Limit TV time. According to School Family, spending too much time watching TV can cause a child's attention span to lower, but limiting TV can increase attention span. School Family suggests no more than one hour of TV a day.
Read aloud to the fourth-graders. According to Education.com, reading aloud keeps children's attention on the story, teaches expressive reading and shows children how words and speech fit together. These skills make reading more fun for the children and encourages them to remain engaged in the lesson.
Reward the student for good attention while reading. Rewards can differ for each child, such as a piece of candy or a small toy car, but rewards motivate the student to continue the behavior. Once children are motivated to read, they start enjoying reading and their attention span naturally grows over time. Once the fourth-grader enjoys reading, take him to a library as a reward.