Please make sure all dismissal changes are reported before 1 pm. We do not always get a chance to check our email late in the day! If you have a last-minute change, contact the front office so that they can get the message to us. Please also be sure to update any changes in PikMyKid.
We do not allow parents to drop off forgotten items! This means water bottles, instruments, PE shoes, or projects (these will still be counted late). We will allow lunches to be brought. Thank you for your support in teaching our students responsibility!
Missing work will be input as a 0 until it is received, at which point it will be graded and updated.
Parent communication folders will be sent home every Thursday. Please be sure to look out for anything with a "please sign and return" stamp, which will be located in the Return to School pocket. These need to be signed by the parent/guardian and sent back for our records. Anything else stays at home/can be recycled.
We do not give homework on Friday nights with the exception of possibly studying for a quiz/test. Enjoy your weekend!
How to Help Your 4th Grader
How to Help Your 4th Grader
Check homework for accuracy!
Make sleep a priority
Encourage self-advocacy by having them speak with us directly about concerns or issues they are having, including:
clarifying a missed answer on a test
wanting to move seats for any reason
finding out what work is missing
Encourage reading for pleasure- reach out if you need book suggestions!
Allow kids to make mistakes
Enforce responsibility (they should be telling you what HW/tests they have, not the other way around)
Responsibility Congratulations! Your child has now reached Upper Elementary! With 4th grade comes lots of changes as the children have now become closer to middle school than to Kindergarten. However, they are still kids! Enjoy this transition period where you will get to watch your child grow in responsibility and autonomy while keeping his or her positive attitude, zest for inquiry, and love of exploring.
Academically, 4th graders are given a lot of responsibility when it comes to school work. This is a critical grade in which executive functioning skills are developed and students are expected to take control of their scheduling, organization, and prioritizing. We don't just throw them in sink-or-swim, though! Skills are carefully taught and modeled; how to use an agenda, how to budget homework, sports, and play, how to organize notebooks, desks, and lockers, and how to keep up with assignments.
In accordance with this and as gently as possible- you should not email your child's teacher to find out the homework! Whenever homework is assigned, we will write it down as a class in our homework folder calendars. Tests will always be announced with a week's notice. Projects, generally even more in advance. Study guides/project instructions will be uploaded to this website and also emailed on Wednesday with my weekly update. If your child forgets anything at school, they have online access to most materials or they can call a friend.
Think of this year as the big push before you let your child wobble off on their bicycle sans training wheels. They may fall, but they will also survive. This year is very much about learning vital executive functioning skills to set them up for success later in their school career. Allowing them to navigate forgetting homework, not studying enough, or procrastinating will not mean that they won't grow into a successful adult. In fact, it will promote their development into a fully self-sufficient, contributing member of society.
Math
Deep Breath: something that is very common for 4th graders, and very difficult for parents, is that this is the year we see kids fall. Up until 3rd grade, children are learning operational skills. How to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. 4th grade comes as a challenge because now the students need to know how to critically apply these memorized skills to multi-step word problems.
3rd grade standard: solvetwo-step word problems using the four operations.
Meg baked 55 cookies and Kim baked 68. They sell 49 cookies at the school bake sale. How many cookies do they have left?
1. 55 + 68 = 123 2. 123 - 49 = 74 cookies left
4th grade standard: solve multistep word problems with whole numbers and having whole-number answers using the four operations, including problems in which remainders must be interpreted.
A bakery produced two batches of bread with 80 loaves in each batch. It sold 30 loaves each hour. How many loaves of bread were sold in 4 hours? How many loaves of bread were left to sell?
1. 2 x 80 = 160 loaves 2. 30 x 4 = 120 loaves in 4 hours 3. 160-120 = 40 loaves left
On Monday, Paolo sold 21 tickets to the dance. On Tuesday he sold three times as many tickets as he sold on Monday. On Wednesday, he sold twice as many tickets as he sold on Tuesday. How many total tickets did Paolo sell in the three days?
If a 4th grader does not know their math facts, they are already a step behind as they try to figure out 2 x 8 in order to solve 2 x 80 in the first step of the first problem.
Many traditionally "straight-A" students begin to struggle with math in 4th grade and often get frustrated because they are used to math coming easily to them. With practice, your 4th grader will learn how to work these problems out, but you may see an initial drop in their grades. It requires perseverance and attention to detail in order to tackle math problems with this level of rigor but know that this is a common and recurring issue for a child in 4th grade!
Reading
Students in 4th grade may come in with chapter books. Others may still be reading picture books or are moving to graphic novels. There is nothing wrong with any of these. We just want kids to enjoy reading! Kids will take AR tests in order to reach a certain number of points each quarter. The goal is always appropriate to the child's level of reading in order to foster a feeling of success upon completion. Did we mention our main goal is that they love reading?! When it comes to how students are tested in reading, know that a deeper level of thinking will be required. There is less focus on recall and more focus on inferences and connections with personal experiences.
Science reading will also challenge students as vocabulary they will encounter becomes more rigorous. Study of Greek and Latin roots aids in their understanding of and ability to decode these large words rich in meaning.
