Aichi International School：Grade 4

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Elementary
Grade 4

Grade 4 students follow a 35 period week. Below is a breakdown of how many lessons per subject students study on a weekly basis:

6 . Lessons English
6 . Lessons Japanese
4 . Lessons Math
1 . Lesson Math (Japanese)
3 . Lessons Science
2 . Lessons Science (Japanese)
1 . Lesson Social Studies

2 . Lessons Social Studies (Japanese)
2 . Lessons Interdisciplinary
3 . Lessons PE
1 . Lesson Music
2 . Lessons Art
1 . Lesson Moral Education
1 . Lesson Violin

Lessons Taught in English

This section describes the curriculum for Grade 4. For core subjects students follow the California Department of Education curriculum. Each of these lessons uses Houghton and Mifflin textbooks.

AIS’s curriculum is divided into the following subjects of the curriculum, which are taught in English:

English

English at Grade 4 follows six themes throughout the year. These themes are Journeys (focus on mysteries), American Stories (focus on plays), That’s Amazing, Problem Solvers (focus on poetry), Heroes (focus on Pourquoi tales) and Nature: Friend and Foe.

Assessment in English is ongoing throughout the year, and there is a test at the end of each theme.

Resources: Houghton and Mifflin Reading.

Math

Math in Grade 4 follows a series of themes. Students work through the following themes over the course of the year:

Place Value and Money
Operations and Algebraic Reasoning
Multiplication of Whole Numbers
Division of Whole Numbers
Measurement and Graphing
Geometry and Measurement
Fractions and Decimals
Probability/Algebra and Graphing

Science

In Grade 4 Science is divided into three blocks; Life Science, Earth Science and Physical Science. Within these blocks there are six topics. These topics are:

Organization of Living Things
Eco-systems
Earth
The Nature of Matter
Energy

Each theme in the Science program is assessed at the end of the unit with a test.

Resources: Houghton and Mifflin Science.

Social Studies

At Grade 4 level the Social Studies program is based a variety of topics aimed to develop students awareness, understanding, knowledge and enquiry of the world. Topics studied are:

The Land of the United States (focus on People and Places)
The East (focus on Freedom)
The South (focus on Unity and Diversity)
The Midwest (focus on Earning a Living)
The West (focus on Stories of our Past)
Connections to Our World (focus on International Relations)

Resources: Houghton and Mifflin Social Studies.

Interdisciplinary

Students at Elementary School level have interdisciplinary lessons. These are designed to allow students to self-study, thus allowing them to develop their independence. It is also the chance for students to focus on a subject, which they feel they need to spend more time and focus on.

PE

In Grade 4 students practice and develop their manipulative movement skills including one-handed catching, striking with hand/implement, throwing overhand and dribbling object with feet.

Music

Students develop and understanding and appreciation for music by studying the fundamentals of music; rhythm, tempo, dynamics, and all of its components. Students explore music through various activities such as singing, recorder, violin, percussion, music, games, etc.

Art

Throughout the Elementary School there is a program of skills taught, studied and practiced. Students participate in a range of art activities, which allow children the opportunity to experience different materials, tools, images, etc. The art activities in Grade 4 support much of the cross-curricular work undertaken throughout the year.

Moral Education

Moral Education is the last lesson of the school week. During this time the students are able to review their week, consider their performance and any possible things they would like to change about their week.

Violin

All students participate in a Suzuki-method violin program. Students have one lesson a week.

Lessons Taught in Japanese

In Grade 4 AIS students study the following subjects in Japanese, following the MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) curriculum.

Japanese Language

The objectives for Japanese in Grade 4 are:

To enable pupils to acquire the ability to speak logically about what they have studied.
To listen to the focal points of the story and have the ability to conduct discussions in line with the course of discussions.
To develop an attitude of speaking and listening while doing creative work.
To be able to write sentences in paragraph form.
To acquire the ability to read, and be able to grasp the focal points of the content.

Students acquire Japanese through practicing and developing their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

Math

The objectives for math in Grade 4 are as follow:

For students to develop their understanding of division, representations of decimal numbers and fractions, understand the meaning of addition and subtraction of decimal numbers and fractions, to explore ways of addition and subtraction, and to understand how to round numbers.
For pupils to understand the units of measurement of area, determine the area of geometrical figures, and understand the unit and measurements of angle.
To understand parallelograms, rhombuses and the relationship of the elements which are used in geometry.
To help students represent numbers and quantities as well as their relations by using words, numbers, algebraic expressions, figures, diagrams, tables and graphs, and investigate such representations.

Science

The objectives for science in Grade 4 are:

To develop perspectives and ideas about the properties and functions of objects, by investigating air, water, changes in the state of an object and electrical phenomena, and in relation to the functions of power, heat and electricity.
To develop perspectives and ideas about the structure of the human body, the activities of animals/growth of plants, meteorology, and movement of the moon and stars, by investigating them in relation to movement, seasons, temperature and time.

Social Studies

In Grade 4 Social Studies students study a series of themes. The first is about the environment. Students learn about a good living environment and consider about burning and separating garbage. Students will also look at different water systems, consider where water comes from and how much water pupils use.

The second theme is about local business. Students will consider how to start a local business, what are the local products and how the history and the local environment are factors when starting a new business.

The last theme is a study of Aichi prefecture. Students will look at how many people live in the prefecture, what the main industries are, how the traffic is controlled, how roads are made and will compare the different landscapes.

Homework

Homework is given every night to students. This consists of work from the core subjects of math, science and English.