Sequoyah Elementary School
News From Fourth Grade
AUGUST 26—- SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
Science: Living Things
During the first quarter, the
Measurement Topics of
Life Sciences and Engineering and Technology are
interwoven as students
explore the components of
land and water ecosystems.
Students will apply the
engineering design process
as they construct and refine
terraria and aquaria to
model both a land and a
water ecosystem.
Throughout this marking
period students will use
these models to explore the
concepts of living things,
their basic needs, and the
relationships between living
organisms to each other
and to the non-living components of an ecosystem.
Students will observe their
terraria and aquaria to
collect data regarding the
interdependence among
plants, animals, and the
non-living components of
an ecosystem to develop an
understanding of the flow
of energy and matter
through food chains and
food webs.
Just last week we began
comparing the observable
features and behaviors of
plants and animals to
describe how classification
systems show relationships
among organisms. By midterm we will investigate
more in-depth the classifications of living things as
producers, consumers, and
decomposers. As the quarter progresses, students will
describe interactions
between various organisms
and identify sources of
energy required by organisms to grow and survive.
By quarter’s end, students
should be identifying and
describing the features that
make organisms well-suited
to a specific environment.
We will need your help in
this unit. Please send in as
many clear 2 Liter bottles
as possible. They will be
used to build the terraria
and aquaria that students
will observe during the
unit. Thanks in advance
for your help to provide
these materials, our
“critters” are scheduled to
arrive at some point next
week.
Fourth Grade Math
In third grade, students
rounded numbers within
1,000 to the nearest 10 or
100. During the first four
weeks of this quarter, students will extend their
place value understandings
to read, write, and compare
numbers to one million,
and make generalizations
abvout the relative sizes of
numbers in each place of a
multi-digit number. Samples of these learning experiences are included in the
Fourth Grade Mathematics
Newsletter, which will be
sent home with students at
the beginning and midpoint of each quarter. Included in this newsletter
are activities that you might
find helpful in supporting
your child.
Each quarter there will also
be a focus on Thinking and
Academic Skills (TASS).
Our students will have
varied experiences with
these skills in each subject
throughout the grading
period. Right now we are
providing students with
opportunities to Synthesize
and Collaborate. Synthesis
is putting parts together to
build understanding of a
whole concept or to form a
new or unique whole. In
math, this skill will be used
as we solve problems involving place value, building concepts from numbers
under 1,000 to numbers as
large as 1,000,000. Collaboration, working effectively
and respectfully to reach a
group goal, will be experienced through small group
discussions, completion of
tasks in small groups, and
modeling and sharing our
thinking about numbers.
NEWS FROM FOURTH GRADE
Page 2
Reading and Social Studies with Mrs. Beard &
Mrs. Cruise-Levi
Students are learning about the genre of historical fiction in reading. They are describing characters’ reactions to events in the story
using specific details from the text. They will also use examples or
text evidence to make inferences. Students will also gather and record evidence from narrative text to inform an opinion. They will
gather facts and details in order to support reasons for an opinion.
In Social studies students will identify and locate human-made features of Maryland on a map. They will also identify and locate natural/physical features of Maryland on a map. They will explain
how these features influenced settlement patterns in Maryland.
They will then do the same thing with a map of the United States.
Important Upcoming Dates
September 20th—Magruder Cluster Football Game
September 27th—Early Release Day (Mid-Term)
October 14th—Open House (All Day)