Language Arts

We begin the new year with our first literature selection, Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLaughlin. It is a gentle story of how Sarah came to join a family in the Midwest. After completing the book and watching the movie, the students will write a compare and contrast essay. This will be a guided writing experience.

Spelling pretests are given each Monday morning. We begin with twenty basic words, increasing the number to thirty by Halloween. Students will complete an entire lesson each week, focusing on a specific spelling pattern. There is a writing piece due each Friday.

Grammar, punctuation and spelling are reinforced with guided lessons and Daily Language exercises using our Smartboard. All of these skills are incorporated into writing using the 6 + 1 Writing Traits approach.

Math

Initially, we will review place value to the millions. The students will also review writing numbers in different but equivalent forms. Students will compare and order numbers through 999,999,999. They will round numbers to the millions and make logical estimations. Students will count money, make change, and use money to get an introductory understanding of decimals.

Social Studies

Fourth grade focus is on the geography of the United States. We begin with an introduction to the great variety of land forms, natural resources and regions of the United States. We learn how to set up a notebook and how to use it as a study tool.

Activity to Try

Ask your child to select four cities located in different parts of the USA. With your child, look in a newspaper, on television, or on the Internet to find weather forecasts for each city. Compare the weather conditions in the different cities and discuss how the weather likely affects people who live in each city.

We have totally enjoyed reading the Newberry Medal book The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pene du Bois. This exciting fictional story is about Professor Sherman and his hot air balloon adventure which leads him to the island of Krakatoa. In learning about the real island of Krakatoa, we watched a PBS video. The students experienced the violent eruption through reenactments, interviews with modern day scientists and other primary sources. They even got to discuss Krakatoa during their science investigation of sound and how it travels.

Subjects and predicates, both complete and simple, have been our focus in grammar. We will begin simple diagramming of sentences in the very near future.

Today is our last day traveling throught the Mountain states on our way West. We will be traveling through the Southwestern and Pacific states for the remainder of the school year. In collaboration with the art department, the students will create Native American sand paintings.

ERB Testing will take place next week.

Language Arts

We are almost finished reading There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom with small literature groups. Students have specific “jobs” to complete for each section of the book. Complete and simple subjects is our focus in grammar this month. We have written a Family Fun essay and composed a number of couplets.

Social Studies

The Great Lakes region is complete. Each student created and “Economic Profile” poster for one of the states in this region. We are moving on to the Plains region where we will learn the differnces between the Great Plains and the Central Plains.