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Charlemagne Elementary School

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  1. CLASS INFORMATION
  2. 4th Grade

4th Grade

Teachers

Mme Shelli Hopper-Moore, hopper_s@4j.lane.edu
Room 15 – Red class

Mme Jana Kincaid, kincaid_j@4j.lane.edu
Room 16- Blue class

Grade 4 Curriculum

Overview

The fourth grade at Charlemagne builds from a foundation of community, while encouraging and expecting independent thinking and problem solving. Personal achievement is tied closely to a student’s responsibility to the classroom community. Each student is valued and respected for their experiences, their thinking and for their personal, family and cultural identity.

In Fourth Grade, throughout the year, we encourage students to increasingly use abstract systems to understand the world they inhabit and to make themselves understood. As the year progresses, students take increasing responsibility for assignments both inside and outside class.

We plan parallel lessons in both languages and use strategies that connect concepts being learned in both classrooms to provide optimum opportunities for learning across content areas. Visual and performing arts, music and technology are integrated into all curricular areas to support and develop a wide range of learning styles.

  • READING COMPREHENSION
    Comprehension is the fundamental goal of everything we read in Fourth Grade. Assessing that comprehension takes several forms, including:

    • State and District tests
    • Daily assignments
    • Project based learning
    • Teacher observations

    Students are increasingly expected not only to comprehend what they read, but to relate it to their own experiences, to other sources and to the world as they know it

    Word knowledge:
    After taking placement tests in September, students work from master lists of increasingly challenging words, selecting 20 words a week to study. A student who has three weeks of scores of 90% or higher in a particular level, may elect to take a “challenge test” in order to move up.
    Vocabulary is taught as it relates to content area studies and as they read from a wide variety of genres.

    ORAL READING FLUENCY
    Oral reading fluency is supported through many activities, including:

    • Partner reading
    • Readers theater
    • A study of poetry
    • Self-assessment.

    WRITING

    • We write in several different prose styles, namely narrative, expository and imaginative.
    • Students also write and present plays, readers theater and poetry.
    • Grammar study is ongoing.
    • We continually work to develop the 6 Traits of Writing (ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions)
    • Major writing projects include book reports (essay style) and an autobiography.
    • Students develop note-taking skills in Social Studies.
    • Formatting and word-processing skills are taught and used in many of the writing projects.

    SPEAKING
    4th Graders have many opportunities to develop speaking skills. They present projects, poems, skits and readers theater, both in class and to other classes and grades.

    • Students are expected to speak French in class
    • Dictations and vocabulary are based on commonly used words and expressions for the age-level and to appropriately support the specific curricular goals
    • French grammar, syntax, and spelling are modeled and taught directly via written, verbal and aural skills throughout the day’s immersion experience
    • Worthy accents and pronunciation are part and parcel of the verbal and aural skills learned, as well as the language comprehension that is vital to a fluent francophone
    • French language is also explored and reinforced on a group and individual basis through poetry, music, read alouds, writing assignments and readers theater
    • Individual learning styles are accommodated and encouraged via a large variety of possible activities that vary throughout the year
    • French is also the language used to study science and mathematics.

    SCIENCE

    Science takes place in French with both group and partner work. We cover three units during the year:

    • In the fall, we study Land and Water to understand processes and cycles
    • In the winter, we use our class set of microscopes to study the microworld in our unit Micro-mondes
    • In the spring, we study motion and design by designing, building and racing cars constructed with K’NEX building materials
      • This unit is also where we produce a science work sample in 4th grade
    • Scientific inquiry is actively pursued, and we learn about prediction, observation and recording throughout our scientific explorations

    MATHEMATICS (MATH)

    Math also occurs in French, with English support as needed to solidify concepts and to be prepared for standardized tests. The main math goals of 4th grade are:

    • Multiplication up to 10 x 10
    • Understanding and measuring area
    • Comparing and ordering fractions and decimals

    These three concepts will be introduced by halfway through the year, then we spend significant time revisiting, reinforcing and connecting these concepts:

    • Students must be able to explain and share their thinking and utilize a variety of ways to find solutions
    • Problem-solving and test-taking skills are specifically, consistently and expressly taught
    • A wide variety of teaching tools and techniques are used to approach math from as many angles as possible to deepen student understanding and interest.