4th Grade
St. Mary's Fourth Grade class is taught by Sarah Hoeniges.
Please review how the following topics have been prepared for the Fourth Grade school year.
RELIGION
The Faith First curriculum is divided into four units of study: creed, worship life of the church, morality, understanding the meaning of prayer.
Scripture stories from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible are used with each lesson. Students learn how to look up Bible passages.
Biographies of various saints and Catholic faith situations are studied, which give focus to the student’s daily life.
Chapter reviews, tests, and class participation are used as an assessment.
Students attend Mass each week and special prayer services are held throughout the year.
Fourth graders do a special project, sending cards to those in the parish who are in nursing homes or unable to attend Mass.
Fourth graders are prayer partners with the 4 year old PreK class.
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LANGUAGE ARTS/READING
Students use the Macmillan McGraw-Hill reading series which is a guided reading program. Grammar and spelling are incorporated throughout the lessons. Each unit focuses on a different type of writing skill. Weekly selection assessments and unit tests are given.
Students complete the assigned spelling lesson at home. The spelling assessment given consists of dictation sentences using the list words from the lesson and challenge words from the reading story.
Daily edits, journal writing, and DOL are a part of the language arts. Students are given extra credit for participating in the Flying Horse weekly topic in the newspaper.
Students are encouraged to develop good independent reading habits. Book reports exploring different genres are completed on a monthly basis. Various reading incentive programs are offered to the class.
Scholastic book orders are sent home and students are encouraged to add to their home libraries. Students also visit the school library on a weekly basis.
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MATHEMATICS
The Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley text series is used in fourth grade.
Previous math skills of addition, subtraction, graphing, number sense, and story problems are reinforced.
The primary focus of math in fourth grade is developing multiplication and division skills. Algorisms involving fractions and decimals are introduced to fourth graders.
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SCIENCE
The MacMillan McGraw-Hill Science Series is used in the elementary grades. Life, Earth, and Physical Science are units of learning. Fourth graders focus is primarily with the Earth science with units of studies on trees, water, weather.
EARTH EXRESS sponsored by the McLean County Soil and Water Conservation Organization comes to 4 th grade. The class also participates in WAY TO GROW sponsored by the McLean County Farm Bureau.
Various internet sites are used throughout the year to enhance the units of study.
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SOCIAL STUDIES
The McGraw-Hill text series is used in fourth grade. Students focus on the five themes of geography and the text is divided into regions of the United States.
Various “mini-units” of study are used throughout the year for additional information on topics of study. Reading for information is an important skill developed at this grade level.
Students participate in the multi-cultural project DAY of the DEAD during the Halloween season.
A field trip to David Davis Mansion introduces the students to local history and heritage.
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Art
St. Mary's art is taught by Carrie Jimenez.
Students will be introduced to the elements of visual arts.
Some introductory elements will include line, shape, color, value, texture, form, and space. Students will do exercises that will help them understand how these elements are used to create works of visual art.
Exercises include: mixing colors/paints, rendering (shading) objects, sculpting from clay, and using one-point perspective.
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MUSIC
St. Mary's music is taught by April Myers.
In fourth grade, students are introduced to instrument families and playing the recorder.
Time signatures, rounds, partner songs, and more advanced music reading is developed.
Dotted rhythms and whole and half rests are added to the rhythm patterns already being developed.
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION
St. Mary's physical education is taught by Susan Bassie.
The physical education curriculum has four focus areas: manipulative skills, physical fitness, cooperative learning, and moving rhythmically.
Students are expected to demonstrate control when tumbling, balancing, kicking, throwing/catching, dribbling, and passing.
Students are taught how to evaluate their own personal fitness. Sport rules are taught. Sportsmanship is addressed and practiced.
Health and fitness principles are emphasized through lecture as well as daily running, resistance, and stretching routines.
Topics such as personal hygiene, nutrition, disease prevention, anatomy, conflict resolution, physical fitness, and some chastity education are addressed in the classroom.
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COMPUTERS/TECHNOLOGY
St. Mary's computers/technology is
taught by Jamie Hartrich.
Fourth grade computer/technology curriculum focuses on expanding and building upon computer/technology terminology and age-appropriate software.
Fourth graders learn number keys and build upon their accuracy and speed. Students will be able to type 9-12 wpm with 90% accuracy.
Students expand their word processing knowledge by learning the window parts, toolbars, moving text, using the find and replace feature, changing line spacing, changing horizontal alignment, formatting bullets/numbering, and creating outlines.
Students will build and expand upon spreadsheet concepts by creating graphs.
Students will begin to search the Internet without teacher assistance.
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