4th Grade

Welcome to 4th grade at Green Woods Charter School!

Nadirah Buie 4th Grade Teacher

Email Nadirah Buie
Atiima Chantharath 4th Grade Teacher

Email Atiima Chantharath
Patrick Fisher 4th Grade Teacher

Email Patrick Fisher
Dana Fitzpatrick 3-4 Special Education Teacher

Email Dana Fitzpatrick

Literacy

Green Woods uses American Reading Company (ARC) Core as our ELA curriculum resource. ARC Core is a framework that provides teachers with a structure to promote inquiry through apprenticeship. The resource provides a scope and sequence aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), high interest text for teacher modeling, and varying levels of text for student independent work. Along with the framework, ARC provides an Independent Reading Level Assessment that guides teachers through setting individual reading goals for students.

The ARC resources support students as developing readers by providing them with strategies they need to be able to read complex text on their own. Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, and Language skills are embedded throughout each unit as students study themes connected to Science, Social Studies, and Literature.

There are 4 units of study throughout the school year. In Fourth Grade these units consist of Literacy Lab, Animal Adaptations, Mystery and Forensic Science, and Countries of the World.

Math

Green Woods uses the Into Math curriculum built for instruction on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This curriculum is an intentional and comprehensive mathematics program that centers on student growth. Growth is maximized when instruction, assessment, and mindset are coordinated and aligned. Throughout the year, students build their conceptual understandings, improve their procedural fluency, and apply their knowledge in meaningful contexts and real-world applications. With more focused learning, every student can achieve at their highest levels.

In Fourth Grade the Into Math Program focuses on place value and whole number operations, multiplication and division problems, extend and apply multiplication, fractions and decimals, operations and fractions, two-dimensional figures and symmetry, measurement, data, and time.

Science

Students in the fourth grade will use Bring Science Alive! Exploring Science Practices, to understand the relationship between the structures of plants and animals and how they function; ways energy is used and transferred, what causes the changes to the Earth’s surface and how waves move and travel in patterns that can be observed. They will use science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts to figure out the science content through active investigations.

Year at a Glance

	Trimester #1	Trimester #2	Trimester #3
Unit Title	Energy	Waves and Information	Plant and Animal Structures
Lesson Essential Questions	How are energy and motion related? How is energy transferred by colliding objects? How is energy transferred by sound, light, and heat? How is energy transferred by electric current? How is energy stored and used? How do people choose energy resources?	What are some examples of waves? What are some properties of waves? How do waves affect objects? Which waves travel through Earth? How can sound waves be used to send messages? How can patterns be used to send messages?	What plant structures are used for support and growth? What plant structures are used for protection? What plant structures are used for reproduction How do plants respond to their environment? What animal structures are used for digestion and circulation? What animal structures are used for support, movement and protection? What animal structures are used for reproduction? What animal structures are used for sensing the environment? How do animals respond to their environment?
		Earth’s Changing Surface
		What are some clues that Earth’s surface changes? How does water change Earth’s surface? How does wind change Earth’s surface? How do living things change Earth’s surface? How do fossils form and what do they show? Where on Earth are earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains found? What can people do about natural hazards?