Fourth Grade

In SOCIAL STUDIES our fourth graders have traveled on the Oregon Trail in their covered wagons. These were made by draping white butcher paper over two wires that were shaped into arches. These were attached to each end of a group of four desks. Students had pioneer names and wrote in journals as they traveled on the trail. They also played the interactive game on computer called “Oregon Trail”.

They are now settlers in the new Nebraska Territory. The Transcontinental Railroad was just completed, so now they will be learning about life as homesteaders.

Since returning from Christmas break, we’ve been doing Literature Circles in READING CLASS. The whole class read and really enjoyed Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. Students learned different skills used in Literature Circles where each student is assigned a different job each day. The Discussion Director, Word Wizard, Artful Artist, and Summarizer are required to come to class prepared to lead a discussion of the story each day.

We have just started new Literature Circles. One group is reading Help! I’m a Prisoner in the Library by Eth Clifford, and another group is reading Bunnicula by James Howe. Both groups are enjoying their stories and, at the same time, are learning the basic elements of fiction which all stories are built.

Our study of verbs and adjectives in LANGUAGE is just about completed. Hopefully, we’ll be using many to enhance our writing.

The Six Traits Model has been used since school started to teach WRITING.
We’ve done lots of writing and have studied what a good writer needs to include in stories. Our State Writing Assessment was given January 30 - 31. Our stories were great!!!

Our Fourth Graders now know why it is so important to learn their math facts. We have worked diligently to learn long multiplication and long division in MATH CLASS. Students have also applied their new skills when solving word problems.

In SCIENCE we’ve been studying earth science. Our units of study have included weather, rocks and minerals. Students enjoyed classifying various rocks and minerals according to characteristics listed on their chart. Students also brought some interesting rocks for us to study. The human body is our next endeavor.

We’ve covered a lot of territory so far this year and still have a lot more to cover.
What a hard working bunch. Summer will be here before we know it!!!