Fourth Grade at Pioneer Academy | Best Private School in Passaic County

Pioneer’s K–4 Language Arts program is based on the reading and writing workshop model developed by Teachers College at Columbia University. This focused approach ensures that each student develops the skills needed to excel as a reader, writer, speaker, and listener. Our classroom libraries are loaded with engaging titles from our students' favorite series, all of which are ideal for elementary school libraries.

Through read-alouds, guided reading, and book groups, children develop listening and comprehension skills and learn to express their ideas. “Read, Stop, Think!” strategies are taught to build skills in predicting, visualizing, summarizing, and making inferences.

Grammar, spelling, and vocabulary are integrated as students master mechanics while writing for a variety of audiences and in a wide range of genres. The writing process includes pre-writing, revising, and editing. Each student is encouraged to develop skills that lead to a lifelong love of reading while guided in developing a voice as a writer.

Each session begins with a mini lesson. Kids sit with a long-term partner while in the mini lesson.
The mini lesson ends with the kids being sent off to their own independent work.
As students work, the teacher confers with them and leads small groups.
Partway through independent work time, the teacher stands and delivers a mid-workshop teaching point.
The workshop ends with a share.

Reading
Students' active reading skills continue to improve. As students develop the abilities to conduct in-depth research, they are encouraged to read for information. Note-taking, underlining, summarizing, and utilizing tables of contents, bibliographies, and glossaries are all areas where students concentrate. Fourth graders learn to summarize stories, examine the author's craft, and identify themes. They support their interpretations of the text with evidence from the text. They also learn to synthesize information from both fiction and nonfiction works

‍Writing
In fourth grade, students will write narratives to develop real and imagined experiences using dialogue, descriptions, sensory details, and transition words. Writers will develop informational texts using examples, definitions, quotations, and domain specific words. In opinion writing, students will write essays that contain reasons supported with facts, examples, mini stories, and quotes. Using print and Web-based resources, students write introductory, supporting, and concluding paragraphs and a bibliography to be presented in google slides, including illustrations, maps, and a 3-D model.
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‍STANDARDS AND SKILLS:‍

Increase competency in self-editing and proofreading for capitalization, organization, punctuation, and spelling
Use correct subject/verb agreement and consistency of tense
Create a final draft reflecting pre-writing, revising, and editing strategies
Identify and distinguish the characteristics of literary genres and devices (e.g., metaphor, personification, simile, flashback)
Draw inferences, conclusions, or generalizations and support them with textual evidence

All students will acquire the knowledge and skills to think analytically about how past and present interactions of people,cultures,and the environment shape the American heritage. Such knowledge and skills enable students to make informed decisions that reflect fundamental rights and core democratic values as productive citizens in local, national, and global communities.

In grades K-4, students learn fundamental concepts about government, citizenship, geography, economics, and history. The focus of instruction is on developing an understanding of core democratic values, the rights and responsibilities of American citizens, and how key people and events contributed to the development of the American heritage. Exploration of cultural universals enables students to realize how the availability of resources, the changing environment, and innovation impact everyday life.

In this course, fourth grade students will learn about the geography, history, economy, and people of New Jersey, as they relate to the United States and the world. Studies will include the 5 themes of geography. Students will study geography including the surface area of New Jersey and the ways people use New Jersey's natural resources.

Lessons will include the early settlement of New Jersey, how it was originally divided into two colonies, and why the colonies wanted independence from Britain. Studies will include New Jersey's role in the American Revolution, the formation of the American government and writing of the Constitution. Students will discover how new forms of transportation changed this state.

This course will primarily focus on New Jersey's role in the Civil War and the changes the United States experienced during and after this war. Students will discover how New Jersey's population grew and changed after the war, as well as how the rights of New Jersey citizens changed. Furthermore, this course will address the governing relationship between local, state, and national governments, thus becoming familiar with the ways the national and New Jersey's economies work. Students will learn ways citizens demonstrate responsibilities and the culturally diverse people that make up the state of New Jersey.
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STANDARDS AND SKILLS

Identify similarities and differences between the past and present
Understand how the natural resources of a geographical location influence culture
Read and create maps using a key, scale, compass rose, and grid lines
Demonstrate an understanding of another culture or historical figure’s point of view
Describe the social, political, cultural, and economic life and interaction among people in New Jersey
Demonstrate understanding of New Jersey’s diverse geographical region

Our inquiry-based science program encourages children to satisfy their curiosities through experiences. Presented with open-ended questions, students gather evidence, conduct experiments in the lab and in the field, propose solutions, and collaborate with one another to defend their thinking. Experiential lessons deepen content knowledge in relevant ways. Students gain awareness of the natural world while enhancing skills needed in a world of rapidly expanding scientific knowledge. Students connect concepts, develop critical-thinking skills, and gain confidence in communicating their ideas clearly.

Fourth-grade Students construct and utilize model hills in order to determine what causes erosion and how to address erosion-related issues. Students examine matter and material qualities! They categorize and classify a wide range of materials based on features including hardness, flexibility, and absorbency, and they investigate how these characteristics might help to assist meet basic human requirements (such as clothing and cooking).

They also investigate how heat and cold affect material properties. Students research the characteristics and processes that occur on the Earth's surface. Students investigate the quick eruptive mechanism of volcanoes! Students, on the other hand, investigate the gradual Earth processes of weathering and erosion. Students use what they've learned and come up with ideas to reduce the negative effects of these processes on people. Students also investigate the science of sound.

Students build tangible gadgets to sense the vibrations that enable us to communicate over long distances. Students can also visualize the features of distinct sound waves that lead us to hear different things using digital gadgets. Students investigate energy!

Students look into how energy is stored, how it can be used to move objects, and how collisions can transmit energy between them. Students also build machines that transform energy from one form to another, such as converting heat to motion or electricity to light.

MYSTERY SCIENCE is a curriculum aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and supports Common Core. It features rigorous lessons in science and engineering that inspire students to love science. Each Mystery begins with a question that is explored through hands-on scientific investigations, discussion questions, engaging videos and experiences that connect to real-world phenomena.

Grade 4 Planning Guide

Pioneer Academy's STEM Program for fourth grade offers an engaging and comprehensive curriculum that focuses on technology and engineering concepts. Students explore a variety of units designed to develop their skills, critical thinking, and creativity.

In the technology units, fourth-grade students delve into various topics to enhance their digital literacy and responsible online behavior. They learn about Digital Citizenship, understanding the importance of ethical practices and safe interactions in the digital world. Digital Design and Handwriting activities promote creativity and fine motor skills, allowing students to express their ideas through digital media. Typing skills are developed further to improve accuracy and speed.

Coding forms a fundamental part of the curriculum, as students learn coding concepts and computational thinking. They engage in programming activities to solve problems and create interactive projects. The use of Micro:bit microcontrollers further enhances their coding skills as they design and program their own digital inventions. Math Connections are integrated into the technology units, showcasing how mathematical concepts can be applied to technology and digital technologies.

In the Engineering units, fourth-grade students participate in science labs, conducting experiments and investigations that deepen their understanding of scientific principles. They engage in Engineering Design Challenges, where they apply their knowledge and creativity to design and construct solutions to real-world problems.

Using K'Nex, students further explore the principles of engineering and construction, developing their spatial reasoning and critical thinking skills. The VEX Go Robotics unit provides an immersive experience in robotics design, coding, and problem-solving as students build and program robots to complete specific tasks.

STEM Kits offer hands-on projects and activities that integrate science, technology, engineering, and math, allowing students to apply their knowledge and creativity in practical contexts. Through Student Projects, fourth-grade students engage in open-ended explorations and collaborative endeavors that encourage innovation and teamwork.

Pioneer Academy's fourth-grade STEM Program provides a dynamic and interactive learning experience, equipping students with essential knowledge and skills in technology and engineering. By engaging in hands-on activities, projects, and digital exploration, students develop critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and technological proficiency, preparing them for future success in STEM fields.

Physical Education gives opportunities for children to be creative, cooperative and competitive and to face diverse challenges both as individuals and in groups.

A “good workout” helps ease anxiety, tension and stress and will result in improved attention in class.

Lower School Physical Education Classes give students the opportunity to grow outside of the classroom. The Curriculum is focused around locomotor movements, teamwork, communication, and cooperation.

Pioneer Academy’s Physical Education program promotes the use of Life Skills to help children develop physical and social skills and a lifelong love for healthy physical activity. The program’s four essential components are reinforced through play and practice:

Pioneer Academy’s Physical Education program promotes the use of Life Skills to help children develop physical and social skills and a lifelong love for healthy physical activity. The program’s four essential components are reinforced through play and practice:

Sportsmanship—Each student learns positive social behavior through movement and interaction with others.
Physical fitness—Students learn to develop and maintain the best possible level of performance, understanding, and appreciation for physical fitness.
Skill acquisition—Each student learns specific skills, such as throwing, catching, striking, and kicking.
Self-image—Students develop a positive self-image that includes awareness and understanding of one’s body, the use of the body as a means of expression, and the body as an instrument for self-realization.

As children develop, games and sports help in refining fundamental skills and learning the specialized skills, rules, and strategies needed to play soccer, volleyball, flag football, basketball, field hockey, softball, and other sports.

Sportsmanship and collaborative team play are emphasized. Cooperative games help students build relationships, enhance communication skills, and provide opportunities to work together and solve challenges.

PIONEER

Fourth Grade

Fourth grade represents the end of the elementary road here at Pioneer.

Fourth Grade

Fourth grade represents the end of the elementary road here at Pioneer.

Curriculum