4 th Grade Curriculum Night Huntersville Elementary September 27, 2012

WELCOME Expectations – Planner signed every night – Homework Math and 30 minutes of Reading Spelling due Friday – Tardies/Early Outs No Hat Day for that month More than 10 forfeits Buddy Celebration Accelerated Reader (AR) – Quarterly goals based on student reading level

Today, companies don’t want people who can just calculate, because they are less efficient and more error-prone than computers. They are looking for people who can think, people that can be flexible, and most importantly, people that communicate effectively. This is the heart of not only Math Investigations, but our PI work and the Common Core as a whole.

Math Investigations – Number sense – Multiplication and division – Fractions – Area and perimeter – Algebraic thinking Excel Math Hands on Inquiry based learning 3 E’s of Inquiry: Explore Explain Expand Butterfly Math

List all the ways you can arrange 18 chairs…

Science Inquiry method Learn to make and keep detailed observations in their science journals. All tests or quizzes will be open note/open book. There will be a graded piece every other week and Science Notebooks will be graded

Science Subjects we will cover: – Earth History(fossils, earth changes) – Forces and Motion(magnetism’s effect on electricity, lightning, phases of the moon) – Matter, Properties and Change(physical properties of matter, rocks and minerals, rock cycle) – Ecosystems( animal adaptations) – Nutrition(identify types of food, explain why organisms need energy to live)

Social Studies Focus: North Carolina – History – Geography and Environmental Literacy – Culture – Civics and Government – Economic and Financial Literacy

Personal Inquiry Research based method that encourages students to understand the world in which they live, learn and communicate. Facts change – Students need to be able to locate information and make sense of their data. Through group work and inquiry based learning, students are able to recall information long-term rather than simply for the test. One culminating product as large part of quarterly grade

Literacy Helps ensure that students are receiving a high quality education consistently, from school to school and state to state. Students are expected to reference text. Compare and Contrast varied text such as, editorials, primary resources, Internet, Video Open-ended Higher Level Questions-The WHY not just facts!!! Common Core

Literacy Assessments – Weekly Skills/Biweekly – Biweekly Cold Read Novel Studies Powerful Vocabulary Spelling – Unit Lists – Menu activities due Friday Will be averaged into one homework grade at end of quarter – Test grades averaged into one test grade at end of quarter Common Core

Writing Incorporating the new 21st Century Standards – Personal Narrative – Imaginative Narrative – Argumentative (Persuasive) – Expository Writing across the content area Writing samples kept in portfolios (not sent home)

Upcoming Events September 28 th :Hat Day October 9 th : Science Fair Slip Signed (in planner) October 23rd: Science Fair topic due to teacher October 26th: End of first Quarter October 29 th : End of Quarter Conference November 1st : Social Studies PI product due November 1 st -6th: PI Presentations (atinker.cmswiki.wikispaces.net) (mrsgoonan.cmswiki.wikispaces.net)mrsgoonan.cmswiki.wikispaces.net Edmodo.com for Porcello and Tinker- See us for codes and privacy policy.