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The fourth grade learning community starts the year off by discussing the meaning of the word “family” and how it relates to our learning community. Unity, teamwork, and respect are themes that carry with the fourth grade throughout the entire school year. In order to highlight the importance of teamwork and unity, the students will be embarking on a 2-day Outward Bound excursion. This will allow the students to strengthen their bonds with one another, work out problem solving techniques, and become better acquainted with their surrounding forests.
Fourth grade is jam packed with learning opportunities and experiences. In reading, the students will be working hard to expand their writing skills, vocabulary, grammar, fluency, and overall comprehension. They will be active participants in centers and guided reading in order to ensure success. With the assistance of Step-Up-To-Writing, fourth grade will take simple sentences and develop a cohesive paragraph with a clear topic sentence, supporting details, and a conclusion. Throughout math, the students will be reviewing geometry, along with, multi-digit addition and subtraction. New skills that they will secure are multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, and measurement. We will tie all of these skills into our science curriculum which focuses primarily on water and the watershed.
Using their math knowledge, the fourth graders will be conducting frequent water quality tests of the local stream, understanding the importance of clean water, and how a healthy aquatic system relates to living creatures; specifically horseshoe crabs. We will all walk away from the fourth grade as expert aquatic ecologists.
The main topics of our social studies this year are: regions of the United States, Native Americans, and Pennsylvania history. The year is compiled of many vast learning opportunities that will allow the students to learn while applying their knowledge to real life experiences. We are looking forward to a terrific year in the fourth grade learning community!
The main topics of our social studies this year are: regions of the United States, Native Americans, and Pennsylvania history. The year is compiled of many vast learning opportunities that will allow the students to learn while applying their knowledge to real life experiences. We are looking forward to a terrific year in the fourth grade learning community! |
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Wow! It’s so hard to believe the school year has come to an end. The 2009-2010 school year was filled with an abundance educational experiences, fun, and laughter that the year has gone by in a flash. It seems like just yesterday we were learning to be 4th graders, and now the students are prepared and eager 5th graders. To say the end of the school year was busy is an understatement. Since the spring brought us such beautiful weather, the students were able to complete the last of their water quality tests at Smith’s Run, and found the results to be similar to their first set of tests from September. Using their critical thinking skills, knowledge of water and its connection to nature the children were able to draw educated conclusions as to why the test results were similar.
Along with the water quality tests, the 3rd and 4th grade students journeyed to Slaughter Beach, DE in order to examine, first hand, the Delaware Estuary and the creatures that called the estuary their home. They impressed the guides with their ability to recognize numerous shore birds and answer questions regarding horseshoe crabs.
The end of the year also brought both their biography and Artist in Residence projects to a close. Since April, the students had been researching and composing a biography on a person of their choice who impacted the world in one way or another. A “wax museum” was created in order for the students to dress as their character and share the researched information to a room full of visitors. Thomas Edison, Black Beard, Eva Peron, Juliette Lowe, and Francis Perkins were just a few people that visited Green Woods on that day. Also, since September, the 4th and 7th grade students worked cooperatively with one another to create a play from scratch, develop the script, audition for roles, and create a performance which was displayed on Museum Night to a live audience. “The Quest for the Golden Feather” scored rave reviews! Overall, it was a busy year for the 4th graders. They all learned a lot about each other and themselves.
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