Fourth Grade Milestones Click here
More on Fourth Grade Milestones Click here

Fifth Grade: What Will They Learn?
By the time she's in fifth grade, your child will need to take almost full responsibility for her homework. She will be using assignment notepads and learning good studying and note-taking habits. Read more

Fifth Grade Milestones Click here
More on Fifth Grade Milestones Click here

Reading
Reading to Learn: Upper Elementary Reading Skills
The main goal in grades 3 to 5 is for children to become enthusiastic, independent readers who can use their skills to learn new material in all subjects — from history to math. Put simply, children focus on learning to read through second grade. After that, they "read to learn," as well as read for pleasure. Read more

Fourth Grade Slump
If reading remains laborious in the upper grades, your child will avoid it. That problem is so common it's known as the "fourth grade slump."

Math
Overview: Standards for Grades 3–5
Interwoven through the Content Standards for grades 3–5 are three crucial mathematical themes--multiplicative thinking, equivalence, and computational fluency. Read more

Mathematics in Fourth Grade
You should expect to see your fourth grade child become a much better estimator than he or she was before. Further, your child will be able to see patterns in numbers more easily -- they will note in a sequence of 1, 2, 4, 8 that subsequent numbers will be 16, 32, 64 -- and will have some beginning understanding of probabilities: how likely is it that when flipping a coin, heads will come out 2 times more than tails, etc. The child should also be able to measure things with precision and to manage fractions fairly well -- although, because of their use of calculators, children are increasingly familiar with decimals. Read more

Mathematics in the Fifth Grade
▪ understand when to add and subtract, to use a calculator, to estimate, and to arrange information on a graph;
▪ begin to have an understanding of probability and how to judge it;
▪ learn to see how relationships among numbers, patterns, or events can be made more understandable with mathematical formulations;
▪ establish models for problem solving. Read more

 

Developing Educational Standards
National and State Standards Read more
Keeping Pace With K–12 Online Learning: A Snapshot of State-Level Policy and Practice Read more
"Teaching Reading Teaching Anything" Read more

State Assessments
Much of the testing that occurs as part of state- and district-wide assessment programs is part of a concerted effort to improve the quality of education through assessment-based accountability. State-mandated tests don't merely assess students' academic ability; many states are relying on tests to determine the academic future of students, compensation for teachers and administrators, and funding for schools. With states' reliance on educational tests steadily on the rise, students will find themselves up against these state-mandated tests more and more in their school careers.

Since much of the U.S. educational system is under local control by the state or district, tests vary significantly. Some are locally developed; others are purchased from large commercial test publishers.
Click Here to find out information about your state.