Grade 4 Guidelines - Saint Teresa of Avila School

Course Title: Religion

Grade Four

Faculty Name Ms. Susan Lindow

Text God’s Law Guides Us

Publisher Sadlier

Website http://www.webelieveweb.com

Significant Curriculum Guidelines

Students will:

Learn about grace, God’s life in our souls.
Understand that Mary is the model disciple in Christ’s Church.
Reinforce the concept of the Kingdom of God and the role of each person in it.
Deepen their understanding of the Ten Commandments.
Learn more about the sacraments and their meanings.
Understand that God calls each of us to personal conversion through a process of sorrow, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
Emphasize that there are personal and communal aspects to service and witness.
Develop an understanding of relationships with God and others as a lifelong process.
Learn that the New Testament is the story of Jesus by studying the Beatitudes and parables.
Participate in private and communal prayer.
Recognize and participate in liturgical devotions, seasons, and saints’ feast days.

Teaching Strategies Used

The students will learn through large and small group instruction, oral reading and presentations, vocabulary study, recitation of prayers, role-playing and skits, written compositions (reports, essays, poems, prayers), artistic expression (posters, collages, pictures), preparation for school and Sunday liturgy, listening to and singing hymns, Scripture study, chapter reviews, and unit reviews.

Special Features

Each student will prepare a research report about a saint and present it to the class.
The students will study and be tested on the Mysteries of the Rosary, The Ten Commandments, The Holy Days of Obligation, The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, The Beatitudes, The Sacraments, The Laws of the Church, and The Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The students will prepare for and participate in class liturgies, Reconciliation, Stations of the Cross, and monthly Eucharistic Adoration.
In addition to the above-mentioned guidelines, the students will be encouraged to put their faith into action in their daily lives by following the Commandments in thought, word, and deed. They will also participate in service projects, such as Thanksgiving and Easter food drives and donating to the missions. Special programs such as North Catholic High School’s Leadership Team are scheduled whenever possible.

Evaluation

The students will be graded on class participation, homework, chapter and unit tests, reports, and projects using a point system.

Course Title: Reading

Grade Four

Faculty Name Ms. Susan Lindow

Text Journeys Text and Practice Book

Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Website https://www-k6.thinkcentral.com

Significant Curriculum Guidelines

Students will:

Recognize and use new words from content areas.
Identify and support with details events of a story.
Identify words that express the feelings of the main characters in a story.
Identify the change in characterization throughout a story.
Participate in sustained silent reading.
Determine the morals in a fable.
Compare and contrast characters and circumstances in a story.
Read a passage and paraphrase the contents.
Identify books as fiction or nonfiction.
Recall the main events of a story in chronological order.
Apply context clues to determine the meaning of a word.

Teaching Strategies Used

Students will participate in group instruction and discussion, oral and silent reading, partner reading, vocabulary review, comprehension activities (answering oral/written questions, workbook pages, oral presentations), reading and writing poetry, artistic responses (posters, dioramas, puppets).

Special Features

Students complete and present a book report and project once each month.
Students participate in classroom plays (Reader’s Theater).
Students participate in small group projects.
Students complete a biography report.
The students will participate in the Book-It Program.

Evaluation

The students will be graded on vocabulary quizzes, story comprehension tests, homework, book reports, oral reading, and group projects. Total point averages of each of these will be used to calculate the overall grade.

Course Title: Reading

Grade Four

Faculty Name Mrs. Carol Pastor

Text Journeys

Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Website https://www-k6.thinkcentral.com

Significant Curriculum Guidelines

Students will:

Recall the main events of a story in chronological order
Identify words that express the feelings of the main characters in the story.
Identify the change in characterization throughout a story.
Understand different elements of a story, such as main idea, problem, events, context clues and solution.
Answer the following questions after reading a story: what, when, where, why, who?
Participate in sustained silent reading.
Determine the morals in a fable.
Read and enjoy historical fiction.
Compare and contrast characters and circumstances in a story.
Understand how cause and effect are connected in a story.
Read a passage and paraphrase the contents.
Identify books as fiction or non-fiction.

Teaching Strategies Used

Students will participate in story discussions, reading aloud, and oral presentations.
Students will read with partners
Vocabulary review
Reading and writing poetry

Special Features

Participate in weekly discussions about the story.
Become familiar with literary genres.
Write stories using new vocabulary words.
Act out vocabulary words through skits.
Read a variety of stories and complete an assignment for extra enrichment.
Participate in a classroom play.
Read a variety of library books, including Newbery and Caldecott titles.
Participate in small group projects
Students will participate in the Book It program

Evaluation

Students will be assessed on class work, homework, activities, projects, quizzes, and tests using a point system.

Course Title: Spelling

Grade Four

Faculty Name Ms. Susan Lindow

Text Journeys Practice Book

Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Website https://www-k6.thinkcentral.com

Significant Curriculum Guidelines

Students will:

Review long and short vowel sounds.
Correctly use various vowel combinations.
Spell words in the plural form.
Use possessive nouns in phrases and sentences.
Work with abbreviations.
Add prefixes and suffixes to words.
Spell words with “silent” letters.
Understand and spell contractions.
Define and spell homophones correctly.
Learn different spelling strategies.
Understand and use various spelling rules.

Teaching Strategies Used

A new concept is introduced in the spelling workbook each week. Students will participate in a variety of activities that will reinforce the new words and rules.

Special Features

Students will alphabetize the spelling words, use them in sentences and stories, develop listening and speaking skills, and participate in classroom spelling bees.
Spelling is integrated into all areas of the curriculum and will be assessed in all work.
In addition to tests, assessment will include spelling in daily work and homework.

Evaluation

Students will be graded on daily work, participation, workbook pages, written assignments, and tests.

Course Title: English

Grade Four

Faculty Name Ms. Susan Lindow

Text Journeys

Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Website https://www-k6.thinkcentral.com

Significant Curriculum Guidelines

Students will:

Distinguish between sentences and fragments.
Use subjects and verbs in agreement.
Identify complete/simple subject and complete/simple predicate.
Identify action and linking verbs.
Choose correct present and past tense verbs to complete sentences.
Identify nouns and noun endings (plurals and possessives).
Identify adjectives and the noun or pronoun each adjective modifies.
Add adjectives to simple sentences and phrases.
Identify pronouns and their antecedents.
Compose a main idea for a paragraph and state it in a topic sentence.
Select the correct definitions of synonyms, homonyms, antonyms, and homographs.

Teaching Strategies Used

Students will participate in large group instruction, small group work, oral and written practice, cumulative reviews, journal writing, compositions, and oral presentations.

Special Features

Students will participate in creative writing, compose an autobiography, and write research reports during the school year. The students will participate in oral presentations of their compositions.
Having an integrated Language Arts program will provide a more meaningful context for English, Phonics, and Spelling instruction.

Evaluation

Students will be graded on their class participation, homework, quizzes, tests, reviews, reports, and compositions using a point system.

Course Title: Mathematics

Grade Four

Faculty Name Mrs. Michelle Kalish, Mrs. Carol Pastor

Text Progress in Mathematics

Publisher Sadlier-Oxford

Website http://www.sadlier.com

Significant Curriculum Guidelines

Students will:

Understand patterns, relations, and functions; represent and analyze mathematical situations using algebraic symbols.
Understand numbers, ways of representing numbers, relationships among numbers, and number systems.
Understand meanings of operations, how they relate to one another, and compute fluently with reasonable estimates.
Understand measurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement.
Analyze characteristics and properties of two and three dimensional geometric shapes and use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to solve problems.
Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them.
Understand fractions, add and subtract fractions with like denominators, and find equivalent fractions.
Predict and find possible combinations and outcomes for simple situations.
Organize and display data by using and creating line plots, tables, charts, and graphs.
Demonstrate understanding of place value of whole numbers and decimals.

Teaching Strategies Used

Small group instruction
Partner work
Problem-solving, math games, basic fact drills
Use of charts, graphs, tables, measurement tools, geometric models, fraction bars, place value blocks, money, and other manipulatives.

Special Features

Students will use Holey Cards (basic fact drill cards) for timed practice of basic math facts.
The students will participate in math activity class.
Enrichment and accelerated math activities will be used when appropriate.

Evaluation

Chapter tests, Cumulative Review tests, chapter checkpoint quizzes
Worksheets, board work, and homework
Total point averages of tests, quizzes, and homework are used to calculate overall grade average.

Course Title: Science

Grade Four

Faculty Name Mrs. Jacalyn Cardella, Mrs. Patricia Brandt

Text Science – A Closer Look

Publisher Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Website http://www.macmillanmh.com

Significant Curriculum Guidelines

Students will:

Describe, clarify, analyze, and provide direction for problem solving.
Discriminate between evidence and proof, fact and theory, observation and inference.
Demonstrate a desire to learn and a curiosity for the unknown by formulating and performing self-motivated investigations.
Discover and appreciate the sacredness of all life as touched by God’s creation.
Become acquainted with graphing, recording, and drawing conclusions from the data.
Apply scientific skills and knowledge to collaborate with others in examining a concept.
Communicate appropriate conclusions from experiments.
Describe how the structures of living things help them function in unique ways.
Describe the cell as the basic structure and functional unit of living things.

Teaching Strategies Used

Students will be involved in a variety of learning situations, including hands-on observations, experiments, oral reports, classroom “teacher”, written reports, classroom discussions, and reviews.

Special Features

Students will participate in classroom discussions during each chapter of the new textbook and complete at least two projects during the school year.
Every student will have an opportunity to be the class “teacher” while using the textbook and creating questions for the students to answer.
The Smartboard will be utilized when appropriate for viewing various videos from the school’s “streaming” software.
During the school year, students will study cells, classify living things, explore various ecosystems, discover the importance of the Earth and its resources, understand weather patterns, the solar system, properties of matter, and become familiar with the concepts of motion and force.

Evaluation

Students will be graded on class work, homework, activities, projects, quizzes, and tests using a point system.

Course Title: Social Studies

Grade Four

Faculty Name Ms. Susan Lindow

Text Social Studies: Regions

Social Studies: Pennsylvania

Publisher Scott Foresman

Website http://www.sfsuccessnet.com

http://www.sfsocialstudies.com

Significant Curriculum Guidelines

Students will:

United States Geography:

Use maps, globes, and models of the earth to study and interpret the different representations to the earth and understand basic geographic terms such as island, peninsula, bay, deserts, plains, plateaus, and mountains
Express any location on earth in terms of latitude or longitude.
Learn basic skills such as interpreting simple line or bar graphs, circle graphs, grid systems, and diagrams help us to understand Social Studies/Geography.
Recognize, identify, and use vocabulary related to geographical studies
Discuss that natural resources are not distributed equally, and the economy of a region/country is determined by available resources.
Learn that the way people live, pray, speak, work, and play make up their culture. Cultures are preserved and passed on to the next generation.
Learn concepts such as reading time lines, drawing conclusions, and identifying cause and effect which are the bases of understanding history.
Know that the right to vote and the duty to vote belong to American citizens.
Learn the relationships among local, state, and national government; identify representative leaders at these levels such as mayor, governor, and president.
Discuss emerging global issues such as pollution and endangered species as problems to which there are solutions.
Identify that conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, racial, cultural, religious groups and nations occur regularly.
Learn that in the sight of God, every person is a valuable, unique, and special creation and no person is superior to any other in His sight. People of all races and cultures have made contributions to the American culture.

Pennsylvania Guidelines:

Identify the various Indian tribes lived in Pennsylvania long before the arrival of William Penn who differed in their lifestyles in terms of food, shelter, and activities. They used materials of the immediate environment to meet their needs.
Discuss how religion was an important reason for William Penn starting the colony of Pennsylvania.
Learn that Pennsylvania was settled by people from many lands who brought their cultures and traditions and worked to keep Pennsylvania the Keystone State.
Discuss how the frictions among colonists from various countries climaxes in the French and Indian War and resulted in England gaining control of much of the New World, including Pennsylvania.
Discover Pennsylvania played an important part in the gaining of independence from England and in setting up a new and independent country.
Hear about famous Pennsylvanians, such as William Penn and Benjamin Franklin who have made many contributions to our state and nation.
Learn how Pennsylvania has contributed to the food industry through its many productive farms and food processing factories.
Discuss that Pennsylvania’s past prosperity has been partly due to the effective use of its natural resources, such as soft and hard coal, natural gas, oil, stone, sand, gravel, and lumber.
Express that Pennsylvania was a leader in setting up our federal government, thus our state and federal plans of government are similar.
Discuss human rights issues and conflicts which affected workers coming to Pennsylvania from other countries. Immigrants enriched Pennsylvania and the United States with their customs and values.
Identify how science and technology have changed our lives in Pennsylvania during the past century and advances continue to occur.

Teaching Strategies Used

Large group instruction, small cooperative groups, research, group discussion, vocabulary review, presentations, chapter reviews, oral reports, and special projects are utilized. The above mentioned website will be used for research and periodic assignments.

Special Features

The students will read and create maps, charts, tables, and graphs.
Each student will prepare and present a research report about Pennsylvania during the second semester.
The students will read and discuss current events on a weekly basis using the Scholastic News Magazine.
When possible, special guest speakers are invited to share their expertise about local/state government, industries, and other appropriate topics

Evaluation

Chapter tests, quizzes, projects, presentations, and homework are assessed using a point system.