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Trinity Lutheran School |
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Offering Quality Christian Education Since 1893 |
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Course Description |
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GRADE FOUR
BIBLE STUDY: Textbook: Voyages, Exploring God’s World The Bible Study/Religion guidebook teaches the following main themes – Old Testament stories of ancient people of God (Adam & Eve, Noah, Abram), the Patriarchs (Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Joseph, Moses), the Ten Commandments, New Testament stories of Jesus’ life and death, Jesus the Miracle worker, and Paul and his missions. A memory verse is assigned every Monday and recited or written on Friday of the same week.
LANGUAGE: Textbook: A Beka “God’s Gift of Language” The fourth grade language focus is mastering the eight parts of speech. After a brief review of capitalization and punctuation, the remaining seven parts of speech which includes: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections are taught. During the final quarter, students learn how to use a dictionary and encyclopedia.
READING: Textbook: Open Court Reading The Reading textbook is divided into six themes. These include: Risks & Consequences, Dreams to Jobs, Mystery to Medicine, Surviving, Communication, and Trail of Freedom. Each unit includes several stories that deal with the theme. Accompanying worksheets reinforce student’s understanding of the stories through finding the main idea of the story, the author’s purpose and point of view, and sequence of the story. The worksheets also work on concepts in phonics or language such as: using apostrophes, commas, prefixes, and suffixes, fact,/opinion, and long and short vowel sounds. Six to thirty spelling words and definitions are given with each story. Students are tested on these weekly.
SPELLING: Textbook: Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley “Everyday Spelling” The Spelling Textbook is divided into thirty-six units which are studied on a weekly basis. Unit concepts include: words with THR, SCR, STR, SQU, adding –ER & -EST, words with double consonants, short and long vowels, adding –S & -ES, contractions, compound words, homophones, capitalization and abbreviations, suffixes.
PHONICS: Textbook: Modern Curriculum Press Word Study The phonics curriculum teaches rules and skills necessary for reading. Topics include: short and long vowel sounds, consonant digraphs, silent letters, plurals, possessives, contractions, suffixes, diphthongs, root words, antonyms, homonyms, and dictionary skills.
MATH: Textbook: Saxon Publishers/Harcourt Achieve Inc. Mathmatics Saxon math is based on the concept of “practice and repeat”. Mental math problems and timed addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems along with word problems begin the math lesson everyday. The major lesson topics covered in fourth grade are: Sequences, Place Value, Adding Money, Even and Odd Numbers, Temperature, Rounding Numbers, Finding Perimeters, Shapes, Multiplication, Division, Finding Area, Inverse Operation, Relating Fractions and Decimals, Associative Property Percents, Prime and Composite Numbers, Angle Measures, and Geometric Solids.
HANDWRITING: Textbook: Scott Foresman “D-Nealian Handwriting” During the first semester of fourth grade, students practice and master cursive writing.
COMPUTERS: September Keyboarding skills (improving keyboarding technique and memorizing the keys) October Microsoft Word. . .learning how to format a short story with clip-art X-cel. . .learning terminology for Xcel and how to create a chart November Xcel. . .create a word search using Thanksgiving words December Microsoft Word. . .create a Christmas story using WordArt, ClipArt, and learning how to change font style and color January Power Point. . .learn terminology for Power Point and how to create a short Power Point presentation February Internet research and type report assigned by fourth grade teacher March Internet research/Safety April/May Tri-Fold Brochure created on Publisher using WordArt, Font styles/colors, and ClipArt
SOCIAL STUDIES: Textbook: Colorado Crossroads of the West Colorado history is taught in fourth grade. The textbook begins with prehistoric people who traveled here from other continents and progresses into Indians that inhabited the Colorado region. These include: Basketmakers, Anazazi, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Utes. The students learn about the Santa Fe Trail, Zebulon Pike, Statehood, and conflicts settlers had to overcome. The cities of Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo of past and present are studied. Many field trips are taken throughout the year. The Pioneer’s Museum, the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, Bent’s Old Fort, and the cog railway down Pikes Peak are examples.
SCIENCE: Textbook: A Beka Book Science Series Fourth graders study the plan of God as it is revealed in His orderly creation. The science series presents many topics the students are able to observe and understand in the world around them. These topics include: Plants, Birds (including learning the state bird for each of the fifty states), Matter: Water, Air, and Weather, Sound and Hearing, Oceanography, and Astronomy.
ART: Fourth grade explores the mystery of brown and black. More attention to technique in coloring and drawing is expected. Students work with mixed media including glues, watercolor pencils, and stamp art. Diffusing paper is another media students experiment with.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Team games (Alaskan Baseball, hockey, volleyball, and prison ball), Relays of all sorts, individual games (SPUD, Stick Together), and Playground games (Foursquare, knock-out, kickball) are all played throughout the year. Students are encouraged to play both new and familiar games. Warm-ups are required at the beginning of the class.
EXTRAS (PROJECTS): Social Studies/Language Research paper (required) Acting out a person from Colorado history (extra credit) Timeline Social Studies Field Trips (see: Social Studies)
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