4th Grade Curriculum Guide

4th GRADE THEME STUDIES
Theme studies integrate the humanities and, when possible, science and math. One rich and interesting theme can provide many connections between facts, ideas, locations, peoples, and a students’ life experience. Themes can encompass history, geography, anthropology, sociology, current events, and research methods. Theme study is designed for depth of understanding rather than coverage of facts. In going deep, students not only learn much about a particular topic, they learn how to go deep in other subjects they encounter in their future schooling. Within a classroom, themes may vary from year to year.

Tr. Tim Austin
Our theme for the year is “Machines.” We will begin with simple machines, and then study complex human- and animal-powered machines. We'll finish with complex machines powered by various types of motors, engines, and electricity. Our focus will be on how machines have afffected humans and societies over the course of history. We will investigate four main areas that have had the greatest impact: transportation/immigration, communication, food production and processing, and entertainment.

Our class will build a "time machine" which will be used to visit, and often participate, in historical events. Our first visit will be to the Pilgrims as part of an historical simulation in which students board the Mayflower and wrestle with the same dicisions and challenges faced by the colonists. Following that, we'll transport back to Central and South America and call on the people who lived there before and after contact with Europeans. There we will study the geography, history, culture, government, and technology of the Maya, Aztec, and Incan societies.

Woven through these themes will be mathematics, reading and writing assignments, and the science portion of our of our studies, which will include water, weather, navigation, motion, and energy. We will also hold the fourth grade's annual Rube Goldberg contest.