Is it normal for my 4 yr old to be having these types of nightmares?

if its night terrors then that is a lot different. Modern medicine usually diagnoses night terrors to children either molested or who have had brain trauma

When I was her age, I had reoccurring nightmares that my mother, father, younger brother and I were climbing cliff faces and my mom and dad took turns dropping me over the edge until, finally, I could not get back to them or I'd die. Looking back, I attribute these nightmares to the stress of having a new baby sister in addition to my younger brother. I continued to have morbid dreams throughout my childhood and even now into adulthood. They are strongly linked with stress and anxiety. This is more common in girls than in boys.

I don't know your exact family situation, but maybe one more "mommy-daughter" exclusive routine in the day would help alleviate these dreams.

Dreams are the mind's way of interpreting the day's events or showing deeper emotions. They can reflect issues in someone's life or how they're feelings. For your daughter to be dreaming this sort of stuff could be one of a few things.

Firstly, she may just have a vivid imagination. Secondly, they could be the result of something she has seen or heard, such as a tv programme or book. Thirdly, a form of night terror (although from how you describe the dreams, I don't think it's this). Or lastly, the result of some exterior stress, possibly even to do with her teacher or you.

I'd definitely see a child psychologist just in case there is some serious underlying cause. You can't be with your child 100% of the day, so you don't know what has had an effect on them.

It sounds like she's suffering from a lot of stress and anxiety. I know she's only 4 but lots of really young kids have problems with dealing with their own anxiety. The being put in jail by her teacher and being put in a trash bag by you scenarios sound like's feeling trapped a lot.

Other than making her feel more relaxed I would suggested monitoring her eating habits before bed more closely if you aren't already and making sure she gets to bed early enough.

they sound a little extreme. i'm sure it bothers her to dream things like this. maybe a visit to a pediatrician or something may answer a few questions?
nightmares are somewhat normal. if she eats right, sleeps enough, gets enough physical activity, i don't think nightmares should be THAT occurant or that freaky. but i'm no professional.

Are they nightmares about a horribly burnt man, in a sweater, with knives on the ends of his fingers?

Normal in a way, its just satan up to his nonsense and messing with her.

Here's a scary thought :

Maybe her teacher is abusing her (or just mean to her) and since you the parental unit aren't protecting her she thinks you value her like garbage so in her dream you shoved her in the trash.

:(

Try to get her to talk to you and find out if the teacher or someone else at school is mean to her. Make sure she knows you really love her and would do anything to protect her.

Talk to the teacher and find out what's going on at school.
IF the teacher is doing something abusive at least he/she will know you're on to him/her and they may stop. A LOT of teachers (sexually) abuse children.

Let her sleep with you in your bed until the nightmares go away.
Have her recite some positive affirmations before going to sleep (and waking in the morning).

As others have mentioned maybe seek some professional help.

Nightmares are usually caused by the cold. It's better to he too warm than too cold.
I think she should go to a psyhciatrist.

Because shes 4, she has a Bed time Correct.
Maybe you should go with her when she goes to sleep. Not saying sleep in the same bed. But I remember when I was much younger (Around 7-10)I stayed at my Grans house and I had a nightmare in the middle of the night, I went a got my Gran and she stayed by the bed while I went to Sleep, and I slept like a baby that worked for me :)
Maybe you should try this just a couple times and see if its successful.

Well I don't really know Because my kid is only 6 and he hasent had a nightmare yet even though he does watch horror movies...........so try anything it might stop I rember that I had nightmares worse than that

They arent that morbid.

When I was 4/5 I used to "wake up" and see spiders all over me, and I'd start running around the house. It was like half asleep/half nightmare. Fucking shite times.

I think the dreams your daughter are having just means she hates school, and feels constricted there. Maybe.

My sister has horrible dreams and wakes up screaming that I can hear from the other side of the house maybe Here pajamas are too warm try putting a fan in her room

Too much tv for ur child...

I don't know if it's normal but I had nightmares as bad as that and sometimes worse when I was 5-10. Back then I almost never had normal dreams, they were all nightmares.

Not sure what causes them but it was normal for me at a young age.

try to talk to her while sleeping and tell her to close all that bad things in a huge trash bag and throw it away
it worked for me when i was young, so why don't give it a try?

When I was little I took a tour with my parents and the pre k director and she was wearing a black and white striped shirt, which I associated with prisoners or "bad people" and I started to have those types of dreams

Have a chat with her about it, but dreams don't mean as much as what people expect or want them to.

Night terrors?