CSDE Model Curricula Quick Start GuideEquitable and Inclusive Curriculum  The CSDE believes in providing a set of conditions where learners are repositioned at the center of curricula planning and design. Curricula, from a culturally responsive perspective, require intentional planning for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the development of units and implementation of lessons. It is critical to develop a learning environment that is relevant to and reflective of students’ social, cultural, and linguistic experiences to effectively connect their culturally and community-based knowledge to the class. Begin by connecting what is known about students’ cognitive and interdisciplinary diversity to the learning of the unit. Opposed to starting instructional planning with gaps in students’ knowledge, plan from an asset-based perspective by starting from students’ strengths. In doing so, curricula’s implementation will be grounded in instruction that engages, motivates, and supports the intellectual capacity of all students.Course Description:  In Grade 4, instructional time should focus on three critical areas: (1) developing understanding and fluency with multi-digit multiplication, and developing understanding of dividing to find quotients involving multi-digit dividends; (2) developing an understanding of fraction equivalence, addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators, and multiplication of fractions by whole numbers; (3) understanding that geometric figures can be analyzed and classified based on their properties, such as having parallel sides, perpendicular sides, particular angle measures, and symmetry. Upon completion of this course students will have the ability to: Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems; Gain familiarity with factors and multiples; Generate and analyze patterns; Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers; Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic; Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering; Build fractions from unit fractions; Understand decimal notation for fractions, and compare decimal fractions; Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements; Represent and interpret data; Geometric measurement: understand concepts of angle and measure angles; and Draw and identify lines and angles, and classify shapes by properties of their lines and angles. Aligned Core Resources:Core resources is a local control decision.  Ensuring alignment of resources to the standards is critical for success.  There are tools that are available to assist in evaluating alignment, such as CCSSO’s Mathematics Curriculum Analysis Project and Student Achievement Partner’s Instructional Materials Evaluation Tool.  In addition EdReports and Louisiana Believes are two sources of completed reviews for a variety of resources.  Connecticut is currently working on providing additional alignment guidance for the most frequently used resources across the state. Aligned Core Programs:  The CSDE in partnership with SERC has engaged with providers of high-quality vetted resources to provide additional alignment guidance to the CSDE model curriculum.  High-quality instructional resources are critical for improving student outcomes. The alignment guidance is intended to clarify content and support understanding for clear implementation and coherence. Materials selection is a local control decision and these documents have been provided from participating publishers to assist districts in implementation. Use of the materials from these publishers is not required. These aligned core programs meet expectations as reported by EdReports. If your resource is not listed below, you are encouraged to review EdReports to ensure the alignment of your resource to the Connecticut Core Standards. Strong alignment of curricula and instructional materials have the potential to support student engagement of meaningful grade level content daily and teacher growth.  Achievement First Math Grade 4enVisions Grade 4Eureka Grade 4Fishtank Plus Math Grade 4HMH into Math Grade 4Imagine Learning Illustrative Mathematics Grade 4i-Ready Math Grade 4Reveal Math Grade 4Financial Literacy Connections:The State of Connecticut is committed to implementing high-quality Financial Literacy instruction at all grade levels beginning in kindergarten. Financial Literacy supports students’ academic performance in several subject areas. The K-5 Model Math Curricula embeds tasks that align the mathematical content and skill to the essential Financial Literacy concepts such as income, spending, saving, investing, credit and risk.  The concepts contained in the learning tasks are designed to be rich, hands-on activities with developmentally appropriate real-world connections.  The tasks are identified by grade level and embedded in the appropriate units so that students can demonstrate mastery of what they need to know and be able to do by the end of their K-5 school experience. In this way, elementary students will be prepared to build upon Financial Literacy knowledge as they advance through middle and high school. Additional Course Information:  Major work of Grade 4 mathematics focuses on multiplication and division of whole numbers and fractions including concepts, skills, and problem solving. Fluencies expected for Grade 4 include:    Add/subtract within 1,000,000  Habits of Mind/SEIH/Transferable Skills Addressed in the Course: The Standards for Mathematical Practice describe the thinking processes, habits of mind, and dispositions that students need to develop a deep, flexible, and enduring understanding of mathematics. They describe student behaviors, ensure an understanding of math, and focus on developing reasoning and building mathematical communication. Therefore, the following should be addressed throughout the course: Make sense of problems & persevere in solving them Reason abstractly & quantitatively Construct viable arguments & critique the reasoning of others Model with mathematics Use appropriate tools strategically Attend to precision Look for & make use of structure Look for & express regularity in repeated reasoning 

Students design and build a model city powered by the sun! They learn about the benefits of solar power, and how architectural and building engineers integrate photovoltaic panels into the design of buildings.

In this activity students practice measuring techniques by measuring different objects and distances around the classroom. They practice using different scales of measurement in metric units and estimation.

In this 43-day module, students use place value understanding and visual representations to solve multiplication and division problems with multi-digit numbers. As a key area of focus for Grade 4, this module moves slowly but comprehensively to develop students’ ability to reason about the methods and models chosen to solve problems with multi-digit factors and dividends.

**NOTE: The New York State Education Department shut down the EngageNY website in 2022. In order to maintain educators' access, nearly all resources have been uploaded to archive.org and the resource links above have been updated to reflect their new locations.**

Students develop an understanding of air pressure by using candy or cookie wafers to model how it changes with altitude, by comparing its magnitude to gravitational force per unit area, and by observing its magnitude with an aluminum can crushing experiment.

The purpose of the task is for students to solve a multi-step multiplication problem in a context that involves area. In addition, the numbers were chosen to determine if students have a common misconception related to multiplication.

Students learn about population density within environments and ecosystems. They determine the density of a population and think about why population density and distribution information is useful to engineers for city planning and design as well as for resource allocation.

Students analyze and begin to design a pyramid. Working in engineering teams, they perform calculations to determine the area of the pyramid base, stone block volumes, and the number of blocks required for their pyramid base. They make a scaled drawing of the pyramid using graph paper.

Students learn the history of the waterwheel and common uses for water turbines today. They explore kinetic energy by creating their own experimental waterwheel from a two-liter plastic bottle. They investigate the transformations of energy involved in turning the blades of a hydro-turbine into work, and experiment with how weight affects the rotational rate of the waterwheel. Students also discuss and explore the characteristics of hydroelectric plants.

Students learn about wind energy by making a pinwheel to model a wind turbine. Just like engineers, they decide where and how their turbine works best by testing it in different areas of the playground.