Fourth Grade

Reading - Junior Great Books

Stage 1: Beginning Interpretation

Stories:

Thank you, M’am by Langston Hughes

The Gold Coin by Alma Flor Ada

Tuesday of the Other June by Norma Fox Mazer

Stage 2: Seeing Alternatives

Stories:

Prot and Krot, Polish folktale as told by Agnes Szudek

Chin Yu Min and the Ginger Cat by Jennifer Armstrong

The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen

Stage 3: Going Deeper

Stories:

Fresh by Philippa Pearce

Thunder, Elephant, and Dorobo, African folktale as told by Humphrey Harman

All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury

Beauty and the Beast by Madame de Villeneuve

(Junior Great Books information and image on this page are from The Great Books Foundation, 2013)

Novel Study - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Math - Beyond Base Ten

Beyond Base Ten investigates the concept of place value and the representation of numbers by using place value and non-place-value systems. Number bases other than Base Ten will be featured, especially through historical contexts of early civilizations that developed number systems that are different from the one we use today.

Place value is a fundamental and powerful concept that is the foundation for the number system used by all cultures today. Typical curriculum materials address this concept in a rote method. This unit goes beyond this by:

  • analyzing the structure of our number system and other systems;
  • examining the historical foundations of place value systems (Babylonian and Mayan) and non-place-value systems (Roman and Greek) over thousands of years in different civilizations;
  • analyzing why Base Ten is the surviving number system; and
  • presenting applications of other number bases in areas such as computers and electricity.

This unit gives students a much broader and deeper experience with place value using number bases other than Base Ten. This is challenging because it requires a deep understanding of the mathematical concept of place value, rather than just a familiarity with one system or the memorization of the values of the places in Base Ten without an understanding of the structure of the system.

(Beyond Base Ten information and image on this page are from The Center for Gifted Education at The College of William and Mary, 2008.)