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Ms. Ginnan, Ms. Harbottle,Ms. Lane, Mrs. Lasky, & Ms. Rucker

Facts + Figures:Fourth Grade

+How is 4th Grade Unique? 4th grade is departmentalized, meaning that

Ms. Harbottle teaches math, science, & social studies to all fourth graders and Ms. Rucker teaches reading & writing to all students.

4th grade students participate in JiJi, or ST Math, in addition to the daily math curriculum.

4th grade students have individual Chromebooks to use during school for projects and activities throughout the year.

+Fourth Grade Basics Students are expected to be on time to school each

day. Students in 4th grade are asked to enter through the Hamilton Doors at 7:55 each morning. The tardy bell is 8:00, so any child who arrives after 8:00 will have to stop by the office for a tardy pass.

Students participate in 5 specials per week: Art, Music, P.E., Science Lab, and Computer Lab.

Students are strongly encouraged to bring water bottles to school all year long. Students will not be excused from class to get drinks at the drinking fountain. Please help your child remember a water bottle each day.

+Behavior Expectations Students are expected to behave respectfully and

responsibly all day long.

Rooms 302 and 303 both use the Class Dojo system: Students can receive positive points for being on task and/or

for being helpful. Students can receive negative points for being off task and/or for being disrespectful.

Points reset each class period Three positive Dojo points result in an entry in the weekly

raffle where they can win valuable prizes! There are also incentives for accumulating many positive points.

One – three negative points result in a warning Four negative points result in parent contact Five or more negative points result in a visit to the office Multiple visits to the office will require a

student/teacher/parent/administrator meeting.

+Units of Study Science:

We have 4 major units of study for the school year: Sun, Moon and Stars; Magnets and Electricity; Land and Water; and Forces, Motion, and Models

We also have smaller units of study including animal adaptations, light and sound, and simple machines.

Math: The major skills addressed in 4th grade are: geometry, data

organization, extended multiplication and division, decimals, fractions and probability, and estimation.

Social Studies: Our quarterly units are: Regions and Resources of the USA,

American Beginnings (Am. Revolution), The US Government, The American Civil War, and The Civil Rights Movement in America, and the State of Illinois.

+Units of StudyReading:

4th Grade Reading Units are: Interpreting Characters, Reading the Weather/Reading the World, Reading History, Historical Fiction Clubs, Poetry, and Fantasy Book Clubs

Writing:4th Grade Writing Units are: Realistic Fiction, Personal/Persuasive Essays, Bringing History to Life, Literary Essays, and Poetry.

Word Study:Audubon School has also created a new curriculum for K-8 Grammar. Our studies this year will focus on getting students up to speed with the new, rigorous grammar expectations from the Common Core.

Spelling has begun!

Vocabulary will be emphasized in the content areas.

+Homework Policies + Practices: Students will have nightly math homework, weekly

reading trackers, and sometimes literacy skills based homework. Social studies and science rarely have homework, as most of the work happens through classroom experiments and explorations.

All assignments have a specific due date. If a student fails to complete a homework assignment on time, it will be reflected in the grade. Please see the Homework Policies on the classroom websites.

Students will periodically have projects or assignments due, depending on the specific unit of study. These projects are expected to be completed at home, but the student should complete the work him/herself.

We never send home work that we do not believe valuable to the learning process. Homework completes the learning cycle that we have started here at school. Please help aid in the achievement of your child by making homework a priority in your family.

+Grading Policies In CPS, students who are meeting grade level

expectations earn a “C” grade.

Students who perform above grade level in any subject area will earn a “B” grade.

Students who perform significantly above grade level will earn an “A” grade.

Therefore, students who wish to improve their grades need to understand that they need to go above and beyond the standard fourth grade expectations.

+Grading Breakdown Reading and Writing Categories:

50% Classwork & Homework 50% Assessments

Math Categories: 10% Homework 45% Classwork 45% Assessments

Science 50% Classwork & Homework 50% Assessments

Social Studies 50% Classwork & Homework 50% Assessments

+Why is 4th Grade So Hard?

4th grade is the transition between elementary and middle school. Your children are no longer little, so it’s our belief that we shouldn’t treat them like little kids.

We set high expectations and see major growth from September through June.

Still, we have lots of work to do to help your children prepare for academic achievement in the future.

+How Will We Improve Achievement?

Help students develop increasing independence in key areas such as reading & writing stamina, comprehension, and math fluency.

Have conversations with students about their current performance and goals to help them improve over the course of the year.

Allow students the opportunity to struggle! Why? They’ll develop problem solving skills! They’ll deepen their understanding of how thinking works! It will build perseverance! It will provide students a sense of accomplishment!

+How can you help your child grow? Make sure your child comes to school on time every

day!

Stress the importance of attendance at school!

Make homework the number one priority – it’s more important than TV, sports, video games, and play dates.

Limit screen time (that includes TV, internet, video games, phone/tablet games).

Encourage your child to seek out educational opportunities outside of school.

+Cold Hard Facts

Percentile rank on standrd test

Minutes read per day

Estimated # of words/year

98th 90.7 4,733,000

90th 40.4 2,357,000

70th 21.7 1,168,000

50th 12.9 601,000

20th 3.1 134, 000

10th 1.6 51,000

+How Can You Support Students at Home?

On average, we read 60 minutes per day at school 30 minutes of independent reading 30 minutes of book clubs, science reading, social studies reading, etc

That leaves 30 extra minutes of reading that need to be fulfilled each day…which is where reading logs come in!

Please help your child read each day for 30 minutes! Please engage in the reading conversation!

In order to be successful in 4th grade (and beyond!) math, students must master multiplication facts.

+4th Grade Standardized Testing

NWEA MAP Testing Fall, winter, spring Reading, math

PARCC Spring Reading, math

+Springfield Field Trip!

May 11, 2016

6am – 8pm

Last year’s trip cost $3500 (~$65 per student) This covers:

Museum costs Transportation T-shirt Dinner

However, we have a larger group this year, so transportation will be significantly higher. We will be sending out a survey about the trip later in the year.

+How to Contact Us: We are best reached by email. You can email us anytime

at the following email addresses:

krucker11@cps.edu tjharbottle@cps.eduvjkmiecik@cps.edu

You can also send notes in your child’s backpack.

We look forward to a great year with your child!