Grade 4

March 2020

Reading: In reading, we are working on nonfiction skills such as cause and effect, analyzing events in a historical text and finding text evidence. We are utilizing the social studies textbook to practice these skills. In addition, we are working on becoming self motivated learners by creating goals. We analyze our strengths and weaknesses and work on improving on our weak areas. We set goals for ourselves and through our daily lessons and stations we are striving to be better at these skills. Ask your children to share their great work with you! : ) Please continue to read nightly with your children and discuss the strategies they practiced in class, it can lead to wonderful discussions!

Science: In science, we are learning from our unit on different forms of energy.  In this unit we are exploring the two main questions: What are the different forms of energy?  How does energy use impact the environment? We started the unit by learning about kinetic and potential energy and designing and building a roller coaster based on the information we learned. In the next month, we will continue our exploration of energy by discovering how electrical energy works and by building simple circuits. Then, students will work on relating electrical energy to natural resource consumption. Our students are excited and  “energized” for this unit!

Math: In math, the children are wrapping up their unit on adding and subtracting multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithms. They have learned to identify place values through the 10,000s and to read and write multi-digit whole numbers in standard form, words, and expanded form. They have also used this place value understanding to round multi-digit whole numbers to any place. Next, it’s on to fractions! The boys and girls will begin by expressing fractions with denominators of 10 as equivalent fractions with denominators of 100, and then use decimal notation to practice writing and saying these same values. The students will then be multiplying whole numbers by fractions in order to solve word problems using both visual fraction representations and equations to represent the problem.

Writing: In writing, the unit on persuasive/opinion writing continues. Students are working to compose a five paragraph essay to clearly state and support their opinion on a topic. They have chosen topics that they feel strongly about and have written an opinion statement to share their thoughts. They’ve  researched background information and used their findings to create strong paragraphs, including topic sentences, supporting details, and closing sentences. Once the essay is complete, students will use the ARMS (add, remove, move, substitute) and CAPS (capitalization, all sentences checked, punctuation, spelling) acronyms to help them revise and edit before publishing their writing.