September 2019
Dear Fourth Grade Parents,
Welcome to the fourth grade! I am looking forward to an exciting year full of learning and achievement.
Fourth grade will continue to build on the foundation skills your daughters have developed through the third grade. This year will expand upon and add breadth to their learning. We will cover the core subjects aligned to the New York State Common Core Curriculum Standards focusing on becoming sophisticated readers and writers while acquiring what are being called the 21st century skills:
-Learning and innovation skills: creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration
-Life and career skills: flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills and productivity and accountability
-Information, Media Literacy and Technology skills
This year we will continue to broaden reading skills and foster a love for reading. We will begin the year analyzing characters and learn to read with inference and interpretation, developing text-based theories about characters and supporting those theories with evidence from the text. We will also read Non-fiction, Historical Fiction, Poetry, conduct an author study, participate in reading clubs and learn about other core areas through reading such as social studies.
As mentioned above, students will be focusing on expanding their writing skills. We will spend the next few months working on mastering writing a well developed, five paragraph essay. In addition students will work on meaningful independent stories, as well as pieces in specific genres including, personal narratives, informational essays and persuasive essays. Students will also have the opportunity to write on topics of their own choice.
Science-Technology-Engineering-and Mathematics (STEM) is integrated into our curriculum. The class will be working on projects throughout the year in any subject area focusing on STEM areas.
As you are aware, fourth graders will take a number of standardized tests and they will be administered on the following dates:
-The Terra Nova, October
-The New York English Language Arts (ELA) March 25-26
-Mathematics, April 21-22
-Science, June 1
Classroom Tests will be announced at least one week prior to the test. Notice will be written in the student’s homework (HW) notebook. Please look in your daughter’s HW notebook daily. Quizzes and Math assessments may be unannounced. All tests must be signed and returned.
Homework will be assigned to reinforce concepts learned in the classroom. Students are expected to read 30 minutes every day. Also, students must study Worldly Wise, Math, Science and Social Studies daily as the work is assigned.
Again, it is my pleasure to take your daughter’s fourth grade journey with her. I am dedicated to her success and fostering a love for life-long learning. Please contact me acoluccio@visitationacademy.net with any questions on the above or any other items you would like to discuss.
Mrs. Coluccio
