Fourth Grade Specials
NFS Curriculum Update :: April, 2014
Art
Library
Music
Fourth and fifth graders have started preparations for the 4th and 5th grade show which will take place on Thursday, April 24th at 7pm. We have started choreography and will finish up with some simple blocking. Hopefully you have received a cd and a copy of the script in a recent Friday folder. If you have any questions please let me know!
P.E.
In physical education class we will continue to develop our physical fitness and work on muscular strength with a focus on core. Our floor hockey unit begins with learning and practicing the skills of stick handling, passing and shooting. Students will develop individual skills used in game play. As the weather warms, PE class will move outside for activities like Capture the Diamond and Charlie Brown & the Pumpkin Patch. We will also introduce new games this month called Hoop House Attack, Pin Ball and Boom Ball.
Science
In April, fourth graders start to work on the culminating activity of the electricity unit, the quiz boards. They will use a ruler to measure and draw the lines, as well as use their knowledge of conductors and insulators to make the board work. The finished quiz boards will hang in the hall for all to see and test by mid April. Then, we start on the next unit, Habitats. Students brainstorm and explore what living things, as well as what humans, really need to survive. These include air, water, food, space and protection. We will explore that a habitat is the area where an animal lives and draw pictures of our own habitats. Then we talk about adaption and investigate how different types of birds have adapted their beaks for different types of food and environments. Students try to retrieve different kinds of “bird food” using various types of beaks/tools to find our which adaption works best. We will also start our owl pellet investigation, which will lead to studying food chains.
Spanish
Fourth grade Spanish students will begin to apply the recently learned verbs in oral conversations. The oral communication will be longer as students tell their likes and leisure activities. Students will begin to indicate who is doing the action by conjugating in the “Yo” and “Él / Ella” forms. They will first practice these two conjugations in sentences. They will then begin to create short scenarios applying the proper forms in writing work and then presenting these to the class. Students will learn more in depth basic grammar; articles, agreement of noun / adjective in gender / number, and possessive adjectives in the “Yo” and Él / Ella forms. These basic concepts will enable students to produce more accurate language.