What Do You Learn in 4th Grade: Overview, Subjects & Skills

Is your kid starting 4th grade this fall? Then by now, they have already gotten the hang of school life and routine. So, it’s time for social skill building and advanced academic training. 

In the fourth grade, your kids’ cognitive and creative skills will be stimulated to grow socially and academically. There will be many new activities and lessons that your child will explore in the fourth grade.

So, to prepare your child for a new grade, you should first understand what is taught to kids in 4th grade. This will help you prepare your 4th grader for a new class. 

What Is Taught to Kids In 4th Grade – Subjects & Skills

The fourth-grade curriculum for each state and district is slightly different. However, the main lesson structure and subjects in all states are the same. Therefore, the basic lessons that your fourth grader will learn are:

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Math for 4th Graders

Related Reading: What Do You Learn in 3rd Grade

Fourth-grade math will be more complicated and fractional. In third grade, your child has learned all about sequences and patterns. They will learn to find fractions and multiples of different numbers in the fourth grade. In addition, your child will learn to subtract fractions and recognize equivalent and non-equivalent fractions by the end of fourth grade.

They will also learn to analyze, collect, organize, and present data. Moreover fourth grade will also teach your children how to convert and calculate different units of measurement. For example, they will get problems like how many minutes are there in one hour.

Writing for 4th Graders

Fourth grade will introduce your child to creative and story-based writing. Your child will read more classic tales and poems in the fourth grade. They will also be asked to use dialogues and narratives to create their own stories.

Importantly, your child will learn to use different punctuation marks in the fourth grade. In addition, they will learn to use quotation marks to write dialogues for different characters. They will also be asked to search for various tools to create comprehensive reports. 

Reading for 4th Graders 

Reading in the fourth grade will move along with writing. Your child will get more reading material like encyclopedias, classic tales, reputable Internet sites, reading apps, and more in this grade. They will also learn to connect with different characters and understand their expressions through traditional tales and fables. Poetry will also make an appearance in the fourth grade.

Your fourth graders’ vocabulary will also develop, and they will explore more prefixes and suffixes. They will learn new words and better understand how to use words they already know.

Science for 4th Graders

The science curriculum for fourth graders will also expand. Now, your child will learn concepts like the classification of organisms, properties of different objects, and measuring events. They might also explore topics from various branches of science like the motion of objects, electricity formation, fossils, meteorology, etc. 

Social Studies for 4th Graders

Social studies in fourth grade focus more on your state and American history. Your child will learn essential social development elements about your state, like local government, how the geographical location of your state works, economic contributors, and more. 

By the end of this year, your child will know the people behind your neighborhood’s development and their responsibilities. In addition, teachers might take your child on local government office field trips to help them understand how different common departments work.

Related Reading: Grade 1 Curriculum: Things to Teach to Kids in First Grade

What Should Students Know in 4th Grade? 

Now, you know what is taught to kids in the fourth grade. The next step is to prepare your child for this new grade. To do so, check out skills that your child must know before starting the fourth grade:

Reading & Writing Skills for 4th Graders

• Using the subject-verb agreement, if you have a singular subject, you should use a singular verb.  
• Fourth graders’ writing skills will be improved and taken beyond simple stories. Thus, ensure your child knows how to write descriptive stories, personal letters, and reports. 
• Poetry is also a big part of fourth-grade writing. So, be sure to introduce some timeless poetries to your child. 
• Focus on your child’s punctuation, like end punctuation, commas, apostrophes, and quotation marks. 
• Parents should use more idioms while talking to fourth-graders so they can know how to use idioms in sentences. 

Math & Science Skills for 4th Graders

• Fractions will be the main math element that your children will know in fourth grade. They will work on addition, subtracting, and equivalent fractions.
• Two-step word problems with twisted statements. 
• Your child must know different equivalent measurements, as fourth-grade math includes measurement-related problems. 
• Children should be able to identify polygons like pentagons, hexagons, octagons, triangles, etc. 
• Fourth graders should know how blood circulates in the body and what are important components of blood, like red cells, white cells, and platelets. 
• Physical science concepts like mass, volume, density, or vacuum. 
• Your fourth-grade child also knows how earthquakes occur, how cyclones form, etc. 
• Familiarize your child with the mountain formation process and how mountains are different from one another. 
• Basic weather knowledge like different types of clouds — cirrus, cumulus, and stratus and how they are formed. 

Other Miscellaneous Skills for 4th Graders

• Knowledge of art inspired by Africa. 
• Understand artwork of different famous painters like John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, etc. 
• Learn about music and understand the difference between high, low, fast and slow music notes. 
• Vocal skills like soprano, bass, tenor, alto and more. 
• Understanding of classical music and composers like Mozart. 
• History of America and values behind the American Revolution. 
• Learn about medieval Europe, like kings, queens, castles, and wars. 
• Basic general knowledge such as which is the highest mountain peak in the world, which Nelson Mandela was, etc. 
• Pinpoint continents, oceans and important geographical locations on the map. 

Related Reading: 2nd Grade Curriculum: Things to Teach to Kids in 2nd Grade

Ready for 4th Grade? 

Fourth grade is the second last year of elementary school. So, your child will learn many advanced concepts in this grade. Thus, it would help if you used the summer break to prepare your kids for the new year. 

We have listed down what is taught to kids in fourth grade and the essential skills that your child requires. So, use this article as a reference to prepare your kiddo for the 4th grade right now. 

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