Reading Workshop
In reading, we are starting some exciting historical fiction book clubs. Students will be reading novels related to one of the following topics: The American Revolution, The Great Depression, Prairie Life, and Civil Rights. This reading work will go hand-in-hand with our writing work as well.
In this unit, students will focus on many of the skills from earlier in the year, such as: paying close attention to story elements, building vocabulary, determining themes and comparing and contrasting story elements and themes. The depth of this work will progress from our earlier units. They will pay close attention to the clues the author gives that “trouble is brewing”. They will also focus on building their interpretations in the company of others through the structure of well-organized clubs who make agreements to experience and learn from these rich texts together. Students will realize the importance of paying attention to the timeline of the character but also the timeline of history that shapes these characters. Listening to the perspectives and noticings of others is crucial in building truly analytical and life-long readers.
Writing Workshop
We have begun our final writing unit of the year, and the genre is informational writing. In this unit the students will learn how to craft an informational piece. The reading comprehension strategies of inferring and determining importance will be applied as the students research their topic and read carefully to determine which information is most essential.
During the mini lesson portion of the writing workshop teachers will model the note taking process using our own topic and text. Mini lessons will focus on note taking (paragraphing and quoting information), citing research, and using text features to elevate the complexity of writing. The students will become experts on their topic as they research and write their book.
Social Studies
Financial Literacy - Young Ameritowne Unit
We are about to begin an exciting new unit on financial literacy. Over the next few weeks, students will learn about supply and demand, banking, advertising, careers, business, and philanthropy in school. Their studies will culminate with a field trip to Young Ameritowne where students will apply concepts they’ve learned as they function as citizens of town. After visiting town, the students will evaluate the success of their day. Each business group receives a bank balance statement indicating whether the shop ended with a profit. Students will evaluate whether their business was profitable as well as evaluate their personal spending habits and choices made in Young Ameritowne. This is an exciting unit with a very memorable field trip!
Math Workshop
We will be focusing on the beginning stages of algebra by introducing students to the analysis of patterns. We will also be continuing to work on Geometry and Measurement, including understanding concepts of angles and angle measurement. Lastly, we will be representing and interpreting data on line plots.
We hope to end the year with a unit called "Step up to 5th grade" . This unit is a brief overview of what the students will do next year.
Science
During March, fourth grade worked on a Physical Science unit entitled "Transfer of Energy in Collision" where we were investigating the question, "How is energy transferred when objects collide?" Most notably, we planned and carried out fair tests in which variables were controlled and failure points were considered in order to identify aspects of a model or prototype that could be improved. We continually revisited the "Engineering Design Process" in order to plan, build, test, and redesign. We did this through car collision experiments and by designing Rube Goldberg collision machines.
As always, thank you for supporting your child at home.
The Fourth Grade Team
Mrs. Barta and Mrs. Harrison
Mrs. Durr
Ms. Poli
Ms. Russell
Ms. Westra
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