Religion
Christ is at the center of everything we do in class and our faith is woven in all subjects. We have a daily religion class where we focus on the Bible’s message of God’s love for us, the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. We use the New Evangelization Edition of the Christ Our Life book series authored by the Sisters of Notre Dame and published by Loyola Press – a Jesuit Ministry.
Language Arts & Reading
Our focus is for students to learn and apply strategies to be a good reader. Our goal is to increase reading stamina, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency and prosody. We use the inclusive Treasures reading series and its accompanying grammar, spelling and writing components by MacMillan/McGraw-Hill. This spiraling process reinforces each unit’s concepts and skills. They also participate in the Article-a-Day series by Readworks.org.
We believe better readers make better writers; therefore, our Writer’s Workshop ties into our weekly reading units. Fourth graders will have the opportunity and direction to develop their narrative, persuasive, expository, and descriptive writing in our Writer’s Workshop.
Mathematics
In fourth grade, we build on previously learned concepts and take them to new levels. Our students will encounter new concepts and strategies this year, including adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions; long division; data collection and analysis; plotting line graphs, and other spiraling concepts. Learning games and technology related activities make learning math fun!
Science
From our solar system to waves and energy…From the human body to rock formation…Fourth Grade goes “to infinity and beyond!” This year we explore and experiment with many different topics and items of interest. We work in teams to demonstrate and experiment. We learn by discovering, using the scientific method. Our students love to develop hypotheses and find ways to prove them. Future scientists and engineers are at work at SJN!
Social Studies
Fourth graders will develop and apply map skills and map terms. Fourth grade covers Early U.S. history including exploration of the New World, The American Revolution, The War of 1812 and Western Expansion. They will also identify the Branches of Government and its checks and balances.
Technology
Technology increases our use of outside resources approved by the Archdiocese. We utilize the computer lab to improve student engagement and increase academic performance. Popular sites include Moby Max, Prodigy, Read Works.org, and World Book online, just to name a few.
