Welcome to St. John's Fourth Grade.

Religion

By the time students reach the fourth grade they are beginning to understand that their decisions affect not only themselves but others as well. They are learning to accept responsibility for their own choices and actions.

The fourth grade text is Jesus Our Guide from the Faith and Life Series. It serves as an introduction to Bible stories and teachings of the Catholic faith. The students will become more familiar with using the Bible.

Math

Fourth graders should have an accurate grasp of basic addition, subtraction and multiplication facts. Reviewing material at home reinforces learning and helps your child become more successful in school. Homework is generally given several nights a week. The work is expected to be completed and returned the next day. Tests are given at the end of each unit.

We are using a wonderful, new math program this year, designed by Sadlier-Oxford, entitled Progress in Mathematics. An online component is available to reinforce what is taught in the classroom: http://www.progressinmathematics.com

Grammar/Writing

Our goal is to speak and write in a way that clearly expresses our thoughts to others. Complete sentences, capital letters, punctuation, and correct spelling are strongly encouraged. Creativity is expressed through student’s writing. This allows the student to use their imagination and skills to develop their knowledge of the writing process.

We will be using the Easy Grammar series again this year. The students will receive further instruction in prepositions, verbs, nouns, types of sentences, conjunctions, interjections, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, capitalization, punctuation and writing sentences.

For writing this year we will have four major projects: Poetry, Informative, Tall Tales and, once again, a Research project. Students will be allowed to choose the topic of their research project and it will be completed during the last half of the year.

Spelling

Our goal in spelling is for students to utilize the phonics rules they are taught each week in order to spell words correctly. The students should be able to retain these rules for use throughout the years.

We will be utilizing the Houghton-Mifflin Spelling and Vocabulary program once again. This program introduces the students to a rule or rules each week and provides them with a list of words representative of said rule. Practice tests will be given on Mondays and Final tests on Fridays. Each test will consist of 25 words.

Reading

The main goal is to impress upon each student how vital reading is to their life.

The McGraw-Hill reading series offers award-winning selections of high quality literature. Each child will use a reading text, workbook, reading vocabulary and writing journal. Reading skills and strong vocabulary development are found in the reading practice book.  Time is provided so that most reading work is done in the classroom. 

There will be time for independent reading on a daily basis. Students should keep a book in their desk. The book may be obtained from the classroom library or bring one from home. Students are encouraged to chose books that are 100 pages or more.

To have fun with reading we will have read aloud and book reports. There will be at least one major book report due each quarter. A variety of presentation options will be given to the students.

Science

We are using the McGraw-Hill science series for Michigan. The goals are to experience, explore, think scientifically, and draw conclusions from gathered information. The units of study concentrate on life, earth and physical science. Experiments will also be done during the year. Your help with materials and your enthusiasm is appreciated.

Social Studies

Our Country's Regions by McGraw-Hill will be our text. The focus is on the geographic regions of the United States. Michigan history is also incorporated into the curriculum. Map skills are emphasized and learned throughout the year.

Homework

A fourth grader should spend about 40 minutes a night on homework. We will gradually start adding homework to their schedule in the beginning as we get used to the new subjects and books.