4th Grade

Fourth Grade Newsletter 2024-2025!

Summary of Module 4 Heroic Feats: In this module, our class will build their knowledge about heroic feats, with a focus on the genres of fairy tales and myths. We will read texts and view videos about what makes someone a hero.  This module provides students with opportunities to identify text and graphic features, point of view, and  themes in order to better understand unfamiliar texts. Students will also encounter narrative nonfiction to build knowledge across genres. As students continue to build their vocabulary and synthesize topic knowledge, they will learn that with personal courage and confidence, people can face any challenge.

 

Reading: Over the course of Module 4 we will read texts that will help us answer the following

Essential Question: What makes someone a hero? We will develop and work on the following reading skills and strategies: Identifying Text and Graphic Features, Point of View, theme, Asking and Answering questions, Elements of drama, Figurative Language, Text Structure and Author’s Purpose.

 

  

Home Connections

 

Discuss the Topic: Set aside time daily for your child to share with you what he or she is learning. Use these ideas to discuss the topic:

• Talk about the ideas your child has added to the Knowledge Map each week.
• Ask about the texts your child is reading and what he or she has learned.

 

Explore the Genre:The genre focus in this module is fairy tales and myths. Discuss with your child the characteristics of these story genres, such as tales that often have fantasy characters and happy endings. Ask your child to read to you each day and make time to read together. 

Look for texts that: 

• interest your child 
• describe heroic actions 
• have dramatic photographs and/or illustrations

 

Build Vocabulary: Use these ideas to help your child build a rich vocabulary. The Big Idea Reinforce the topic words aspire, confidence, endeavor, and fearlessness in conversations

Using prompts like these: 

• What do you aspire to be, and why? 
• Describe a time you displayed confidence.

Reinforce Reading Skills

Your child’s IXL account is linked with this Module and all skills that are taught weekly from this module. Please have your child use the IXL platform daily to reinforce these skills.

Summary of Module 5 Art Everywhere: In this module, students will listen to, read, and view a variety of texts and media that present them with information about the arts. A genre focus on biography provides students with opportunities to identify ideas and support, text structure, and figurative language in order to better understand unfamiliar texts. Students will also 

encounter informational text and poetry to build knowledge across genres. As students build their vocabulary and synthesize topic knowledge, they will learn that sharing our creative talents with the world can bring us closer together.

Reading:Over the course of Module 5 we will read texts that will help us answer the following

Essential Question: How far can your talents take you? We will develop and work on the following reading skills and strategies: identifying ideas and support, asking and answering questions, determining text structure, identifying and explaining types of figurative language, determining the central idea, using and understanding text and graphic features, elements of poetry and identifying and determining theme. 

  

Home Connections

 

Discuss the Topic: Set aside time daily for your child to share with you what he or she is learning. Use these ideas to help build your child’s knowledge about the topic: 

• Talk about the ideas your child has added to the Knowledge Map each week.
• Ask about the texts your child is reading and what he or she has learned from them. 
• Share with your child your own questions about the topic, and work together to find the answers.

 

Explore the Genre:The genre focus in this module is biography. Discuss the characteristics of this genre, such as the true story of a real person’s life. Ask your child to read to you each day. 

Look for texts that: 

• encourage your child’s creative talents.
• discuss people your child admires.

Build Vocabulary: Use these ideas to help your child build a rich vocabulary. The Big Idea Reinforce the topic words sculpture, creativity, inspiration, and expressive 

Using prompts like these: 

• What can you do to show your creativity?
•  What gives you inspiration, and why?

Reinforce Reading Skills

Your child’s IXL account is linked with this Module and all skills that are taught weekly from this module. Please have your child use the IXL platform daily to reinforce these skills.

Writing:  

MODULE 4- Narrative- Story

Focus Statement: It takes courage to make a difference. 

In this writing unit students will go back to what they have learned about Narrative Writing and they will write a story. The Focus Statement for this unit is It takes courage to make a difference. As students get prepared to write and learn the features of a Narrative, they will think about someone you know who has made a difference and then begin to write a story about how that person made a difference. To help gear students into thinking more about their topic, we will introduce and read students a Focal Text titled Love Will See You Through: Martin  Luther King, Jr.’s Six Guiding Beliefs (as told by his niece). Students will go through the writing process as they prepare to write, review the features of a narrative, plot the events of their story, begin to draft,  integrate narrative elements, integrate grammar and punctuation, using and adding in transitions, and revise and edit their work to finally publish their final piece. 

MODULE 5-Informational Text - Expository Essay

Focus Statement: People are extraordinary. 

In this writing unit students will be writing an informational essay about an artist they know. They will research about this artist to provide their readers with information about them. The Focus Statement for this unit is People are extraordinary. As students get prepared to write and learn the features of an Expository text, they will think about an artist they know about and then write an essay about that artist and research to gather facts about that artist and details that show how that artist is talented.  To help gear students into thinking more about their artist, we will  introduce and read students a Focal Text titled Mr. Ferris and His Wheel.  Students will go through the writing process as they prepare to write, students will  review the features of an expository essay, craft a central idea for their writing, research about their chosen artist, organize their ideas for the information they want to include within their informational essay, begin to draft and connect their ideas using research gathered, integrate grammar and punctuation, revise and edit their informational writing pieces and publish their final copy. 

 

Math Curriculum: 

 

Topic 4 Use Strategies and Properties to Multiply by 2-Digit Numbers

We will continue to focus on multiplication. We will be working on multiplying 2 digit by 2 digit numbers using arrays as well as place value partial products.  We will begin by using mental-math strategies to multiply 2-digit multiples of 10 by 2-digit multiples of 10.  

Topic 5 Use Strategies and Properties to Divide by 1-Digit Numbers

In this topic, your child will learn how to divide by one-digit divisors. Learning this skill will require his or her understanding of estimating quotients and of remainders, and of connecting models and symbols.  You can expect to see work that provides practice in dividing whole numbers by one-digit divisors using strategies other than the standard algorithm and checking that the answer is reasonable using estimation. 

Topic 7 Factors and Multiples 

Your child is learning about factors.  In this topic, your child will use arrays and multiplication to find the factors of a given number. The concept is extended to include factor pairs, lists of factors, and prime and composite numbers. Your child will also learn that factors are related to multiplies which will prepare him or her for working with fractions.

At Home Connection:

Please continue to wy, and I work at home with your child to help them memorize their basic multiplication facts.

Science: 

Energy Conversions 

We will be finishing up our first Science Unit- Energy Conversions! In this past unit, students took on the role of systems engineers for Ergstown, a fictional town that experiences frequent blackouts, the anchor phenomenon for the unit. Throughout the unit, they explored reasons why an electrical system may have failed. Through firsthand experiences, discourse, reading, writing, experimenting and engaging with a digital simulation, students made discoveries about the way electrical systems work. Students then applied what they have learned as they chose new energy sources and energy converters for the town, using evidence to explain why their choices made the electrical system more reliable. As we worked to solve the problem of blackouts in Ergstown, we constructed devices that convert energy from one form to another, built an understanding of the electrical system, and learned to identify energy forms all around them.

 

In our next upcoming Science unit-  Waves, Energy and Information, students will take on the role of marine scientists investigating how bottlenose dolphin mothers and their calves use patterns of sound to communicate across distances. Students will ask questions about sound and gather evidence from physical models and a digital model. They will  investigate sound waves at the nanoscale and also investigate observable properties of sounds, such as volume and pitch. They use mathematical thinking to make sense of the wavelength and amplitude of waves. As students work in their role as marine scientists, students will figure out how mother dolphins communicate with their calves, and they write a series of scientific explanations with diagrams to demonstrate their growing understanding of how sound waves travel. Then they will apply what they’ve learned about waves, energy, and patterns in communication to figure out how to create patterns that can communicate information over distances, transferring data from one place to another.At home connections:

Some questions you can discuss with your child at home over the course of the unit is:

Unit Focus Questions: How can a mother dolphin and her calf communicate underwater when they cannot see each other? How can humans use patterns to communicate? 

Chapter 1: How does a mother dolphin communicate with her calf across a distance?

Chapter 2: How does sound energy travel through water from a mother dolphin to her calf?

Chapter 3: How does a dolphin calf know which call is his mother’s call?

Chapter 4: How can humans use patterns to communicate?

 

Social Studies 

In our current unit, “Freedom and the New Nation: Federal, State, and Local Government,” students are learning how our government was created and how it works today. We’re exploring the roles of the federal, state, and local governments and how each level helps make and enforce laws that keep our communities running smoothly. Students are also learning about the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and how early leaders helped shape our nation’s democracy. Through readings, discussions, and activities, students are discovering what it means to be an active citizen and how freedom and government are connected.

We will also be going back to complete our Passport to Social Studies unit 5- “Making the Empire State: Immigration, Industrialization, and Westward Movement,” students are learning how New York grew and changed during the 1800s. We’re exploring how immigrants, new inventions, and the movement of people westward helped shape New York into the “Empire State.”Students will continue to examine why people came to New York, what life was like in growing cities, and how advances in transportation and industry connected communities across the state.

At home connections:

Encourage your child to talk about what they’re learning — ask them which level of government affects their daily life the most!

Encourage your child to ask family members about their own family’s history of moving or immigrating — it’s a great way to connect personal stories to what we’re learning in class!

Music Curriculum: 

         Students in Fourth Grade Music are preparing a Winter Concert performance entitled “Just One Candle”. The selected songs connect to current and previous HMH units.  In their previous HMH unit “Who We Are” the students learned the song “Born to be Brave” that discusses being true to personal identity. In their current HMH unit “Heroic Feats” students will be learning a song called “Just One Candle” that was written for first responders in Hurricane Katrina.  

           Our Winter Concert will take place on 12/23/25. STUDENTS WILL WEAR FORMAL BLUE to school on the date of our concert. We encourage dresses, collared shirts, dress pants, and skirts. Please refrain from wearing sweats, jeans and sneakers for this event.  Sparkly clothing is encouraged!

SPARK New Victory Theater:

 Students in fourth grade will be receiving fifteen workshops in theater with the teaching artists from New Victory Theater. The students will be studying puppetry and connecting their study to their own identity to tie to their previous HMH unit on Identity.

Art 🎨

4th Grade artists will make connections to their HMH module by learning about the artist, Roy Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein used imagery from comic books and graphic novels, creating oversized paintings that will be known as some of the most striking Pop Art paintings in history. Students will be creating Pop Art Portraits with the use of zentangle patterns, Ben-Day dots, and imagery from comic books and graphic novels.

Physical Education

Our 4th graders have been quite busy in PE! Students have been working on strengthening their fundamental movement skills—running, jogging, throwing, tossing and catching—through a variety of fun games and activities. We’ve also been emphasizing teamwork, respect, and fair play during group challenges. It’s wonderful to see our students growing stronger, gaining confidence, and learning the importance of staying active.

Student Voice- What has been your favorite part of 4th grade so far?

Joey (401)- “I really enjoyed the beach clean up trip, because I really like helping the environment!- We collected 67 pounds!”

Lilianna (401)- “I like how we are learning different strategies in math like partial product and area model to help me multiply.”

Mateo (402)- “I enjoy social studies because I like to learn about history!”

Yusairah (402)- “I really like math- especially learning about multiplication and the different strategies. I also like the story We Are Latinos in reading because it helps me understand that many people have things in common no matter your culture or background”