Grade 4 math in Ontario: what your child learns

Your child works with whole numbers up to 10 000 and represents fractions from halves to tenths. Decimal tenths appear, and kids learn that 0.7 and 7/10 are the same amount. They’re expected to recall multiplication facts to 10 × 10, multiply two- and three-digit numbers by one-digit numbers (and by 10, 100 and 1000), and divide with remainders, sometimes writing the remainder as a fraction.

Typical homework, with a hint

What your child learns in Number

• Reading numbers to 10 000B1.1

  Read, represent, compose, and decompose whole numbers up to and including 10 000, using appropriate tools and strategies, and describe various ways they are used in everyday life.

• Comparing numbers to 10 000B1.2

  Compare and order whole numbers up to and including 10 000, in various contexts.

• Rounding whole numbersB1.3

  Round whole numbers to the nearest ten, hundred, or thousand, in various contexts.

• Representing fractionsB1.4

  Represent fractions from halves to tenths using drawings, tools, and standard fractional notation, and explain the meanings of the denominator and the numerator.

• Comparing fair-share fractionsB1.5

  Use drawings and models to represent, compare, and order fractions representing the individual portions that result from two different fair-share scenarios involving any combination of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 sharers.

• Counting by fractionsB1.6

  Count to 10 by halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, eighths, and tenths, with and without the use of tools.

• Decimal tenthsB1.7

  Read, represent, compare, and order decimal tenths, in various contexts.

• Rounding decimalsB1.8

  Round decimal numbers to the nearest whole number, in various contexts.

• Fractions and decimalsB1.9

  Describe relationships and show equivalences among fractions and decimal tenths, in various contexts.

• Properties of operationsB2.1

  Use the properties of operations, and the relationships between addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, to solve problems involving whole numbers, including those requiring more than one operation, and check calculations.

• Times tables to 10×10B2.2

  Recall and demonstrate multiplication facts for 1 × 1 to 10 × 10, and related division facts.

• Mental math with 10sB2.3

  Use mental math strategies to multiply whole numbers by 10, 100, and 1000, divide whole numbers by 10, and add and subtract decimal tenths, and explain the strategies used.

• Adding and subtracting problemsB2.4

  Represent and solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of whole numbers that add up to no more than 10 000 and of decimal tenths, using appropriate tools and strategies, including algorithms.

• Multiplying by one digitB2.5

  Represent and solve problems involving the multiplication of two- or three-digit whole numbers by one-digit whole numbers and by 10, 100, and 1000, using appropriate tools, including arrays.

• Dividing by one digitB2.6

  Represent and solve problems involving the division of two- or three-digit whole numbers by one-digit whole numbers, expressing any remainder as a fraction when appropriate, using appropriate tools, including arrays.

• Multiplying unit fractionsB2.7

  Represent the relationship between the repeated addition of a unit fraction and the multiplication of that unit fraction by a whole number, using tools, drawings, and standard fractional notation.

• Rates and multiplyingB2.8

  Show simple multiplicative relationships involving whole-number rates, using various tools and drawings.

Patterns now grow as well as repeat, and kids show them in tables and graphs. They use symbols as variables, solve equations with whole numbers up to 50, and solve simple inequalities (like x + 6 < 10). In coding, loops can sit inside other loops (“nested events”).

Typical homework, with a hint

What your child learns in Algebra

• Repeating and growing patternsC1.1

  Identify and describe repeating and growing patterns, including patterns found in real-life contexts.

• Patterns in tables, graphsC1.2

  Create and translate repeating and growing patterns using various representations, including tables of values and graphs.

• Pattern rules and predictionsC1.3

  Determine pattern rules and use them to extend patterns, make and justify predictions, and identify missing elements in repeating and growing patterns.

• Number and decimal patternsC1.4

  Create and describe patterns to illustrate relationships among whole numbers and decimal tenths.

• Symbols as variablesC2.1

  Identify and use symbols as variables in expressions and equations.

• Solving equationsC2.2

  Solve equations that involve whole numbers up to 50 in various contexts, and verify solutions.

• Solving inequalitiesC2.3

  Solve inequalities that involve addition and subtraction of whole numbers up to 20, and verify and graph the solutions.

• Writing codeC3.1

  Solve problems and create computational representations of mathematical situations by writing and executing code, including code that involves sequential, concurrent, repeating, and nested events.

• Reading and changing codeC3.2

  Read and alter existing code, including code that involves sequential, concurrent, repeating, and nested events, and describe how changes to the code affect the outcomes.

Mathematical Modelling (C4): Apply the process of mathematical modelling to represent, analyse, make predictions, and provide insight into real-life situations.

Kids learn the difference between qualitative data (words, like favourite colour) and quantitative data (numbers, like height). They organise data in frequency tables and stem-and-leaf plots, choose the right graph (including multiple-bar graphs), make simple infographics, and find the mean, median and mode. Probability goes on a line from impossible to certain.

Typical homework, with a hint

What your child learns in Data

• Qualitative vs quantitative dataD1.1

  Describe the difference between qualitative and quantitative data, and describe situations where each would be used.

• Collecting and organizing dataD1.2

  Collect data from different primary and secondary sources to answer questions of interest that involve comparing two or more sets of data, and organize the data in frequency tables and stem-and-leaf plots.

• Choosing the right graphD1.3

  Select from among a variety of graphs, including multiple-bar graphs, the type of graph best suited to represent various sets of data; display the data in the graphs with proper sources, titles, and labels, and appropriate scales; and justify their choice of graphs.

• Making an infographicD1.4

  Create an infographic about a data set, representing the data in appropriate ways, including in frequency tables, stem-and-leaf plots, and multiple-bar graphs, and incorporating any other relevant information that helps to tell a story about the data.

• Mean, median, and modeD1.5

  Determine the mean and the median and identify the mode(s), if any, for various data sets involving whole numbers, and explain what each of these measures indicates about the data.

• Analysing dataD1.6

  Analyse different sets of data presented in various ways, including in stem-and-leaf plots and multiple-bar graphs, by asking and answering questions about the data and drawing conclusions, then make convincing arguments and informed decisions.

• Probability lineD2.1

  Use mathematical language, including the terms “impossible”, “unlikely”, “equally likely”, “likely”, and “certain”, to describe the likelihood of events happening, represent this likelihood on a probability line, and use it to make predictions and informed decisions.

• Predicting mean, median, modeD2.2

  Make and test predictions about the likelihood that the mean, median, and mode(s) of a data set will be the same for data collected from different populations.

Geometry focuses on rectangles: right angles, parallel and perpendicular sides, and lines of symmetry. Kids plot points on a grid (the first quadrant), slide and flip shapes, and classify angles as right, straight, acute or obtuse. Measurement covers grams and kilograms, litres and millilitres, metric prefixes, elapsed time, and area of a rectangle as length × width.

Typical homework, with a hint

What your child learns in Spatial Sense

• Properties of rectanglesE1.1

  Identify geometric properties of rectangles, including the number of right angles, parallel and perpendicular sides, and lines of symmetry.

• Coordinates on a gridE1.2

  Plot and read coordinates in the first quadrant of a Cartesian plane, and describe the translations that move a point from one coordinate to another.

• Translations and reflectionsE1.3

  Describe and perform translations and reflections on a grid, and predict the results of these transformations.

• Mass and capacity unitsE2.1

  Explain the relationships between grams and kilograms as metric units of mass, and between litres and millilitres as metric units of capacity, and use benchmarks for these units to estimate mass and capacity.

• Metric prefixesE2.2

  Use metric prefixes to describe the relative size of different metric units, and choose appropriate units and tools to measure length, mass, and capacity.

• Elapsed timeE2.3

  Solve problems involving elapsed time by applying the relationships between different units of time.

• Classifying anglesE2.4

  Identify angles and classify them as right, straight, acute, or obtuse.

• Area of rectanglesE2.5

  Use the row and column structure of an array to measure the areas of rectangles and to show that the area of any rectangle can be found by multiplying its side lengths.

• Rectangle area formulaE2.6

  Apply the formula for the area of a rectangle to find the unknown measurement when given two of the three.

Financial literacy grows up in Grade 4: ways to pay (cash, debit, credit and more), working out the total and the change for several items (without tax), and the ideas of spending, saving, earning, investing and donating. Kids also talk about how to tell if something is a good price.

Typical homework, with a hint

What your child learns in Financial Literacy

• Ways to payF1.1

  Identify various methods of payment that can be used to purchase goods and services.

• Shopping costs and changeF1.2

  Estimate and calculate the cost of transactions involving multiple items priced in whole-dollar amounts, not including sales tax, and the amount of change needed when payment is made in cash, using mental math.

• Spending, saving, earningF1.3

  Explain the concepts of spending, saving, earning, investing, and donating, and identify key factors to consider when making basic decisions related to each.

• Spending versus savingF1.4

  Explain the relationship between spending and saving, and describe how spending and saving behaviours may differ from one person to another.

• Is it a good price?F1.5

  Describe some ways of determining whether something is reasonably priced and therefore a good purchase.

The Ontario curriculum also has a strand A that runs through all the others. It’s about how kids approach math: managing frustration, keeping at a hard problem, and using the mathematical processes (such as problem solving, reasoning, connecting, representing and communicating). It has no homework of its own, but it’s exactly what a patient, hint-based tutor helps build.

How to help with Grade 4 math at home

• Keep times tables practice short and daily. Fact fluency frees up brain space for the harder steps.
• Connect decimals to money and measuring: $0.50 and 0.5 m are both “five tenths”.
• When your child is stuck on a big multiplication, ask them to break the number into parts.
• Look at graphs together in the news or on cereal boxes and ask what they show.

More ideas: how to help with math homework without giving the answer.

How Astuzo helps with Grade 4 math

Grade 4 homework often mixes fact drills with multi-step word problems. Spark checks a whole times-table sheet in one photo, then walks through word problems by asking what’s known, what’s asked and what the first step is, without doing the step for your child.

You set your child’s grade once, and Spark pitches every hint at that level. You get a short report after each session showing what they worked on. See how Astuzo works.