Welcome to Mrs. Kramer's 4th Grade Classroom!

Reading is a skill. The more you do it, the better you become. The better you become, the less effort it takes. The less effort it takes, the more you can do, the more you want to do.

It's rather like learning to swim. You don't learn well if you avoid the water, but it should be neither too deep nor too shallow, and floatation aids should be used, but only if and when needed. You learn to swim by swimming, and to read by reading.

Your child will be spending a great deal of his or her reading instruction, reading. They will be doing this in a variety of ways:

Accelerated Reader

Everyday I give students an independent time to read. Students may select books according to their reading level and interest. The books may be brought from home, checked out from the library, or selected from one of my classroom book boxes.

My classroom book boxes contain a series of books. I mark the reading level on the inside cover so that I can appropriately suggest the book if reading is appropriate for that student. Some book boxes contain several copies of the same book. This is for when I want to assign book projects such as for writing , or dioramas. To assure that all students are on task, I use a series of reports to accomplish this. They are bound into a folder, one per child.

• Think About Reading While Reading

• Vocabulary Log

• Record of books read

While the students are reading , I pull aside one child for about 5 minutes. During this time I ask questions about the book selection, predictions, retelling, and word meanings. I also take a few minutes to listen to the child read orally. This time allows me to make observations on the students fluency, voice inflection, phonic strategies, and posture.

Parents and I have seen a tremendous improvement in children reading for enjoyment since I have incorporated A.R. into my classroom. Students now, more than ever, choose books over other activities.

Language skills will be taught through:

Writer's Workshop

D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language)                                                                 

Mini-lessons

Writing Conferences

During Writer's Workshop student's will write one book a week. They will experience the writing process of becoming authentic authors, illustrators, and editors.

Friday....................Teacher reads aloud a book to pattern after. Class brainstorms ideas and spelling words.

Monday................. Students create a mind map or a blue-print for their story. Time allowed for writing their rough drafts. "sloppy copy"

Tuesday.................Writing

Wednesday............Peer editing, proofreading, teacher conferences, mini lessons

Thursday...............Class rewrites their "good copies" and illustrates their book.

Friday................... The class breaks into small groups and goes to visit another classroom to share their stories.

Regions of the United States

Map and Global Skill

Land Forms

Rivers and Lakes

Cllimates

People

Cultures and Ancestors

States and their Capitals

Jobs and Production

Currant Events

Taught through a project based approach.

Writing that lacks spelling literacy is not much of a rehearsal for filling out job applications or for writing in the real world. No matter how beautifully students express their ideas in writing , a reader is likely to discount a message that is riddled with misspellings and unfortunately also discount the author of the message.

In our room we will be using phoetic spelling lists and a list taken from a high-frequency word listl. Our goal is that students will spell in everday writing not just on Thursday's tests. Please ask to see your see your child's progress papers so that you can find it in his/her take home folder.

Fourth Grade Health focuses on healthy living, decision making, and nutrition.

Students are taught how to read textbooks for information. They are taught how to take notes by outlining a chapter.

During math instruction your child will spend a great deal of time practicing new skills and receiving feedback on how they are progressing. They will not only be taught the processes of solving math problems, but strategies to solving problems. Math tubs with manipulatives for "hands-on" learning will also be used.

Shading and Shadow

Texture

Balance

Overlapping

Depth

Proportion

Observe and practive line directions, including vertical, horizontal, diagonal, curved, and jagged.

Mosaics

Landscapes

Watercolors

Tempera

Origami

Identify the differences between 2-dimensional shapes and 3-dimensional forms. Shape and Form

Will identify foreground, middle ground, and background

Holiday Traditional

Students in 4th Grade are given the opportunity to learn an understanding of computer terminology. Proper procedures for using a computer is taught. Students demonstrate an understanding of basic keyboarding. Students practice drills in basic keyboarding using proper finger placement.

My class has the opportunity to use the computer lab on a daily basis. When we have learned our keyboarding and some techniques with a word processing document program, we will use these skills to type, edit, save, retrieve and print, and publish some of our own writing projects.

Students also are exposed to a basic understanding of the internet as a resource for researching assignments.