|
|
GRADE 4 CURRICULUM
Teachers: Mr. Scott Davis and Mrs. Erica McCarthy
The
fourth grade of Ballet Tech offers an engaging and comprehensive
curriculum that incorporates critical thinking, problem solving, and
experiential learning. Students work in groups, pairs, and
individually. Turning and talking is used to deepen understanding in
all subject areas.
English Language Arts: Balanced Literacy
We
use a balanced literacy program which focuses on the key facets of
reading through explicit teaching, daily read-aloud, independent
reading time, reading and writing workshops, and systematic word study
instruction. Teachers demonstrate through a variety of
structures such as read-aloud, guided reading, shared reading, and
interactive writing.
Reading
We emphasize student interaction with the text they are reading. Students
learn comprehension strategies such as monitoring their own
comprehension, connecting, asking questions, inference, determining
importance, summarizing, and synthesizing.
Topics:
comprehension strategies, how to respond to reading, character study
and literary elements, realistic fiction, nonfiction reading, poetry,
essay reading, and author study.
Writing
Students
are taught the seven traits of effective writing: ideas, organization,
voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions and presentation. Students also engage in power writing (a writing fluency process), creative writing, and engage in the writing workshop model.
Topics: the seven traits (teaching the rubric), personal narrative, essay, persuasive, informational, and poetry.
Word-Study Units
Topics:
parts of speech, homophones, prefixes and suffixes, inflectional
endings, idioms, figurative language, contractions, and possessives.
Math: Everyday Mathematics
In math, students engage in real-life problem solving through Everyday Mathematics and other resources. Lessons
include time for whole-group instruction as well as small group,
partner, or individual activities. These activities balance
teacher-directed instruction with opportunities for open-ended,
hands-on explorations, long-term projects, and on-going practice.
Topics:
number sense and place value, the four operations, geometry,
measurement, fractions and mixed numbers, decimals, data, statistics,
and probability, and algebra (variables and coordinate graphing).
Science
In science, students learn and discover through a
hands-on, inquiry-based approach to learning. Students are actively
engaged in the discovery process. Children’s natural curiosity leads
them to explore the natural world and students have direct experience
with common objects, materials, and living things in their environments.
Topics:
animals and plants in their environments, magnetism and electricity,
properties of water, and interactions of land, air, and water.
Social Studies
In social studies, the program has as its foundation the explorations of history, geography, economics, government, and civics. Students learn about the people, places, eras, and events near and far that shaped our world. They are introduced to the historic development of New York State.
Topics:
Native Americans, Three Worlds Meet, Colonial and Revolutionary
Periods, the New Nation, Growth and Expansion, and Local and State
Governments.
|
 
|