Grade 4

Creative curriculum-based projects and long-term investigations are at the heart of the 4th grade experience.  We use a variety of media throughout the school year to examine our overarching essential question: Why do people migrate? From the waves of Chinese, African American, Eastern European and contemporary Latin American groups into the United States, students study the push-pull of migration and the contributions immigrants make to shaping the United States. 

As a culminating interdisciplinary project, students write an extensive biography of an influential American immigrant. Students then share their work with an audience through our Living Wax Museum. In art class, 4th graders  sculpt exquisite clay candle houses which they share along with original, winter-themed poetry at the annual candlehouse ceremony in the black box theater.  In all of these endeavors, the focus is on learning by doing. 

Fourth graders take an active role in reflecting on their own work and setting meaningful goals for themselves. They lead conferences with their teacher and parents twice a year, a practice that continues through 9th Grade at Foote and gives them greater independence and ownership of their learning.

In early spring, Kindergartners tap Foote’s sugar maples to learn about making sap into syrup. The unit combines science, math, social studies and language arts, ending with a celebratory sap boil and pancake breakfast.