Writing

This year your child will focus on Narrative and Expository writing, along with the editing and revising process.  Fourth grade brings a lot of change and responsibility in writing.  This year will be the first year students will take the STAAR Writing test, therefore, there is a heavy emphasis in writing.  We will also study units of Research, Friendly Letter Writing, and Persuasive Writing.

• NARRATIVE WRITING tells a personal story.  It has a beginning, middle, and end.  Narrative writing has characters and a setting.  It HOOKS the readers!  Narrative writing has a HEART and is FUN!    
• EXPOSITORY WRITING is writing ALL about a TOPIC.  You explain to the read that you can inform them about said topic.  You focus on a main idea (thesis) and support it with DEATAILS! 
• EDITING & REVISING YOUR COMPOSITION consists of carefully RE-READING the rough draft many times.  You are adding or taking away whatever you need to in order to make your piece perfect, or as you imagined your composition to sound.  You are CHECKING punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. 
• EDITING & REVISING PASSAGES consists of reading pieces of written work and looking for/correcting mistakes. 

Reading

Reading supports writing! It is extremely important that students continue to develop greater fluency and experience various styles of writing (genres) to be successful in the current and future years to come. Research shows, “Good Readers are Fabulous Writers.” The reading portion of fourth grade covers all TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) under the following objectives:

• Objective 1 - Demonstrate a basic understanding of culturally diverse written texts
• Objective 2 - Apply knowledge of literary elements to understand culturally diverse written texts.
• Objective 3 - Use a variety of strategies to analyze culturally diverse written texts.
• Objective 4 - Apply critical-thinking skills to analyze culturally diverse written texts

Fourth grade reading instruction is a balance of daily expectations to independently read, comprehend, monitor, and adjust reading rate and the curricular requirements to respond, summarize, and represent texts in a variety of ways (i.e. outlines). This is done through both novel studies like From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and the district’s adopted reading curriculum. 

Math

Fourth grade mathematics begins each class period with a challenging word problem. This activity is designed to promote critical thinking and to encourage familiarity and success when solving word problems. Word problems are a challenging aspect of math at any grade level. However, daily reinforcement of such practices as having students identify the information needed to solve the problem and knowing which operation of math to use, builds confidence and strengthens ability.  Foundation for future success - A student’s ability to solve challenging word problems depends on his or her ability to apply the correct operation of math. To strengthen this ability each problem solving activity is followed by a multiplication factors assessment. Each student is required to recall a set of multiplication factors daily. Completion of all multiplication factors is highly recommended for fourth grade and future success in mathematics. All students are encouraged to practice writing and reciting a set of multiplication factors daily with a peer, sibling or parent(s).  Hands on approach - Throughout various math lessons students participate in practical activities that reinforce understanding at all levels.  They are also able to create math-based art, which provides students another opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of a particular concept.

Science

Fourth grade science class is 85% lab based where the students learn science skills to identify components and processes of the natural world including properties of soil, effects of the oceans on land, and the role of the Sun as our major source of energy. In addition, students identify the physical properties of matter and observe the addition or reduction of heat as an example of what can cause changes in states of matter. Students learn the roles of living and nonliving components of simple systems and investigate differences between learned characteristics and inherited traits. They learn that adaptations of organisms that lived in the past may have increased some species' ability to survive.

Social Studies

Fourth Grade is dedicated to helping students enjoy Texas History.  Students will study Texas from the years of early 1700s to modern day Texas.