Grade Four

Grade four Learning Objectives

As fourth graders emerge from the “nine-year change” they are sturdy, self-confident, and robust. The Norse sagas, full of strong-willed characters adventurously exploring the world around them, are an appropriate backdrop for fourth graders and their unbridled curiosity.

In Language Arts, grammar is the focus. It is taught through examples of the stories of the “Three Norns” from Norse mythology to represent the past, present, and future tenses.

In Math, after reviewing the four processes, place value, long division and multiplication, as well as the times tables, students concentrate on fractions. This is the realm of “less than one,” where everything is split into ever-smaller pieces.

Looking outward into nature, science studies become more focused and objective. Fourth graders study the animal kin-dom. They look at animal forms and attributes and view them in relation to human form and function. Trips to the Woodland Park Zoo and possibly the Seattle Aquarium enrich their study of Zoology. Students – who by now are comfortable with clay and beeswax – model the animals they study and choose a particular animal to study as part of their first comprehensive research project.

In Geography, students focus on the history and geography of Seattle and Washington State. Their geographical outlook is extended from the school/home environment to neighboring towns all the way to the state boundaries of Washington. Historical vignettes enliven the fourth grader’s connection to the land and its use over time. This subject block involves both map and cultural study, and it includes several field trips, as well as the annual Whidbey Island Waldorf School Cultural Share, where students learn from Indigenous tribal elders.

Students begin written work in Japanese. In Music, students begin to play stringed instruments and can choose violin, viola, or cello. In fourth grade students learn to be responsible for homework, which includes the following: Language Arts, Math, and instrument practice.

Subject Classes

• Japanese

  In the fourth grade, students gain an increasing level of self-awareness. This translates to individualizing behavior in place of what has previously been done collectively. Fourth grade is a dynamic year of individual growth. Students begin to take increasing ownership of the language independently. In addition to absorbing the language through conversation and greetings, song, poetry recitations, games, and cultural stories, students gain exposure to simple grammar and sentence structures of the language. They begin to read, write, and manipulate verbs and adjectives. Main lesson curriculum and habits are reinforced through the target language.

• Handwork

  In fourth grade, the curriculum meets the students with cross-stitch work using symmetry in mirror picture designs. Working with symmetry requires the students to work with precision and challenge themselves. It also exercises seeing two sides of themselves at a time when they experience their emerging individuality and meet the world in a new, inquisitive way.

  The students learn three different ways to stitch crosses so that the top stitch is always laying in the same direction. They have to pay attention and check their work regularly. In a visual way, Handwork shows how foundational skills and habits for learning are developed in your child as they move towards middle school.

• Movement

  The fourth grade student is moving from the “we” to the “I” in a new-found sense of separateness. Through play, the design of the game normalizes social aspects of this emergence, which includes the polarities of weak and strong, safe and dangerous, creating and destroying. There is a great deal more challenging of authority done by the fourth grader.

  The social and moral aspects of following the rules become very important. The fourth grader becomes more concerned with social forces and the perception of injustice. A greater awareness of one’s space and that of others is also beginning to emerge. The fourth grader can be challenged in this arena with activities demonstrating the qualities of the dimensions of space; above and below, left and right, front and back, and their integration through self-directed activities.

  The students work towards an end-of-year circus performance. The fourth grader is introduced to a number of playful circus activities using mats, props, and apparatus. They will strengthen their imaginations with the creation of a performance and build upon their skills of cooperation. During Movement, students continue to play games that may include tagging, running, listening, throwing and catching a ball, as well as circle and line games.

• Music – Strings

  In the fourth grade, students have the opportunity to play the violin, viola, or cello. The students are expected to either rent or buy an instrument of the correct size by the first day of school. Regular practice, on a set schedule, is critical to becoming proficient with a musical instrument. The way to achieve muscle memory is by repetition. This repetition need not be onerous but it must be done. Students are taught how to care for their instrument. The students start by learning how to hold their bow and instrument correctly. Proper posture is extremely important as poor posture can lead to back and neck pain. Holding the instrument and bow properly is something that is practiced throughout the child’s time in Strings at Bright Water.

  The students are taught rhythms on open strings and then progress to putting their fingers down. The repertoire used for at least the first year are mostly pieces that were developed by Shinichi Suzuki. These are supplemented by music that the students are singing or playing on their flutes in main lesson and possibly songs they are singing in their language classes.

  Once the students have achieved certain proficiency on their instrument, music reading is introduced. Opportunities to perform for an audience may happen throughout the year.

• Environmental Education

  Grade Four students continue to learn in a lower-grades cohort about their local bioregion and watershed through our Cedar River Salmon Journey program. Students tend to salmon eggs on campus and then take a field trip to the Cedar River where the grown salmon are released. Students explore the environment close to their home in Local History and Geography and explore the animal kin-dom in Zoology.

• Curriculum Trips

  Numerous field trips are a part of the curriculum this year. Students learn locally from the Hibulb Cultural Museum, the Burke Museum, Alki Beach, the Seattle Underground Tour, and more. These trips within our local and regional bioregion support the history and geography studies. The Whidbey Island Waldorf School hosts a Cultural Share, a multi-day gathering of various Waldorf Grade Four classes from the surrounding area, who join together to learn from tribal elders about local Coast Salish cultural celebration through crafts, songs, games and stories. The students also are invited to partake in a food ceremony that honors the life cycle and life force of the salmon.