Math: Our school math adoption is Engage New York. Students need to practice their multiplication and division facts! The 4th grade goal is 90-100 problems in 5 minutes. Please ensure students master their math facts by helping them practice at home with a recommended time of at least 10 minutes. We will take timed tests every week in class. The next unit we will begin is fractions. Students will explore fraction equivalence and extend this understanding to mixed numbers. As well as the comparison of fractions and mixed numbers and the representation of both in a variety of models. Benchmark fractions play an important part in students’ ability to generalize and reason about relative fraction and mixed number sizes.
Reading: Our school reading adoption is Core Knowledge. We will start literacy with a daily read aloud and skills lesson. Our current unit is Contemporary Fiction with a focus on theme, plot, setting and characters while reading the story The House on Mango Street.
Writing: We are practicing opinion writing this quarter. Students are required to create a thinking map to plan their ideas and ensure they have an introduction paragraph, at least three main ideas, three supporting sentences in a body paragraph and a conclusion paragraph. They are using an evaluation process to edit their own work and we have 4 computers in the classroom to use when publishing our final drafts and the COW (computers on wheels/laptops).
Science: Our science kit is Electric Circuits this quarter. Students will learn to identify and build complete, series and parallel circuits and study conductors, insulators and magnets.
P.E We have organized P.E. daily for 20-30 minutes. Please encourage students to eat their snack during P.E. time. Students also have P.E. with our P.E. instructor for 40 minutes every Thursday.