Grade 4

Fourth Grade:

Grade Level News:

Reading- In reading, we are beginning the year with Unit 1 of our Making Meaning book. This unit involves building the reading community. We are working to create a reading community where all students feel welcome, safe, and respected. We will use accountable talk to discuss our thoughts and ideas as a class. We are also working on questioning to help us better understand what we read. Each day we will read independently to build up our reading stamina. This will help us become stronger readers. 

Writing- In writing, we will start by building our own writing community. Students will hear and discuss examples of good writing and begin to learn about the writing practices of professional authors.  We will explore prewriting techniques and students will write freely in their writing notebooks about things that interest them.  Next, students will learn cooperative structures that they will use throughout the year, as well as discussion prompts to help them listen and connect to their comments during class discussions.  Finally, students will begin conferring with one another about their writing in a caring and responsible way.

Science- In science, we will be jumping into an exciting new unit about energy and motion. As we start out the year, we’ll learn to think like scientists by observing a phenomenon and then exploring concepts and ideas to help us explain it. We’ll then synthesize our knowledge to demonstrate what we have learned. For our first science topic, we will be investigating how energy changes in a collision.

Math- In math, we will be using arrays to review our multiplication facts and represent multiplication situations. The boys and girls will also be writing and solving multiplicative comparisons to find missing products and unknown factors. They will learn how to find factor pairs for a given number, to recognize whether a number is a multiple of a given factor, and to determine if a number is prime or composite. Please have your children practice their times tables to improve their accuracy and fluency. These online flashcards are a great resource for practicing multiplication facts at home: http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/quick-flash-ii. 

Social Studies- In social studies, we will discuss New Jersey’s Land. We will explore the natural regions of New Jersey, locate New Jersey on a map and discuss the climate and resources of New Jersey. Students will get to explore maps, read information and watch videos pertaining to New Jersey. We will also learn about the Lenape Native American tribe of New Jersey and discuss their legacy and impact. Students will be building their discussion skills in the classroom as it is vital to our social studies journey in 4th grade.

From,

The Fourth Grade Team