Thurgood Marshall Elementary School
Thurgood Marshall Elementary School
Here are some of the topics we have been
working on in fourth grade, as well our
units of study for the month of May.
Reading/Writing/Language Arts
In May, students read informational text
related to science and music content.
Students use inquiry to determine
meaning of words and understand a
variety of informational text. Students
will read about fossils to determine the
meaning of words in a text, consult
reference materials, and examine the
comparison text structure. Students read
a technical text to make their own fossils.
Later in the month, students read
technical text to conduct music. Students
examine problem/solution text structure
and make inferences while reading about a
music program that was established for
children after Hurricane Katrina.
Finally, at the end of the month students
explore literary nonfiction by reading
autobiographies,
biographies,
and
memoirs. Students summarize the text in
written format and orally using key
details to determine main idea, compare
and contrast first and secondhand
accounts, and explain how an author uses
reasons
and
evidence
to
support
particular points. Students will also
examine an autobiography about the
author Allen Say and a secondhand
account with one of his books,
Grandfather’s Journey.
In writing, students are working on an
inquiry project to answer a science or
social studies question.
Students will
research to develop ideas and work
through the writing process to publish a
feature article on their topic.
Volume No. 8
May 2006
May 2016
Math
In math, students will extend their
understanding of fractions to represent
decimals to hundredths. Students use
visual models to help them express a
fraction with a denominator 10 as an
equivalent fraction with denominator 100
and use the strategy to add two fractions
with denominators 10 and 100 as well as to
add decimals to hundredths. Students
compare decimals to hundredths by
reasoning about their size. Students use
number lines and visual models to explain
and justify comparisons.
Following decimals, students will revisit
multiplication and division. They will apply
and extend strategies for multiplying up
to a 4-digit number by a 1-digit number to
problems involving products of 2-digit
numbers.
Students are expected to
flexibly apply and explain their strategies
based on understandings of place value,
properties of operations, and the
relationship between multiplication and
division.
Grade 4 students are not
responsible for the standard algorithms
for multiplication or division.
Science
In May, students explore a variety of
minerals to identify and describe their
observable properties. Students will
conduct a variety of tests on model rocks
and real rocks to identify these
properties. This sets the stage for
students to learn that rocks are made of
minerals. Later in the month, students will
explore fossils to see how the fossils of
organisms provide insight into organisms
and environments of the past. They will
examine fossils to learn about the
evidence that fossils provide about the
plants, animals, and the environments in
which they lived on Earth’s surface long
ago. Students identify the relationship
between the formation of rocks and
fossils as further evidence of Earth’s
changing surface over time. Finally,
students will develop working definitions
of the terms weathering, erosion, and
deposition. Students will explore the
rapid and slow process of weathering,
erosion, and deposition and how these
processes change Earth’s surface.
Social Studies
In Social Studies, students gather,
record, and analyze information about the
three regions of colonial America, the
New England, Middle, and Southern
regions. In May, students determine how
power with authority was established in
the
Maryland
colony
through
proprietorship and the establishment of
law through the development of the
Maryland State Charter, Maryland State
Constitution, and a variety of acts.
Students expand their study to include all
colonies in the Southern region as they
determine how colonists adapted to and
modified the environment to meet their
wants. Students explore the concept of
regional specialization and its role in
economic growth. Towards the end of the
month, students continue their study of
the colonial period by determining how
geographic characteristics affected how
colonists lived and worked in the Middle
and New England regions. Students
explore how colonists in these regions
adapted to and modified the environment
and implemented democratic ideas and
practices.
Upcoming Events
May 9-11 PARCC ELA @ 12:45
May 13 Interims
May 16 Patrol Picnic
May 18-20, 21 PARCC Math @ 12:45
May 30 No School – Memorial Day
May 31-June 7 Book Fair
June 9 Spring Concert