AGES 9–10 · GRADE 4
Grade 4 is a year of discovery. A child starts to understand the world around them more deeply and meets more complex ideas in Social Studies and Science. It is also the year they get ready for middle school.
Apply now
01OVERVIEW
Grade 4 is a year of discovery, when children begin to develop a deeper understanding of the world around them. They meet more complex ideas in Social Studies and Science, and events are now explained by several causes rather than a single one.
A child of this age can plan a piece of work on their own, carry out several steps in order and judge the result. Learning therefore moves forward more through making things: projects, experiments, presentations and research assignments.
Grade 4 is also the last year of primary school. In middle school the number of subjects will go up, each subject will have its own teacher and more independence will be expected of the child. We treat that move not as a sudden change but as a step prepared for across the whole year.
02CLASS FEATURES
These are not separate timetabled periods but strands of work that run through the whole programme. Below we explain how each of them works out in the classroom.
Lessons do not run in isolation from one another. A topic covered in Science connects to measurement in Mathematics, to society in Social Studies and to writing in Turkish. The child sees knowledge as a whole rather than in separate pieces.
A problem is set out before the topic is taught. As the child works at it, they notice for themselves what they need to know. Knowledge is then learned as the answer to a real need instead of hanging in mid-air.
Putting an idea forward, developing it and thinking through what it would take to make it real. In small classroom projects, the child meets the ideas of planning, resources and time properly for the first time.
Our classes bring together children from different countries. Significant days and cultural events are marked together through the year. While talking about their own culture, a child learns to be curious about someone else's.
Visual Arts, Music and drama work give a child more ways to express themselves. A child who struggles to put something into words may manage it in a picture, a sound or a movement, and that is a source of confidence independent of marks.
Habits of regular movement, eating and rest settle in at this age. Physical education is not only a chance to burn off energy; it is work on stamina, on rules and on behaving within a team.
Being able to explain what you know is a skill of its own. Presentation work moves in stages: first to a small group, then to the whole class. The aim is not to turn everyone into an orator but to make a child comfortable when they speak up.
03LESSONS
We teach the whole Turkish curriculum in full. None of the subjects below is taken out of the programme or watered down.
04STEM INVESTIGATION
STEM is not a separate lesson; it is a way of working in which science, technology, engineering and mathematics are used together. In the classroom it takes the shape of these five steps.
A situation that needs solving is set out. The child describes the problem in their own words, because they cannot solve a problem they cannot describe.
What is already known about the subject is gathered. Who has solved this problem before, and how? This step teaches the child that they do not have to start from nothing.
A proposed solution is drawn and planned out. Which materials, which steps, how long? Planning is a skill that needs to be learned at this age.
The design is built and tested. Measurements are taken and the result is recorded. This is where mathematics stops being an abstract subject.
Whatever did not work is corrected and tried again. Here the child learns that failure is not an ending but a step along the way.
A design that works first time is rare. The cycle repeats until one does.
05MIDDLE SCHOOL READINESS
In middle school the number of subjects goes up, each subject has its own teacher and more independence is expected of the child. We do not leave that change to the first week of Grade 5; we prepare for it step by step throughout Grade 4.
Keeping track of homework and projects is left to the child. The teacher reminds but does not chase; the real tracking is the child's own.
Writing down what you hear in class in your own words is the basic skill of middle school. It starts in a simple form this year and is built up over the year.
Specialist lessons give the child experience of working with different teachers. Meeting a separate teacher for every subject in middle school then comes as no surprise.
Choosing a project topic, deciding who to work with, asking for help when stuck. Small decisions are a rehearsal for larger responsibility.
Middle school leaves no time to make up a topic left unfinished in primary school. That is why the core topics are gone over again through the year.
A new stage brings as much anxiety as excitement. We talk through the child's questions about it and frame the move as a step forward rather than a loss.
06OUR METHOD
Our Grade 4 programme is built to support critical thinking and problem solving. Our teachers use project-based learning, group work and research-based assignments side by side.
Research-based assignments are what defines this year. The child follows a subject, looks at sources, takes notes and reports what they found in their own words. This is the year we make it clear that copying is not research.
Because we keep our classes small, it is possible to see which step each child finds hard. In the last year of primary school, a topic left unfinished becomes a gap that is carried into the years ahead, and we work with that in mind.
English supported by CLLC. As an optional programme, we offer English themes prepared out of the twenty years of experience of the Canadian Language Learning College (CLLC).
Because a Grade 4 child can now follow longer texts, English work can be supported with reading, short pieces of writing and presentations. The approach is the same as before: the language is learned through use, not from a list to memorise.
07FOR FAMILIES
In the last year of primary school, a topic left unfinished is carried into later years. Because the teacher can see what each child finds hard, no gap is left behind.
The transition is not squeezed into the final month. Independent study, note-taking and time management are built up step by step through the year.
Projects are carried out at school, under a teacher's supervision. You are expected to support your child, not to do the work in their place.
Social and Emotional Learning is part of the programme this year as well. This is the age at which friendships and self-confidence take shape, and we do not let academic pressure overshadow it.
You hear about your child's academic standing and their readiness for middle school without waiting for the end-of-term report.
Academic qualification is the starting condition. After that we look at how a teacher speaks to a child, at their patience and at the way they understand a child.
08FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Preparation runs through the whole year; it is not squeezed into the final month. Alongside the academic foundation, what we really concentrate on is habits: managing your own time, taking notes, asking for help when stuck and finishing a piece of work on your own. These are the things that keep a child steady in middle school.
No. STEM is a way of working in which science, technology, engineering and mathematics are used together; it runs inside the existing lessons rather than as an extra period on the timetable. Mathematics and science therefore do not stay abstract; the child sees what they are good for.
The nature of the homework changes; the amount of it does not multiply. Repetition exercises give way to research-based work. The aim is not to stretch out a child's evening but to get them used to the way of working they will meet in middle school. Time to play and to rest is a need at this age too.
Presenting is part of the programme, but nobody is pushed forward before they are ready. We move in stages: first speaking to a small group, then to the class. Our aim is not to turn every child into an orator; it is to make them comfortable when they take the floor. It is a skill they will keep using in middle school and after it.
Yes. We plan a separate settling-in process for a child who comes from another school. Their academic level is observed over the first few weeks and extra work is planned wherever something is missing. A child who is not used to project and presentation work is also supported more closely through their first few pieces.
Filling in the application form is all it takes. We then call you and arrange to meet at the campus on a day that suits you. During the visit you walk round the classrooms, meet the teachers and ask your questions face to face. We would also like to get to know your child at that meeting.
Grade 4 is the year in which it is decided what habits a child takes with them to middle school. Fill in the application form, let us call you and let us meet at the campus on a day that suits you. You will walk round the classrooms, meet the teachers and ask your questions face to face.