Highlights:
-Oregon Trail Unit
-Narrative Writing Unit
-Fractions, Long Division and Multiplication
-The Beatitudes
Walk to Read:
To best support our K-5 students at SMS, our reading program, “Walk to Read” is designed to allow students to move fluidly throughout the year between reading groups taught by various teachers. This will help teachers reach students best and provide them individually with the skills they need at their level. We will be using our STAR Assessment Program to help us, as a staff, make decisions regarding reading.
In the reading group I will be teaching, we will be reading several novels this year as a group, in addition to the novels that each student chooses on his/her own. The activities we will do in class are a part of the study of the group novel. The three novels we will be reading in the 2023 – 2024 school year are:
1. The One and Only Ivan – ISBN 0-06-021805-3
2. The Name of This Book is Secret – ISBN 978-0-316-11366-3
3. The Tale of Despereaux – ISBN 0-380-80084-5
We will also be reading selections from the Houghton Mifflin reading text.
Walk to Math:
This year we will cover place value, multiplication and division in multi digit numbers, geometric figures, measurement, and fractions and decimals to name a few. We will also practice our math facts regularly to ensure that the basic facts serve as a firm foundation for the more challenging concepts they will learn this year, and as they move into 5th grade next year.
1. Math Connects Grade 4 ISBN 978-0-02-105733-7
Religion:
The Faith First program goes through four major themes beginning with what we believe, studying the parts of the mass/church, a development of morality with special attention to the Beatitudes and the Ten Commandments, and finally a focus on prayer. There are two prayers that students need to memorize this year: The Memorare and The Prayer for Peace (Prayer of St. Francis). In religion, we will not only study these things, but we will focus on the seasons of Advent and Christmas and Lent and Easter. In addition, we will use the fourth grade Steps to Respect program, which enables students to find their voice and feel confident in solving conflicts on their own.
Writing:
For Writing, we will be using Lucy Calkin’s writing program for the intermediate level, which has several units of focus including stories, essays, literary essays, etc. The program teaches students to look at writing, show them how to generate ideas on their own, and how to choose writing to improve and how to edit and revise.
Social Studies:
Students will study the five themes of geography, learn about maps and the geography of WA, and study the westward movement from the start of the explorers, the development of the U.S. to the expansion of the West and finally to the development of WA state. We will be using Foundations of Geography and Discovering Washington as our texts for social studies.
1. Discovering Washington – ISBN 0-87905-400-X
2. World Studies Foundations of Geography – ISBN 0-13-181651-9
Science:
We will be using the Foss Kits for science. Students will use these kits to help discover more about the world around them. We will discuss topics such as rocks and minerals, plant and animal adaptations, and different forms of energy. Students will learn how to record data, observe, make connections, and work on description.