Goals

The goal of the 4th grade is to provide a well-rounded Catholic education. The skills learned in the first five years of schooling are put into action as the children use reasoning and deduction to extend what they know.

Curriculum

Religion

We focus on the following themes in Religion:

-The Goodness of God

-Jesus is the Son of God

-The Holy Spirit

-The Church

-Social Justice

-Once a week we have a “Family Life” lesson

-Every Friday we have a lesson regarding the Gospel that will be read at Mass that Sunday

Significant Project
In December we did a project where we researched the way several countries celebrate Christmas.  We compared the information on graphic organizers and students created their own Venn Diagrams.

Reading/Language Arts
Some of the many topics students learn are:

-Parts of Speech – nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc

-Work on Comprehension skills

-Summarize reading material

-Vocabulary

-Poetry

-Similes

-Metaphors

-Students keep Reading Response Journals to respond to the stories we read in class.

-Analogies

-Daily Oral Language

-Mysteries

-Reader’s Theater

-Significant use of graphic organizers

-Writing – Narrative, Expository, Persuasive

-Five steps of Writing

-Parts of a story – For example, problem, solution, climax, main events

Significant Projects
Monthly Book Reports which combine students’ creativity and writing skills.  Each book report focuses on a specific genre.

Examples of Book Reports include:

1.  Create a “wanted” poster of a character from a book they have read and write about the problem, solution and main events of the book.

2.  Read a biography and create a timeline of that person’s life and write 3 diary entries that the person could have written at three different stages of his/her life.  Give a presentation to the class dressed up as the person you read about.

3.  Book report focusing on characterization – Write a letter to one of the characters in the book regarding something that this character did, write a magazine article about the character, and write about what you think this character will be like in 20 years.

Math
Students use manipulatives to help them grasp the concept we are working on.

Many of the topics that the students will learn include:

-Problem Solving
-Place Value
-Rounding and estimation
-Using and making tables and graphs
-Metric system
-Multiplying using 2 and 3 digit numbers and regrouping
-Long division with and without remainders
-Geometry
-Understanding Fractions and Mixed Numbers
-Adding and subtracting Fractions
-Measurement
-Decimals
-Probability

We do activities using the above concepts in real-life situations.

Significant Project
During our Connecticut History Unit, students will create various types of graphs using data of Connecticut population and other Connecticut statistics.

Social Studies

-Students learn how to read various types of maps

-United States geography

-United States climate, natural features and natural landforms

-People of the United States

-Connecticut History

-Regions of the United States – Students study the present, past, and geography of the following regions:

-The Northeast
-The Southeast
-The Middle West
-The Southwest
-The West

Some significant projects include:

1.  While we learn about Connecticut History, each student researches a famous person who was a native to Connecticut anytime from the Colonial era to the present.  Students also create a timeline of important dates in Connecticut History, create graphic organizers comparing Connecticut economy from the Colonial era to the present, and together the students create a paper quilt of interesting Connecticut places.

2.  Students will create a travel packet of a state they choose to research.

3.  Students cooperatively create a magazine that focuses on a specific region of the United States.

4.  Students create a newspaper that focuses on a state they choose to research.

5.  Throughout the year we collect postcards from all over the United States.  Parishioners, parents, students, friends and family send us postcards from their vacations and business trips.  We even receive postcards from around the world!

Science

4^th Grade Science units include:

-The Solar System

-Water

-Earthquakes and Volcanoes

-Weather

-Flying

-Rainforest

During each unit students will take part in experiments and exciting projects.

Some significant projects include:

1.  Each student will choose a planet to research.

2.  Each student will choose an astronomer to research and work on a project in the technology lab.

3.  Each student will research an ocean animal and write a five or six paragraph paper about it and create a display showing the animal in its environment (example – diorama).  Students are encouraged to use their creativity and imagination while making their display.

4.  Students will cooperatively create an ocean scene on one of the bulletin boards.

Some of our field trips include:

-Trip to the State Capitol and Connecticut Museum
-Trip to the Milford Historical Society
-Trip to the Discovery Museum

Sally-Ann Russo

The College of New Rochelle
B.A.  Communications
M.S.  Early Childhood/Elementary Education
Connecticut Teaching Certificate,  K-6 

This is Sally-Ann’s second year as a member of the Saint Ann faculty and she is “excited to be teaching 4^th grade.”  After working for several years as a marketing coordinator, Sally-Ann changed careers and became a teacher.  She did her student teaching in New Rochelle and has taught writing to 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th graders in Greenwich.  In addition to her writing group she has taught a gifted kindergarten group. 

Sally-Ann and her husband Peter live in Shelton with their two cats, Buddy and Samantha.  

An avid reader, Sally-Ann knits “as much as I possibly can” and has recently discovered the joy of bird watching.  She is a Yankee fan and enjoys getting to the Stadium for a game occasionally.  She loves going to the theater and listening to “most kinds of music.”