How to read this page
Quebec publishes its curriculum as long official documents written for teachers. This page is the same content, translated for the fridge door: each subject below shows this year's units and the skills inside them. If a skill sounds unfamiliar, that's the point — now you know what to ask about at dinner.
Mathematics this year
Math builds in layers, and this year's layer matters — each unit below leans on the ones before it. In Quebec, that's Mathematics, Grade 4 — 5 units, 97 skills.
Arithmetic
- Counts or recites counting rhymes involving natural numbers — counts forward or backward
- Counts collections (using objects or drawings)
- Counts collections (using objects or drawings) — counts a collection by grouping or regrouping
Geometry
- Locates objects in a plane
- Locates objects on an axis (based on the types of numbers studied)
- Locates points in a Cartesian plane
Measurement
- Estimates and measures the dimensions of an object using conventional units — metre, decimetre, centimetre and millimetre
- Establishes relationships between units of measure for length
- Calculates the perimeter of plane figures
Statistics
- Formulates questions for a survey (based on age-appropriate topics, students’ language level, etc.)
- Collects, describes and organizes data (classifies or categorizes) using tables
- Interprets data using a table, a bar graph, a pictograph and a broken-line graph
Probability
- When applicable, recognizes variability in possible outcomes (uncertainty)
- When applicable, recognizes equiprobability
- When applicable, becomes aware of the independence of events in an experiment
See the full Mathematics, Grade 4 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
English Language Arts this year
Reading, writing, and speaking skills deepen this year — less "can they read it," more "what do they make of it." In Quebec, that's English Language Arts, Grade 4 — 11 units, 62 skills.
Understanding the Conventions of Written Language
- Use: In compound sentences by using prepositions, conjunctions,…
- Use: Uses consistent verb tenses and correct pronoun references
- Use: Applies rules for commas: items in a series, greetings
Response Process
- Use: Uses prior knowledge
- Use: Applies knowledge of cueing systems to construct meaning
- Use: Uses details and evidence in the text to infer meaning(s)
Writing Process
- Use: Writes to a specific wider audience on self-selected and…
- Use: Rereads for clarity
- Use: Checks for spelling, punctuation and capitalization
Production Process (Media)
- Use: Evaluates the effectiveness of the text given audience and…
Self-Expressive: Texts That Reinforce or Maintain Relationships
- Use: Formal and informal thank-yous, expressions of appreciation…
- Use: Poetry of different kinds written by and for children
Self-Expressive: Reflective Texts
- Use: Self-expressive language to relate ideas, feelings,…
Narrative and Literary Texts
- Use: Storytelling
- Use: Comic strips
- Use: Illustrated narrative in comic strip using own drawings,…
Information-Based: Planning Texts
- Use: Understands the use of talk to clarify the steps in a…
- Use: Learning/thinking logs and lists that record thoughts,…
- Use: Events/information in sequence
Information-Based: Explanatory Texts
- Use: Explanation of a procedure or how something works
- Use: Illustrated and multimedia how-to books
- Use: Headings, captions or labels to focus readers’ attention on…
Information-Based: Descriptive Reports
- Use: spoken reports that describe the way things are or were
- Use: Articles in children’s magazines that report
- Use: General statement about the topic in opening paragraph
Information-Based: Persuasive Texts
- Use: Promotional posters or flyers
- Use: Promotional posters or flyers
See the full English Language Arts, Grade 4 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
Science this year
Science gets more structured this year — real investigations, real explanations, real vocabulary. In Quebec, that's Science and Technology, Grade 4 — 3 units, 25 skills.
Material World
- Describing matter: mass and weight
- Why some things sink and others float
- Physical changes keep the same matter
Earth and Space
- Soil, and the quality of water, soil, and air
- Rocks, fossils, and crystals
- The water cycle
Living Things
- Life needs and how living things reproduce
- Kingdoms and classifying living things
- The parts of a plant and their jobs
See the full Science and Technology, Grade 4 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
French this year
French builds through listening, speaking, and simple reading — confidence first, grammar second. In Quebec, that's Français, langue d’enseignement, 4e année — 9 units, 152 skills.
Écrire — Section Organisation et cohérence du texte
- Les genres de textes (text genres)
- Découverte : L’ordre des idées dans le texte (ordering ideas in a text)
- Le texte et la cohérence (text and coherence)
Écrire — Section Lexique
- Découverte : La formation des mots (préfixes, suffixes) (word formation (prefixes, suffixes))
- Découverte : Le sens des mots (propre, figuré) (word meanings (literal and figurative))
- Découverte : Les relations entre les mots (synonymes, antonymes, génériques) (relations between words)
Écrire — Section Orthographe d’usage
- Les mots à l’étude (banque orthographique) (the study-word spelling bank)
- Les mots à l’étude (banque orthographique) (the study-word spelling bank)
- La majuscule (capital-letter rules)
Écrire — Section Conjugaison
- Le radical et la terminaison du verbe (verb stem and ending)
- Les temps de conjugaison (verb tenses)
- L’infinitif du verbe (the infinitive form)
Écrire — Section Accords
- Découverte : La formation du féminin (forming the feminine)
- Les caractéristiques du nom (characteristics of the noun)
- Le déterminant, receveur d’accord (the determiner (receiver of agreement))
Écrire — Section Syntaxe et ponctuation
- Découverte : Le SUJET, le PRÉDICAT et le COMPLÉMENT DE PHRASE (sentence constituents)
- Découverte : La virgule (the comma)
- La virgule (the comma)
Compétence Lire des textes variés
- Reconnaître les genres de textes en lecture (recognising text genres in reading)
- Reconnaître les genres de textes en lecture (recognising text genres in reading)
- Reconnaître les genres de textes en lecture (recognising text genres in reading)
Compétence Apprécier des œuvres littéraires
- Connaître le livre (couverture, format) (the book's features)
- Connaître le livre (couverture, format) (the book's features)
- Connaître le livre (couverture, format) (the book's features)
Compétence Communiquer oralement
- Écouter et réagir (listening and responding)
- Participer à un échange (taking part in an exchange)
- Prendre la parole (speaking up)
See the full Français, langue d’enseignement, 4e année curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
French as a Second Language this year
French builds through listening, speaking, and simple reading — confidence first, grammar second. In Quebec, that's Français, langue seconde (Core), Grade 4 — 5 units, 51 skills.
Stratégies
- Use: pour inciter l’interlocuteur à poursuivre
- Use: Recourir à ses connaissances antérieures d’ordre général ou
- Use: le sujet
Vocabulaire utilisé à l’oral et à l’écrit
- Using French for core vocabulary
- Using French for expressing needs (1)
- Using French for notions (time, space, quantity) (1)
Conventions de communication orale ou écrite
- Use: Interpréter le langage non verbal pour réagir à un message
- Use: Observer et reconnaître des éléments prosodiques employés en
- Use: Produire les phonèmes correspondant à chacune des lettres de
Connaissances liées au texte oral ou écrit
- Use: Observer le support médiatique3 utilisé pour la présentation
- Use: des éléments visuels (ex. : rôle de la couleur, des illustra
- Use: le respect de l'intention de communication
Connaissances liées à la phrase
- Use: Observer globalement et reconnaître les caractéristiques des
- Use: Observer l’ordre usuel des mots dans une phrase5
- Use: Intégrer un déterminant devant le nom dans les phrases produ
See the full Français, langue seconde (Core), Grade 4 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
English as an Additional Language this year
English language skills for learners whose first language is something else — practical, everyday, encouraging. In Quebec, that's English as a Second Language (Core), Grade 4 — 4 units, 28 skills.
Contextual and Functional Language
- Using English: Participates in classroom routines
- Using English: States own capabilities
- Using English: Uses expressions containing action words
Strategies
- Using English: Perseveres despite not understanding everything heard
Language Conventions
- Using English: Uses knowledge of word order in simple sentences to construc
- Using English: Writes a sentence with a capital letter and end punctuation
- Using English: Spells words as found in explicit models and resources targe
Text Components
- Using English: Identifies general ideas stated explicitly (i.e. literal mea
Three ways parents use this list
Common questions
What does my child learn in Grade 4 in Quebec?
Quebec's official curriculum sets out Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, French, French as a Second Language, English as an Additional Language for Grade 4 — 433 specific skills in total. The big themes: Mathematics covers arithmetic and geometry; English Language Arts covers understanding the conventions of written language and response process; Science covers material world and earth and space. The full list is on this page.
Is this the official Quebec curriculum?
It's built from Quebec's official program of studies, reorganized into plain language — and each subject links to a course page that quotes the ministry's own wording and links to the government source, so you can check our work. One honest caveat: we're not the ministry, curricula do change, and we can't guarantee this reflects the very latest revision, so confirm anything important against the live provincial curriculum data.
My child is finding one of these skills hard. What can I do?
That's normal — every skill on this page is one most kids wobble on at first. MapleMind teaches any of them one-on-one: a short lesson in plain words, a worked example, then solving together. It's free to start, on any device, in 14 languages.
Keep exploring
Knowing the list is half the job
The other half is the teaching — and that's what MapleMind does. Pick any skill on this page and see it taught properly, free, in under a minute.
MapleMind isn't affiliated with any ministry of education. We build these guides from each province's official program of studies and refresh them from time to time — but curricula change, and we can't guarantee this page reflects the very latest revision. Always confirm against the live provincial curriculum data. Last updated 2026-08-15.
Social Studies this year
Social studies widens the lens this year — history, geography, and how communities and governments work. In Quebec, that's Social Sciences (Geography, History and Citizenship Education), Grade 4 — 5 units, 18 skills.
Organization of a society in its territory (French society in New France, around 1645)
- Where and when French New France began
+ 6 more skills in this unit →Organization of a society in its territory (Canadian society in New France, around 1745)
- Where and who: Canadian society around 1745
+ 5 more skills in this unit →Change in a society and its territory
Diversity of societies and their territories
Researching and Techniques
- Gathering and checking information
+ 1 more skill in this unit →See the full Social Sciences (Geography, History and Citizenship Education), Grade 4 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →