Fourth Grade

King’s Highway Elementary School
Mr. Altland
2016-2017

I call my students “my kids” because in our year together they aren’t just kids on my class list, they become a part of my heart.

Dear Parents,

Hello and welcome to “Back to School Night” at King’s Highway! It’s a pleasure to have you visit our classroom this evening. The following will hopefully be helpful information for you concerning classroom procedures and fourth grade curriculum.

Please realize that as hard as I try, I am not perfect. I will make mistakes, but will do so with the best intentions in mind for the students. If you have any questions or concerns at any time, do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you ahead of time for all of your support!

Goals

This year I plan to help each child to…

  • work to his/her potential.
  • be responsible for completing tasks.
  • develop self-confidence.
  • take responsibility for his/her actions and to think before acting.
  • treat peers, adults, and self with respect.
  • take pride in everything that he/she does.

Grading

90-100%Distinguished

80-89%Advanced

70-79%Proficient

60-69%Basic

59%-BelowBelow Basic

*Math testsand math grades on report cards may look different this year. Math assessments will not have a percentage grade, therefore, we will continue to not put percentages on report cards. I believe there will be a different grading scale from last year.

Homework

Homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday. Your child will be given an agenda book to record all assignments.If you have any notes for please place them in his/her homework folder. I will check both, but I do not check agenda books until the end of the day.

Homework is practice and/or an extension of what was taught during the day. We will go over any problems that the children do not understand.After reviewing with an adult,if your child is having difficulty understanding a concept, please let me know by circling the problem.

I feel that it is important to let you know that not all homework assignments will not be graded. However, I will check that homework is completed each day, and use this information to help determine the effort part of your child’s grade on their report grade.

Reading Log

I am asking that your child take the time each night as part of his/her homework to read for at least 15-20 minutes. I will send home a Reading Log each week to record book titles, pages read, and 3-5 sentences summarizing what was read Monday-Thursday. This Reading Log should be signed each week and kept in his/her Homework Folder to be checked each day.

SUBJECT AREAS

LANGUAGE ARTS

Coatesville Area School District utilizes the research-based series, Storytown, published by the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers as a resource, as we teach the PA Common Core standards.Each day the students will have lessons in spelling/phonics, comprehension, vocabulary development and grammar.

Reading

There are many components to our program to support our students in becoming lifelong readers. Our goal is to make reading attainable and pleasurable for all our students.

  • Reading Aloud: Teachers read to students to expand their vocabulary, concepts and knowledge. The teacher serves as a model of expressive, fluent reading.
  • Shared Reading: These whole class activities are literature-based. The activities provide for the integration of reading, writing, listening and speaking as

well as direct instruction in skills and strategies. The stories are connected to a central theme.

  • Guided Reading: Students are grouped by their instructional reading levels. In this setting the teacher reinforces skills taught in the whole class lessons and the students practice with materials they can comfortably read. The students have the opportunity to improve fluency and expression, develop comprehension skills and strategies and experience the pleasure of reading independently.
  • Independent Reading: During the day there is an opportunity for the students to have self-selected reading time. They are encouraged to choose reading material that they can read on their own. There is a variety of reading material from which to choose.

Words Their Way

Words Their Way is a hands-on, developmentally driven approach to word study that illustrates how to integrate and teach children phonics, vocabulary, and spelling skills. The words will need to be practiced at home each night, and a test will be given every week.

Handwriting

The four keys to legibility-shape, size, spacing and slant are presented in a sequential approach to develop quality handwriting. Using the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting program, students have received a solid foundation with regular and guided practice in 3rd grade that should support all of their writing, reading and assessment efforts. I will model proper handwriting techniques for students throughout the year, and expect them to use them. They will be a handwriting grade on the report cards.

Daily Oral Language

Each day the students find and correct grammar, punctuation and capitalization mistakes in sentences. This gives them the opportunity to practice correct sentence structure and editing.

Writing

Being A Writer program is designed to create a love of writing; an ability to write clearly, creatively, and purposefully for sustained periods of time; and a familiarity with the crafts and conventions of writing in the major genres (Personal Narrative; Fiction; Expository Nonfiction; Functional Nonfiction; Poetry). It will help students develop as writers and as caring, collaborative people. We want them to approach writing with confidence and understand that writing, first and foremost, is communication.

MATHEMATICS

Coatesville Area School District utilizes the Everyday Mathematicsprogram. It is a comprehensive Pre-K through Grade 6 mathematics program engineered for the Common Core State Standards.

Developed by The University of Chicago, School Mathematics Project, the Everyday Mathematics spiral curriculum continually reinforces abstract math concepts through concrete real-world applications.

This program offers a variety of techniques to make math simpler to teach, easier to learn, and more accessible to every student. It ensures that students achieve progress and test success.

Throughout Everyday Mathematics, emphasis is placed on

Problem solving in everyday situations and mathematical contexts; an instructional design that revisits topics regularly to ensure depth of knowledge and long-term learning; distributed practice through games and other daily activities; teaching that supports “productive struggle” and maintains high cognitive demand; and lessons and activities that engage all students and make mathematics fun.

There is also an emphasis on basic math facts. Knowing the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts are a must. Without this basic knowledge, problem solving becomes more challenging because the student is concentrating on the computation as well as the process to solve a simple equation. The students are given opportunities to practice in school but it also requires practicing at home too.

SCIENCE

Our curriculum is aligned to the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Science and Technology and Environment and Ecology. We use some materials from the FOSS (Full Option Science System) inquiry-based kits. The focus is on building student awareness by providing concrete experiences for students to draw on their efforts to make sense of the world. As they progress through elementary school, the students should improve their knowledge, attitudes (curiosity, respect for evidence, critical reflection, flexibility, and sensitivity to living things) skills and participation. All of the programs are student centered, hands-on and minds-on. Students are encouraged to use higher order thinking skills and construct their own meaning. They need to be effective problem solvers and critical thinkers. The teacher should be thought of as the “provider of opportunities”. Assessment, both formative and summative, focuses on how students are thinking. Fourth Grade areas of study may include, but are not limited to Force and Motion, Simple Machines, Motion and Design, Earth Materials, and The Human Body.

SOCIAL STUDIES

In Social Studies we will be studying Pennsylvania.

How can I as a parent become involved?

  • Send a clear message that you expect you child’s best effort.
  • Reinforce reading for at least fifteen minutes a night. It is a homework requirement. Please sign the reading log and return it the following day.
  • Encourage your child to participate in our STAR (students taking accelerated

reading) computer tests to check comprehension of a story the child has read on his own.

  • Be a model by reading magazines, newspapers and books.
  • Encourage reading time as a leisure activity for the whole family.
  • Present your child with opportunities to write. Encourage writing stories, thank you notes, letters and messages.
  • Children need to connect to math and practice it. Give them opportunities to count money and tell time. Follow recipes together. Talk about the math you are using while you measure and build.
  • Do the “basic facts practice” homework as your child’s partner.
  • Have fun with computations and problem solving skills. Work together and “talk out” what you are thinking as you are solving the problem. Don’t overload. Break down the work into small pieces.
  • Practice answering problems in a timed situation.

Together we will make the strongest team: you, your child and me!

Class List

BoysGirls

Declan BernadrdiniSage Barrett

Dillon BoydEvelyn Dersch

Khalid BrakeKenasia Jackson-Jennings

Brogan CooverCharisma Longenecker

Jaden EvansAddison McElyea

Jordan Greer-RosadoIsabella Pugh

Myles HammondAddison Shallis

Michael Hertzog

Joseph MattsonSkye Shrieves

Preston MirandaAryanna Tooles

Ian ShannonKarena Wolf

Jayden Stauffer

Special Schedule:

Day 1 – Art

Day 2 – Library

Day 3 – Music

Day 4 – Gym

Day 5 – Art

Day 6 - Music

Mr. Altland

King’s Highway Elementary School 610-383-3775

Mr. Altland

King’s Highway Elementary School 610-383-3775