WELCOME TO EVERGREEN

4th GRADE

Thank you for coming to Back to School Night. We are delighted to have your children in our classes and are very excited about our school year together.

We are firmly committed to the belief that any child can learn and succeed given the right support system. Communication is key to your child’s education. We can be reached by phone at 347-3411 and by email through our class web sites at

Cooperative learning and personal responsibility will be promoted through the teaching methods we use and the learning processes the students participate in. Our classes are taught by a holistic approach. All subject areas are combined so that the students see relationships that are consistently reinforced by their activities and studies. Subjects are taught as themes throughout the year. We will try to culminate these themes with thematic experiences (i.e. – Native Day).

Expectations:

In our classrooms, the students are expected to have and use respect. This includes the following:

  • exhibiting high level behavior in and out of the classroom
  • actively participating in their daily learning
  • completing assigned work on time with a focus on quality
  • making good choices that positively effect themselves and others

Students and parents need to understand that those who are taking other students “off task” will be held accountable. We are committed, along with the support of Mrs. Oppezzo, to do whatever it takes to protect the learning environment of each student.

Class Web Site

Please visit our classroom web sites at There are many useful web sites that your child can use for our projects/reports, practice quizzes/educational activities, and a link to email us.

Lexia Reading program is now online and can be used at home. In addition, Study Island can be used at home.

Math

We use the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill math series as well as Accelerated Math (AM) and our own Standards Based Measure (SBM) test. Macmillan/McGraw-Hill is a direct instruction piece that utilizes workbooks. The Accelerated Math program lets the students pace their own learning. We use mini lessons to teach concepts to individuals or small groups. AM is part of their nightly homework.

Language Arts and Writing

This year we will use the Houghton Mifflin Reading Program. This program is aligned with the California State Standards. We will be working in whole groups, small groups, and independently. Each week students will be given a Language Arts packet for homework. This packet will consist of our spelling list and other language arts worksheets. On Friday, we will be giving a spelling test. Students are given direct grammar practice with Daily Oral Language activities, Focus lessons, and workbook pages.

Writing

This year your child will be taking the California State Writing Test. To prepare your child for this test we will be writing in class daily. Three of the writing genres 4th grade will be working on are: Summary, Narrative, and Response to Literature.

Science

Focus areas:Electricity and Magnetism

Water Properties

Earth Materials

Structures of Life

Social StudiesMusic

We will be spending 45 min./week with

Focus areas:California Geography Mrs. Ehorn learning and singing music

CA Native Americans that correlates with our social studies

California Explorers curriculum.

California Missions

Rancho Days

Gold Rush

Theme Days

All days are tentative. Dates are not set.

Cooperative Learning Day – Sept.

Salmon Day – Oct

Haunted House Fundraiser - Oct

Native Day – Dec/Jan

Explorer Day - March

Miner’s Camp - June

DAILY/HOMEWORK SCHEDULE

Reading Log

Your child has a Reading Log sheet in their Homework folder on which they will keep track of their monthly home reading. In fourth grade, students are required to read for ten (10) minutes, four nights a week. During this time your child needs to be reading an Accelerated Reading (AR) book that is at his/her level or the assigned reading genre.

Community Service

This year, we will be teaching your children about community service through recycling, fund-raising, and parent involvement. Please let us know if you have knowledge or skills in a specific area that you would like to share with our students.

We will be raising money by recycling water bottles and aluminum cans. Proceeds will be donated to the Smile Train. This is an organization that provides cleft surgeries for children.

Thank you for coming tonight and we look forward to a wonderful year with your children.

Mrs. Dyche

Mrs. Hewitt

Mr. Soinila

Mr. Gallagher

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