A Quick Look Into
Fourth Grade
Social Studies: Idaho History is the main
focus. To kick off the year,
 Wagons Ho is brought to
Hemingway as a way to bring history alive and provide students
with hands-on pioneering opportunities. Mark your
calendars and gather some western wear for the great fun!
As a culminating field trip we will
visit the
Capitol Building and Historical Museum.
Reading: Our reading program has three main
components:
-
 Reading skills - taught in a variety of settings (small
groups, ability groups, whole group, and flexible groups).
- Fourth Grade Reading Anthology - based on themes.
- Accelerated Reading Program - monitoring of Independent
Reading.
Spelling: Students will be given a list of words
each week to practice. Word lists will be set individually,
although the whole class will be working on the same spelling
frequency or rule. A challenge list will also be
available. Consistently spelling the high frequency words
is required. Students' grades will be based on spelling
within context of their daily work and spelling test grades.
A grade will also be taken from sentence dictation using
spelling words. Homework will be sent home during the week
to help study the word list for the week and practice for the
sentence dictation. Tests will be given on Fridays.
Language Arts: Writer's Workshop will be the
basis of the language arts program. Becoming better
writers comes from writing as much as possible! Grammar
skills will be taught within the context of writing assignments.
Free writing time will be available, but much of the writing
will have specific requirements. Using the District's
scoring rubric to evaluate writing will assist grading
procedures. The rubric addresses the six traits of writing
using a 5-point scale for each trait.
Science: One of the highlights of fourth
grade is our science/social studies rotation. Topics will
be taught in two-week rotations between all four teachers.
Beginning in September, our first rotation schedule is as
follows:
- Mrs. Thoreson: Magnets, Electricity, and
Measurement
- Ms. Martin: Plants and Health
- Mrs. Copeland: Rocks and Minerals & Body Systems
Handwriting: Most students had
instruction in the formation of cursive letters in second and
third grade. In fourth grade most daily work will be
required to be completed in cursive. During the first
trimester certain assignments will be completed in cursive ,and
by second trimester the majority of assignments will be expected
to be in cursive.
Math: Each trimester we pre-test and group
students according to their individual needs and strengths.
Our Team:
Susan Thoreson
Marilyn Martin
Heidi Copeland
Heather Guy
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