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Athletics & Activities

Fourth Grade

Language Arts

Language Arts is composed of several interrelated areas: reading, writing, and spelling. At the elementary level, students are encouraged to learn to communicate clearly through development in these three areas:

Reading

SRA/Open Court Reading, a phonics-based program developing reading fluency while leading to greater comprehension and enjoyment of reading.

Use a combination of word analysis and vocabulary strategies to identify new words
Formulate questions to determine meaning based on plot, character action, or setting
Connect, clarify, and extend ideas through classroom discussions and activities
Demonstrate understanding of structure through the use of graphic organizers, outlining, and teacher modeling
Be able to use inferences and interpretations based on text
Compare the content and organization of various selections
Recognize similarities/differences of varying styles or points of view
Use comprehension strategies to enhance understanding
Compare ideas from texts representing a variety of times and cultures
Apply self monitoring and self correcting strategies continuously to clarify understanding during reading
Interpret information from tables, maps, visual aids, and charts to enhance understanding

Writing

The Shurley Method of Grammar uses rhythm and a set of specific questions to classify sentences orally, identifying each sentence part as well as the overall sentence structure. Students learn how to expand, improve, and edit their writing.

Develop multi-paragraph compositions that include an introduction, support, and conclusion
Use pre-writing strategies to choose a topic and help generate ideas (e.g., webbing, brainstorming, and use of graphic organizers)
With help through teacher modeling, use the characteristics of a well-developed narrative, expository, and persuasive piece to help formulate their own piece of writing
Write creatively and feel comfortable writing short stories, poetry, plays, songs, and friendly letters
Use transition words to connect ideas; adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases to enrich their own language
Use available technology to design, produce, and present compositions and multimedia works
Revise and edit using self, peers, and teacher

Spelling

Spelling Connections: Zaner-Bloser

Proofread one’s own work and the work of others; revise accordingly
Correctly spell appropriate high frequency words
Use phonemic clues, phonetic and/or developmental spelling to spell unfamiliar words

Religion

Sadlier: We Believe Series, God’s Law Guides Us, provides a balance between doctrine, Scripture, and the Liturgical year. The Family Life curriculum broadens students’ awareness of God’s gift of life, in conjunction with respecting others as well as ourselves.

Mathematics

Houghton Mifflin Math explores more of the spectrum of mathematical ideas through a deeper understanding of key mathematical concepts and an in-depth study of all the content strands of mathematics.
     The curriculum allows students to construct an understanding of mathematics from their own experience and includes practical routines to build arithmetic skills that are essential for building number sense, estimation skills, and flexibility in a problem-rich environment. Important concepts or skills recur with variations throughout the curriculum, and concepts are introduced and revisited in a variety of formats providing considerable practice.
     Our focus is to have students recognize that there are various ways to accomplish a task and to use the best tools and strategies for solving problems. This is done by establishing a framework for dialogue about mathematics between the teacher and students.
     Content strands include:

Place Value and Money
Operations and Algebraic Reasoning
Multiplication of Whole Numbers
Division of Whole Numbers
Measurement
Geometry and Measurement
Fractions and Decimals
Probability/Algebra and Graphing

Science

Harcourt Brace, Science
The purpose of science is to provide students with balanced, relevant, hands-on opportunities and experiences to better understand science and to promote scientific literacy. (Life, Earth, and Physical)
Fourth Grade topics include:

Life – Environmental Factors/

Living Things

Earth – Weather and Landforms
Physical – Measuring Matter
Planetarium – Movement in the Solar System

Social Studies

Harcourt Brace, Social Studies States and Regions
The purpose of Social Studies is to develop an awareness of the world around us.
Fourth Grade units include:

Maps and globes
Northeast region
Southeast region
Middle West region
West region
Southwest region

Enrichments

• Physical Education
Students learn, develop, and apply skills needed for participation in personal fitness and lifetime activities that contribute to a healthy lifestyle.

• Visual Arts
Students grow creatively, intellectually, and aesthetically through the application of media techniques and processes as well as knowledge of art elements and principles of design.

• Music
Students develop an understanding of the relationship of music to other disciplines and cultures through experiencing variations in rhythms, music styles, melodies, and performances.

• Library
The library curriculum teaches students the basic skills needed to become independent library patrons. The curriculum fosters a love of reading and literature, but also emphasizes library organization, using the electronic catalog to locate books of interest, and the use of standard library materials such as books, encyclopedias, and almanacs to locate information.

General Information

Technology
The goal of technology education is to provide students with the opportunity for technological literacy starting with the elementary curriculum.
Our emphasis with students is the application of technology across all grade levels and curricular areas as well as the development of problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

Reporting to Parents
Classroom progress is reported through quarterly report cards and mid-quarter progress reports. Weekly parent newsletters and informal parent-teacher communications are also utilized.

Testing
Our achievement-testing program assesses the strengths/needs of our instructional programs and measures the achievement of individual students. Tests utilized annually by all schools of the Diocese of Lake Charles include Stanford Achievement Test for grades K - 8, Explore/ACT Test for 8th graders only. Otis Lennon School Ability Test is administered in odd numbered years.

Homework
Homework at the elementary level begins in an informal fashion but becomes more formal and requires more time and effort as the child progresses through each grade.
Parents are expected to be sufficiently interested in their child’s education to commit the time and energy needed to monitor/supervise the child’s home study and thereby insure that he/she makes a reasonable effort to complete homework assignments.

Promotion
Students must meet the following criteria:
~Demonstrate competency in all areas of the
Stanford Achievement Test (SAT)
~Attend the required number of instructional days
~Attain adequate skills needed as determined by the teacher and administration