What Your Fourth Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Fourth-Grade Education (The Core Knowledge) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this revised edition, Hirsch (retired English professor and author of Cultural Literacy) presents the basic backbone of a fourth grade curriculum in language arts, history and geography, visual arts, music, math and science. The content reaches far, mixing the standard signposts of an elementary education with a new focus on understanding the world beyond American shores. In the literature section, for example, adaptations of the legend of King Arthur, Treasure Island and Rip Van Winkle are enriched by stories from around the globe. The visual arts and geography and history sections have a global accent. Students cover American and European history as well as that of Chinese dynasties, African kingdoms and the rise of Islam; in art, they examine everything from Medieval architecture to the Taj Mahal, and from Chinese silk paintings to Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware. The music section emphasizes both music-making and appreciation of masters like Mozart, Haydn and Handel, while the science and math chapters skirt the "joyless, soul-killing drudgery" of memorization and timed drills in favor of forward-looking lessons on basic geometry, meteorology and geology. While Hirsch offers expansive guidelines for parents and teachers in each subject, he acknowledges that this is not comprehensive and should be supplemented with additional lessons and materials. Overall though, this compendium sketches a coherent and creative curriculum that students and parents will find especially engaging in this era of education reform. Color illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

The Core Knowledge Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to excellence and fairness in early education. E. D. Hirsch, Jr., receives no royalties from this book. All advances and royalties from the Core Knowledge books accrue to the foundation.

-- Review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Delta (July 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385312601
• ISBN-13: 978-0385312608
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #91,801 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

121 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Reads - Good Texts for Homeschoolers, March 7, 1997

By A Customer

The "What Your Nth Grader Needs to Know" books are a narrative of the information your child should know separated into sections such as:

World History
American History
Science
Geography
Fine Arts
Math (list of what they should know)
English (list of what they should know)
Literature (excerpts, poems, sayings, stories)

The writing is wonderful! It flows. It's interesting. It is not dummied-down! My 4th grader (an average reader) reads it out loud so I can help with vocabulary. My 6th grader reads it independently. Unlike books aimed at students, these books are good reads for adults. I finally got interested in history!

The only drawback for homeschoolers wanting to use these as texts is that there are few if any activites or review questions included. However, you can get the Redwood Games worksheets that go along with the books (free) over at http://www.maui.net/~redwood/hs.html.

For homeschoolers, one need only add a math book and the worksheets. For parents of public school kids, these books will be an eye-opener in evaluating your child's education.

Karen Crowthe

59 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good overview of what your child should be learning., January 6, 2002

By	Jane James "homeschoolmum" (California) - See all my reviews

This and the other books in this series, are such a great idea.

They give a basic structure to what your child should be learning about each year, which is particularly important if your child is likely to change school districts, or go from private to public school, or from homeschooling into a school setting. Because so many schools use the Core Knowledge guidelines, your child won't have big gaps in her education, if she has been taught a curriculum based on these guidelines.

Each book in the series cover all the basic subjects: math, science, history, geography, language arts, art and music. The sections are broken down into small pieces, and one part can be taken up each day pretty easily.

Additional references are included for every subject, so your child can more fully explore the areas that interest him.

The language arts section includees excerpts from some great adventure classics, like "Treasure Island" and "Robinson Crusoe." It also covers poetry, grammar, and common sayings and phrases. The grammar is not in itself adequate, and I would recommend that homeschoolers use additional materials for grammar.

World Civilization covers the Middle Ages. European history is extensive, but this also includes a very nice look at Asia during this period of time. This is much more extensive than what I was taught of the Middle Ages during my entire elementary education. The geography section corresponds with this study, but also looks at all parts of the world.

American Civilization pretty much covers the period from the signing of the Constitution through the 1840's (Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War). Again, if your child has studied the previous books in the series, this will fit in nicely - the 3rd grade book covers the colonies through the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There are lots of pictures and other resources you can use to augment this study.

The fine arts section covers music (hard to do with a book, but notes & reading sheet music is in there) and visual art, which largely discusses architecture during the Middle Ages.

A very comprehensive overview of math is given. This is not to be used as the sole source of math work, but a basic overview of what your child should be learning during 4th grade.

The science section covers paleontology, the cardiovascular system, rocks & the composition of the earth, weather and electricity. The best part about the science section, is that you can find out what really interests your child, and there are additional resources recommended for the various studies... ...

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful Tool, August 27, 2003

By	Gypsi Phillips Bates "bilbiophile" (Knoxville, TN, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

We bought this to use with our daughter who just started fourth grade. We used the third grade version this summer and were pleased enough with it to give this one a try. As with the other, the history portions were well written and easy for her to understand. The choices for poetry and literature are just unusual enough for her to be interested in. If I were homeschooling, I wouldn't rely on this alone, but it does make a very helpful and handy tool for suplimenting a public school education.