Academics

Fourth Grade

Fourth graders continue their academic journey this year by developing research skills through an extensive Native American report and a project-based unit on California’s historical missions. All year, students look forward with anticipation to their first overnight ACS field trip. In the spring, they travel with teacher and parent chaperones to the historic gold-rush reenactment town at Malakoff Diggins.

Our fourth grade homeroom teachers provide instruction in Language Arts, Math, and Social Studies.

Homeroom

Language Arts

• Develop strategies in sequencing
• Summarizing
• Note taking
• Predicting, clarifying, linking unit concepts to stories and comprehension
• Spelling mastery, building vocabulary
• Sentence structure, parts of speech
• Paragraph writing
• Researching
• Literary appreciation
• Creative writing

Math

• Addition and subtraction
• Multiplication, division
• Place value and rounding
• Algebra readiness
• Geometry
• Lines, angles, perimeter and area
• Multi-digit multiplication
• Fractions and decimals
• Word problems

Social Studies

• History of California to statehood
• California Indians
• California missions
• California regions and landforms
• Gold Rush
• Maps, globes and other geographic tools

Enrichments

Drama

Students learn the fundamentals of performance during 8 weeks of rehearsing a full-length musical theater performance. Each student gains self-confidence by actively performing on the stage. The students' efforts culminate in a final production with two live performances for students and parents.
• Learn memorization, characterization
• Develop acting and performance skills including music and singing, timing and choreography
• Learn costuming, set design, stage balance and stage directions
Drama teacher, 8 week unit

Music

Music at ACS incorporates tonal instruments, dance, and voice in the Orff Program.
• Basic music theory as a foundation for reading music
• Integrate movement and dance while developing their voices and discovering the joy of singing
• Learn the songs of our country and other cultures
• Experience the beauty of great works of music and learn about the composers who wrote them
Art teacher, 1 class per week

Art

Students explore their unique creative abilities while they experience and develop artistic skills using a variety of media and subjects; student artwork is displayed in ASSETS, our school-wide talent show, and in a variety of local art exhibitions.
Enrichment teacher, 2 classes per week

French

• Emphasis on oral conversation
• Creative writing using expanded vocabulary and grammar
• Conjugation with present tense verbs
• French geography & industry; regions and cities
• Integrate with Language Arts (poetry) and Science
• Class performance at ASSETS school-wide talent show
French teacher, 3 classes per week

Science

• Scientific method, research, data collection and observations
• Graphing
• Problem solving
• Scientific journal writing
• Skeletons, human vision
• Electricity and energy
• Science fair
• Earth and moon, including a visit to the Star Lab
• World weather and patterns of change
• Robotics and Newton’s Laws of Motion
Science teacher, 3 classes per week

Technology

Students visit our fully-equipped computer lab to learn about technology and apply skills. Fourth grade students use the lab’s Promethean ActivBoard as well as classroom iPads and MacBooks for projects, activities, research, and demonstrations.
Technology teacher, with lab visits as scheduled

Library

Fourth grade students visit the library once a week. Our full-time librarian reads stories to the class, and students are encouraged to check out books to bring home.
Librarian, 1 class per week

Physical Education

Regular weekly P.E. instruction builds fitness, coordination and skill progression, while increasing students' readiness to learn in all subjects.
P.E. teacher, 3 classes per week
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And that’s not all …

In addition to its developmentally based instructional program and a wide selection of enrichment activities, ACS features special co-curricular activities that supplement instruction at every grade level:
 

ASSETS

Our All School Student Exhibition and Talent Showcase (ASSETS) has been a popular ACS tradition for more than a decade. This three-day event is a lively celebration of student success and skills in a wide variety of activities. Each May, ASSETS exhibits and performances highlight school artwork, enrichment projects and unique performing talents of individual students and groups across the grade levels.

Field Trips

Fourth grade students have multiple offsite field trips during the year, including their overnight trip to Malakoff Diggins.

Malakoff Diggins offers students an opportunity to bring their studies of California’s Pioneer Era and the Gold Rush to life. Guided by park docents, they actually get to explore the site of California’s largest hydraulic mine. Students, parent volunteers, and teachers take part in a three-day, two-night experience that includes assuming the roles of early Californians, learning through doing the chores and tasks common to the Gold Rush pioneers, wearing period costumes and actually living the life of the settlers.

And fourth grade’s field trips don’t stop there. In past years, students have visited San Francisco’s Chinatown, the Quicksilver Mining Museum and the Peralta Adobe and Fallon House.