The 4-F Place Curriculum Outline
September- November 2000
Language Arts
Base Skills:
Daily Oral Language (class and home) : grammar- common and proper nouns and identifying various parts of speech. mechanics: capitals at the start of sentence, with proper nouns, and on titles. commas with lists and before some simple clauses and exclamations. Organization: identifying subjects and predicates, use of topic and closing sentences and identifying details.
Spelling: Latin roots- aud,arch,loc Sounds- oi, long e and soft g Activities: alphabetizing, finding similar roots, syllabication and putting words into context.
Handwriting: Practice the use of individual letters and then joining the letters into sentences.
Cycle One Research Skills: (Integrated with 4-C, Mrs.Clarke and Mr. Mikton)
| Database Usage- Initial activity concerning the pros and cons of print and electronic databases. (Informational books, encyclopedias, Compton's electronic encyclopedia and Yahoo!) |
| Key Words- Identifying in sentences and judging for specificity or generality. |
| Compton's Electronic Encyclopedia- Using the Find key to apply key word knowledge, reading within context, and to find the answers to ever more scattered questions. |
| Encyclopedia Relay. Introduction to the use of encyclopedias in a PowerPoint presentation. Use of headings, guide words and indexes to make location of information quickly. |
| Boolean Searches on the Web: Application of key word knowledge and the logic statements derived by the use of and, or and but . Simple Web engines explained. |
| Data Base Wrap Up- A replication of the first activity to for evaluation purposes. |
| Biography PowerPoint Presentation (pending) This culminating activity for the whole Place Unit will use all the research skills taught in Cycle One to obtain information about the historical subjects. |
Writing:
| Prewriting organizers of KWL and Spiders. |
| Following the writing process for the construction of factual paragraphs for all of the Bunka reflections, for the 4-F web pages, and for the poetry reflections. |
| Use of topic sentences, relevant supporting details and closing sentences. |
| Poetry Structures: haiku construction, punctuation and capitalization in poetic forms, and patterned poetry. |
| Searching for more detailed explanations. The use of a "because" to explain meaning. |
| In the context of the Literature Circle Jobs: director- writing summaries and prioritizing events, word wizard- identifying unknown words and finding meaning from context and from the dictionary, lighthouse keeper- locating descriptive text or relevant text to the plot and explaining why they are important, connector- seeing connections to other pieces of literature or background information beyond the book itself and being able to explain it. |
| Learning the 5 W and 1 H when writing an engaging newspaper story. |
| The construction of their own autobiography paper as it relates to place. |
Reading:
| Informational Reading: Use of the jigsaw technique for comprehension on The River Ran Wild and using key words to identify meaning on the place content area papers |
| Use of partner readings on various assignments using guided questions to help comprehension. |
| Use of the Literature Circle Roles for the oral reading of The Mouse of Amherst and in their leveled biographical readings of Helen Keller's Teacher, The Wright Brothers, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Martin Luther King- the Peaceful Warrior and Jim Thorp. |
| Learning the characteristics of a biography and an autobiography and being able to apply them to various situations. |
| Made a link between a setting in a story and the concept of place. |
Read Alouds: A Journey From Chicago, The Mouse of Amherst, Out of the Dust, and Howliday Inn
Poetry:
| "The Place Poem" by Joe Carson. (September)- Use of poems to establish a sense of place and the concept of identity. |
| "Who Am I?" Poem- Poem for Identity |
| Haiku (October)- The construction of various haikus and their history, characteristics along with a mini-study of Basho. |
| "I'm Nobody" by Emily Dickinson (October-November) A longer biographical study of this American poet and her poems. We had a look at how a person's place determines who and what they are along with a study of the structure of her poems. |
| Halloween ABC Poems- a take off on the book by the same name done in conjunction with our 1-A Buddies. |
Mathematics
Daily Oral Math: used to refresh concepts presented in class, edit for process errors, and help stimulate divergent thinking.
Set Theory: What constitutes a set, how rules govern what is in a set, the use and application of the logic statements of and, or , but. This set theory will be the basis for future study of place value, multiplication and division.
Everyday Math Chapter One:
| Solves addition and subtraction facts |
| Names, draws and libels line segments, lines and rays |
| Names and draws angles, triangles and quadrangles |
| Identifies and describes right angles and parallel lines |
Everyday Math Chapter Two:
| Has a successful strategy for adding multi-digit numbers (regular algorithm, opposite change method, partial sums method) |
| Has a successful strategy for subtraction multi-digit numbers (regular algorithm, same change method, and partial differences method.) |
| Is able to describe the difference between a guess, an estimation, a predication and a hypothesis. |
| Is able to read and construct a viable bar graph. |
| Is able to construct a stem and leaf plot. |
Social Studies- The Geographic Themes of Place and Bunka
Place:
| Introduction to the five themes of Place: place, location, human interaction, region, and movement. |
| The River Ran Wild- a jigsaw to get a basic concept of the themes of Place. |
| Selection of each child's special place, where they call home, and indication of that on a map. |
| Characteristics of place as a representation as the personality of an area. |
| Correlation of place with a setting in a story. |
| Application of the characteristics of place to the Tom Henley visit. |
| Writing the characteristics of their particular place in Word. |
Bunka:
| September- Haiku. A study of the haiku form and the read the book The Grass Sandals. Then, we wrote haiku and made Japanese prints out in the park with the whole 4th grade. |
| October- Visited Fuchu No Mori. This local museum tells of the history of Fuchu from geologic times onward. The visit was teamed up with an overview study of the history of Japan. After the visit, a time line of the early ages of Japan was made as well as a timeline of major Japanese events. |
Technology
System Management Skills
| Find a program, open and close it and shutdown a computer |
| Save a document into several drives. |
| Open a saved document from various drives. |
| Recognize and follow a written pathway name. |
| Save a web based file using no more than eight characters. |
| Be able to identify, understand and used the file tags .jpg. .html, .doc. |
Application Skills:
| Be able to copy, cut and paste a graphic or text and use the undo option |
| Be able to use a spell checker and grammar check. |
| Be able to use the Standard toolbar in Word. |
| Be able to understand the balance between text and white space. |
| Be able to choose compatible colors in a web page. |
| Be able to correctly site locations. |
Hardware Skills:
| Be able to use a CD in the computer. |
| Be able to use a scanner and insert a scanned image into a document. |
Programs:
| Microsoft 2000. Total construction of a web page excluding hyperlinks for the 4-F Chronicles October Web Page. |
Electronic portfolios front page.
| Graphics Programs: L View Pro and Photoshop |
| Microsoft Word: Use of the standard and some of the drawing toolbars. |
| Keyboarding: First three weeks of school in Typing Tutor 4 |
Pairings
| 4th Grade: 4th Grade gatherings, Bunka, and research partners with 4-C |
| 1st Grade Buddies with 1-A: Math Partners: Learning How to Tally Game, Counting On, selection of favorite number, reading books and ABC Halloween Poem. |
| Fuchu Dai Ichi: Partner visit on October 26th |
Last updated February 26, 2001
Maintained, and written by, Bridgette Fincher