Foundations for Learning in Fourth Grade

Reading in Fourth Grade - Literacy is key to establishing the foundation of all learning as students are able to integrate their skills across reading, writing, spelling, listening, speaking, and constructing meaning from text:

1. Develop the skills and strategies that are essential to reading.

• use letter/sound association (phonics)
• use reading strategies to decode words and meaning
• infer word meaning from base words, prefixes, and suffixes
• read orally with fluency and expression
• fluent readers will read 115-125 words correct in one minute

2. Understand word meaning.

• to identify main character, setting, events, problems and solution, in a story
• use engaging vocabulary
• understand word meaning through the use ofstory context
• use word association

3. Read different materials for a variety of purposes.

• read silently for longer periods of time
• read to comprehend information (textbooks, encyclopedias, reference materials)
• use indexes, tables of contents, card catalogues to locate materials
• analyze texts for specific purposes
• read for enjoyment and entertainment

4. Become confident as a reader.

• use specific strategies for gaining meaning from text
• compare and contrast two or more pieces of writing
• read longer selections and books independently
• connect reading to own and real life experiences

PARENTS AS PARTNERS IN READING

• Limit television and video games.
• Read 20 minutes every day from a variety of sources.
• Set aside time when everybody reads.
• Provide magazines and books in the home.
• Play board games that involve reading: Scrabble, Boggle, Clue, Trivial Pursuit Jr., Monopoly.
• While reading to your child, stop and ask questions like: "What do you think will happen next?" and "Why do you think the author put that in the story?"
• Cook together and have your child read the instructions when following a recipe.
• Discuss favorite books and authors.

Mathematics in Fourth Grade - WASHINGTON STATE ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS IN MATHEMATICS as approved by the Washington State Commission on Student Learning.

The student will:

• understand and apply the concepts and procedures of mathematics.
• use mathematics to define and solve problems.
• communicate knowledge and understanding in both everyday and mathematical language.
• understand how mathematical ideas connect to the other subject areas and real-like situations.

As the fourth grade students in the Eatonville School District work toward achieving the essential learnings in math they will have an opportunity to:

• Add and subtract, multiply and divide whole numbers.
• Know multiplication and division facts through 10’s.
• Work with fractions, decimals, and estimation.
• Identify equivalent fractions.
• Understand units of measure for length, weight, money, temperature, time, and ratios.
• Identify angles, polygons, segments, points, lines of symmetry, and patterns.
• Plot points on a grid in positive quadrant, ordered pair.
• Collect information, make and interpret graphs.
• Solve equations at the symbolic level.
• Compute area and perimeter.
• Solve problems using problem solving strategies (5 step process), identifying needed data.
• Compare and contrast, predict results and draw conclusions.
• Use parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting lines.
• Understand mathematical concepts inside story problems
• Connect math to everyday life.
• Write number sentences representing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division situations.
• Understand the concept of probability.

PARENTS AS PARTNERS IN MATHEMATICS

• Use flash cards or games for continued practice of basic facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division).
• Practice making change.
• Measure objects around the house (length, weight, and volume).
• Keep track of the weather on a thermometer.
• Look for shapes and their purposes in the environment.
• Find graphs in magazines or the newspaper and interpret the information with your child.
• Create word problems.
• Connect math skills to areas of family life.
• Practice telling time using an analog clock.
   

Writing in Fourth Grade - CURSIVE: During the fourth grade students complete most of their work in cursive. The Eatonville School District uses the D’Nelian style of cursive.

The "writing process" continues in fourth grade as students use parts of the six-trait writing system taught in the Eatonville School District. Not every step of the process will be used with each writing activity but you may see: Pre-writing activities such as reading books, drawing pictures, making lists of ideas, or using thinking maps, creating a rough draft in order to organize their ideas, revising and editing their writing in order to improve their work, and presenting or publishing their completed work.

The SIX-TRAITS plus One:

1. Ideas - the "heart" of the message, the content of the piece, the main theme, together with all the details that enrich and develop that theme.
2. Organization - the internal structure of the piece of writing. The student focuses on one idea in the writing.
3. Voice - the writer coming through the words, the sense of the real person speaking to us about the topic.
4. Word Choice - the use of rich, colorful, precise language. The vocabulary of the message creates, enlightens, persuades, clarifies, or paints pictures in the reader’s mind.
5. Sentence Fluency - the rhythm and flow of the language and the sound of word patterns as they are read aloud.
6. Conventions - those items we look for in editing: spelling, grammar and usage, paragraphs, use of capitals, and punctuation.

• Plus One: Presentation - publishing the work.

Writing Opportunities for Fourth Graders:

• to use the various phases of six trait writing and tell which phase they are using
• to develop their own topics in writing
• to write for a variety of purposes and share the writing with others

PARENTS AS PARTNERS IN WRITING

• Be your child’s best audience - an enthusiastic listener.
• Encourage your child’s writing by writing notes, letters, invitations, and thank-yous.
• Provide writing materials of all kinds - colors, textures, and sizes.
• As your child writes, focus on their ideas and content.
• When they have all the ideas together and organized, then work on editing.
• Identify reasons to write - to inform (family letter), to persuade, or to entertain (create a play or write a poem).
• Provide your child with a dictionary and a thesaurus (book of synonyms).