Fourth graders apply the skills they learn in previous years to make bigger connections to the world around them. As a foundation for their middle school history classes, the fourth-grade social studies curriculum centers on early humans and ancient civilizations in Sumer, Egypt, India, and China. The year begins with a unit on archaeology and early man to help students understand how the past helps shape the present. Fourth-grade reading is literature-based, allowing students to continue to develop their reading skills while connecting texts to themselves, other texts, and the world around them. As writers, they refine their understanding of grammar and build their vocabulary to create more detailed, precise, and rounded writing in a variety of genres. The fourth-grade math curriculum builds on prior concepts: solving problems using the four basic operations, multiple digit numbers, and fractions. Fourth graders apply quantitative reasoning and computational skills to solve challenging, open-ended problems. In Spanish, the curriculum builds vocabulary and cultural understanding around the theme of school and home. In science, students study machines – from the human body to robots, their study focuses on how these systems function. Likewise, in physical education, students learn new games and continue to practice familiar activities while considering themselves as individual players and parts of a whole team. In music, fourth graders study the American-born musical style, jazz, with attention to history and development, form, artists, and improvisation culminating in the spring jazz program.

In fourth grade math, students become teachers of content. The curriculum continues to develop a solid fluency in computational math, covering topics such as: multiplying and dividing multi-digit numbers; using all four operations to solve problems; adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions; and analyzing geometric shapes. Taking the role of teacher, students select a concept to teach to a novice learner; the presentation includes step-by-step instructions, examples, and possible applications of the concept.

Ranging from reading to writing, the Language Arts curriculum is an integral piece of Norwood's academic program. Fourth graders read novels representing a diversity of characters and settings, themes, genres, and literary techniques. Students study and reflect on these texts through literature circles, written assignments, and projects such as character boxes, posters, dioramas, and oral presentations. Students keep a reader’s response notebook where they collect their thoughts as they read. Students also begin to formalize annotation as a way to track their thoughts as they read. They continue their study of language arts, building their vocabulary and developing a mastery of grammatical construction. Additionally, students continue to develop as independent readers, having class time to read books of their choosing. Through Writing Workshop, students explore various genres of writing such as personal narratives, expository writing, persuasive writing, fiction, and poetry.

In the Lower School, the art curriculum enables students to gain confidence, knowledge, experience, and appreciation for a wide variety of art ideas and materials. Throughout their experiences in art class, students are introduced to a sequential program which emphasizes process while exposing them to the elements of art. Media covered include drawing, painting, ceramics, collage, sculpture, and printmaking. As students develop as artists, teachers emphasize the development of personal expression, imagination, curiosity, and careful observation. Students apply these concepts and techniques while making connections, problem solving, and developing self-confidence and their personal artistic voice.

The dual goals for all students in lower school music classes are the development of both music literacy skill as well as creative artistic expression. Students discover, explore, demonstrate comprehension of, and finally create something new using concepts related to the elements of music: rhythm, melody, harmony, form, expression. They do this through a variety of activities, many of which also serve to develop their creative expression. Fourth graders stage a spring program that incorporates their study of the multicultural history of jazz music, including musical structures, artists, and influences.

In the Lower School, students are introduced to basic loco-motor skills and activities that develop hand-eye and hand-foot coordination, spatial awareness, teamwork, and sportsmanship. Each year builds on the skills, games, and experiences from the previous year. Going beyond the games and activities, teachers process the experiences with students individually and in groups, asking questions like, “Can a self-win also be a team win?” and “What does it mean to be a good sport?” In the lower grades, students learn the mental and physical foundations that will help them succeed in later experiences on and off the field of play.

Fourth graders become experts as they continue to immerse themselves in the hands-on world of the science curriculum. In the unit on human anatomy, students complete a peer teaching project where they work in a group to study a specific human body system in detail and then present the information to the class. In the robotics unit, students use LEGO NXT kits to explore energy conservation and asses the efficiency of solar and wind energy. That data is tracked on a tablet PC, and students evaluate the data sets completed during the experiment.

Focusing on school life, fourth graders study the lives of Spanish-speaking children their own age. They also take a closer look at the Spanish-speaking countries of South America, learning the capitals and some of the geographic features of the region. Units covered include: hobbies and extracurricular activities, giving directions, school life, and businesses in the community. While students learn about these topics in the target language, they cover grammar topics like the use of prepositions, sentence construction, and verb tenses. Connecting with the math curriculum, students learn to discuss numbers: counting to 1,000, skip counting, adding, subtracting, and multiplying.

The main focus of the fourth grade social studies curriculum is ancient civilizations. The year starts with a unit on archaeology to show students how prehistoric information is discovered. The unit culminates with the Big Dig project, where students take on the role of archeologists as they look for fossils and artifacts in Norwood’s own excavation site. Back in the classroom lab, they organize, classify and catalog their findings. The next unit of study focuses on the various groups of early humans. The move from hunters/gatherers to agriculture leads to the study of the earliest civilizations, beginning with Sumer and then on to ancient Egypt, India, and China. In the spring, students go on an experiential trip to Philadelphia, which includes visits to the Franklin Institute and an overnight at the Penn Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. Throughout the year, projects and assignments are inquiry based, which enables students take on the role of experts as they create connections to the past.