The choice of a 4th grade math curriculum is an important one. It can be a “turning point” year in terms of either feeling successful or frustrated with math. Students will start to learn that there is more than one way to solve a math problem, and they will begin applying what they are learning in math to real world issues.
On this page, you will get an overview of what your child should know going into the new school year, as well as the upcoming fourth grade math objectives.
4th graders are expected to have gained the following skills before they start the year:
Understanding place value
Memorizing math facts with the help of fact families
Finding perimeter and area of a shape by counting units
Solving problems with decimal points
Creating a number sentence or equation from a word problem
Familiarity with both the traditional and metric systems
What Math Should a 4th Grader Know?
Math Objectives for 4th Grade
In 4th grade, math instruction should focus on number theory and systems, algebraic thinking, geometrical figures and objects, measurement of length, weight, capacity, time, and temperature, and data analysis and probability.
Some of the specific fourth grade math learning targets include:
Estimating sums and differences using rounding and compatible numbers.
Identify factors of a given number and common factors of two given numbers.
Exploring the idea of a variable by solving for an unknown quantity in an equation (early algebraic thinking).
Finding perimeter, area, and volume.
Defining multiples, and list multiples of a given number.
Solving addition and subtraction problems involving money.
Plotting a point given an ordered pair or writing the ordered pair of a point shown on a coordinate grid.
Identifying the mean, median, mode, and range from a set of data or a graph.