4th Grade Specials
NFS Curriculum Update :: December, 2014
Art
Fourth graders will finish up their unit on graffiti and move in a completely new direction as we move into December. Students will continue to work with color blending but will now learn techniques for blending and mixing watercolor paint. We will also be working with ink to create winter landscapes.
LIBRARY
Fourth Grade begins reading regional fiction and nonfiction this month. Starting with the Northeast, we will read the fictional story, Terrible Storm, and portions of nonfiction books about blizzards. Moving on to the Southeast, we will read Wiley and the Hairy Man and Freedom River. From the Midwest, we will read Tillie the Terrible Swede and a book about the Wright Brothers.
Music
Fourth graders will continue to progress with their vocal sightreading. We will be tackling more complicated rhythm patterns and adding more notes to the scale. We will also be finishing our recorder unit. We reviewed the basic playing techniques and the notes B, A, and G. We then added low E. We will be adding third space C and fourth line D into the mix this month. Our December composer of the month is Peter Tchaikovsky.
P.E.
In P.E. we will continue to develop our physical fitness and work on muscular strength with a focus on the core. This month our new fitness exercise will be jogging. December is the start of our basketball unit and many of the classes will focus on various basketball skills, drills, and activities. We will participate in basketball activities like Runners and Gunners and Basketball Pirates. We will play large group games like BBK and Line Basketball. We will also participate in non-basketball activities including Battle Star and Flag Grab, class favorites that develop skill, teamwork and cardiovascular endurance.
Science
This month is all about engineering! Students will receive empty boxes and with their knowledge of conductors and insulators that they acquired through their experience and experiments, they will build solar ovens. Students will go through the engineering design process of constantly defining the problem, designing a solution, planning its implementation, creating the oven, testing their oven, collecting data and improving on their design. Students will communicate with their peers, share ideas, and present their findings to help one another succeed and optimize their designs. Students will also need to keep in mind the criteria and constraints given as part of the project.
Spanish
In December fourth grade Spanish students will continue working on clothing vocabulary. Students will learn proper pronunciation and spelling as well as idiomatic expressions to describe what they are wearing and what someone else is wearing. The holiday season will also bring an opportunity for students to learn about holiday celebrations in a Latin American country. Students will view a video and discuss the similarities and differences in how they celebrate versus the Latin American customs. It will be a shorter but productive month in fourth grade Spanish.