Lower School
Fourth Grade
In the fourth grade, stories come to life and imaginations soar!
Writing is of particular focus in the fourth grade. Students craft creative poems, narratives, and research reports throughout the year, allowing for the development of voice, details, and extension of thought. Fourth graders love compiling their own portfolios at the culmination of the school year to demonstrate their personal growth in writing.
Science challenges students to use their critical thinking and communication skills. And, whether they are creating electrical circuits or creating simulations representing light waves or erosion, science in fourth grade is a very active and creative subject!
Social Studies in 4th grade is all about California history! A trip to the iconic Carmel Mission, a 4th grade production of Gold Dust or Bust, and the California Geography Cookie Project are a few of the many hands-on activities that help students acquire a rich body of knowledge of our state’s history. Also, through an imaginative program called Walk through California, students go back in time for a day to experience the sights and sounds of California’s different eras. History does indeed come alive in fourth grade!
Writing is of particular focus in the fourth grade. Students craft creative poems, narratives, and research reports throughout the year, allowing for the development of voice, details, and extension of thought. Fourth graders love compiling their own portfolios at the culmination of the school year to demonstrate their personal growth in writing.
Science challenges students to use their critical thinking and communication skills. And, whether they are creating electrical circuits or creating simulations representing light waves or erosion, science in fourth grade is a very active and creative subject!
Social Studies in 4th grade is all about California history! A trip to the iconic Carmel Mission, a 4th grade production of Gold Dust or Bust, and the California Geography Cookie Project are a few of the many hands-on activities that help students acquire a rich body of knowledge of our state’s history. Also, through an imaginative program called Walk through California, students go back in time for a day to experience the sights and sounds of California’s different eras. History does indeed come alive in fourth grade!
Core Curriculum
List of 5 items.
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Language Arts
There are many aspects of the All Saints fourth grade language arts studies. In reading groups, the students develop comprehension skills through discussions, workbook exercises, learning and using new vocabulary, and an assortment of writing activities. Research skills are taught through library lessons. Grammar studies and weekly spelling exercises help prepare for work in a variety of compositional forms. The students enjoy fine literature books and write book reports, reference reports, poetry, and stories. -
Mathematics
The fourth grade focus is on reviewing and renewing retention of place value, rounding numbers, addition, and subtraction as the year begins. The students learn multiplication tables and learn to solve problems with double-digit multipliers and divisors. Other areas covered are fractions, decimals, measurements, data and graphs, geometry, perimeter, and area. All units covered include word problems and logic lessons. -
Science
Fourth grade science curriculum encompasses the physics of sound, environments, and ecosystems, the physical properties of water and the water cycle; animals, pets, and California sea otters; the five senses; a health unit covering alcohol, tobacco, and drugs; and a unit on personal safety, with emphasis on bullying and personal harassment. A particular focus is on incorporating STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) activities.
Skills involved include: observing, communicating, comparing, organizing, note-taking, research reports, partner work, group work, discerning facts vs. opinions, collecting data, and making graphs. Students perform experiments; incorporate artwork, poetry, research reports, story writing, and oral reports; take field trips, and have guest speakers who enrich our program with their expertise. -
Spanish
All students are enrolled in Spanish and class instruction is held in the target language. The focus in lower grades is placed on developing oral communication and conversation skills. Songs, stories, games, poems, and props are used to encourage children to participate actively in speaking the language. T.P.R. (Total Physical Response) Storytelling, a method that permits immediate comprehension of the input as students listen to and mimic the phrases in the target language, is used in grades 1 - 5. Students enact dialogues and readings, focus on conversational skills and expand their knowledge of Hispanic countries through poetry, songs, and readings.
In fourth grade world language, students review and expand the language skills developed in Early Childhood through third grades. The TPRS method is used more extensively. -
Social Studies
The goal of the fourth grade history/social studies curriculum is to “teach students the story of their home state, unique in American history, in terms of its vast and varied geography, its many waves of immigration, its continuous diversity, economic energy, and rapid growth,” as outlined in The California History Social Science Content standards for California Public schools.
There are six major curricular units: California Native Americans; Spanish exploration and control; Mexican governmental decisions and rancho days; Americanization with westward expansion, the gold rush and its effects on statehood; and transportation changes that led to more modern times.
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Gold Dust or Bust
Enjoy this recording of the 2020 production of the fourth grade play Gold Dust or Bust. Because of the pandemic, we recorded the production. Usually, the play is performed in front of the whole school community.
List of 8 members.
Specialty Classes
All Saints Day School
All Saints Day School, in Carmel, CA, is the only independent, private school on the Monterey Peninsula that focuses solely on educating students in Preschool through Grade 8, and has been doing so, with a reputation for excellence, since 1961.
NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY
All Saints Day School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, or sex in the administration of its educational and employment policies, admissions policies, financial aid programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY
All Saints Day School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, or sex in the administration of its educational and employment policies, admissions policies, financial aid programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.