Fourth Grade Teachers

The centerpiece of our mission, of course, is academics. Oak Hall Lower School offers a broad and rigorous curriculum for all our students. Our fourth grade program is appropriately accelerated, ensuring that our younger students attain real fluency in fundamental skills across the curriculum.

Oak Hall’s 4th grade team offers a variety of learning opportunities to meet the needs of many learning styles. We seek to nurture in young people the qualities of intelligence, wisdom, and moral commitment, and to foster in them an impassioned curiosity about the world around them as well as the imagination to seek new solutions to problems.

Reading

The Shurley Method teaches the solid foundation of grammar in a new and exciting way. Students use rhythm and a set of specific questions to classify sentences orally, identifying each sentence part as well as the overall sentence structure. They learn how all sentence parts fit together to make sense and express an idea. They learn how to expand, improve and edit their writing. The students then learn how to express their own ideas through formal and creative writing. Due to extensive classroom work, the individual homework load is significantly reduced.

Independent reading: Barnell Loft Specific Skill Series, Accelerated Reader, trade books, SRA Nine Good Habits, SRA Open Court Classics, SRA Spelling, Comprehension Plus workbook and cross-curriculum novels.

Reading comprehension is emphasized by use of various exercises that incorporate:

• Decoding unfamiliar words (phonics and context clues)
• Elements of novels: plot, characters, setting, theme, mood
• Recognition of different genres of literature
• Weekly spelling lessons
• Strategies for reading and comprehending expository material
• Various novel units
• Poetry

Language Arts

Students will be studying and developing the writing process using McGraw-Hill Language Arts, the corresponding workbook, Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop as well as other resource materials that will include the following necessary components:

• Sentences and usage

Questions, commands, statements, and exclamations

• Sentence structure
  • Subjects and predicates: simple and compound
  • Sentence fragments and run-on sentences
  • Combining sentences
• Paragraph structure

Main idea development, topic and supporting sentences

• Writing styles

Narrative, personal narrative, fairy tales, letters; business and friendly, persuasive, summary, research, explanatory, expository, writing that compares, note taking, and non-fiction

• The Process

Pre-writing/brainstorming, writing, revising, editing, proof reading and publishing skills

• Grammar

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, contractions, pronouns, articles, prepositional phrases, plurals, possessives, capitalization, and punctuation

• Skills Building

Dictionary, encyclopedia, references sources, vocabulary words, note taking and summarizing, time order words, prefixes, suffixes, synonyms and antonyms

Mathematics

Students explore several strategies to solve a problem with the 5th Grade Silver Burdett Ginn Mathematics text. These strategies incorporate different ways of thinking about math ideas and address a variety of learning styles. Students begin creating a bridge between concrete and abstract solution strategies, allowing each child to build on the math skills and concepts they already possess. The following is lists of specific skills covered, but are not limited to:

• Place value through billions - estimation and rounding
• Addition and subtraction - whole numbers and decimals
• Multiplication & division - whole numbers and decimals
• Measurement
• Fractions – concepts Addition and subtraction - fractions and mixed numbers
• Multiplication and division - fractions and mixed numbers
• Using Data and Statistics – bar graphs, line graphs, stem-and-leaf plots, and other forms
• Geometry - acute, right, and obtuse angles; special triangles and quadrilaterals
• Problem-solving strategies

Social Studies

The fourth grade curriculum offers exploration and motivating reading experiences about Florida. Harcourt Brace Social Studies; Florida Edition, offers powerful ideas that integrate the students’ experiences and academic skills, with the development of competencies as a citizen of their state. The fourth grade scope and sequence builds on skills and major understandings of an ever changing and interdependent world. Many methods are used to organize these concepts and ideas. Content areas include, but are not limited to:

• Florida history
• Florida’s geography
• The earliest Floridians
• Government in Florida
• States of the U. S. and capitals
• Daily Oral Geography
• "Time for Kids" - Current events
• Map skills
• Field Trips that include:
  • Tallahassee Superior Court/Florida State Building
  • St. Augustine
  • Cedar Key

Handwriting

Emphasis is placed on proper handwriting skills through the Zaner – Bloser Handwriting book, daily exercises and oral directions in the following areas:

• Lower case cursive letters
• Upper case cursive letters
• Letter slant
• Letter shape
• Words frequently reversed
• Letters frequently reversed
• Formation –single or connected
• Spacing- size of letter and space in between words
• Transition to all script writing in all areas of work

Spelling

Students will develop specific strategies that encourage them to think their way through spelling rather than memorize weekly word lists with SRA Spelling Mastery Level E. These strategies, combined with repeated practice and application, enable students to spell unfamiliar words and to remember familiar words successfully. Spelling Mastery expands the sound-symbol strategy to more difficult, regularly spelled words and increases the number of irregularly spelled words that students spell.

Special Area Classes

Art: Colored pencil is used more in grade 4 as drawing skills are refined. Perspective is formally introduced as is optical illusion and more advanced 3-D techniques. Observation and discussion are enhanced throughout the program.

Computers: Students will begin the year with a review of our program, Touch Typing, a method of keyboarding. They will review the instruction on the Microsoft Office Suite, Internet skills are broadened by search activities, and some grade appropriate education software. They will create and present at least two Power Points, learn the basics of personal letter writing, creating graphs on Excel, and using the software Kidspiration for Venn Diagrams.

Library: Skills for Student Success-Grade 4 is the text used for teaching students skills for success in the classroom. The focus is on organizational skills, specific learning strategies, textbook reference skills, and the use of reference materials. This program uses a spiral curriculum: skills that are introduced at one level are reviewed at each subsequent level with more difficult applications, and additional skills are introduced in each subsequent level. Students also practice being independent library users by utilizing the free-flow circulation system and independently completing book searches on the library’s automated catalog.

Music: Students meet with the music specialist once week. They engage in singing activities and play rhythm instruments, recorders, and keyboards. They participate in a musical production and perform for assembly programs.

Physical Education: Students develop responsibilities by being in charge of their physical education uniforms for dressing out. They begin instruction in individual and team sports, learn about setting lifetime fitness goals, learn social and folk dance and participate in a formal track meet. Fourth graders also take Physical Education field trips (Inline skating, Ice skating, Bowling and Swimming).

Science: The Harcourt Science curriculum in the fourth grade covers physical, Earth and life sciences. The students observe, measure, classify, infer and predict as they complete hands-on investigations in the science lab, which is equipped with an interactive Smart Board. Students begin to establish methods for writing science lab reports. The curriculum is enriched with guest speakers, dissections and a field trip to Cedar Key to study saltwater ecosystems.

*Field Trip: University of Florida Seahorse Key Marine Laboratory

Bingham Science Activity Award

An award is given at the end of the year to students who voluntarily complete three projects at home during the course of the year. The students are given guidelines and due dates for their projects which are presented in class and then displayed.