Common Core
The Common Core State Standards guide our instruction in all academic areas. We use the standards to determine what students should know and be able to do. The CCSS also help us determine which lessons will be taught as a 4-5 and which will be taught as separate grade levels.
Integrated Learning
Many of our nonfiction and opinion-based literacy concepts, including reading fluency, comprehension, and writing, will be learned through a project-based learning approach. Various Social Studies and Science concepts are also interwoven throughout these units. As with any small-group activity, social-emotional development will also be a focus within each unit.
Through our integrated learning approach, social studies and science are vehicles for acquiring other subject area skills, including nonfiction and fiction reading fluency, comprehension techniques, writing across the genres, and social and emotional development.
Through our integrated learning approach, social studies and science are vehicles for acquiring other subject area skills, including nonfiction and fiction reading fluency, comprehension techniques, writing across the genres, and social and emotional development.
Math
- In 5th grade, the students will be going deeper in the areas of operations and algebraic thinking, numbers and operations in base ten, numbers and operations in fractions, measurement and data, and geometry. One big focus in math will be learning how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to the hundredths. Another focus will be on how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators, how to multiply fractions, and begin to understand the division of fractions. Students will also explore volume and how to find it, use coordinate planes to plot points related to real-world problems, use parenthesis and brackets when writing expressions, and more. 5th grade students will be using a new program called TERC to explore these topics, in addition to other math programs used in the past.
- Fourth grade mathematics is grouped into four main units of study (although we chunk the units into smaller parts to help monitor student progress more closely) - Place Value, Multiplication and Division, Fractions and Decimals, and Geometry and Measurement. A strong emphasis on problem solving complex, multi-step story problems is interwoven throughout each unit.
Reading
Our district has recently adopted the Lucy Calkins reading curriculum. This curriculum allows for students to mostly read books of their choosing at their reading level. Students will learn a variety of reading skills through explicit teaching and through read-alouds, and will then practice these skills with their own texts. Students will read both fiction and non-fiction, and will participate in book clubs. Through group work, partner work, teacher conferences, and individual effort and goal-setting, students will improve upon their ability to read and think deeply. A big focus in 4th and 5th grade reading is how to write about reading. Students will work on using the writing they do about their reading to inform their reading and help them to be strong, deep readers.
Writing
As with reading, our district has also adopted the Lucy Calkins writing curriculum. The two subjects are clearly linked, and the curriculum allows for seamless instruction and learning in these important subject areas. Before the start of school, all teachers were trained in how to effectively use this curriculum to teach students to be strong writers. Throughout the year, students will learn to write narrative, informational, and opinion papers. They will learn how to structure each type of paper, and will learn specific skills along the way such as how to write strong leads, how to be descriptive, and how to edit and revise their work. A big focus will be on students having greater independence with their writing and building fluency through intensive writing opportunities.
Social Studies
The fourth grade students will learn the story of California with a concentration on: California Regions, Early California Native Americans, Colonization of California, Westward Movement, and California Gold Rush. Fifth graders will study the development of our nation with an emphasis on Native Americans, Early Explorers, Colonization of the United States, The American Revolution, The Constitution, and Immigration. Across the units, instruction will be delivered through GLAD strategies, including input and vocabulary charts, graphic organizers, and the use of student expert groups to research specific sub-topics.
Science
Through the use of scientific method, observation, research, journaling, and discussion, our students will learn several units of study. The fourth grade science themes this year are: Soil, Rocks & Landforms, Energy, Sound Waves, and The Human Machine. The fifth grade science themes are: Mixtures & Solutions, Human Body Systems, and the Earth & Sun.