WR Odell Elementary Curriculum Night 2018-2019 Welcome 4th Grade Parents

ELA (English Language Arts) Unit 1: Launching & Creating Meaning by Studying Characters Unit 2: Nonfiction Text Structures Unit 3: Historical Fiction Book Clubs and Informational Reading Unit 4: Interpreting the Meaning of Text Through Book Clubs Unit 5: Reading to Learn: Civil War

Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading Contrasts and Contradictions - Why is the character doing that? Aha Moments - How might this change things? Tough Questions - What does this question make me wonder about? Words of the Wiser - What’s the life lesson, and how might it affect the character? Again and Again - Why does this show up again and again? Memory Moment - Why might this memory be important?

Reading Homework Policy Nightly Reading/Calendar – Students should read 30 minutes each night, we suggest Monday thru Thursday. However, the calendar allows you flexibility to complete the 120 minutes during a given week. Nightly reading should be recorded on the calendar located inside their binder. Please write the book title, number of minutes read, and your signature on the date read. Again, students should be reading current guided reading level books for their nightly reading. Vocabulary – Students will have a weekly vocabulary list. They will complete 4 tasks based on the weekly list of words (choices for tasks are in their vocabulary folder). The list is assigned on Monday and the tasks will be due on Friday. A quiz will be given on Friday.

Writing Unit 1: Narrative Writing (Realistic Fiction) Unit 2: Opinion Writing (Essay Writing Structures) Unit 3: Writing About Poetry Unit 4: Literary Essay (Writing About Fiction) Unit 5: Bringing History to Life

Math Unit 1: Building a Math Community through Data Unit 2: Multiplicative Comparison, Area, Perimeter, Prime and Composite Numbers Unit 3: Place Value: Add and Subtract Whole Numbers Unit 4: Fractions: Multi-Digit Multiplication and Division Unit 5: Understanding Fractions Unit 6: Decimal Notation Unit 7: Operations with Fractions and Decimals Unit 8: Geometry Unit 9: Measurement

Math Homework Policy A math worksheet will be assigned on Monday and is due back to school, completed, on Friday. (Days will vary if it is not a 5 day school week.) iReady Math is being used this year instead of Dreambox. A weekly requirement has not been decided yet, due to the newness of the program. Look for information about this soon.

Science Unit 1: The Universe Unit 2: Earth History The order of Science units taught, may be changed in order to share materials with other classes. Unit 1: The Universe Unit 2: Earth History Unit 3: Matter: Properties and Changes Unit 4: Ecosystems Unit 5: Molecular Biology Unit 6: Forces and Motion Unit 7: Energy: Conservation and Transfer

Social Studies Unit 1: Pre-Colonial Era and Colonization The order of Social Studies units taught, may be changed in order to share materials with other classes. Some may also be integrated into Reading class with nonfiction text. Unit 1: Pre-Colonial Era and Colonization Unit 2: Revolutionary War Unit 3: North Carolina as a State Unit 4: Civil War and Reconstruction Unit 5: Personal and Financial Literacy

Standards Based Grading We will be using SBG (Level 1,2,3,4) not letter grades in 4th grade. Level 1- student shows minimal understanding of a skill and cannot perform it without assistance. Student may be able to perform this skill independently, but at a lower grade-level rigor. Level 2- Exhibits inconsistent performance. Shows some evidence of conceptual understanding but still needs support. (This is where students are expected to be when a new skill is introduced.) Level 2 DOES NOT mean a child is “failing”, it means they are still learning.

Standards Based Grading Level 3- student consistently performs this skill independently and accurately with no assistance AND can explain their work. This is the level students are expected to be by the end of 4th grade. Level 4- student can consistently perform this skill independently and accurately at a higher grade level. They could teach this skill to someone else. (Students will only score a 4, after they have shown Level 3 work consistently and the teacher provides Level 4 opportunities.) Cabarrus County Schools created a parent handbook, available at the CCS webpage, to help explain SBG. (click here to access the handbook)

Dojo We are using Dojo as a Digital Portfolio to communicate with parents about student work and behavior. We will post pictures of classroom activities, reminders, etc.

PBIS Be Safe Be Ready Be Responsible Be Respectful School wide behavior program that uses positive reinforcement. Be Safe Be Ready Be Responsible Be Respectful

We are in the process of planning our field trips this year. We are hoping to visit: Cabarrus Arts Field Trip (October 15, 2018) Duke Energy- Energy Explorium (December 2018) Raleigh, NC (State Capitol Building, Legislative Building, Science Museum) (May 2019) ALL field trip chaperones must complete a CCS background check and present email proof or their volunteer card to the homeroom teacher BEFORE the week of the trip. To complete a background check visit the CCS website or click here.

THANK YOU FOR COMING!