FOURTH GRADE
Language
Arts
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.
Spelling
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 letter 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
Students are pre-tested weekly on
the fourth grade words. Those children who achieve at least ninety percent correct are given a
vocabulary assignment (Wordly Wise) for the week. Students may also be given a
shortened spelling list if differentiation is needed.
Zaner-Bloser
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
Writing
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
Reading
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)
Reading/Writing
Connection
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:
- Space, Time and Matter (states of matter)
- The Living World (insects and classification
of living organisms)
- The Human Body (heredity, and human disease)
- The Solar System (stars and weather on
earth)
Social
Studies
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 work on geography of the
United States.
Units of study reflect Vermont’s
Framework of Standards.
Math
Our daily
Investigation lessons 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
- Tools of
measurement
- Value of coins
- Elapsed time
- Square units and
linear units
Investigations
daily tune-ups provide opportunities to develop, refine and practice basic
skills.
Computation
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
Problem
Solving
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
Math Facts
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.