HomeCurriculumAlberta › Grade 4

What Grade 4 covers in Alberta — and how to practise it at home

Grade 4 is the year numbers get big, fractions get real, and writing gets structured. Here is the year as Alberta schools teach it under the new curriculum — unit by unit, in order — so you can see what your child is working on right now, and what's coming next.

7 unitsMath
6 unitsScience
5 unitsSocial Studies
43 weeksEnglish & French

Math — the new Alberta curriculum (program of studies), in teaching order

Alberta math runs as a sequence: each unit builds on the one before it. The week ranges below follow the school year from September; teachers vary pacing.

1

Place Value & Decimals

Weeks 1–6 · September–October

Applying place value to decimal numbers to hundredths; representing, comparing and ordering decimal numbers.

2

Addition & Subtraction within 10 000

Weeks 7–12 · October–November

Adding and subtracting within 10 000, including decimal numbers to hundredths, with estimation and story problems.

3

Multiplication, Division & Primes

Weeks 13–18 · November–December

Multiplying and dividing natural numbers within 10 000; explaining properties of prime and composite numbers using multiplication and division.

4

Equivalent Fractions & Percentages

Weeks 19–24 · January–February

Applying equivalence to the interpretation of fractions, and interpreting simple percentages (such as 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) as parts of 100 in everyday contexts — both are Alberta Grade 4 outcomes; keep numbers small and concrete, and use word-and-number questions ONLY — never ask the child to draw, shade, colour, or fold anything.

Worth watching: this is Grade 4's big conceptual jump. If "is ⅓ bigger than ¼?" gets a guess instead of a reason, it's the unit to practise most.

5

Geometric Properties & Angles

Weeks 25–30 · February–March

Analyzing and explaining geometric properties; determining and expressing angles using standard units (degrees); applying equality in multiple ways.

6

Area & Time

Weeks 31–36 · March–May

Interpreting and expressing area with square units; communicating duration with standard units of time and elapsed-time problems.

7

Sequences & Graphs with Scale

Weeks 37–43 · May–June

Interpreting and explaining arithmetic and geometric sequences; evaluating the use of scale in graphical representations of data.

Try one — a real Grade 4 question

Math · Multiplication & Division

267 students are going on a school trip. Each bus holds 40 students. How many buses does the school need?

A typical first answer
6 remainder 27
Homework Hub's feedback
Your division is right — 267 ÷ 40 is 6 with 27 left over. But read the question again: those 27 students still need a ride! When a remainder is real people, you have to round up.
Next try
7 buses
Exactly — 6 full buses, plus one more for the remaining 27 students. That's what "interpreting remainders" means. 🚌

Science across the year

1

Organisms: Structure & Function

Weeks 1–7 · September–October

Analyzing organisms and relating external structures — beaks, limbs, coverings, senses — to their functions.

2

Forces Without Contact

Weeks 8–14 · October–December

Investigating how forces can act on objects without contact — magnetism, static electricity and gravity.

3

Earth's Interconnected Systems

Weeks 15–21 · December–January

Investigating the systems of Earth — land, water, air and living things — and reflecting on how their interconnections sustain life.

4

Waste & Our Environment

Weeks 22–28 · January–March

Investigating the management of waste and dangerous materials and describing environmental impacts of disposal and recycling.

5

Objects in Space

Weeks 29–35 · March–April

Investigating and describing objects in space — the Moon, stars and planets — in connection to daily life and Earth's cycles.

6

Design & Evidence

Weeks 36–43 · May–June

Examining and applying design processes to meet needs; investigating evidence and reflecting on its role in science.

Science · Light & Sound

The Moon doesn't make its own light. So why can we see it shining at night?

A typical first answer
Because it glows in the dark.
Homework Hub's feedback
Good thinking about light — but the Moon can't make or store light of its own. There's a very bright object that shines ON the Moon. What is it, and what does the Moon do with that light?
Next try
The Sun shines on it and the light reflects off to us.
Exactly — the Moon works like a giant mirror, reflecting sunlight back to Earth. That's reflection. 🌙

Social Studies

1

Canada's Changing Boundaries

Weeks 1–9 · September–October

Investigating changes in Canada's political boundaries — how provinces and territories joined and grew into today's map.

2

Events that Formed Canada

Weeks 10–18 · November–December

Examining significant historical events that contributed to the formation of Canada — Confederation, the growth of provinces, and the treaties between First Nations and the Crown; include honestly that these changes brought serious and unfair pressures on First Nations ways of life, at a general age-appropriate level and from their perspectives, without distressing detail.

3

The Fur Trade

Weeks 19–27 · January–March

Examining the role of the fur trade in the development of Canada — trade routes, forts, and the partnerships and exchanges between First Nations, Métis and European traders.

4

The Federal Government

Weeks 28–35 · March–April

Investigating historical influences on the federal government in Canada and the roles of the prime minister, Parliament and elections.

5

Rights & Responsibilities

Weeks 36–43 · May–June

Investigating rights and responsibilities in Canada — what citizens are entitled to and what they owe their communities.

English & French — skills that build weekly, not units

How language works in Grade 4

Unlike math and science, the language curriculum isn't taught as a sequence of units — it's a set of skills that deepen all year: reading comprehension and inference, writing structure and conventions, vocabulary, and oral communication. French works the same way. Homework Hub practises these as grade-matched weekly skills — a reading passage with real comprehension questions, a sentence to fix, a short prompt to write to — rather than pretending there's a unit list.

Practice that follows this exact sequence

Homework Hub generates fresh questions matched to these very units — in season, at your child's level, marked with hints that teach. You set the days; it does the rest.

Start your free trial →
Free trial · No card needed · Cancel anytime

This page is generated from the same curriculum map that powers Homework Hub's practice questions (the new Alberta curriculum (program of studies) and current science and social studies expectations, described in our own words). School boards and teachers vary pacing — week ranges are a typical rhythm, not a rule.