Why is 4th grade a jump?

[marisolstice]

I keep hearing that 4th grade is a jump in difficulty for students.

Is that true, and if so, what makes it more difficult? And why 4th (why not 3rd, or 5th)?

[joysworld]

My son is in fourth this year and I didn't find it a jump at all.

[kbutton]

I've heard this too, but more from people with kids in a brick and mortar school than with homeschoolers (they seem more likely to say something in middle school).

 

I think whether or not you experience a jump and when it's timed has a lot to do with what curriculum you use (or combination of various curriculum). Sometimes it's output level, amount of studying for things that are memorized, test taking, or additional reading that changes. Sometimes it's more perception--I feel like Singapore has a big jump between 3rd and 4th (with the combination of materials I use), but I feel like it's conceptually smooth, just suddenly a bigger range of topics and skills to which you apply the base of knowledge you've gained. So, I perceive a jump, but it doesn't feel like being thrown into the deep end of the pool either. When my son was in brick and mortar school he used A Beka. I felt like first grade was a bit of a jump (but a comfortable one for us), while second grade was almost totally review--some skills taught in first didn't appear again until near the end of the year! Third grade appeared to be another surge forward, but we pulled out by then to homeschool. I didn't really get why they wouldn't teach at a more steady and even pace, particularly since they have a such a spiral approach to begin with.

 

[Little Women]

I think it's because of the change in reading.   Most 3rd graders are still working on learning to read, or at least learning to read longer books.    In 4th grade, they switch over to reading to learn.  In other words, a 4th grader will probably be expected to read his own science book and pull out relevant information.    Before that, they usually are told what it says, instead of having to find it themselves.  Their hands are held a little more in the earlier years, but in 4th grade, the expectations get higher.  I don't think there's anything specific about 4th grade that requires this, it's just how it's generally done.

 

[mathmarm]

My brother has noticed, without fail a big change when his kids, my neices and nephews get into the 5th grade. Why? Because that is when schools began conciously preparing them for 6th grade-aka middle school.

 

I can also imagine that for some students, 4th and 5th grade is when you sort of get to the end of the "learning to read" phase--you're expected to read and understand with little or no support from a wider range of genres and from meatier selections. You should have been exposed to all of arithmetic by then and you should be applying arithmetic principles in problems as often as simply compute an answer.

 

Kids are asked to write more regularly--explain your answer in math, support your answers from the textbook, how did the book make you feel, etc, etc, etc. 4th/5th grade is as more about demonstrating mastery of everything you've done before and building the ground floor on your K-3 foundation.

 

[Ellie]

I keep hearing that 4th grade is a jump in difficulty for students.

Is that true, and if so, what makes it more difficult? And why 4th (why not 3rd, or 5th)?

 

First you have to believe that homeschooled children can actually be defined by a grade level.

 

I don't believe that.

 

FTR, I have not heard that "4th grade" is a jump in difficulty. I did not notice such a thing when my dc went from being 8 to being 9.

 

I know that R&S's seventh grade English is a jump from sixth grade English because of the increased writing assignments. I would guess that if your dc starts doing Saxon's Math 54, that might be a jump from the previous year...but he might or might not be "in" fourth grade when he starts, since Saxon texts are experience levels, not grade levels.

[8filltheheart]

 

 

FTR, I have not heard that "4th grade" is a jump in difficulty. I did not notice such a thing when my dc went from being 8 to being 9.

 

 

4th grade is typically when kids turn 10 at some pt in the yr.

 

OP, I do see a difference in my own kids and since I expect my kids to work at their highest level of capability, they complete more work in 4th.

 

They are more independent and mature.  They are capable of reading and learning from their reading.  They can focus longer.  They are ready to move from hyper focus on  3 Rs and math and onto exploring other topics more deeply and with pleasure.  

[Wheres Toto]

Way back when I was in school 3rd grade and below was "lower elementary" and 4th through 6th was "upper elementary".  4th grade was when we starting tracking for Math and English Classes.  Before that all subjects (except gym and art) were taught by the classroom teacher, after that we went to a different room/teacher for math and for English. 

 

My oldest went to a public school district where K-1st was in one school, 2nd-3rd in anther, 4th-5th in a "pre-middle school" and 6th,7th,8th was junior high.  There didn't seem to be that much of a jump for 4th grade.

[FairProspects]

It's the late 4th grade/early 5th grade materials. The sheer amount of information as well as the organizational skills needed to manage that information really jumps IMHO. The transition from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn has a lot to do with it as well as the application of all four operations in math. It is one thing to know and practice simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, & division, it is another to manage the many steps of long division, apply these to fractions, decimals, percentages, & ratios from word problems and add in various unit conversions. It all just takes more time.

 

The amount of writing expected across the curriculum also levels up whether it is science questions or outlining in history, and if you have a child with executive function/organizational issues and/or slow processing - look out. It is tough and all adds up to a lot more work.

[Hunter]

Ambleside Online is a huge jump in 4th grade with a list of new subjects that include written composition, grammar, Plutarch, and Shakespeare.

[Ellie]

4th grade is typically when kids turn 10 at some pt in the yr.

 

OP, I do see a difference in my own kids and since I expect my kids to work at their highest level of capability, they complete more work in 4th.

 

They are more independent and mature.  They are capable of reading and learning from their reading.  They can focus longer.  They are ready to move from hyper focus on  3 Rs and math and onto exploring other topics more deeply and with pleasure.  

 

Children are still 9yo for 12 months. That doesn't make them defined by a "fourth grade" that begins in September and ends in May or June. :-) And FTR, children with summer birthdays aren't 10yo until after school is out. And for some children, in states with late cut-off dates, they aren't going to be 10 until the following fall, when they actually start fifth grade.  Which is why I don't think it's valuable to define homeschooled children by "grade level."

[Peaceful Isle]

When I taught at a private school, I always felt 3rd grade was a bit of a jump from second grade. In that, I mean there was a lot more writing and grammar and the math got quite a bit harder. 

[MomatHWTK]

4th grade in ps (14 years ago) was when the student transitioned from being taught materials to having to read and study independently via textbook.  So a student who struggled with reading and/or comprehension was pretty much doomed. 

[Curlymom]

I think it also depends on the curriculum you choose to use, and whether or not you decide to assign grades to your kids.  Hunter mentioned Ambleside, which, like she mentioned, is a big jump between Year 3 and Year 4 due to the addition of Plutarch and Shakespeare, among other things.  But that's Year 4, not necessarily 4th grade.  If you decide to start AO with a 7 year old (which I am doing with my youngest), then Year 4 hits at age 10.  We have meandered back to AO, and my very bright, well-read, '4th grade' 9 year old is using Year 3 because I didn't want to jump into Plutarch with her yet.  But she's also doing a variety of other things that really fall across a spectrum of several 'grades'.  

 

Memoria Press is one publisher that has a big jump between 2nd and 3rd grade.  They've readjusted their reading assignments recently to reflect how difficult their readings were, but the jump there was due to the types of books the original 3rd grade curriculum included, along with the amount of work the entire core curriculum used.  

 

But, once again, that depends on whether you decide to stick with what the publisher states should be in a specific grade.  We spent most of the year using Memoria Press, but I picked across a couple of grade levels as I decided what I wanted to cover.  

 

My kids came out of public school, and there was a big jump between 2nd and 3rd grade, at least for my oldest.  But now that we homeschool, we won't have a big jump like that.  We will ease in when we are ready for more of a challenge!

 

 

[Butter]

I've always thought 3rd grade was the jump point.  We used Calvert for a while and they were very open about 3rd being a jump (it is).  The brick and mortar school my boys went to part of last year also says there's a jump at 3rd (he left halfway through 2nd so I don't know personally).

[Arcadia]

3rd grade is the jump for my local public schools. The district divide K-2 as lower elementary and 3-5 as upper elementary. More output and being able to work semi-independently is expected. There is also a jump in 1st as K is play based but 1st onwards is more seatwork.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I never noticed that.

 

 

[Five More Minutes]

That hasn't been my experience with dd9 (4th grade).

[Renai]

I've seen a couple of trends:

 

1) The jump from 3rd to 4th. Perhaps the original thinking is because 3rd grade is the official end of "early childhood." (early childhood is birth through grade 3, so includes the grade). Also, there's the change from "learning to read" to "reading to learn."

 

2) The jump from 2nd to 3rd. More likely because 3rd grade is when most mandatory testing begins in institutional schools.

[Kathryn]

DS's developmental pediatrician said this to DH last time he took him. She's a homeschooler so I thought this was odd.

[RootAnn]

When I taught at a private school, I always felt 3rd grade was a bit of a jump from second grade. In that, I mean there was a lot more writing and grammar and the math got quite a bit harder. 

 

This. I thought the jump was from 2nd to 3rd. I remember a former local homeschooler lamenting loudly how much tougher 3rd grade all-Abeka materials were vs. 2nd grade all-Abeka.  :mellow:

 

Fourth grade was so lovely for me. I was a late bloomer & finally took off academically & socially with a wonderful teacher in a new-to-me school away from the bullies at the private parochial school. 

 

Haven't really seen the 4th-grade-is-a-jump from a homeschooling perspective.  :ph34r:

[go_go_gadget]

I've never heard of this and haven't experienced it. Both of mine have finished fourth grade materials (except for the last BA book that's due out in a few weeks, which DD is basically beyond but still looking forward to). For us, the jump occurred at about the first grade level, when they could read anything put in front of them and I moved into a role that was more of support than direct instruction (for the most part).