Fourth Grade Team

Ms. Kershaw Ms. LatzaMs. Reese

Ms. May/Ms. Seyler (returning 10/28)Ms. Storck

Rules and Mission Statement

Classroom rules:• Respect others• Wait patiently• Talk at appropriate times• Collaborate• Be the BEST that you can be!

We, as fourth grade students, plan to…• Set and achieve goals• Have a positive outlook• Help others• Challenge ourselves• Take care of our community

Instructional Schedule:• 7:45-8:10 Arrival, Unpack, Morning Work• 8:10-8:25 Morning Announcements, Morning

Meeting *Bathroom Break

• 8:25 - 9:55 Block 1• 10:00 - 11:30 Block 2 *Bathroom Break

• 11:35 -12:20 Specials• 12:25 – 12:55 Lunch *Bathroom Break

• 1:00 - 1:30 Recess • 1:35 – 3:05 Science/Social Studies *Bathroom Break

• 3:05-3:15 Dismissal

Morning Meeting

• Morning meeting occurs every morning, along with the morning announcements.

• This is a time where we build classroom community.

• Students have an opportunity to verbally “fill buckets” and share positive experiences with the class.

Behavior Expectations• Goal- Diffuse the negative by focusing on the positive!• What forms of positive reinforcement do we use?

– positive praise – Bucket Filling Slips/Checks

• Ways to earn Bucket Fillers:1. hard work 2. team work 3. class participation 4. excellent behavior5. showing good character

• Traveling Agenda Checklist

Bucket Filling

• Encourage bucket filling in our classrooms– Students look for ways to positively affect

peers by encouraging, supporting, assisting one another

• Purpose:– Builds classroom community– Part of our character education program– School wide

iPads

iPads in Our Classrooms

• Khan Academy• Creating output that demonstrates understanding of

concepts taught (Scribble Press, Show Me)• Reading A-Z • QR Codes• Keynote• Prezi• Utilized during workshop

Home Communication

• Communication is very important to 4th grade teachers

• Ways 4th grade teachers will communicate– Weekly Bulletin (sent every Friday)– Friday Folders (graded papers)– Websites– Emails (child struggling/concern)– Traveling Behavior Chart/Agenda

Grades Online• DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD SEE YOUR CHILD'S

GRADES ONLINE?

• Yes, you can open up Power School and check out how your child is doing whenever you want.  At home, at work, anywhere, it is available to you.

• Each student is assigned a username and password for the site.  It is free and very secure.  The only person that can see your child's grade is you and the teacher.  You can see what assignment your student didn't turn in during class and for homework.  You can keep a watch on test grades and any makeup work your student may have to do also.

Grading Scale

• A         93-100        Excellent

• B         85-92          Very Good

• C         77-84          Satisfactory – (At Grade Level)

• D         70-76          Low Performance

• F         Below 70     Far Below Standard

4th Grade Field Trip –

•Scheduled for Wednesday, March 5th, 2014.•Takes place during the regular school hours•Many parent volunteers are necessary to make

it successful, and online training is required.

Don’t forget…• Sign your child’s Behavior Chart on Thursday.• We continue to email a weekly newsletter to keep

you updated on important fourth grade and school information (*Please open any attachments)

• Make sure you sign your child’s graded work in their Friday folder and return both on Monday.

Science

Content Overview• Energy: Conservation and Transfer (Energy,

Light)• Force and Motion (Magnetism and

Electricity)• Matter: Properties and Change (Minerals,

Rock Classification)• Earth in the Universe (Earth Rotation, Moon

Phases, Changes in the Earth Over Time)• Earth History (Fossils)• Ecosystems (Animal Adaptations)• Molecular Biology (Food/Nutrition)

Social Studies

Social Studies• History

(Analyze the chronology of key historical events in North Carolina history)

• Geography and Environmental Literacy (Understand how human, environmental, and technological factors affect the growth and development of NC).

• Economics and Financial Literacy (Covered through JA BizTown)

• Civics and Governance (Understand the development, structure and function of NC’s government)

• Culture (Understand the impact of various cultural groups on NC)

Reading

Balanced Literacy Overview

Schedule (Reading and Writing)

• Mini lesson (10 minutes)

• Workshop (40 minutes)– Strategy groups– Conferences

• Share (5 minutes)

• Word Study (10 minutes daily)

• Interactive Read Aloud (10 minutes)

Balanced Literacy Units--Reading

• Building a Reading Life

• Following Characters into Meaning

• Nonfiction

• Nonfiction Research Projects

• Historical Fiction or Fantasy

• Interpretation Text Sets

• Test Preparation

• Informational Reading

Balanced Literacy Grades—Reading

• Formal– 2-3 tests per quarter– Projects

• Informal – 4 Post It notes (making thinking visible)– Rubrics (for each unit)– Monthly Reading Log (home)

Balanced Literacy HW

• Read for 30 minutes each night

• Record reading in reading log

• Reflect on reading—making thinking visible– Readers notebook– Post it notes

Reading Levels• Kindergarten : shared reading/emergent

story books

• 1st grade: E/F/G

• 2nd grade: J/K/L

• 3rd grade: M/N/O

• 4th grade: P/Q/R (target levels for this year)

• 5th grade: S/T/U

• 6th grade: U/V/W

• 7th grade: V/W/X

• 8th grade: X/Y

What does a level mean?

• Level descriptions on Website:

http://schools.cms.k12.nc.us/corneliusES/Documents/Fountas-Pinnell%20Guided%20Reading%20Text%20Level%20Descriptions.pdf

How Can I See What Level My Child’s Book Is??

• http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/

– In google type in scholastic book wizard– Click guided reading level– Type in title of book

Balanced Literacy Units--Writing• Raising the Level of Personal Narrative

Writing

• Realistic Fiction

• The Personal and Persuasive Essay

• Informational Writing

• Historical Fiction

• Poetry

• Literary essay and test prep

• Informational Writing

Balanced Literacy Grades--Writing

• Formal– Published Piece

• Informal – Rubrics – Word Study Work

MATH

Math Overview• Our major units are place value/number sense,

computation, fractions, measurement and data, algebraic thinking, geometry, and problem solving.

• Our largest units of focus will be fractions and number sense/computation

• We use a variety of resources including but not limited to: Investigations, real world connections, manipulatives, and district-provided materials.

• We will assess via quiz and end of unit tests • Simple Solutions will be our predominate

Homework program

Math Daily Schedule

• Warm Up– Daily problems to review/practice

• Homework Review– Math Discussions

• Mini Lesson– Introduction to new topic/concept

• Ticket to Workshop– Individual assessment of new topic/concept

• Workshop– Time for individual choice assignments to

review or extend student learning

– Teacher works with small groups for additional reinforcement

Math Grades

• Formal– End of Unit Tests– Simple Solution Quizzes– PBL Projects

• Informal – Exit Tickets– Rubrics (mathematical practices, workshop)– Math Notebooks– Homework Participation

Common Core – Mathematical Practices

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

4. Model with mathematics.

5. Use appropriate tools strategically.

6. Attend to precision.

7. Look for and make use of structure.

8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Math FluenciesCommon Core Required Fluencies:

Grade Fluency

K Add/Subtract within 5, Develop concept of a “10”

1 Add/Subtract within 10

2 Add/Subtract within 20Add/Subtract within 100 (pencil/paper)

3 Multiply/Divide within 100Add/Subtract within 1000

4 Add/Subtract within 1,000,000

5 Multi-digit multiplication

Fluent in the Standards means “fast and accurate.” It might also help to think of fluency as meaning the same thing as when we say that somebody is fluent in a foreign language: when you’re fluent, you flow. Fluent isn’t halting, stumbling, or

reversing oneself. Assessing fluency requires attending to issues of time (and even perhaps rhythm, which could be achieved with technology).

Current Events

Rationale:

• Identifying, reading and making sense of the news is an important skill for anyone to have. Our understanding of what is going on in the world helps us to be more successful and knowledgeable.

Thank you for coming!

Any questions?