WELCOME TO CURRICULUM NIGHT! 4 th Grade Mrs. Lowry – 4A – Room 201 Mrs. Vos – 4B – Room 202 Mrs. Figura – 4C – Room 203

RELIGION (Mrs. Vos) Text used: Call to Faith (2012) CONTENT TO BE COVERED:  Being good Christians  Beatitudes  Ten Commandments  Rosary  Saints  Sacraments  Vocations  Liturgical Year  Stewardship

RELIGION WHAT TO EXPECT:  Fr. Mark’s visit each Monday or Tuesday  Vocabulary pages – keep for the whole unit (3 chapters)  Weekly quizzes (If students pay attention in class, participate, and review their vocabulary nightly, they should not have to study for these quizzes.)  Success = participation in class discussions  Mrs. Vos teaches Religion to all 3 sections of fourth grade.

MATH Text used: Houghton Mifflin (2007) CONTENT TO BE COVERED:  Addition and subtraction of large numbers  Multiplication and division of large numbers  Place value to millions  Fractions  Decimals  Geometry  Time and money  Probability and Statistics

MATH WHAT TO EXPECT:  Each day a lesson is taught which builds on the day before – prefer students to complete assignments in class.  Assessments are given at the end of each chapter (approximately 5-8 lessons) and a unit test at the end of a unit (2-3 chapters)  Memorization of all facts is essential (addition and subtraction through 20, multiplication and division through the 12’s)  Spiral Reviews  Each teacher teaches Math to her homeroom class.

LANGUAGE ARTS Text used: McGraw-Hill ( 2008) Sadlier Vocabulary (2005) Sadlier Grammar Workshop (2007)  Reading  Comprehension  Cause/Effect  Setting/Characters  Inferences  Drawing Conclusions  Synonyms/Antonyms  Fact/Opinion  Independent Reading (read 20 minutes at home each night)

LANGUAGE ARTS  English/Grammar  Sentence structure  Nouns  Verbs  Pronouns  Adverbs  Adjectives  Combining sentences  6 Traits of Writing  Grammar Workshop on-line practice

LANGUAGE ARTS  Vocabulary  2 weeks for each unit  12 words  Study nightly (2 or 3 words each night)  List sent home on Monday of the first week  Flashcards (2 or 3 each night)  Need to know ALL definitions and most synonyms/antonyms  Vocabulary Workshop on-line practice

LANGUAGE ARTS  Spelling  Continuing Phonics/Spelling program from third grade  13 words with a common phonetic spelling pattern (plus the 12 vocab. words for a total of 25 Spelling words)  List sent home on Monday of the first week  – search for Beth Vos  Test at the end of the first week

SCIENCE (Mrs. Figura) Text used: Interactive Science – Pearson (2012) CONTENT TO BE COVERED:  Earth’s land and matter  Nutrition (Archdiocesan assessment)  Living things  Electricity  Weather

SCIENCE WHAT TO EXPECT:  Worksheets should be kept in their accordion file.  Worksheets and notes given in class will be their study guides for the tests.  Curriculum is based on terms and vocabulary.  In class experiments and activities  Mrs. Figura teaches science to all three sections of fourth grade.

SOCIAL STUDIES (Mrs. Lowry) Text used: Harcourt Horizons (2010) CONTENT TO BE COVERED:  States  Regions of the U.S.  Nebraska history

SOCIAL STUDIES WHAT TO EXPECT:  Studies Weekly newspapers for Nebraska history  Study the United States by region  Archdiocesan assessment: A Field Trip to the Museum (2 nd Semester)  Mrs. Lowry teaches Social Studies to all three sections of fourth grade.

BEHAVIOR POLICY  S tudents receive a new demerit card once a month. If a student chooses to break a rule during the day, he/she will receive one demerit or more depending on the severity of the action. The consequence form that the student will fill out and sign will go home that night and needs to be signed by a parent and returned the next school day.  If a student receives three demerits in a month they will not earn the free dress day. Five demerits received during a month will result in a meeting with the counselor/principal. A plan of assistance will be written when a student reaches 10 demerits.

HOMEWORK  Assignments average minutes to complete each night, not including studying for tests and working on special projects.  Nightly review of spelling words, vocabulary lists, and math facts is strongly encouraged.  See more detailed information on handout

MISSING WORK: ILLNESS OR VACATION  As fourth grade teachers we are aware that at times students will miss school due to illness or vacation. When your child is absent it is his/ her responsibility to see each teacher to get their assignments and have them turned in two days after their return to school.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN HOMEWORK  Every day your child will have homework to complete. Homework is the work the students did not get finished during the school day. Assistance with homework may be needed with difficult concepts at times. We do ask that you do not “do or assist them” to where they cannot pass tests on their own. Fourth grade is gearing the students up for more independence. Please help us help your children!

GRADING/ASSESSMENT  Grading Scale is in the school handbook.  Students will be assessed in various formats throughout the year including projects, written tests, and informal observations.  Points will be taken off for missing capital letters, punctuation, and misspelled words that are on the assignment.

EXTRA CREDIT/RETAKES  At various times throughout the year your child will be offered a chance to bring up lower grades. Students/parents may not request extra credit. Extra credit is not mandatory.  Daily grades below 70% may require a student to make corrections at school or home (at the teacher’s discretion). It is the student’s responsibility to make the corrections and get them turned in by the next day.  Test grades below 70% may require a student to make corrections or retake the test (at the teacher’s discretion).

SPECIAL PROJECTS  Book projects – throughout the year  Masterpiece Art - Quarterly  Archdiocesan assessments  Rosary project - October  Saint project - November  Pre-School buddies – September, November, April, May

FIELD TRIPS  Mormon Trail Center – December – in conjunction with Masterpiece Art gingerbread house project  Possible trip to Joslyn  Lincoln Field Trip (Capitol, Nebraska History Museum, Morrill Hall) in May

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