buildings, explore geometric silhouettes and view objects from various perspectives