Daily Oral Language

• Reviews and reinforces basic skills in the areas of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar and usage.
• Gives students repeated opportunities to develop and practice oral language and proofreading skills.

Students will use auditory phonemic awareness, phonics skills, and spelling strategies to write words accurately. Students will study spelling words based on their instructional level to be determined by a pre-test each week. In fourth grade the students will practice and be assessed on their ability to spell the following sounds:

• Homophones
• Vowels/letter combinations (ea, ou, ough, ow)
• Long vowels
• Short vowels
• Unusual leter pairs (kn, qu)
• Special spellings for (z, f, mb, le)
• Syllable patterns (vccv, vcv, ure)
• Word endings (ion, ed, ing, er, est, changing y to I)
• Irregular verbs
• Compound words
• Plurals
• Words with ie or ei
• Prefixes (un, dis, non)
• Suffixes (y, ful, less, ly)
• Commonly misspelled words

D’Nealian Handwriting

• Cursive lowercase and uppercase letters

Students are expected to:

• Form letters correctly
• Make letters the correct size
• Place letters on the lines correctly
• Space between words

Fourth graders will be introduced to new types of writing. Using the writing process, students will publish several writing pieces. Good paragraph writing, sentence structure and word choice is emphasized. The different types of writing will be poetry, creative writing, personal narrative, descriptive paragraph, friendly letter and research writing.

In addition, fourth graders are required to write about themselves in September and May. Both writing pieces are evaluated for the following:

• Evidence of pre-writing
• Multiple paragraphs on one topic that demonstrate a beginning, middle and end
• Shows clear purpose and a developed focus
• Shows variety in sentence structure
• Uses details and descriptive language
• Paragraphs are cohesive
• Revised

• Edits for grammar, usage and mechanics

Students are reading for meaning in the fourth grade through whole group literature as well as independent reading. The following are fourth grade skills:

Reading Strategies

• Predicting
• Using prior knowledge
• Extending vocabulary
• Setting a purpose for reading
• Making connections

Literary Elements

• Characterization
• Point of view
• Author’s message
• Plot
• Theme
• Literary devices (alliteration, metaphors, similes)

Fourth graders should be able to generate a personal response to what is read through a variety of means:

• Book of response
• Journal writing
• Report/factual writing

Students are also required to read different types of print media such as poetry, biography, autobiography, historical fiction, newspapers, magazine articles and other factual material.

Science

In fourth grade students are introduced to the scientific process. Topics will include:

• Maple sugaring
• Electricity
• Solar system

Students will spend half the year studying the geography of Vermont and Vermont history up to the American Revolution. This will include a review of map skills. During the remainder of the year students will study regions of the United States. Units of study reflect Vermont’s Framework of Standards. Current events are also a regular part of the curriculum.

We use the Investigations math series which  emphasize the developmental and conceptual understanding of mathematics. In fourth grade the following concepts are explored:

Number Sense

• Whole numbers, fractions and decimals
• Multiplication
• Using calculators
• Division
• Computing with fractions
• Mental math strategies
• Estimating
• Prime/composite numbers

Algebraic Thinking

• Number and geometric patterns
• Models, tables, graphs and rules
• Multiple attributes as a way of exploring algebra
• Identifying a missing piece in a mathematical sentence
• Using patterns to solve computation problems
• Associative properties

Geometry and Measurement

• Compute and compare money
• Identify properties of two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes
• Using a calendar
• Area and perimeter
• Metric measurement
• Scale drawings
• Tools of measurement
• Value of coins
• Elapsed time
• Square units and linear units

Mathland daily tune-ups provide opportunities to develop, refine and practice basic skills. Skillpower exercises provide independent practice in basic skills and application of conceptual understanding.

Students will work on the following computation skills throughout fourth grade. By the end of fourth grade, students are expected to:

• Find the sum of two, four-digit numbers with regrouping
• Find the difference of two, 3-digit numbers with regrouping across a zero
• Know multiplication facts to 12
• Multiply 2-digit over 2-digit numbers
• Division with 1-digit divisors

Students must complete one problem solver independently for each of the four math strands: number sense, algebra, geometry and measurements, and probability and statistics. Students are expected to:

• Write down what you need to find out
• Identify a plan to solve the problem
• Show all work
• Clearly show the answer
• Write an "I notice" statement
• Use a key when appropriate
• Label any chart or table correctly

Students will work on learning basic facts throughout fourth and fifth grades. By the end of fifth grade, students should be able to add or subtract 50 multiplication and 50 division facts 0-9s in one minute.

Social Development

• Self-esteem
• Peer relationships
• Communication with adults
• Individual and team problem solving activities

Physical Development

• Fitness tests assessed from past year
• Muscle contractions
• Muscle strengthening
• Muscle flexibility
• Soccer
• Elementary team games
• Volleyball
• Circus and juggling
• Basketball
• Tumbling and gymnastics
• Nutrition and food pyramid
• Cleanliness and minor first aid
• Elementary combat games
• Handball
• Wiffleball and lead-up to softball activities
• Orienteering
• Reassessed fitness from current year
• Track and field
• Team games

Art

The art program will consist of a spiraling curriculum. Each lesson/project will build on the previous one. It will reflect the Vermont Standards and be based on the elements and principles of design, incorporating art history, aesthetics and art criticism with projects appropriate to each grade level. A wide variety of media and techniques will be used. All activities will be structured to accommodate different learning styles and paces. Art education will be available for all students.

The art program includes content from the four foundational art disciplines known as Discipline Based Art Education:

• Art history – art in a cultural or historical setting
• Art production – the concepts and skills used to make art
• Aesthetics – the philosophy or nature and value of art
• Art criticism – making judgments and analyzing art objectively.

Assessments will be conducted on a regular basis. Assessments will be teacher assessments in the form of grades, mid-term reports, report cards and oral critique. By the end of the school year students should be able to demonstrate understanding of:

• The elements of design (line, shape, form, space, texture, color and value)
• The principles of design (unity, emphasis, contrast, balance, pattern, movement and rhythm)
• Composition, scale, the color wheel – complimentary colors, and positive and negative space
• Landscape, still life and collage
• 3-D clay construction
• Observational drawing and 3-D drawing
• Printmaking
• Artistic problem solving
• Design

Fourth grade students progress in the knowledge and use of computer programs, specifically in facets of multimedia, ie. PowerPoint and web pages.

Basic Operations

• Using Windows
• Working collaboratively with shared files

Information Tools

• Word processing
• Page lay up
• Multimedia (Hyper Studio, PowerPoint Web pages)
• Video editing

Social/Ethical Use and Practices

• History of IT

Problem Solving

• Programming

Sample Activities

• Copy and paste
• Use spreadsheet to make bar chart
• Move/resize graphics objects
• Double space
• Spell check

In the Library Media Program the two main focuses are to encourage the students to have a love for reading and to teach them to be information literate. To be information literate means to be able to access, evaluate and use information efficiently and effectively. The Library Media Program operates on a flexible schedule. This allows the library media specialist to collaborate with the classroom teachers so that these skills are taught as the students need to use them for their classroom assignments instead of in isolation.

The students will:

• Begin using a more advanced research model
• Be able to find a book by its call number
• Be able to find information using the print and online encyclopedias
• Understand how to use a dictionary
• Learn to efficiently find information using an almanac, atlas and the Internet

Life-Long Reading

• The students will:
• Learn to identify different types of stories – tall tales, fairytales and folk tales
• Learn to identify different kinds of literature genres such as mysteries, adventure and biographies
• Recommend books to others

The students will:

• Be able to find a book using the online catalog by keyword
• Be able to create a multi-media presentation
• Be able to run an efficient search on the Internet

The student will:

• Be able to evaluate web sites as being relevant to their topic
• Understand the difference between appropriate and inappropriate web sites
• Understand the Acceptable Use Policy of the school