Welcome to Fourth Grade

2014-2015

Typical Day in Our Room

Morning:Guided Reading, Rocket Math, Science and/or Social Studies, Math, Specials and Read Aloud

Recess/Lunch: 12:45 – 1:25Afternoon:Writing Workshop, and Guided

Reading

Specials (Daily 9:25 – 10:25)

A Day – P.E./Music B Day – Literacy/P.E. C Day – Computer D Day - Art E Day – Music/P.E. Library

Literacy Block

Balanced Literacy: Shared Reading, Guided Reading,—(Read to Self, Read to Someone, Writing, Word Work).

CAFÉ—Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Expanding Vocabulary

Lucy Calkins – Units of Study in Reading

Grammar and Skills Teacher Read Aloud and Global Read

Aloud

40 Books in Fourth Grade!

Each student will have a goal of reading 40 books this school year!

Students will read from a variety of genres.

There will be no reading logs for you to sign!

Each student will have a booklet to keep track of all books finished.

BiographyAutobiograp

hy(3) 

Fantasy(3)

HistoricalFiction

(3)

HumorousFiction

(4) 

Informational(4)

Mystery/Suspense

(3)

PoetryAnthologies

(3) 

RealisticFiction

(4)

Science Fictionand/or

Action/Adventure(3)

Traditional

Literature(3)

 

Graphic Novels

(2)

Bluestem Award

Nominees (5)

Forty in Fourth

Word Study/High Frequency Words

Word Study High Frequency Words

•Individualized words to meet the developmental needs of each student.•No memorization—words follow a pattern•In school

•These are words that ALL students should know how to spell before leaving elementary school.•These are commonly misspelled words that generally need to be memorized.•Practiced at home.•Test every two weeks.

Writing Writing Workshop (Lucy Calkins) –

Units of Study in Narrative, Opinion and Expository

Writing celebration after each unit Writer’s Notebook will go home

occasionally for writing entries. Grammar Poetry

Inquiry Based Learning

Inquiry Circles – Inquiry is a process of learning that encourages kids to ask questions, to work together to solve problems, to discover knowledge, and to construct their own meaning,

with guidance, rather than lectures, from teachers. http://youtu.be/klVPk7q6Kww

Genius Hour Genius Hour - Coming soon to

Room 203—  Genius Hour!   Genius Hour is time spent creating and developing your own genius to share. http://www.geniushour.com/

Math Everyday Math– aligned to common core

standards. 8 Mathematical Practices Beginning (B) skills, Progressing (P),

Developing (D) skills, and Secure (S) skills Homework—each night Will flex group quarterly Computation Practice Math Journals stay at school Daily Time Tests (Rocket Math) to practice

basic facts

Mathematical Practices

I can … 1.Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

5. Use appropriate tools Strategically

2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively

a b c . . . 1 2 3 . . .

6. Attend to precision

3. Construct viable arguments & critique the reasoning of others

7. Look for and make sense of Structure

4. Model with mathematics

8. Look for & express regularity in repeated reasoning

Social Studies

National Geographic Books Prairie Illinois Regions of the United States Each student will learn to

identify all 50 states and capitals on the U.S. map

Science FOSS Hands-On Science Earth Materials Structures of Life Ideas and Inventions Dissect Owl Pellets Engineering Health

Engineering

Learn about engineers and what they do

Construct pasta cars and spaghetti bridges

Practice problem solving Save a shoebox for February

Technology

Edublog – students will have their own blog.

Twitter – will be tweeting from the classroom.

Skype in the classroom. Technology Project at the

end of each Social Studies unit.

Classroom Basics

Handwriting—students will be writing completely in cursive by second semester.

Assignment Books—required in fourth grade, assignments written at the end of each day. Parent signature is unnecessary unless there is a problem with homework completion.

First and last name on all papers in cursive.

Classroom Basics Continued…

A healthy morning snack is fine—please don’t send anything messy or that needs a utensil.

Birthdays—Even though the birthday policy is that there are no treats at school, we still celebrate birthdays in the classroom. Your child may bring a non-edible “treat” if he/she would like.

Homework Math—homework - each night and additional

computation practice frequently Practice High Frequency Words Independent Reading Writing homework (sometimes) Occasional Social Studies or other work not finished

in class Tonight’s homework (for Wednesday) bring in book to read write down your top 10 favorite books of all time.

Please write down the title and author of each book. bring in pictures, etc. to decorate your writer’s

notebook.

Friday Folders

All work from the week comes home in the Friday folder.

Folder needs to be signed and returned on Monday

Classroom Expectations and Procedures

Be ReadyBe Respectful

Be Responsible

Outcomes: Flip a card Behavior Slip sent home to be signed

Recess privilege will be lost per teacher discretion.

Rewards—Whole class and individual

Report Cards

No students will receive letter grades

The report card will consist of a checklist for each subject

Skills are assessed as Beginning, Developing, Progressing, or Secure

Field Trips

Will be taking one field trip this year. The time and location of this trip is still in the planning process. This information will be shared when available.

Mrs. Piccony’s Contact Information

Email: shanna.piccony@kaneland.org

Telephone: 630-897-1961 ext. 203

Twitter: @mcdole203