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Learning Standards Standards

What does a student learn in ?

This is the year media projects start to look planned instead of pieced together. Students brainstorm ideas, sketch out a rough plan, then build short videos, audio clips, or digital images that carry a clear message. They learn to revise their work after watching it back and asking what could be sharper. By spring, students can share a finished piece and explain what they wanted the audience to feel.

  • Planning a project
  • Making videos
  • Editing and revising
  • Digital images
  • Sharing finished work
Source: Vermont Common Core State Standards
Year at a glance
How the year usually goes. Every school and district set their own curriculum, so treat this as a guide, not official pacing.
  1. 1

    Getting ideas for media projects

    Students start the year brainstorming ideas for videos, audio recordings, animations, and digital images. They pull from their own lives and from stories or shows they already know.

  2. 2

    Planning and building projects

    Students plan out a short media piece and then make it. They sketch storyboards, record clips or sound, and organize the parts into something a viewer can follow.

  3. 3

    Editing and polishing the work

    Students go back to a draft and make it better. They trim clips, fix audio, swap images, and clean up the edges so the final piece feels finished.

  4. 4

    Sharing work with an audience

    Students pick which projects to show and think about how to present them. They consider what message the audience should take away and how the setup supports that message.

  5. 5

    Looking at media closely

    Students watch and listen to media made by others, including ads, short films, and songs. They talk about what choices the maker used and what those choices were meant to do.

  6. 6

    Judging media and its context

    Students use simple criteria to decide what works in a piece and what doesn't. They also look at when and where media was made and how that shapes its message.

Mastery Learning Standards
The required skills a student should display by the end of Grade 4.
Connecting

  • Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art

    MA:Cn10.4

    Students connect something from their own life to a media arts project, using that personal experience to shape what they make and why they make it.

  • Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural

    MA:Cn11.4

    Students look at a piece of media art and ask where it came from: what time period, what culture, what was happening in the world. That context helps them understand why the work looks and feels the way it does.

Creating

  • Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work

    MA:Cr1.4

    Students brainstorm ideas for a media project, such as a short video or photo series, then sketch out a plan before they start making it.

  • Organize and develop artistic ideas and work

    MA:Cr2.4

    Students plan and arrange their media art project before finishing it, making choices about images, sounds, or text that work together to express a clear idea.

  • Refine and complete artistic work

    MA:Cr3.4

    Students revisit a media project, make changes based on feedback or their own review, and decide when the work is ready to share.

Performing/Presenting/Producing

  • Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation

    MA:Pr4.4

    Students choose which of their media projects to share and explain why each piece shows their best thinking.

  • Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation

    MA:Pr5.4

    Students practice and improve a media project (a video, photo series, or digital artwork) until it's ready to share with an audience. The focus is on revising the work, not just finishing it.

  • Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work

    MA:Pr6.4

    Students choose how to share a finished media project so the message lands clearly for the audience watching or listening.

Responding

  • Perceive and analyze artistic work

    MA:Re7.4

    Students look closely at a media artwork (a photo, video, or digital image) and explain what they notice about how it was made and what message it sends.

  • Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work

    MA:Re8.4

    Students look at a photo, video, or digital artwork and explain what the artist was trying to say. They back up their thinking with specific details from the work itself.

  • Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work

    MA:Re9.4

    Students look at a piece of media art and judge it using a specific set of criteria, explaining why it works or where it falls short.

Common Questions
  • What is media arts in fourth grade?

    Media arts is making things like short videos, animations, podcasts, digital drawings, and slideshows. Students learn to plan an idea, put it together with tools like a camera or a computer, and share it with an audience.

  • What should students be able to make by the end of the year?

    Students should be able to plan and finish a short media project from start to end. That might be a one-minute video, a simple animation, an audio recording, or a digital story that has a clear message and feels finished.

  • How can families support media arts at home?

    Let students use a phone or tablet to make something on purpose: a short how-to video, a stop-motion with toys, a recorded story. Ask what the project is about and who it is for. The planning conversation matters as much as the finished piece.

  • Does this require expensive equipment or software?

    No. A phone or basic classroom device covers most of the work. Free tools for video, audio, and drawing are plenty for this grade. The focus is on the thinking and choices, not the gear.

  • How should media arts be sequenced across the year?

    Start with short, low-stakes projects so students learn the tools and the language of media. Move into longer projects that ask for planning, revision, and a real audience. Save bigger group productions for later in the year, once students can give and use feedback.

  • Which skills usually need the most reteaching at this grade?

    Planning before recording is the big one. Students want to jump straight to filming or clicking. Time spent on a simple storyboard or outline pays off later, as does practice giving specific feedback instead of saying a project is good or bad.

  • How does media arts connect to other subjects?

    Students pull from books they read, history they study, and their own lives to decide what a project is about. A book report can become a short trailer. A science topic can become an explainer video. The media work deepens the thinking in the other subject.

  • What does mastery look like by the end of fourth grade?

    A student can come up with an idea, plan it, make it, get feedback, and revise before sharing. They can also look at someone else's media work and say what it means, what choices were made, and what is working or not.

  • How can families talk about media projects without making it feel like a critique?

    Ask about choices instead of grading the result. Try questions like what was the message, why pick that music, or who is this for. Students get better at media work when they can explain their thinking out loud.