Welcome to the 4th Grade

1
Welcome to the 4th Grades Curriculum Night!

• Presented by the 4th Grade Team
• Ashley Everhart, Trinette Kahm, Audrey Mershon
  and Krista Ricks

2
Our agenda

• Introduction
• Open Court
• Lucy Calkins Writing Program
• Math
• Science
• Social Studies

3
Reading and Spelling

• Open Court Curriculum
• - Model reading strategies predicting,
  clarifying, making connections, summarizing
• - Specific skills making inferences,
  character motives
• - Vocabulary context in story
• - Concepts/Questions asking
  questions/research
• Units in Open Court
• - Unit 1 Risks and Consequences
• - Unit 2 Dreams to Jobs
• - Unit 3 Mystery to Medicine
• - Unit 4 Survival
• - Unit 5 Communication
• Tests on vocabulary and comprehension on Fridays

4
Reading and Spelling

• Spelling
• - words given at start of the week
• - patterns
• - 4th grade sight words
• - differentiated assessments (usually on
• Thursdays)
• - practice daily

5
Lucy Calkins Writing Program

• Six units of study
• Launching the Writing Program
• Raising the Quality of Narrative Writing
• Writing Fiction Big Dreams, Tall Ambitions
• Literary Essays Writing About Reading
• Breathing Life into Essays
• Memoir The Art of Writing Well

6
Lucy Calkins Writing Program

• Outline of a Session
• Workshop
• Mini-Lesson
• - Connection Children/Writers learn why
  todays lesson is
• important and how it relates to prior
  work
• - Teaching The teacher shows children
  how writers go
• about doing whatever they are being
  taught.
• - Active Engagement Children (writers)
  are given time to
• practice what has been taught.
• - Link Teacher clarifies what has been
  taught and links it to
• previous lessons.

7
Lucy Calkins Writing Program

• Outline of a Session (continued)
• Writing and Conferencing
• Students are writing while teachers and
  assistants circulate and conference. Teachers are
  able to assess the students needs as they confer
  daily.
• Share
• Every writing workshop ends with students
  sharing their writing.
• Homework
• When given, is designed to connect writing
  from school to home.
• Conventions
• Conventions lessons are woven throughout the
  program and also in conjunction with Open Court.

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Lucy Calkins Writing Program

• How Can I Help My Child?
• Read books with them. Discuss the language
  authors use. Point out good beginnings and
  endings.
• Share some of your stories of when you were
  young.
• Share some of your writing. Let them see you
  write.
• Ask them questions. Get them to tell stories
  about their day. All children can write if they
  have something to write about. Get them thinking
  like writers.
• Help them with basic sight words in their work.
  Guide them to become aware of words that are
  misspelled.
• Read through their work. Help them edit work for
  correct conventions.
• Encourage your child to keep a journal.
• Encourage your child to write the old-fashioned
  letter to Grandma or Grandpa telling about their
  life.

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4th Grade Writing Test

• Taken on March 6th, 2007.
• Writing assessments will also be given 1st and
  2nd quarter. It will be used to measure the
  students ability to apply their knowledge of the
  elements of good writing.
• Will be either imaginative or narrative.
• Students are assessed on their ability to use
  proper conventions, maintain focus, add relevant
  supporting details, sequence events correctly and
  exhibit good writing style.
• A parent information meeting later in the year
  will explain in more detail about the writing
  test.

10
Math

• Major topics covered in 4th grade
• Graphing / Data Collection
• Place Value (including basic algebra)
• Measurement (metric and standard)
• Multiplication and Division
• Geometry
• Area and Perimeter
• Probability
• Problem Solving (throughout whole year)
• Memorizing facts (esp. multiplication and
  division!)
• Fractions and Decimals

11
Science

• MacMillan McGraw-Hill Science
• Units
• Rocks and Minerals (1st quarter)
• - field trip to Linville Caverns/Emerald
  Village on Nov. 17th
• Animals (2nd quarter)
• Magnetism and Electricity (3rd quarter)
• Food, Growth, and Energy (4th quarter)

12
Social Studies

• Harcourt Horizons North Carolina
• The Land and Early People (1st quarter)
• The Coastal and Piedmont Regions (2nd quarter)
• The Mountain Region (3rd quarter)
• NC in the Modern World (4th Quarter)
• Field trip to Exchange City (week of Nov. 14th)

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Thank you for coming!

• We appreciate you joining us tonight. If you have
  any further questions, please contact your
  childs homeroom teacher.