Long Range Plans for Grade 4 & Elementary Music

Long Range Plans for Grade 4 & Elementary Music
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9/15/2015
Katherine Holtz

I will be teaching a split class of Language Arts to Grades 3 and 4, Math, Science, Social Studies, to grade 4 and Music to all Elementary Classes. This document contains intended plans for teaching those subjects, a timeline and evaluation.

RTI Model

For the past several years, we as a school have been studying and learning to use the RTI model to identify students who need assistance and give them that extra support they need to become successful. This year our time table has changed to accommodate GAIN time in Sr. High which allows them specific time to work on noted inadequacies. There are two main ideas I would like to incorporate into my teaching this year. First, we learned that students should not be taken out of core grade level instruction to deal with problem areas – those deficiencies should be addressed in GAIN time. I have decided that my class could also benefit from this GAIN time. I have scheduled in three 35 minute classes a week because I believe elementary students could also benefit from this practice. I have slotted this time for learning keyboard skills, handwriting skills, research, projects and computer use. That allows me toleave an EA in charge of the class room and I can spend 10-15 minutes of targeted instruction time either one-on-one or in small groups with students who are struggling. Using short time slots allows me to teach multiple students and gives them time to work on the same work as other students.

Second, we were advised that targeting essential areas of the curriculum will assist us in teaching. During this year, especially for the Language Arts Curriculum for grades 3 and 4, I will attempt to identify these essential learning and the skills that allow them to be completed. We were given an Essential Standards Chart that I would like to complete for several essential learnings. I will establish what prerequisite skills are necessary in order for students to master this standard, what assessments will be used, and identify what proficiency looks like.

I will be using the AAC website and Alberta Education website for illustrative examples to determine for proficiency. I will be using summative and formative assessment as well as pre-tests to determine what students know, what they have learned, and what needs extra teaching. The “RTI at Work Pro-Solve Intervention Targeting Process – Tier 1 and Tier 2” chart and the Essential Standards Tracking Chart will assist in determining what skills I am teaching well and which skills I can improve.

Language Arts

Grade 3 & 4 Language Arts will be combined. The general outcomes are the same for both grade three and four and they are as follows:

General Outcome 1

Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences.

General Outcome 2

Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print and other media texts.

General Outcome 3

Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to manage ideas and information.

General Outcome 4

Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to enhance the clarity and artistry of communication.

General Outcome 5

Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to respect, support and collaborate with others.

Spelling

We are now using Words Their Way as a spelling program. I will test the students at the beginning of the year to determine what concepts they know and what they don’t. This program allows us as teachers to target and teach specific concepts. WTW is unique in that it is designed for small groups and for students to work at their own pace. Students who need the same instruction are taught together as a group. I expect that I will have 4-6 different groups of students at different levels of learning in this grade 3/ 4 split class. As students gain a skill, they progress to the next area they need to learn. There are many activities that not only keep student interest but assist in their understanding and remembering the concepts being taught.Suggested review assessment times are every 6 weeks. This will determine whether or not a student has gained the knowledge they need to progress onto the next level.

Specific outcomes related to spelling are:

use phonic knowledge and skills and visual memory to spell three syllable words (3 &4)
apply phonics rules and generalizations (3 &4)
apply word analysis to segment words into parts or syllables (3)
apply knowledge of root words, compound word, syllabication, contractions (4)
identify and know meaning of frequently used prefixes and suffixes (4)
associate sounds of vowel combinations, consonant blends, diagraphs, and letter clusters
identify generalizations that assist with the spelling of unfamiliar words, including irregular plurals in own writing (3)
identify frequently misspelled words and develop strategies for learning to spell them correctly in own writing (3 &4)
identify and apply common spelling generalization in own writing (4)
put words in alphabetical order by 1st and 2nd letters (3 &4)
use pictionaries, junior dictionaries, spell-check functions (3 &4)

Reading and Listening

To join with the goal of increase literacy rates in our schoo,l I am focusing on teaching specific strategies to help children learn. I will again be using the template of Daily 5 (Read to Self, Read to Others, Listen to Reading, Writing and Word Work) to give a structure to teaching my LA class. This program has specific targets, helps me identify specific problems, has checklists, and gives possible solutions to correct problems. My assessments will include a Jerry Johns to ascertain a student’s reading level at the beginning of the year. I will also evaluate by individual readings with each student, and a Star Reading Test. AR tests allow students to self-monitor their comprehension progress. The students will read every day and have some type of specific reading instruction based on the student’s individual progress. Once a week my students will have reading buddies with grade 2, to build their fluency and give purpose to their reading. We will do at least 2 novel studies this year where I will read to the students. The first one is “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in September and this will focus mainly on extending vocabulary and identifying main characters and relating to personal experience. In January I will read “The Silver Chair” and again we will be working on extending vocabulary, predicting, making inferences, and identifying the plot. Students will need to retell the story in cartoon form, hanging mobile form, or written form. LA is not confined to LA class and Social Studies and Science text books are excellent places for students to glean information from glossaries, captions, titles, tables of content, diagrams, charts, etc. During Read to Self and Read to Others, students will be introduced to various genres of literature. At times they will be asked to do a book report, retell the story orally or in written form, write an AR test, share it with someone else or make a character wheel. Every three weeks I will re-assess students in a one-on-one reading conference to track their progress and give specific tutoring.

use headings, paragraphs, punctuation and quotation marks to assist with constructing and confirming meaning (3)
use text features, such as headings, subheadings and margin organizers, to enhance understanding of ideas and information (4)
attend to and use knowledge of capitalization, commas, punctuation to read fluently and with comprehension during oral and silent reading (3)
identify and experience different forms of literature such as nonfiction, fables, storybooks, plays, poetry, folk tales, novel, fairy tales and choose a favourite (3 & 4)
use grammatical knowledge to predict words and sentence structures (3)
apply a variety of strategies, such as setting a purpose, confirming predictions, making inferences and drawing conclusions (3)
identify the main idea or topic and supporting details (3 & 4)
preview texts (3 & 4)
read silently with increasing confidence and accuracy (3)
monitor and confirm meaning by rereading when necessary, and by applying knowledge of pragmatic, semantic, syntactic and graphophonic cueing systems (3 )
use maps, atlases, charts, dictionaries, libraries, video, plays, folk tales, songs, etc. to find information (3 & 4)
use text features such as titles, pictures, headings, labels, diagrams, (3) legends, glossaries, dictionary guide words to find information (4)
recall important points, and make and revise predictions regarding upcoming information (3 &4)
experiment with words and word meanings to produce a variety of effects (3)
explain relationships among words and concepts associated with topics of study (3)
recognize English words and expressions that come from other cultures and languages (4)

Writing

There are many ways the students will show their proficiency at writing throughout the year. Journals will be used to record thoughts and ideas, and it will be the place where they will draft letters, paragraphs and stories. They may be asked to take down instructions in their journal and they will use their journals to contain their notes for research. Major projects will include a letter to our local MLA, an ‘essay’ (3 paragraphs) for the science unit Plant Growth and Changes, writing a play for the science unit Light and Shadows, asking and answering research questions in Social Studies, and book summaries and stories in LA. Students will use the computers to learn keyboarding and will type letters on the computer. They will also have a research project for Social Studies and will need to organize a presentation to show the class.Grade 3 will have a phonics book and grade 4 will have a grammar book that they will use to learn the technical aspects of writing- simple and complex sentence structure, present and past forms, dictionary skills, conventions, editing, etc. Assessments and feedback of journals will be given weekly, sometimes in writing and sometimes one-on-one. Larger projects will require a draft (sometimes 2) that the student and I can conference over before the final assessment.

experiment with a variety of strategies for generating and organizing ideas (3 & 4)
use sentence variety to link ideas and create impression on familiar audiences (3)
select and use visuals that enhance meaning (4)
experiment with a variety of story beginning to choose ones that best introduce particular stories (3)
produce oral, print and other media texts that follow a logical sequence, and demonstrate clear relationships between character and plot (4)
add sufficient detail to oral, print and other media texts to tell about setting and character, and to sustain plot (3)
produce narratives that describe experiences and reflect personal responses (4)
use pre-established criteria to provide support and feedback to peers on their oral, print and other media texts (4)
share your work with others to identify strengths and weakness (3 &4)
combine and rearrange existing information to accommodate new ideas and information (3&4)
edit for complete and incomplete sentences (3)
identify and reduce fragments and run-on sentences (4)
edit for subject-verb agreement (4)
print and write legibly using the proper alignment, shape and slant (3&4)
space words and sentences consistently on a line and page (3 &4)
use keyboarding skill to compose, revise and print text (3&4)
understand and use vocabulary associated with keyboarding and word processing (3&4)
use special features of software when composing, formatting and revising texts (4)
use an increasing variety of words to express meaning (3&4)
choose words, language patterns, illustrations or sounds to add detail and create desired effects in oral, print and other media texts (3&4)
identify a variety of sentence types including simple and compound sentences and use in own writing (3&4)
identify correct subject-verb agreement and use in own writing (3)
identify correct noun-pronoun agreement and use in own writing (4)
use adjectives and adverbs to add interest and detail to own writing (3)
distinguish between complete and incomplete sentences (3)
identify past, present and future action (4)
use capital letters appropriately (3 & 4)
use capitalization to designate organizations and use quotations in own writing (4)
use exclamation marks appropriately (3&4)
use apostrophes to form common contractions and show possession (3&4)
identify commas, end punctuation, apostrophes and quotations marks when reading and use them to assist comprehension (3&4)
use commas after introductory words in sentences and when citing addresses in own writing (4)
identify quotation marks in passages of dialogue (4)
express feelings related to words, visuals and sound in oral, print and other media texts (3)
identify how authors use comparisons, and explain how they create mental images (3)
explain how onomatopoeia and alliteration are used to create mental images (4)
explain how language and visuals work together to communicate meaning and enhance effect (4)
organize ideas and information, using appropriate categories and strategies, in chronological order, identifying cause and effect, posing and answering questions (3&4)
draft ideas and information into short paragraphs with topic and supporting sentences (3&4)
record facts and ideas, make notes of key words, phrases and images, list significant ideas and paraphrase information (3&4)

Speaking, Viewing, Representing

Students will have opportunities to present information to their class when they do presentations for Social Studies and Science.They will also be presenting information to other classes when they do the Shadow Play for other grades. Declamation is a big part of our school activities and students will be required to recite their poem to their class and possibly to the school. On a regular basis they will be reading with other students and discussing their books. Discussion is a HUGE part of our everyday classes, where students are asked to review information from yesterday or to paraphrase what we’ve learned today.

identify and discuss favourite authors, topics and kinds of oral, print and other media texts. (3 & 4)
discuss a variety of oral, print and or other media text (4)
connect own experiences with those of others portrayed in oral, print and other media texts (3)
retell events of stories (3&4)
identify and summarize the main idea (3&4) and explain their causes and describe how the influence subsequent events (4)
connect thoughts and actions of characters to personal and classroom experiences (3&4)
explain understanding of new concepts in own words (3 & 4)
understand new concepts by asking questions (3), and by paraphrasing and discussing (4)
discuss and compare the ways similar topics are developed in different forms of oral, print and other media texts (4)
choose a favourite media type and discuss reasons why it’s a favourite (3&4)
identify areas of personal accomplishment and areas for enhancements in language learning and use (4)
discuss area of personal accomplishment as readers, writers and illustrators (3)
ask questions to clarify information and ensure understanding (3&4)
explore ways to find additional ideas and information to extend understanding (4)
identify and discuss favourite authors, topics and kinds of oral, print and other media texts (4)
connect the thoughts and actions of characters portrayed in oral, print and other media texts to personal and classroom experiences (3&4)
make inferences about a character’s actions or feelings (3)
express preferences for one character over another (3&4)
develop own opinions based on ideas encountered in oral, print and other media texts (4)
recognize examples of repeated humour, sound and poetic effects that contribute to audience enjoyment (3)
recognize how words and word combinations, such as word play, repetition and rhyme, influence or convey meaning (4)
discuss ways that visual images convey meaning and different ways information can be presented visually (3&4)
explain connections among events, settings and main characters (3&4)
identify the speaker or narrator in a variety of literature (3&4)
identify facts and opinions, main ideas and details (3&4)
adjust your presentation for a specific audience (3&4)
ask topic related and relevant questions (3&4)
contribute ideas to a class plan and follow it (3&4)
evaluate and discuss whether information gather is sufficient to answer research questions (3&4)
organize and share ideas and information on topics to engage familiar audiences (3)
use titles, headings and visuals to add interest and engage audiences (3&4)
speak or present oral readings with fluency, rhythm, pace and with appropriate intonation to emphasize key ideas (3)
adjust volume, tone of voice and gestures appropriately, to suit a variety of social and classroom activities (4)
present ideas to peers using a pre-establish plan in a well-organized form. (3&4)

Group Work

This section of the LA curriculum is covered in all areas of the school curriculum. Group work is especially important in Social Studies where students will be answering research questions and presenting information together in small groups. In Science class, students will be working together to solve problems; build machines, and present ideas to the class. In LA class students work together in groups learning their spelling words, to work on plays together, to read together, and work on presentations together.

demonstrate respect for the ideas, abilities and language use of others (3)
identify and discuss differences in language use in a variety of school and community contexts (4)
use appropriate language to acknowledge and celebrate individual and class accomplishments (3)
use appropriate language to acknowledge special events and to honour accomplishments in and beyond the classroom (4)
work cooperatively with others in small groups on structured tasks (3)
identify others who can provide assistance and seek their help in specific situations (3)
take responsibility for collaborating with others to achieve group goals (4)
ask for and provide information and assistance for completing individual and group tasks (4)
contribute ideas and information on topics to develop a common knowledge base in the group (3&4)
ask others for their ideas, express interest in their contributions, use brainstorming and summarizing and reporting to organize and carry out group projects (3&4)
assess the effectiveness of the group using pre-established criteria and determine areas for improvement (3&4)

Grade 4 Math