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4th Grade Curriculum

Meet Our 4th Grade Teachers!

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Alison Duvall

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Rachel Klinger

Welcome to a new school year! My name is Alison Duvall, and I’m excited to begin my seventh year at St. John Central School. This year, I’ll be teaching Math, Science, Social Studies, and STEM to our 4th through 6th grade students.

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I graduated from Miami University with a Bachelor of Science in Education and am licensed to teach all subjects for grades 1 through 8. I’m currently working toward my Master of Science in Educational Administration through Xavier University, as I continue to grow both professionally and personally in my journey as an educator.

Hi! I'm Rachel Klinger and I'm the 4th-6th Grade Reading and Language Arts Teacher at St. Johns! 

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At St. John Central  school, the Reading and Language Arts program in grades 4, 5, and 6 is designed to nurture confident, thoughtful, and faith-filled communicators. Students develop their ability to read, write, speak, and listen effectively—skills that are essential for academic success and lifelong learning.

Through engaging texts and meaningful discussions, students explore literature and informational texts that encourage moral reflection, critical thinking, and a love of reading. They also build their writing and grammar skills with an emphasis on clarity, structure, and creativity.

Ohio Standards 

St. John Schools follow the curriculum that Ohio Standalized. Below is a summary of what Ohio expects teachers to teach Kindergarten in each subject.  For more details, please click the link next to each subject.

English Language Art  

  • Language

    •  Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

    • Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

    •  Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

    • Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 4 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

    • Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

    • Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).

  • Reading- Foundational Skills 

    •  Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words by using combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context.

    • Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

  • Reading - Informational

    • Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

    • Analyze informational text development.

    • Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

    • Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.

    • Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text.

    • Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in perspective and the information provided.

    • Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

    • Explain how an author uses evidence to support particular points in a text.

    • Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

    • By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4–5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

  • Reading - Literature 

    •  Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

    • Analyze literary text development.

    •  Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

    • Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).

    • Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.

    •  Explain the differences in the point(s) of view in a text and different perspectives of the characters.

    • Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.

    • Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.

    • ​By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4 – 5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. Activate prior knowledge and draw on previous experiences in order to make text-to-self or text-to-text connections and comparisons.

  • Writing 

    • Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

    • Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

    • Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

    • Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

    • With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.

    • With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others, while demonstrating sufficient command of keyboarding skills.

    • Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

    • Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information and provide a list of sources.

    • Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

    • Write routinely over extended time frames time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Mathematics

  •  Operations and Algebraic Thinking

    • Interpret a multiplication equation as a comparison, e.g., interpret 35 = 5 × 7 as a statement that 35 is 5 times as many as 7 and 7 times as many as 5. Represent verbal statements of multiplicative comparisons as multiplication equations.

    • Multiply or divide to solve word problems involving multiplicative comparison, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem, distinguishing multiplicative comparison from additive comparison.

    • Solve multistep word problems posed with whole numbers and having whole-number answers using the four operations, including problems in which remainders must be interpreted. Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies including rounding.

    • Find all factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1-100. Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1-100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1-100 is prime or composite.

    • Generate a number or shape pattern that follows a given rule. Identify apparent features of the pattern that were not explicit in the rule itself.

  •  Number and Operations in Base Ten

    • Recognize that in a multi-digit whole number, a digit in one place represents ten times what it represents in the place to its right by applying concepts of place value, multiplication, or division.

    • Read and write multi-digit whole numbers using standard form, word form, and expanded form. Compare two multi-digit numbers based on meanings of the digits in each place, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.

    • Use place value understanding to round multi-digit whole numbers to any place through 1,000,000.

    • Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using a standard algorithm.

    • Multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit whole number, and multiply two two-digit numbers, using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.

    • Find whole-number quotients and remainders with up to four-digit dividends and one-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.

  • Number and Operations - Fractions

    • Explain why a fraction a/b is equivalent to a fraction (n × a)/(n × b) by using visual fraction models, with attention to how the number and size of the parts differ even though the two fractions themselves are the same size. Use this principle to recognize and generate equivalent fractions.

    • Compare two fractions with different numerators and different denominators, e.g., by creating common denominators or numerators, or by comparing to a benchmark fraction such as ½. Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two fractions refer to the same whole. Record the results of comparisons with symbols >, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.

    • Understand a fraction a/b with a > 1 as a sum of fractions 1/b.

    • Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction by a whole number.

    • Express a fraction with denominator 10 as an equivalent fraction with denominator 100, and use this technique to add two fractions with respective denominators 10 and 100.

    • Use decimal notation for fractions with denominators 10 or 100.

    • Compare two decimals to hundredths by reasoning about their size. Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two decimals refer to the same whole. Record the results of comparisons with the symbols >, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual model.

  • Measurement and Data

    •  Know relative sizes of the metric measurement units within one system of units. Metric units include kilometer, meter, centimeter, and millimeter; kilogram and gram; and liter and milliliter. Express a larger measurement unit in terms of a smaller unit. Record measurement conversions in a two-column table.

    • Solve real-world problems involving money, time, and metric measurement.

    • Develop efficient strategies to determine the area and perimeter of rectangles in real-world situations and mathematical problems.

    • Display and interpret data in graphs (picture graphs, bar graphs, and line plots) to solve problems using numbers and operations for this grade.

    • Recognize angles as geometric shapes that are formed wherever two rays share a common endpoint, and understand concepts of angle measurement.

    • ​Recognize angle measure as additive. When an angle is decomposed into non-overlapping parts, the angle measure of the whole is the sum of the angle measures of the parts. Solve addition and subtraction problems to find unknown angles on a diagram in real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by using an equation with a symbol for the unknown angle measure.

  •  Geometry

    •  Draw points, lines, line segments, rays, angles (right, acute, and obtuse), and perpendicular and parallel lines. Identify these in two-dimensional figures.

    • Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size.

Science

  •  Earth and Space Science

    • Earth's surface has specific characteristics and landforms that can be identified.

    •  The surface of Earth changes due to weathering.

    • The surface of Earth changes due to erosion and deposition.

  •  Physical Science

    • When objects break into smaller pieces, dissolve, or change state, the total amount of matter is conserved.

    • Energy can be transferred from one location to another or can be transformed from one form to another.

  •  Life Science

    • Changes in an organism's environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful.

    •  Fossils can be compared to one another and to present-day organisms according to their similarities and differences.

Social Studies

  • History 

    • The order of significant events in Ohio and the United States can be shown on a timeline.

    • Primary and secondary sources can be used to create historical narratives.

    • Various groups of people have lived in Ohio over time including American Indians, migrating settlers and immigrants. Interactions among these groups have resulted in cooperation, conflict and compromise.

    • The 13 colonies came together around a common cause of liberty and justice, uniting to fight for independence during the American Revolution and to form a new nation.

    • The Northwest Ordinance incorporated democratic ideals into the territories. It provided a process for territories to become states and recognized them as equal to the other existing states.

    • Ongoing conflicts on the Ohio frontier with American Indians and Great Britain contributed to the United States' involvement in the War of 1812.

    •  Following the War of 1812, Ohio continued to play a key role in national conflicts including the anti-slavery movement and the Underground Railroad.

    • Many technological innovations that originated in Ohio benefited the United States.

  •  Geography 

    • A map scale and cardinal and intermediate directions can be used to describe the relative location of physical and human characteristics of Ohio and the United States.

    • The economic development of the United States continues to influence and be influenced by agriculture, industry and natural resources in Ohio.

    • The regions of the United States known as the North, South and West developed in the early 1800s largely based on their physical environments and economies.

    • People have modified the environment throughout history resulting in both positive and negative consequences in Ohio and the United States.

    • The population of the United States has changed over time, becoming more diverse (e.g., racial, ethnic, linguistic, religious). Ohio's population has become increasingly reflective of the multicultural diversity of the United States.

    • Ohio's location and its transportation systems continue to influence the movement of people, products and ideas in the United States.

  • Government 

    • Individuals have a variety of opportunities to act in and influence their state and national government. Citizens have both rights and responsibilities in Ohio and the United States.

    • Civic participation in a democratic society requires individuals to make informed and reasoned decisions by accessing, evaluating and using information effectively to engage in compromise.

    • Laws can protect rights, provide benefits and assign responsibilities.

    • The U.S. Constitution establishes a system of limited government and protects citizens' rights; five of these rights are addressed in the First Amendment.

    • ​A constitution is a written plan for government. The Ohio Constitution and the U.S. Constitution separate the major responsibilities of government among three branches.

  • Economics

    •  Tables and charts organize data in a variety of formats to help individuals understand information and issues.

    • Entrepreneurs in Ohio and the United States organize productive resources and take risks to make a profit and compete with other producers.

    • Saving a portion of income contributes to an individuals' financial well-being. Individuals can reduce spending to save more of their income.

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