Fourth Grade

Jennie K. Kolter Elementary School

Fourth Grade

Language Arts Overview

Fourth Grade is a year of tremendous growth and change. We focus not only on academics, but also on organizational skills and responsibility. Please try not to “rescue” your child every morning. Rather, we suggest developing a routine at home each evening that will prevent the homework paper from growing legs and walking away or being left on the kitchen counter.

AR (Accelerated Reader)

* An important component of our 4^th grade curriculum

* % is far more important than points. Points are the logical result of good solid reading.

* First semester minimum – 4 books at 80% or higher in assigned reading zone

* 3 books read (75%) 2 books read (50%) 1 book read (25%) regardless of AR grade

* 4 or more books will earn the AR average

* Tests are taken during the school day (primarily in Language Arts class).

* Every few weeks an AR report goes home for you to sign.

Home Reading Log

* Due every Friday SIGNED.

* Minimum home reading requirement is 2 hours a week.

* Sign the Reading Log on Thursday night.

* Provide consistent reading opportunities.

* Read with your child.

* Let us know of any anxiety or problems.

Spelling and Vocabulary Tests

* Vocabulary comes from ‘Word of the Day”.

* Mrs. Hiller’s class alternates vocabulary and spelling tests each week. Words go home on the Friday before. Spelling tests are called CUPS (Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation, and Spelling) Tests.

* Mrs. Lidsky’s class will have structured spelling from the spelling text book. Vocabulary Words come from “Word of the Day”. Test days are Friday and will be announced in the weekly parent update.

Writing

* Parent Writing Workshop in November

* Curriculum is writing based

* Complete solid sentences

* Enriched vocabulary

* Give your child writing opportunities (thank you notes, fan mail, letters to relatives, etc.)

Homework

*All Homework is written in the Assignment Notebook before leaving class.

*You do NOT need to sign unless there is a problem and we (teacher and parent) decided monitoring is needed.

*No Homework will be recorded on the Behavior Sheet and the child will sit out at recess as a consequence.

Suggested Websites

Helpful Developmental Information for 4^th Graders:
http://www.familyeducation.com/subchannel/0,2794,66-191,00.html

Family Read Aloud: Read Aloud ideas for parents
www.bookitfamilies.com/why.html

The Children’s Literature Web Guide
www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html

www.GuysRead.com A literacy program to connect boys with books they will read.

www.geocities.com/Paris/opera/8114 Read Aloud Registry: Lists books for reading aloud by grade level and gives a little info about each one.