The Arrow and the SOng
By: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
May all of our arrows and songs be like the 'heart of a friend' to the world, an encouragement, and a healing balm to those in need.
Welcome to the fourth week of the third quarter of Fourth Grade! Scholars should focus this week on memorizing stanza 4 of Paul Revere's Ride and preparing for a Comprehension Check in History on Thursday.
NEWS:
FIELD TRIP CHAPERONE SIGN UP! These links are now live. Please sign up to chaperone our field trip on 2/12/26 to the We Make History Revolutionary War and Gilbert Regional Park event.
Fourth Grade Homework Expectations
It is the scholar's responsibility to regularly communicate with their parents about any missing assignments. Students receive a daily notification of any late work.
CURRICULUM:
ELA:
POETRY "Paul Revere's Ride" stanza 4 is due this Friday, January 30th. This poem spans 13 weeks (into Q4) and culminates in a grade-wide reciting of the poem in entirety for the parents.
This Poem is a behemoth of a memorization task for scholars. It should be taken seriously and can be enjoyable to accomplish such a task. In Fourth Grade, we do not have any "at-home" projects per se. Consider the memorization and recitation of this work a 13 week-long project endeavor. It can even become a family practice to memorize the weekly stanza.
Helpful Practices for Memorization:
-Listen to the poem in it's entirety, daily
-Scholars should write out the stanza memorization for the week (hang it on the bathroom mirror)
-Illustrate or act out the stanza
-Look up unfamiliar words or phrases to understand the meaning
-Re-write that section in your own words (modern language)
-Perform a word while another person says every other word until scholar can say it independently
-Practice reciting in the mirror
-Make up body or hand motions to certain lines and phraes
-Write the stanza out on a whiteboard and erase a word or phrase
-Tell yourself everyday, "I can memorize this, and so did the Fourth Graders before me!"
LITERATURE In culmination of our poetry unit, we will finish writing, analyzing and illustrating our chosen poem. Scholars will then read their poem with the class and identify the poetic elements as defined in the red spiral notes. Student poems will be featured in classrooms and on bulletin boards in the hallway.
**In Q3W5, the fourth grade will begin the next book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, "Prince Caspian". If your child has never read the prior, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", please ensure they read it before we begin the next book.
In the COMPOSITION program for the week we will work on writing a summary of a narrative poem and complete a poetic dictation for a grade.
In GRAMMAR, we continue prepositions and prepositional phrases in WOL. Scholars will complete lessons B and C in the WOL book, and they will demonstrate understanding with a prepositions homework and an in-class grammar quiz on the WOL chapter. A preposition is a word or group of words used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, time, place, location, spatial relationships, or to introduce an object. For example in the sentence, "The horse jumped over the fence" "over the fence" is the prepositional phrase with "over" being the preposition. Analyzing and diagramming prepositional phrases is a key concept to master in fourth and fifth grade grammar understanding.
In LATIN AND GREEK ROOTS we have 3 roots this week:
cen tum – hundred
cent (n) one hundredth of a dollar
cen tu ry (n) a hundred-year period
cen tu ri on (n) Roman military officer over 100 men
cen ti me ter (n) one hundredth of a meter (metron=measure)
per cent (n) number of parts in every hundred; 10 cents is 10 percent of a dollar (per=through)
cen ti pede (n) hundred-footed “bug” (pes, pedis= foot)
cen ti grade (n) temperature scale with one hundred degrees between freezing and boiling (gradus=step, degree)
mille – thousand
mil li me ter (n) one thousandth of a meter (metro=measure)
mil len ni um (n) thousand-year period or anniversary
mil li pede (n) thousand-footed “bug” (ped, pedis-foot)
decem – ten
De cem ber (n) tenth month in the old Roman calendar
dec i mal (n) pertaining to tenths or to the number 10
Math:
In Math, we will begin Chapter 7 decimal concepts in our new 4B Green and Blue Math books. We have these for the students in the classroom. Scholars should keep the 4A books at home until the end of the school year.
Decimals to Tenths on a Number Line
Decimals to Hundreths on a Number Line
Comparing Fractions and Decimals
History:
In History in W4, we will wrap our unit on Early Islamic Civilizations. We will read chapter 5 about the Crusades and review and take the Comprehension Check on Thursday.
W3:
Rise and Fall of the Islamic Empire
W4: Review of Islamic Accomplishments
Life of a Teenager in the Middle Ages Islam
Ibn Sina- Father of Modern Medicine, Prevention over Treatment
Science:
Quarter 3, Week 4: Processes That Shape the Earth
This week in fourth grade science, students will be diving into Processes That Shape the Earth with a focused look at landslides. On Wednesday, scholars will be reading closely from Chapter 7 to understand what landslides are, what causes them, and how gravity and water work together to move Earth materials quickly. Class discussions will be helping students compare landslides to slower forms of erosion and think critically about the real problems landslides can cause for people, land, and communities.
On Thursday and Friday, students will be beginning their Natural Hazards Mitigation Brochure capstone project. They will be working entirely in class with their groups to plan and draft content for their brochures, which will focus on earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, or landslides. The project will be completed during Week 5 and will end with student presentations. While no brochure work will be done at home, students may be gathering books, printed articles, or notes about their chosen hazard on Day 1 and bringing those materials into class to support their work. This project will be emphasizing strong reading, clear scientific thinking, and careful explanation of how people can stay safe from natural hazards.
Videos:
Tsunami Footage (Japan / National Geographic – shown without sound)
Stream Table Demonstration: Meanders, Delta, Erosion, Deposition
Remember, the blog is updated weekly. Be sure to come back frequently to see any upcoming events or changes in fourth grade.