Dear 4th Grade Parents,
As we progress through the school year, our fourth-grade teachers have noticed a pattern: many students are turning in homework with simple, avoidable mistakes. While mistakes are a natural part of learning, many of these errors come from not reading and following directions, not using resources like notes or multiplication charts, rushing, or not taking time to check work—not always from a lack of understanding.
One of the best ways to help your child grow in responsibility and accuracy is to look over completed homework before it is turned in. This does not mean correcting it for them or giving the right answers. Instead, your role is to help your child slow down and take ownership of the process.
Here are a few practical ways you can support your child at home:
1. Review completed work briefly.
A quick scan can reveal if problems were skipped, directions were misunderstood, or careless errors were made.
2. Ask, don’t answer.
If you see an error, simply point out the problem and ask your child to try again:
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“Can you check this one once more?”
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“Does your answer match what the directions asked?”
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“Is there a different way to solve this?”
This way, students practice correcting their own work, which builds critical thinking and perseverance.
3. Emphasize effort and accuracy.
The goal is not perfection, but learning to take care and pride in one’s work. When students know they are responsible for correcting their own errors, they begin to internalize the habit of double-checking and striving for accuracy.
Homework is a tool for practice and growth, not just a task to complete. By partnering with us in this way—encouraging your child to recheck and redo rather than rushing through—we can help them build the habits of attentiveness and diligence that will serve them well, both in academics and in life.
Thank you for your continued partnership and support in your child’s education.
Warmly,
Your 4th Grade Teachers
Q1W8
The end is nigh! But in a good way. This is the second to last week of Quarter 1, wrapping up two months of dedicated work and watching students truly transform into capable fourth graders. For some, this transition was easy; for others, it is an ongoing process that we know they will conquer. Part of that transition is the increased workload, so please ensure all late work is finished before any assignments become anchors with scores of zero. Furthermore, all parents are expected to sign up for parent-teacher conferences, so please ensure you do that. But that'll be all she writes, so after tying a few loose ends, it'll be mandatory that all, parents and students alike, enjoy a well deserved break from school. You've earned it.
NEWS:
-9/26 Chemistry Comprehension Check. Students will be assessed on all thing chemistry. They should prepare by reviewing terms such as matter, atoms, molecules, elements, compounds, mass, volume, density, physical changes, and chemical changes.
-10/1 Kingdoms Day. This will be our first kingdom meeting of the year! Students can wear their purchased kingdom shirt. It'll be fun and a great celebration of our virtues!
-10/2 Q1 Cumulative Roots Test: pre, post, mono, unus, poly, bi, tri, quad, co, contra, un, dis, re, syn/sym, circ, trans, able/ible, less
-10/3 Last Day of Quarter 1, which is a half day.
- Parent Teacher Conferences on 10/13 and 10/14. Every parent is expected to sign up for a parent teacher conference over the break. Sign up here:
4B-Munyan-Parent Teacher Conference
4C-Smith-Parent Teacher Conference
CURRICULUM:
ELA:
We have no new poems for POETRY RECITATION. Students will be performing the poem "Ozymandias" by Percy B. Shelley if they have not yet. The first poem of Quarter 2 will be "Beowulf".
LITERATURE continues with Princess and the Goblin. We will spend a large chunk of the week getting as far as we can so that we can wrap up the story within the quarter. This will set us up for Robin Hood for the rest Quarter 2. Be sure your students have the correct edition of Robin Hood prepared.
We continue our COMPOSITION program with putting all our learning of Introductory Paragraphs into use. This is a graded attempt of writing a introductory paragraph, combine all of the different skills we have practiced in the previous weeks and bring us closer to essay writing. Students will write a hook, general sentence, topic sentence and 3 point sentence following the notes in the red spiral.
In GRAMMAR, Introduce our final unit of the quarter: direct objects. We will familiarize ourselves with the term and practice implementing this new noun job. We will finish the chapter in quarter 2.
In LATIN AND GREEK ROOTS, we will be learning our next three roots; less, and able. With them we will learn the definition and spelling of the following: effortless, fearless, reckless, speechless, worthless, odorless, tireless, selfless, honorable, imaginable, detectable, laughable, renewable, irreversible, and reversible.
For PHILOSOPHY, we discuss our progress in fourth grade thus far, relating it to our goals and accomplishments thus far.
Math:
In math, we continue on Multiplication and Division, pivoting into division in which we practice dividing increasingly larger numbers and estimate quotients, all to practice mastery of the operation as it acts as the foundation for further units such as fractions.
History:
In history, we continue discussing Medieval Europe, exploring the intense faith that dominated the structure of society and how it influenced its leaders. In doing this we learn about the roles of monks, Charlemagne, and the rise of Feudalism.
Science:
In science, we wrap up our discussion of chemistry. We do this with a comprehension check on Friday 9/26) that discusses the different properties of matter and the different types of changes that it experiences. For this, students should be reviewing terms such as matter, atoms, molecules, elements, compounds, mass, volume, density, physical changes, and chemical changes, etc. We finish with week with a quick dip into solutions and some corresponding demonstrations.
Review Chemistry for Comp. Check
Remember, the blog is updated weekly. Be sure to come back frequently to see any upcoming events or changes in fourth grade.