4th Grade Curriculum Overview

Language Arts

Reading

Text: Treasures. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2011

Primary Units: characters; plot; setting; theme; genres; novels; short stories; poetry; plays; biographies; non-fiction

Skills taught: comprehension skills; inferencing; analyzing; summarizing; cause and effect; sequencing; predicting; listening skills (read aloud); vocabulary development

Teaching methods and resources used: Promethean Interactive Board, iPads/Chromebooks, novels; class discussion; computer resources; art projects; charts; maps; peer tutoring; writing projects; Accelerated Reader Program; paraphrasing; topic sentences; research; compare/contrast; using resource materials; genres of literature; simile; metaphor; synonym; antonym; homophone; compound and complex sentences; prefixes; suffixes; connotation; figurative language; voice and speech techniques; speaking before a class; indenting.

Grammar

Text: Treasures. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Primary Units: capitalization; punctuation; kinds of sentences; parts of speech; working with sentence structure; noun and pronoun usage; adjective and adverb usage; verb usage (action and linking); conjunction usage; vocabulary; the writing process; literary elements; proofreading/editing; study skills; creative thinking; taking notes; paragraphs; literature journals; personal narrative; writing to inform; descriptive writing; narrative; personal letter; e-mail message; business letter; essays

Skills taught: paraphrasing; topic sentences; research; compare/contrast; using resource materials; genres of literature; simile; metaphor; synonym; antonym; homophone; compound and complex sentences; prefixes; suffixes; figurative language; voice and speech techniques; speaking before a class; indenting.

Teaching methods and resources used: Promethean Interactive Board, iPads/Chromebooks, Peer conferences; class discussion; computer resources; Daily Language Review; novels; teacher-generated materials; short stories; lecture.

Spelling

Text: Treasures. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company and Phonetic Connections Benchmark Education Company 2011

Primary Units: Vowel Diagraphs; Syllable patterns; Vowel patterns; Endings; Suffices; Prefixes; Greek origins; Long/Short Vowels; Blends/Digraphs

Skills taught: word sorts; word meaning; word structure

Teaching methods and resources used: Promethean Interactive Board, iPads/Chromebooks, Stories; Promethean Board; sort cards; spelling journals; anchor charts.

Math

Text: Saxon Mathematics

New concepts are developed through hands-on activities that engage students in the learning process. Concepts are introduced, reviewed and practiced over time. Students move from the concrete to the pictorial to the abstract.

Saxon capitalizes on daily mixed practice, frequent assessments, daily homework assignments and opportunities for students to make concrete connections to everyday life.

Social Studies

Text: States & Regions. Harcourt Social Studies Student Edition, 2007

Primary units: Map skills; Geographic terms; United States geography; Arkansas geography and state facts; African-American History; Civics; Government; Regions of the United States.

Skills taught: current events; map making; reading charts and graphs; examining cause and effect; classification; decision making; predicting outcome; time lines; use of resource materials; logic; elections; citizenship; leadership; outlining; research projects.

Teaching methods and resources used: Promethean Interactive Board, iPads/Chromebooks, class discussion; lecture; group projects; peer tutoring; guest speakers; field trips; art projects bulletin boards; study projects; maps; atlases; time lines; computer resources; games; teacher generated materials; library research; supplementary texts; oral presentations; geography bee; supplementary videos; teacher-made video notes; tests and quizzes.

Science

Text: MacMillan McGraw Hill Science 2005

Primary Units: Life Science: The World of Living Things; Life Science: Animals as Living Things; Earth Science: Earth and Beyond; Earth Science: Weather; Physical Science: Matter; Physical Science: Energy; Earth and Space; Life Science

Skills taught: scientific process; interpreting data; observing; recognizing relationships; predicting outcomes; cooperative learning; classifying information; use of resource materials; identifying cause and effects.

Teaching methods and resources used: lecture; experiments; class discussion; projects; peer tutoring; science activities; field trips; guest speakers; videos; games; research; teacher generated tests; quizzes; chart/graphs; computer resources; supplementary text worksheets.

Religion

Text: Be My Disciples RCL Benziger: 2014.