Curriculum
Religion- The students study the basics of the Catholic faith including the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Works of Mercy, the Seven Sacraments, the Creed, and the Miracle of Creation. In fourth grade, the students participate in a celebration of saints. A research project culminates in a fully costumed rendition of their chosen saint at a special mass. All students attend a weekly All School Mass at 8:15 am on Thursdays, as well as Holy Days. Parents are invited to attend these student led Masses and enjoy our Junior High Choir. Students also participate in Adoration and Reconciliation services throughout the year.
Language Arts- The fourth grader classroom uses an approach that uses a variety of different genres of novels for reading, such as fiction and non-fiction works. Much time is spent increasing our comprehension through writing and oral discussions. Our writing includes essays, creative writing, “how-to” reports, persuasive speeches, journal writing, and several research reports. There is strong emphasis on writing across the curriculum. Students work on (DOL)Daily Oral Language on a daily, weekly basis, as well as using other grammar resources to teach the grammar standards, such as parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation, and capitalization. Along with the DOL, the students work on a short daily reading passage which emphasizes reading skills. Each week they have spelling/vocabulary words from the novel to increase their vocabulary and spelling skills.
Math-The fourth grade math program focuses on the topics of Number Sense, Computation, Algebraic Thinking, Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis and Statistics. In addition to the basics such as multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, ratio, percents, and probability, students use story problems and other multi-step approaches for higher level thinking.
Social Studies- The fourth grade focuses their study mainly on Indiana History. They cover such topics as Indiana’s settlement, culture, geography, important Indiana men and women, and the history of Indiana statehood. In addition, they examine how Indiana fits into the greater United States.
Science- In fourth grade we use a variety of different approaches to teach Science. We use the Carolina kits for hands-on science to teach animal studies, and electricity. We use the Science book to teach other topics such asp lants, energy, We have a unit on forces and motions which is taught by using a Hot Wheels kit. We spend much of our time cooperating with each other, in partners or groups. We use S.T.E.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to teach hands-on lessons which include designing, creating, writing, and presenting on a certain topic or project.