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Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills – Fourth Grade
§110.6.
English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 4.
(a) Introduction.
(1) In Grade
4, students spend significant blocks of time engaged in reading and writing
independently. Fourth grade students are critical listeners and analyze a
speaker's intent such as to entertain or to persuade. When speaking, they adapt
their language to the audience, purpose, and occasion. Students continue to read
classic and contemporary selections. Fourth grade students read with a growing
interest in a wide variety of topics and adjust their reading approach to
various forms of texts. Students expand their vocabulary systematically across
the curriculum. Students read for meaning and can paraphrase texts. Students are
able to connect, compare, and contrast ideas.. Fourth grade students can
identify and follow varied text structures such as chronologies and cause and
effect. Students produce summaries of texts and engage in more sophisticated
analysis of characters, plots, and settings. Fourth grade students are able to
select and use different forms of writing for specific purposes such as to
inform, persuade, or entertain. Their writing takes on style and voice. Fourth
grade students write in complete sentences. Students vary sentence structure and
use adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and conjunctions. Fourth grade
students are proficient spellers. Students edit their writing based on their
knowledge of grammar and usage, spelling, punctuation, and other conventions of
written language. Students can produce a final, polished copy of a written
composition. Fourth grade students understand and use visual media and can
compare and contrast visual media to print.
(2) For fourth grade students
whose first language is not English, the students' native language serves as a
foundation for English language acquisition.
(3) The essential knowledge and
skills as well as the student expectations for Grade 4 are described in
subsection (b) of this section. Following each statement of a student
expectation is a parenthetical notation that indicates the additional grades at
which these expectations are demonstrated at increasingly sophisticated
levels.
(4) To meet Public Education Goal 1 of the Texas Education Code,
§4.002, which states, 'The students in the public education system will
demonstrate exemplary performance in the reading and writing of the English
language,' students will accomplish the essential knowledge and skills as well
as the student expectations for Grade 4 as described in subsection (b) of this
section.
(5) To meet Texas Education Code, §28.002(h), which states, '. . .
each school district shall foster the continuation of the tradition of teaching
United States and Texas history and the free enterprise system in regular
subject matter and in reading courses and in the adoption of textbooks,'
students will be provided oral and written narratives as well as other
informational texts that can help them to become thoughtful, active citizens who
appreciate the basic democratic values of our state and
nation.
§111.16. Mathematics, Grade 4.
(a) Introduction.
(1)
Within a well-balanced mathematics curriculum, the primary focal points at Grade
4 are comparing and ordering fractions and decimals, applying multiplication and
division, and developing ideas related to congruence and symmetry.
(2)
Throughout mathematics in Grades 3-5, students build a foundation of basic
understandings in number, operation, and quantitative reasoning; patterns,
relationships, and algebraic thinking; geometry and spatial reasoning;
measurement; and probability and statistics.. Students use algorithms for
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as generalizations connected
to concrete experiences; and they concretely develop basic concepts of fractions
and decimals. Students use appropriate language and organizational structures
such as tables and charts to represent and communicate relationships, make
predictions, and solve problems. Students select and use formal language to
describe their reasoning as they identify, compare, and classify two- or
three-dimensional geometric figures; and they use numbers, standard units, and
measurement tools to describe and compare objects, make estimates, and solve
application problems. Students organize data, choose an appropriate method to
display the data, and interpret the data to make decisions and predictions and
solve problems.
(3) Throughout mathematics in Grades 3-5, students develop
numerical fluency with conceptual understanding and computational accuracy.
Students in Grades 3-5 use knowledge of the base-ten place value system to
compose and decompose numbers in order to solve problems requiring precision,
estimation, and reasonableness. By the end of Grade 5, students know basic
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts and are using them to
work flexibly, efficiently, and accurately with numbers during addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division computation.
(4) Problem solving,
language and communication, connections within and outside mathematics, and
formal and informal reasoning underlie all content areas in mathematics.
Throughout mathematics in Grades 3-5, students use these processes together with
technology and other mathematical tools such as manipulative materials to
develop conceptual understanding and solve meaningful problems as they do
mathematics.
§112.6. Science, Grade 4.
(a) Introduction.
(1) In
Grade 4, the study of science includes planning and implementing field and
laboratory investigations using scientific methods, analyzing information,
making informed decisions, and using tools such as compasses to collect
information. Students also use computers and information technology tools to
support scientific investigations.
(2) As students learn science skills, they
identify components and processes of the natural world including properties of
soil, effects of the oceans on land, and the role of the Sun as our major source
of energy. In addition, students identify the physical properties of matter and
observe the addition or reduction of heat as an example of what can cause
changes in states of matter.
(3) Students learn the roles of living and
nonliving components of simple systems and investigate differences between
learned characteristics and inherited traits. They learn that adaptations of
organisms that lived in the past may have increased some species' ability to
survive.
(4) Science is a way of learning about the natural world. Students
should know how science has built a vast body of changing and increasing
knowledge described by physical, mathematical, and conceptual models, and also
should know that science may not answer all questions.
(5) A system is a
collection of cycles, structures, and processes that interact. Students should
understand a whole in terms of its components and how these components relate to
each other and to the whole. All systems have basic properties that can be
described in terms of space, time, energy, and matter. Change and constancy
occur in systems and can be observed and measured as patterns.. These patterns
help to predict what will happen next and can change over time.
(6)
Investigations are used to learn about the natural world. Students should
understand that certain types of questions can be answered by investigations,
and that methods, models, and conclusions built from these investigations change
as new observations are made. Models of objects and events are tools for
understanding the natural world and can show how systems work. They have
limitations and based on new discoveries are constantly being modified to more
closely reflect the natural world.
§113.6. Social Studies, Grade
4.
(a) Introduction.
(1) In Grade 4, students examine the history of Texas
from the early beginnings to the present within the context of influences of the
Western Hemisphere. Historical content focuses on Texas history including the
Texas revolution, establishment of the Republic of Texas, and subsequent
annexation to the United States. Students discuss important issues, events, and
individuals of the 19th and 20th centuries. Students conduct a thorough study of
regions in Texas and the Western Hemisphere that result from human activity and
from physical features. A focus on the location, distribution, and patterns of
economic activities and of settlement in Texas further enhances the concept of
regions. Students describe how early Native Americans in Texas and the Western
Hemisphere met their basic economic needs and identify economic motivations for
European exploration and colonization and reasons for the establishment of
Spanish missions. Students explain how Native Americans governed themselves and
identify characteristics of Spanish and Mexican colonial governments in Texas.
Students recite and explain the meaning of the Pledge to the Texas Flag.
Students identify the contributions of people of various racial, ethnic, and
religious groups to Texas and describe the impact of science and technology on
life in the state. Students use critical-thinking skills to identify
cause-and-effect relationships, compare and contrast, and make generalizations
and predictions.
(2) To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and
skills, the use of a variety of rich primary and secondary source material such
as biographies; novels; speeches and letters; and poetry, songs, and artworks is
encouraged. Selections may include a children's biography of Stephen F. Austin.
Motivating resources are also available from museums, historical sites,
presidential libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
(3) The
eight strands of the essential knowledge and skills for social studies are
intended to be integrated for instructional purposes with the history and
geography strands establishing a sense of time and a sense of place. Skills
listed in the geography and social studies skills strands in subsection (b) of
this section should be incorporated into the teaching of all essential knowledge
and skills for social studies. A greater depth of understanding of complex
content material can be attained when integrated social studies content from the
various disciplines and critical-thinking skills are taught together.
(4)
Throughout social studies in Kindergarten-Grade 12, students build a foundation
in history; geography; economics; government; citizenship; culture; science,
technology, and society; and social studies skills. The content, as appropriate
for the grade level or course, enables students to understand the importance of
patriotism, function in a free enterprise society, and appreciate the basic
democratic values of our state and nation as referenced in the Texas Education
Code, §28.002(h).
§116.6. Physical Education, Grade 4.
(a)
Introduction.
(1) In Physical Education, students acquire the knowledge and
skills for movement that provide the foundation for enjoyment, continued social
development through physical activity, and access to a physically-active
lifestyle. The student exhibits a physically-active lifestyle and understands
the relationship between physical activity and health throughout the
lifespan.
(2) Fourth grade students learn to identify the components of
health-related fitness. Students combine locomotor and manipulative skills in
dynamic situations with body control. Students begin to identify sources of
health fitness information and continue to learn about appropriate clothing and
safety precautions in exercise settings.
§126.3. Technology
Applications, Grade 4.
(a) Introduction.
(1) The technology
applications curriculum has four strands: foundations, information acquisition,
work in solving problems, and communication.
(2) Through the study of
technology applications foundations, including technology-related terms,
concepts, and data input strategies, students learn to make informed decisions
about technologies and their applications. The efficient acquisition of
information includes the identification of task requirements; the plan for using
search strategies; and the use of technology to access, analyze, and evaluate
the acquired information. By using technology as a tool that supports the work
of individuals and groups in solving problems, students will select the
technology appropriate for the task, synthesize knowledge, create a solution,
and evaluate the results. Students communicate information in different formats
and to diverse audiences. A variety of technologies will be used. Students will
analyze and evaluate the results. |
