4th Grade

Unit 6 Realistic fiction - Narrative Writing

Summary of Unit (Realistic Fiction):  During the months of May and June with our last unit scholars will be partaking in a novel study for the novel Ninth Ward written by Jewell Parker Rhodes. This is a realistic fiction story. The novel follows the main character, Lanesha and her caretaker, Mama Yaya through Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Students will be able to use their understanding of natural disasters, specifically Hurricane Katrina, to dive deeper into the text and the challenges Lanesha endures. Scholars will then use their narrative writing skills to write a personal narrative writing piece. 

Reading:

For our last reading unit, we dive deep into a novel study as we read a realistic fiction novel titled Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes. This novel will tie into our previous unit of Natural Disasters, as it takes place during Hurricane Katrina. Students will use their fictional reading skills to continue to make inferences and locate relevant details in order to discuss ideas and answer questions about the text. Students will also practice referring to relevant details to support conclusions they have made and make connections to other texts, ideas and cultural perspectives they have read and learned about throughout the year. Lastly, students show their understanding of the text by answering questions as they read.  The goal of this unit is to learn about the different perspectives of characters and make connections to previous units. 

Home Connection:  Scholars should continue to read for 20-30 minutes each night. They should be logging it on their Reading Log as well as responding to daily reading prompts. This is important to build stamina, vocabulary and reading comprehension. Scholars should also be logging on to IXL and working on their Reading Skill Plan as well as Teacher Recommendations each night. 

Materials: EPIC!, Raz-Kids, IXL, Reading Anchor Charts, sight word word wall

Writing:

The focus of our final writing unit of 4th grade is narrative writing. The students will be revisiting personal narratives. In reading, they will be working on a novel study with the book Ninth Ward. In this book, the main character is faced with many challenges in which she needs to help or receive help from others. The students will be writing a narrative piece on a time when they helped another person or a time when someone helped them.  The students will be reviewing story mountains, plot, dialogue, descriptive details, and organization.

Home Connection: Ask students to share with you daily what they learned in ELA. They should explain with detail as well as give examples. 

Materials: Narrative writing checklist, multiple graphic organizers to choose from, word walls,  Google Slides, laptop/ipad

Math: 

We have currently been working on Geometry.  Students are using their prior knowledge of fractions to measure angles and write the degree of the angle as a fraction.  Students are understanding how to appropriately use a protractor in order to measure and draw angles.  Based on the degree of an angle, students will be able to identify and categorize the different angles such as acute, obtuse and right angles.  Students should use their skills of conceptual understanding with algorithms to solve for the missing angle. Using their knowledge of angles students will be able to identify different triangles such as a right triangle.  Finally, students will identify and draw polygons and lines such as parallel, perpendicular and intersecting lines. 

Example: Students will learn that a straight angle measures 180 degrees.  Therefore if angle D measures 40 degrees, then 180-40= 120, angle A measures 120 degrees.

Home Connection:  Ask your child to identify lines such as parallel, intersecting and perpendicular lines in their everyday life (the two yellow lines in the street run parallel, 4 way stop is an intersection).  

On a blank sheet of paper, practice using a protractor and ask your child to draw a variety of angles.  Remind your child to use the straightedge on the protractor to draw the lines, always use a pencil and make sure that the vertex is aligned on 0 degrees.

**It is extremely important that children know their basic multiplication and division facts.

Exemplars

Ask your child about our Exemplars work! We are working on showing our thinking not only with an algorithm but with a representation. They are creating plans with math vocabulary. They are labeling their representations with keys. They are verifying their results and they are making connections. They take each task a step further by doing something extra!

→ Encourage your child to use the Problem Solving Procedure when solving math problems at home!

Vocabulary: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RgT00mEfAVfj4K4rF-fZtavjCgXRQyOpXfBWiH6AX9w/edit?usp=sharing

Math Manipulatives:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qVOoLyuA-8dh8D2AIc6192vRdVE72ywP0H84shsB5yE/edit?usp=sharing

Ways to support your child:

Practice your Multiplication facts

 Basic Facts Flash Cards

Art:

4th grade artists will learn that architects use geometric, free-form shapes and forms to design buildings. Students will compare and contrast different architecture from different cultures. They will study and create a piece of art based on Asian architecture, specifically the pagoda.  Students will also learn how to make Shibori paper (an ancient Japanese dying technique that typically involves folding) to create a background for their pagoda drawings. 

Student Voice:

Students favorite part of ELA Unit 4: 

• Ava - “I liked learning about the natural disasters. It was fun to research different ones that happened in real life”
• Hailee- “What I liked about the reading unit is reading the passages about natural disasters and creating the experiments to see how the natural disasters work.”

Students favorite part of Math Unit:

• Wasel - “I like how we learned about angles and fractions.”
• Zara- “My favorite part about math is learning about angles and how we can use them in everyday life.”