Getting ready for 4th grade: a summer checklist
By Eric Green · Updated June 11, 2026
If a rising 4th grader practices exactly one thing this summer, it should be multiplication facts. Fourth-grade math multiplies multi-digit numbers, divides with remainders, and compares fractions, and every one of those assumes the times tables are automatic. A kid who still computes 7 times 8 by skip counting will spend 4th grade running out of working memory. Ten minutes a day fixes this by August.
What 4th grade assumes your kid kept from 3rd
- Multiplication and division facts through 10. Not just “can figure out,” but quick. This is the single highest-leverage summer skill.
- Fractions on a number line. Halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, eighths as positions and sizes, not just pizza slices. Fourth grade builds equivalence and comparison on top of this.
- Two-step word problems. Reading carefully, choosing operations, checking whether the answer is reasonable.
- Area and perimeter. Show up repeatedly inside 4th-grade problems.
- Reading chapter books and citing the text. Fourth-grade questions ask for the sentence or detail that proves the answer.
What’s genuinely new in 4th grade
Multi-digit everything
Multiplying a two-digit number by a two-digit number, dividing with remainders, adding and subtracting numbers into the millions. The procedures are new; the facts underneath them are not, which is why fact fluency is the summer priority.
Fraction equivalence and operations
Which is bigger, 2/3 or 3/5? Fourth grade answers that without a picture, then starts adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. A summer of casual fraction talk (measuring cups are the best toy here) makes the formal version land easier.
Inference-heavy reading
Passages get denser and more of the questions are about what the text implies, what a character’s motivation is, what the author wants you to conclude. The summer habit: after a chapter, one why question instead of a what question.
A realistic summer plan
Same recipe we recommend for beating the summer slide: ten to fifteen minutes a day, mostly math, with reading kept fun and off the clock. For a rising 4th grader, weight the minutes toward multiplication and division facts first, fractions second, word problems third. Check the final-quarter standards ratings on the report card for anything marked as still developing, those are your review list. Our guide to reading end-of-year reports walks through it.
EOG Practice in summer mode gives a rising 4th grader short, low-stakes sessions on exactly these standards, with instant explanations and a poster reveal that keeps them coming back. $14.99 covers the whole summer, no recurring charges.