Mrs. Burger

Mrs Gilpin

We truly believe that learning should be relevant and fun, especially in elementary school. Here we build the foundation for the love of learning. Immersing children in great literature, writing and having them experience historical events and approaching science and math in a hands-on way is critical to us. If these goals are obtained, then we truly feel that each child can be successful, thus a love of learning is created. Our approach to reading and writing is to expose the students to different types of literature and to use these for a model of writing. Students will choose a book that is interesting to them and through individual conferences reading comprehension is taught. Literature is also used to teach writing. Direct instruction and conferences are used to teach spelling, grammar and developing a students’ unique style. Relevance in math is vital for students to make sense of the concepts. Skills along with using manipulatives help to cement in the concepts and create good thinkers and problem solvers. Science is also taught using a hands-on method that makes students question and hypothesize like real scientists. American history comes alive in fourth grade with simulations where students become characters and reenact historical events and experience history personally. Students in our classrooms should always be asking questions and never be satisfied with one answer. Our classroom works like the real world where people work together to solve problems creatively. It takes serious commitment and determination from all of us to be successful. It is our goal to have your child learn from him/her self, from their classmates, teachers

We have a literature-based language arts program at Monarch. The students read literature books on their level. Students are exposed to different genres and reading is taught in the context of the book that the child is reading. While most fourth grade students tend to decode words very well, they often struggle with comprehension of more difficult texts. We focus on improving comprehension of both fiction and non-fiction materials. Oral and written language skills are also taught using literature as a model. Throughout the year we concentrate on six essential writing traits: conventions, word choice, voice, organization, ideas, and sentence fluency. Spelling On Mondays a "word study" is done to look at spelling patterns and concepts. Words are chosen from the word study, the 500 most commonly used words, and misspelled words from each student’s written work. The main assessment of spelling progress however, is the improvement of spelling in daily written work throughout the trimester. Math Fourth grade concepts include patterns, number sense, place value, measurement, arithmetic operations, basic facts, geometry, probability and statistics, logic, fractions, and decimal numbers. These concepts are taught from a problem-solving perspective. Students complete active, hands-on "investigations" to solidify their understanding of mathematical concepts. Social Studies/Science Our units of study in social studies include mapping, geography, and United States history from the age of Exploration to revolutionary war. Creating explorer trading cards, celebrating Colonial Day, and re-enacting the Continental Congresses are just a few ways that we make history come alive. Science units include studies of water, magnetism and electricity, seeds and crayfish, and the digestive circulatory system. Social studies and science are integrated into the language arts program as often as possible.