4th Grade Curriculum

Social Studies

In fourth grade, our historians take a journey through New York history. We begin our learning with an in-depth exploration of the Iroquois tribe that called New York home well before European explorers came to the United States. After this, we begin to explore the colonization of the United States, and in particular, the New York Colony. We then move into the exciting and explosive investigation of the American Revolution. Our historians explore the war from all different sorts of aspects. The historians get to choose what area of the war they would like to further research, for example: Women of the Revolution, Wars of the Revolution, and George Washington. Lastly, our historians finish the year by exploring immigration to the United States, in particular, immigration to the United States in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Our historians again get to choose what area of immigration that interests them the most, for example, German immigrants, Ellis Island, and immigrant children.


In Writing Workshop, our writers build on their primary writing skills to lift their writing skills as they take on upper grade writing. Mirroring the complexity of the ideas and books we now read, writers take their fiction writing to a whole new level: planning and bringing to life characters with complex histories, real life struggles, and believable traits. There is clearer focus and purpose to writing fiction: planning with an arc and meaning/theme in mind to produce stories that impact their readers' hearts, minds, and souls.

Essay writing is a key component of the fourth grade curriculum. Students master the structure of an essay, first, with topics that are personal to them in which they defend and bring in strong life evidence. Then, they shift to essay writing about literature, taking the same structure to help them argue their theses and back up their ideas with evidence grounded in the text. The units we study are: Realistic Fiction, Persuasive and Personal Essay, Informational Books, Poetry, Historical Fiction, and Journalism.