Fourth-grade students are still in the middle of what we call “the nine-year-old change.” They want to respect adults and be amazed by their world, but their respect and awe must be justified. They become more self-confident as their perception sharpens.
The fourth-grade child is consciously seeking models of competence in teachers, coaches, and others in their expanding social sphere.
They can be highly critical and argumentative; strong opinions about anything and everything, likes and dislikes, are often expressed in class discussions as a new realistic view of the world emerges. Teachers and parents increasingly experience the children as emerging individuals with strong personalities and distinctive gifts, talents, and challenges.
Studying local geography helps the children establish their place on this Earth, as they can now orient themselves in time and space. Learning to make maps of their classroom, school, neighborhood, Sarasota, and Florida, and solidifying the directions of north, south, east, and west, as manifested by the movement of the sun and planets, gives the children a sure way to find themselves in the here and now. This is true in their bodies as well, for by this time, the children should have become quite coordinated in the three aspects of space: forward/back, left/right, up/down.
Understanding their local geography, both physical and cultural, is a way to unite the child to earth, and cultivate a feeling of belonging and purpose.
A journey through nearly 15,000 years of local human history is also offered, as the students are fully ready to orient themselves in time, further enhancing their connections to our local surroundings and the people who came here before them.
In fourth grade, the world – which once exhibited a magical wholeness- begins to break apart. This is the appropriate time to introduce fractions. Through hands-on activities, the children find a world of numbers in between any two whole numbers.
The child’s experience of separation from their surroundings remains painful at times. Out of this difficulty, children begin to form their personalities, consciously choosing those qualities that will make up their own characters and their ways of approaching the world.
The ability to choose consciously is strongly echoed in Norse mythology, which becomes the basis of their language arts study. These traditional tales center on the strength of character, courage, self-sacrifice, and perseverance while revealing hidden motives, character fallibility, and adversarial relationships of all kinds.
Fourth grade is naturally full of conflict within social interactions that seem impossible to solve in the moment, but are resolved in a safe environment, creating mutual respect, understanding, and closer friendships.
A most valuable quote for the fourth-grader is said by Odin, during one of his visits to Earth, as he closely advises his human creations: “Men die, cattle die, you yourself must die one day. There is only one thing that will not die- the name, good or bad, that you have made for yourself.” This truly speaks to the fourth-grader.
At the same time, their newfound independence broadens the child’s mindset and shows a world of endless possibilities. The fourth-grader has an adventurous spirit, is full of curiosity, and is eager to explore new capacities for learning and creativity.
For Students 9 by May 1st, 2025