4th Grade Flyer
November 2015
LITERACY
MATH MATTERS
SCIENCE
In November students will
compare plays, poetry, and
traditional stories. Students will
discuss how the structure of a play
and the elements of a poem
describe characters, and determines
settings. They will also
identify similarities and
differences between
themes of poetry and
plays.
Later in the month students will
read a traditional literature selection.
They will use evidence from the
story to explain what the text says
explicitly and implicitly. This unit
will culminate with students
comparing the themes of the
traditional tale with the plays and
poems read earlier.
Students are continuing their
studies on Number and Operations
in Base 10. During November
students will focus on multiplication
of a 2-digit by 1-digit number. They
will use models, arrays, and place
value strategies to
explain and
represent
multiplication
problems of this sort.
Although it is not an expectation,
encouraging students to use mental
computation and estimating
strategies to solve 2-digit by 1-digit
multiplication supports place value
understanding. This also builds
number sense, and requires
students to keep track of the values
of the factors and of the partial
products. In doing this, students
informally apply the distributive
property of multiplication.
We have just concluded our Life
Science unit and look forward to the
next unit,
Environmental
Science, which is
directly related to our
study of ecosystems. Students will
identify and describe how one
ecosystem might influence another
ecosystem. They will also
differentiate between habitats and
describe ways in which organisms
in one habitat differ from those in
another habitat. Eventually, they
will explain how an organism’s
survival in a habitat may be related
to the organism’s characteristics
WRITING
Students will analyze short plays
and discuss how the
playwright
develops an
audience’s
understanding of
characterization in a play. They will
then choose a character from a
story or play as a springboard for
drawing on specific details to write
descriptive paragraphs in a
character sketch.
In addition, students will also
create poetry by incorporating
language usage skills and
developing the ability to focus on a
detailed moment in time.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Health education will be a short
focus of our upcoming lessons in
social studies.
Students will
analyze advertising
techniques and media
messages for health
products. They will also identify
product label information. Later in
the month students will describe
regional economic specialization in
Maryland and how it affects the work
and lives of people.
INSTR. MUSIC REMINDER
Students who are involved in the
instrumental music program have an
added responsibility. Since
instrumental music instruction is
during class time, students are
missing 30 minutes
of classroom
instruction and
class work. It is the
student’s responsibility to
determine any make-up work that
needs to be completed and do so in
a timely fashion. Please help us
emphasize this obligation with your
child.
Have a wonderful November!
Sincerely,
The Fourth Grade Team