4th Grade

Our 4th grade language arts curriculum teaches students a range of skills through all aspects of the English literature. Language arts involves the development of comprehensive skills covering reading, writing, grammar, spelling and vocabulary. Your child will study and develop the fundamentals of language arts by learning the strategies needed to comprehend literary and expository text, formulate paragraphs by focusing on a specific reason for writing and increase their level of fluency and expression.

Reading

Teachers will use different works of literature to enhance your child’s reading ability and meet the required 4th grade reading standards. Utilizing McGraw-Hill reading, your child will begin learning all the elements that make up literary and expository text. Based on the stories students read, they will make predictions, draw conclusions, identify the main idea, make inferences, and form generalizations. Our 4th grade students will also learn different methods of summarizing a story, such as conducting judgments and decisions, determining the cause and effect, and comparing and contrasting different parts of the story. Your child will participate in class activities and a weekly story reading to help enhance their comprehension skills in both reading quietly to themselves and aloud to others.

Writing

Our 4th graders will expand upon their previous learned knowledge of the basics of writing into the various styles of writing. They are taught the foundation of descriptive and detailed five paragraph writing to prepare them for creating their own forms of literature. Your child will utilize flee maps and color coding activities to help organize parts of the writing process. Once the students learn the basics of forming a proper paragraph and all the components that guarantee fluency, they will learn a variety of writing genres, including:

• Narrative
• Letter writing
• Research
• Poetry
• Functional
• Expository
• Persuasive
• Literary response
• Grammar

Our students refine and expand upon their knowledge of writing sentences using nouns, verbs, adjectives and proper capitalization. They will also learn and understand more complex sentence formation using prepositions, interjections, conjunctions, adverbs, pronouns and proper punctuation. By teaching your child the rules of grammar and its correct usage, they will understand the importance of sentence structure, both written and spoken.

Vocabulary and Spelling

Students learning 4th grade language arts will focus on vocabulary and spelling. Along with utilizing our Your child will learn to spell 20 spelling words per week using words from Zaner-Bloser. Students will be asked to spell and create two dictation sentences for each academic spelling word. Teachers will also have your child participate in Wordly Wise 3000, requiring them to define and spell 15 words every other week. Each activity, along with other forms of classwork will increase their vocabulary and prepare them for more advanced terms in the following year.

As a 4th grader at Noah Webster Schools, your child will learn about the development that shaped Arizona’s history. Learning about Arizona’s history includes its statehood, territory and its agricultural industry. Students will also be asked to complete two Arizona history projects throughout the year.

Our students will begin to explore the world by learning how to recognize different features on a map. They will continue sharpening their map skills by being able to identify large land features, such as islands, mountain ranges, plateaus and more. In addition to Arizona’s history, your child will learn:

• Our government and the constitution
• The Ancient Puebloan People and the Desert People
• Spanish explorers and missionaries
• Mountain men, lawmen, and outlaws

The 4th grade science curriculum combines a series of lessons and worksheets, along with direct instruction for multiple topics. The topics will cover:

• General understanding of electricity
• Weather and climate
• Environmental changes
• Magnets
• Technology
• Adaptions

Your child will learn how to formulate conclusions based on trends, make predictions from a project’s results, and create new questions and predictions using science experiments and fun activities.

During your child’s 4th grade year, they are asked to participate in an individual science fair for an opportunity to incorporate what they have learned throughout the year into a specific project that may then be displayed at the school.

Our teachers use advance-based technology in order to teach our students in the most innovative way possible. As one of the four subjects in our STEM curriculum, technology is extremely important to parents, students and teachers at Noah Webster Schools. We also use an interactive program called A which allows our students to stay involved by being able to access the program from school and from home.

Our advanced technology allows our teachers to be more engaged with their students on a higher level than most other schools. By encouraging students to become proactive in the classroom, we are increasing their learning capacity in which they process new material faster and easier. Each of our Mesa students is assigned an individual laptop at school, while Pima students are assigned a Samsung Galaxy tablet, so your child will be working with the most modern technology today to complete their assignments. The Fuse document camera brings the entire class together for a better learning experience by having a new way to share work with the class and explain assignments or topics with ease.

Physical Education

All students participate in physical education classes at least once a week. Classes focus on competency of motor skills and performance of physical activities in order to achieve and maintain health-enhancing levels of fitness. Positive social interaction is embedded into instruction while promoting the value of physical activity.

Music

All students participate in music classes at least once a week. Students create meaning and expression through the use of listening, performing and improvisational skills. Students are introduced to the elements and theory of music and musical instruments.

Library

Noah Webster offers an online cataloging system. Destiny Quest allows students to browse Noah Webster Schools Library’s entire collection and place a hold on their final selection. The book will then be delivered to the student’s classroom within 3-4 business days. Reference materials are also available.

Art

Noah Webster Schools has implemented Art Masterpiece to introduce artists and styles from diverse cultures and time periods. Students are taught to use classic and modern techniques in order to create artwork to communicate ideas, meanings, and/or purposes.