4th Grade

Unit 4 Fiction-

Unit 6 Science: Energy Transfer/ Narrative Writing

Summary of Unit (Science):  Students will continue learning about science through our Energy Transfer Unit. We will be studying different types of energy such as electricity, light, sound, heat and magnetism.  They will investigate these different sources of energy such as solar power, thermal energy, electricity, magnetic energy, and understand how energy is transferred and transformed.  Students will determine pros and cons for each type of energy using passages and articles.  We will continue our learning and deepening our understanding of nonfiction reading skills through this energy unit.

Reading:

In the month of May, the students will study a variety of energy sources.  We will be focusing on skills such as main idea/central idea and key details, cause and effect, understanding information through visuals, diagrams, charts etc, following specific procedures, and supporting an author's claim by identifying reasons and evidence. The students will learn about these topics through nonfiction readings and a variety of hands-on activities. Students will follow procedures to produce light as they create and piece together circuits, the use of magnets to show strength of magnetism, and how sound travels. 

The goal for reading in May is to be at  a Level R/S.

Home Connection:  You can investigate how heat transfers and transforms when cooking, how electricity makes things work such as using computers, watching tv, how chemicals give us energy when we eat, and how batters carry chemicals that transfer to electricity allowing objects to work. Discuss how circuits work, such as turning a light switch on and off for the lights to work, discussing conductors and insulators. Talk about the types of energy you see in your home and around you.  Think of ways you can save energy by using renewable resources.  For example, some areas are using solar panels on the street lights at night. Talk about which energies can be helpful and harmful. 

 To build reading stamina, have the children continue to read for 20-30 minutes each night and complete the daily reading log with a reading response. Talk about what your child is reading with them. Have them read to you out loud while you are driving or cooking dinner! Have them share “the gist” or what a book is mainly about. Students are also encouraged to log on to iReady to complete personalized assignments for 20 minutes daily. 

Here are two stories your child can read to better understand the energy topic. You can watch the story on kidstube or youtube at home with your child. 

• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - There is also an amazing TED TALK form William Kamkwamba (External Link) and a Netflix documentary about it! 
• Iqbal and His Ingenious Idea by Elizabet Suneby - can be found on Epic!
  Materials: EPIC!, Raz-Kids, Monthly Reading Logs, Science workbooks, Types of Energy classwork topic on Google Classroom

Writing:

We will be working on scientific narrative writing for this unit. Students will be choosing a topic covered within the science unit, and write a mystery based on that topic. For example: If students choose to write about the circuits, they can create a mystery of why there was a blackout.  Students will have to create a scenario, use what they have learned from the science unit to create a story. They will review how to write a narrative story and what narrative writing elements should be included for example background, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. As well as using dialogue to tell our stories.  We will continue with organization, paragraph structure, introductions, conclusions, partner sentences,  spelling and punctuation.

Home Connection: Please have students explain  what should be included in a narrative writing. Go over what a mystery is and what writing elements are included within mystery writing (we will be going over this in class as well). 

Talk about the types of energy you see in your home and around you.  Think of ways you can save energy by using renewable resources.  For example, some areas are using solar panels on the street lights at night. 

Materials: narrative writing checklist, mystery writing examples, writing graphic organizers, wordwall, notebook, laptop/ipad.

Math: 

We will solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit.

Next, We will work with decimals. We will use our knowledge of money to help understand decimals. We will add and subtract amounts of money, as well as, combine coin and dollar combinations. 

In addition, we will work on Exemplars. Through Exemplars we will continue to justify and prove our thinking by showing and describing our work. Within our justifications, we will include rich math vocabulary. We will work on giving productive feedback to our peers, and give ourselves glows and grows on our own work. We will also analyze our own work  and create math goals based on the Exemplar rubric.

Home Connection: 

Have students measure various objects in the house using a ruler. Talk to them about measurements within recipes. 

Also, have students practice creating coin combinations with a group of coins and counting them. When paying for things at a store, ask students questions like.. 

Did we give the cashier enough money? 

How much change should we get back?

Did we get the right amount of change? 

Materials: play money, ruler

Vocabulary:

Inches, centimeters, yards, feet, milliliters, liters

Penny, quarter, dime, nickel 

SPARK

In their weekly SPARK instruction, students are developing an original fiction story. They are working with acting and creating story tableaux in their creative process. The students will be sharing their work with their peers in the month of May.

Music -

Fourth grade musicians are learning to play the soprano recorder in music class. Students are learning to read the notes of the treble staff, distinguishing between line and space notes. They will also be discussing the fictional and non-fictional origins of each song that they are learning. 

Home Connection: Students are provided a recorder that they keep in the music room. Home recorders can be purchased at the link below:

Amazon Soprano Recorder (External Link)

Students can use the resource below to practice the recorder!

https://www.youtube.com/@youcanplayit  (External Link)

Art:

Students will create a landscape inspired by the artist, Robin Mead. Students will understand how to create a foreground, middleground, and background with water, land, and the sky. Students will use lines, patterns, and color to create their landscape in the style of Robin Mead.

Student Voice

Students favorite part of ELA/ Writing  Unit 5: 

Rashed - “I liked learning about the natural disasters.”

Amelia - “What I liked about the reading unit is reading the passages about natural disasters.”

Students favorite part of Math Unit:

Razwan - “I like how we learned about angles and fractions.”

Saliyah - “My favorite part about math is learning about angles and how we can use them in everyday life.”