Mitzel's Class News
Here is what fourth graders in my classroom will explore during our year together! Hold on to your seat for an exciting journey!
FIRST QUARTER TOPICS:
Math - Place value up to hundred million place, rounding numbers; addition and subtraction through hundred million place; multiplication 1 digit x 4 digits and 2 digits x 2 digits; and division with 1 digit divisor and up to 4 digit dividend (with or without remainders)
Language Arts - work on reading fluently with good comprehension and sustained reading for 20 minutes or longer; work on developing writing stamina and fluency; main idea and details; story characters, plot, and setting; parts of speech; reading and writing about non-fiction and about character traits; synonyms, antonyms, homophones (homonyms); word study of prefixes, base words, and suffixes; using context clues to figure out unknown words
Science - Water cycle, states of water, temperatures in Fahrenheit and Celcius, weather instruments, weather fronts, 4 basic cloud types, forecasting the weather
Social Studies - reading maps; Native Americans tribes, focusing on Hopi, Seminoles, Pawnee, Kwakiutl, Nez Perce, and Inuit tribes; Explorers who came to America, focusing on Christopher Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Henry Hudson, John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Juan Ponce de Leon
SECOND QUARTER TOPICS:
Math - prime and composite numbers, factors and multiples of a number, figuring out shape and number patterns, and input/output tables; equivalent fractions, improper fractions, and mixed numbers; comparing fractions; adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers with the same denominators
Language Arts - work on reading fluently with good comprehension and sustained reading for 20 minutes or longer; work on developing writing stamina and fluency; main idea and details; story characters, plot, and setting; parts of speech; reading and writing about non-fiction and about character traits; word study of prefixes, base words, and suffixes; figurative language such as simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, hyperbole, idioms, onomatopoeia, and pun
Science - Light Energy which includes concave and convex lenses, reflecting and refracting light, transparent/translucent/opaque objects; Solar System which includes our Sun, planets, comets, meteors, asteroids; what causes our seasons and the Moon phases each month; stars and constellations
Social Studies - similarities and differences among the 13 Original British Colonies on American soil in the 1600's and 1700's; the Road to the Revolutionary War - how did one event lead to the next event, and that event lead to the next event until we were at war with Great Britain in the 1770's
THIRD QUARTER TOPICS:
Math - Multiplying a fraction and a whole number (like 2/3 x 5= __); writing, ordering, and comparing decimals to the hundredth place; and 2-Dimensional geometric shapes
Science - Sound energy; force and motion; the 6 simple machines; and food chains and food webs in ecosystems
Social Studies - Map skills; cause and effects of Revolutionary War battles; major people and events of the Revolutionary War; writing the U.S. Constitution for our new nation; how our country grew in size; pioneers moving West across the U.S.A. for several reasons
Language Arts - Continued work on reading fluently with good comprehension and sustained reading for 20 minutes or longer; continued work on developing writing stamina and fluency; main idea and details; story characters, plot, and setting; parts of speech; reading and writing about non-fiction and about character traits; word study of prefixes, base words, and suffixes; continued work on context clues and figurative language to understand what we are reading better
FOURTH QUARTER TOPICS:
Math - Measuring angles; using and comparing length, weight, and capacity measurements in the English (customary) system and in the Metric system; data analysis using graphs and charts.
Science - Adaptations, survival, and extinction of living things.
Social Studies - Reform movements such as abolition and women suffrage; personal finance.
Language Arts - Continued work on reading fluently with good comprehension and sustained reading for 20 minutes or longer; continued work on developing writing stamina and fluency; main idea and details; story characters, plot, and setting; parts of speech; reading and writing about non-fiction and about character traits; word study prefixes, base words, and suffixes; continued work with context clues and figurative language
FIRST QUARTER TOPICS:
Math - Place value up to hundred million place, rounding numbers; addition and subtraction through hundred million place; multiplication 1 digit x 4 digits and 2 digits x 2 digits; and division with 1 digit divisor and up to 4 digit dividend (with or without remainders)
Language Arts - work on reading fluently with good comprehension and sustained reading for 20 minutes or longer; work on developing writing stamina and fluency; main idea and details; story characters, plot, and setting; parts of speech; reading and writing about non-fiction and about character traits; synonyms, antonyms, homophones (homonyms); word study of prefixes, base words, and suffixes; using context clues to figure out unknown words
Science - Water cycle, states of water, temperatures in Fahrenheit and Celcius, weather instruments, weather fronts, 4 basic cloud types, forecasting the weather
Social Studies - reading maps; Native Americans tribes, focusing on Hopi, Seminoles, Pawnee, Kwakiutl, Nez Perce, and Inuit tribes; Explorers who came to America, focusing on Christopher Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Henry Hudson, John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Juan Ponce de Leon
SECOND QUARTER TOPICS:
Math - prime and composite numbers, factors and multiples of a number, figuring out shape and number patterns, and input/output tables; equivalent fractions, improper fractions, and mixed numbers; comparing fractions; adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers with the same denominators
Language Arts - work on reading fluently with good comprehension and sustained reading for 20 minutes or longer; work on developing writing stamina and fluency; main idea and details; story characters, plot, and setting; parts of speech; reading and writing about non-fiction and about character traits; word study of prefixes, base words, and suffixes; figurative language such as simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, hyperbole, idioms, onomatopoeia, and pun
Science - Light Energy which includes concave and convex lenses, reflecting and refracting light, transparent/translucent/opaque objects; Solar System which includes our Sun, planets, comets, meteors, asteroids; what causes our seasons and the Moon phases each month; stars and constellations
Social Studies - similarities and differences among the 13 Original British Colonies on American soil in the 1600's and 1700's; the Road to the Revolutionary War - how did one event lead to the next event, and that event lead to the next event until we were at war with Great Britain in the 1770's
THIRD QUARTER TOPICS:
Math - Multiplying a fraction and a whole number (like 2/3 x 5= __); writing, ordering, and comparing decimals to the hundredth place; and 2-Dimensional geometric shapes
Science - Sound energy; force and motion; the 6 simple machines; and food chains and food webs in ecosystems
Social Studies - Map skills; cause and effects of Revolutionary War battles; major people and events of the Revolutionary War; writing the U.S. Constitution for our new nation; how our country grew in size; pioneers moving West across the U.S.A. for several reasons
Language Arts - Continued work on reading fluently with good comprehension and sustained reading for 20 minutes or longer; continued work on developing writing stamina and fluency; main idea and details; story characters, plot, and setting; parts of speech; reading and writing about non-fiction and about character traits; word study of prefixes, base words, and suffixes; continued work on context clues and figurative language to understand what we are reading better
FOURTH QUARTER TOPICS:
Math - Measuring angles; using and comparing length, weight, and capacity measurements in the English (customary) system and in the Metric system; data analysis using graphs and charts.
Science - Adaptations, survival, and extinction of living things.
Social Studies - Reform movements such as abolition and women suffrage; personal finance.
Language Arts - Continued work on reading fluently with good comprehension and sustained reading for 20 minutes or longer; continued work on developing writing stamina and fluency; main idea and details; story characters, plot, and setting; parts of speech; reading and writing about non-fiction and about character traits; word study prefixes, base words, and suffixes; continued work with context clues and figurative language