This a a time of rapid learning for kids.
We follow the core standards established by our country and the standards the state of has set up for fourth grade.
1. Homework - Homework has definitely started, but fourth grade is ususally the first year in which it will take on big weight and include long home based projects.
2. Reading - Your child is moving past early “learning to read” into a stage teachers call “reading to learn.” Fourth graders still work on mechanics like vocabulary, but look, as well, for strategies that boost understanding. Want to help? Now is a great time to talk about what your child is reading, to encourage reading time at home, and to model good reading habits yourself.
Where reading is concerned, my main task in grade four is to keep children reading. This means continually enlarging classroom libraries, making extensive use of school and community libraries, referring the children to new books, talking about books, reading to the children from ever-more-complex works, and working with librarians and other teachers to organize such events as schoolwide book fairs and author visits for the children.
Your fourth grade will:
3.Writing - Expect more complex ideas: by the end of fourth grade, students should be able to write essays which use several kinds of sentence structures, express a relatively coherent thought, and use major punctuation correctly. This is one area in which computers can be very helpful. You can help writing at school, for example, by having your child send regular emails to a cousin, friend, or techno-savvy grandma.
Writing is closely related to reading. Your child well see themselves as active communicators: writers of journals and letters, authors of poetry, biography, and fiction. Writing improves with practice and writing and thinking are closely intertwined. We write every day. These are periods when children write, revise, and discuss their work.
My students will have many chances to practice writing conventions, including punctuation marks, paragraphing, and verb tenses. They will also learn to write dialogues, explanations, and comparisons, although their skills in these areas will be at the beginner's level.
4. Math - Building on previous concepts—such as place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, measurement and so on—fourth grade is a time of consolidation. Expect your child to make even better friends with fractions, decimals, long division, measurement and basic geometry like lines and angles. Are you building responsible home-chore patterns at home? This is a great time to invite your child to help tabulate allowances or calculate the percentage you’d save by buying by bulk at the grocery store.
Fourth grade students will also:
5. Science/Social Studies - Fourth grade science and social studies curriculum provide ways for me to not only to teach these subjects, but to embed growing skills in reading and math as well. Don’t be surprised, for example, if within a unit on electrical circuits, your child also learns to calculate and average data on charges; or, in a unit on Indiana History, your child creates quite intricate reports. Your child is expected to complete a science fair project in the spring. start thinking. The project can be a lot of fun and exciting
Your fourth grader will also:
For most kids, this is an exhilarating year. Tempting as it may be for parents to sit back and relax a bit after the intense early grades, it’s as important as ever to stay involved. Consider it a compliment, then, when your child sits down at the after-dinner table demanding your help with what looks like an endless poster project on worm development. It means you are trusted, and that’s a priceless gift. You can help, and you should.
Your fourth grader will begin to:
1. Gravitate toward certain friends. Friendship preferences may become more pronounced in 4th grade. (The downside to this
can be the formation of cliques, especially for girls; peer pressure; and labeling others (nerd, cool, etc.).)
2. Take more responsibility for organizing and prioritizing her work. (If he/she needs help with these skills, now is a great time
to step in, before the demands of middle school require even more self-discipline.)
3 .Be more emphatic about expressing his/her preferences about things.
4. Demonstrate more competitiveness with peers
Your fourth grader will also:
Your child is learning how to make decisions and set standards. You can help by encouraging your child as he/she:
When it comes to a well-rounded fourth grader, good manners rank up there with mastering multiplication and division. And it's not about walking with books on their heads, it's about mature communication skills and thoughtful actions. Manners should be taught consistently throughout childhood, building in complexity--just like math and language arts.
1. Teach Values - Setting consistent standards and consequences is key to reinforcing values.Children often test-drive bad behaviors at home to see how their parents will react. So next time your son/daughter uses that four-letter word, don't get flustered. Telling him “We don't use that word” will get the point across.
2.Encourage R-E-S-P-E-C-T - Remember to lead by example. It's hard to get kids to respect their teachers and other adults when parents are not doing so at home. It's important for parents to show that they respect their children's educational experience and realize that managing a school, or a classroom, can be challenging. It is also important for a child to show respect to other adults and adults in authority.
3. Work on Communication - By fourth grade, introductions should be more formal. Your child should be able to introduce their friends and teachers to you with a little flair. For example, “Mom, this is Mrs.Wells. She teaches out P.E. class.
4. Good Table Manners - Fourth graders understand their likes and dislikes with a bit more conviction than their younger counterparts. Use this conviction to promote good behavior at the table. When it comes to chewing with mouths open, “Most kids agree that eating is kind of a gross activity to watch. Who wants to look at you chewing your food? Explain to your children that by closing their mouths you are making it as least gross as it can be.” Also by fourth grade students should know how to use a napkin and not play with their food. Fourth graders are also capable of cleaning up after themselves and should not leave the area around where they are eating a mess for someone else to have to clean up.
5.Get Out-and-About - Though your child is becoming more independent, that doesn't mean h/shee no longer needs your support. Don’t ask for permission to attend your children’s events, your child should just expect that you will be. At this age they’ll most likely try to act cool and tell you not to bother. Bothr. Don’t give them the option of saying no. When your daughter sees you in the audience during her family fun night, it will mean more than she first realized. What does this have to do with manners? Everything. Knowing you are cared for and respected makes you want to show care and respect--and that's what manners are all about.