Grade Four

Fourth grade is a big year for growing minds! At Nantucket Intermediate School, we know that this is a time when students become more independent, take on new challenges, and start thinking more deeply about the world around them.

In grade 4, students build stronger reading and writing skills, tackle more complex math problems, and explore science and social studies in exciting new ways. It’s also a time when friendships grow, teamwork becomes more important, and students learn how to take more responsibility for their learning.

This year helps set the stage for future success—academically, socially, and emotionally. At NIS, we’re here to support every fourth grader as they grow into confident, curious, and capable learners!

The Nantucket Intermediate School teaches to the standards of the Massachusetts Department of Education. The information below helps families understand those standards and measures of progress. The information is taken from the document linked at the bottom of the page.

New Expectations for Fourth Grade 

• Compare and contrast stories from different cultures and stories told from different points of view: for example, first-person and third-person.
• Explain the meaning of figurative language (like metaphors and similes speech and writing: for example, the homework was a breeze or the lake was as pretty as a picture.
• Choose precise words when speaking, writing, or editing writing, including words related to academic subjects: for example, renewable energy from science.
• Understand when it is important to speak more formal English (like when giving class presentations) and when more informal English is appropriate.

By the End of Fourth Grade, Students Can

• Read aloud smoothly, paying attention to punctuation marks. For example, pause between sentences; and sound excited at an exclamation point (!).
• Use words like chapter, stanza, and scene to explain how poems and plays are different from prose (like stories and articles).
• Use graphs, charts, timelines, and other visual displays to help understand what they are reading.
• At the end of a class discussion, review the ideas and information people shared.
• Provide a list of sources they used when doing research. 
• Use technology to find information and work with other people. Type at least one page at a time on a computer.
• Use easily confused words (like there, their, and they’re) correctly. 
• Make visual patterns when writing poems: for example, group lines into verses.
• Write their given names (first names) in cursive.

Focus Areas for Fourth Grade

• Solve multi-step word problems using multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. For example, find the total area of two rooms. 
• Understand that multiplication and division can be used to compare quantities. For example, explain that a rubber band can stretch to three times its usual length.
• Understand and use equivalent fractions (like 1/2 and 3/6, which are the same) and unit fractions (like 1/3 or 1/5, with a 1 on top).
• Describe, analyze, compare, and classify shapes using types of lines and angles. For example, compare the types of angles in two triangles.

By the end of Fourth Grade, Students Can

• Know multiplication facts up to 12 x 12 = 144 and their related division facts (like 144 ÷ 12 = 12).
• Multiply and divide multi-digit whole numbers (like 536 and 23) using various strategies.
• Fluently (quickly and correctly) add and subtract numbers up to 1,000,000 using the  standard algorithm.
• Add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers (like 42/5) with the same denominator (number on the bottom).
• Multiply fractions by whole numbers: for example, 1/4 x 5 . 
• Understand how decimals and fractions are related: for example, 0.63 = 63/100.
• Convert larger measurement units (like miles, hours, or liters) to smaller units (like feet, minutes, or milliliters).
• Use formulas (like length x width) for the area and perimeter of rectangles.
• Use a protractor to measure and draw angles.

Focus Areas of Fourth Grade

• Understand how weathering and erosion (like blowing wind, flowing water, and moving ice) can break and move rocks and other things.
• Understand how the different parts of plants (like seeds, leaves, roots, and fruit) and animals (like bones, legs, ears, and eyes) help them grow and survive.
• Understand how energy moves and changes. Observe energy as light, sound, electricity, or heat: for example, the electrical energy that lights up a bulb when a wire is attached to a battery.
• Try out the design process like an engineer: for example, plan, develop, test, and improve products to solve specific problems.

By the End of Fourth Grade, Students Can

• Explain how renewable energy sources (like sun water, and wind) are different from non-renewable ones (like coal, oil, and nuclear power).
• Use evidence to show how erosion has changed the local landscape over time 
• Use maps of Earth’s continents and oceans to analyze where volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountain ranges form.
• Compare different ways of protecting people and things from events like floods and blizzards.
• Explain how energy and the speed of objects are connected. Predict what will happen when two objects run into each other.
• Show how wave patterns carry energy and can cause objects to move. 
• Compare ways of communicating using patterns, like Morse code.
• Design a solution to a problem. Test it to see how well it works. Use the test results to improve the design.

Focus Areas for Fourth Grade

• Use maps and knowledge of geography to learn about North America and its peoples.
• Explain how archaeologists learn about ancient peoples in North America and the Caribbean.
• Use evidence to explain why Europeans first began to travel across the Atlantic Ocean.
• Explain how the United States expanded to include today’s 50 states and 16 territories.

By the End of Fourth Grade, Students Can

• Use maps of North America to find and learn about physical features (like mountain ranges) and political features (like state borders).
• Describe the Native civilizations that were in North America before the Europeans arrived.
• Use maps of North America and the Caribbean to show where Europeans explored in the 1400s and 1500s.
• Use maps and timelines to explain how the United States grew and expanded westward in the 1800s.
• Explain how people adapted to the environments of different United States regions (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, West).
• Explain the different meanings of the terms continent, country, nation, county, state, province, and city.
• Understand that some people immigrated to the United States and some were brought against their will.
• Compare firsthand and secondhand accounts (like a witness statement and a newspaper story) of the same historical event or topic.