St. Paul on the Lake Catholic School
Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan
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Fourth Grade
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Meet the Teachers
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sdyerstpaulonthelake.orgFourth Grade
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Fourth Graders build their knowledge every day. The curriculum gives them a solid foundation of skills to help them master each subject. Students are encouraged to be independent and take responsibility for their learning. Highlights of the year include a field trip to the State Capitol and Career Days. -
Religion
- Fourth Graders examine the foundations of morality: the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.
- They understand that Jesus is the perfect image of God.
- They learn that the Holy Spirit gives them strength to follow Jesus and love God.
Language Arts
- Good literature, silent reading, and group discussion are used to extend students’ love of reading.
- Students apply their knowledge of language structure by editing for mechanics, usage, and cohesiveness.
- They incorporate an increasing vocabulary and identify patterns in language.
- Students correctly spell frequently encountered words using roots, inflections, pre-fixes and suffixes.
- They use simple & compound sentences, direct & indirect objects, prepositional phrases, adjectives, pronouns as antecedents, regular & irregular verbs, hyphens between syllables, apostrophes in contractions, and italics to identify titles or names.
- Students learn a variety of reading comprehension strategies and apply them to their daily reading.
Math
- Students continue to use manipulatives, mental math, estimation, calculators, graphs, and tables.
- They add/subtract decimals and work story problems with money and decimals.
- Students order/compare/add/subtract fractions with like denominators, and reduce to lowest terms.
- They study geometric terms such as cross section, edge, and polygon.
- Students learn rules of divisibility, place value, currency, expanded notation, standard form, prime & composite numbers, and percentages up to 100.
- They graph ordered pairs of numbers and learn the relationship between coordinate points.
- Students add/subtract whole numbers, multiply/divide with remainders, and use addition and subtraction to solve story problems.
Science
- By experimenting with light, sound, heat, electricity, magnetism, students recognize evidence of energy through observation and measurement of change.
- Students work with simple electrical circuits, heat transfer, and magnetism.
- They explore the life requirements of organisms and their sources of energy.
- Students investigate food chains and learn how environmental changes can affects species survival.
- They begin the study of earth in space, using models to demonstrate orbits, explain the phases of the moon, and explain the apparent movement of the sun and moon across the sky.
Social Studies
- Fourth Graders learn social studies through the context of “United States Studies.”
- Students use Michigan’s history as a case study for learning about the US.
- Students use maps to describe elevation, climate, and population. Using case studies, students learn about migration and culture.
- Students learn the purpose of government as described in the Constitution, how government functions to serve a purpose, and consequences of not having a government.
- Students focus on market economics and the concepts of scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost.
Study Skills
- St. Paul School students learn the SOAR® Study Skills Curriculum beginning in 4th Grade. The system includes standardized binders, planners, and folders. It teaches students to set goals, establish priorities, manage time, and organize their work.
Specials and Extracurricular Activities
- Fourth Graders attend weekly specials classes in art, library, music, Spanish, gym, and technology.
- St. Paul offers a wide variety of extracurricular activities for Fourth Graders, including chess, scouts, musical theatre, altar service, and CYO sports (cross country, basketball, and track).
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Next Steps:
Please contact St. Paul Principal Tina Forsythe if you have any questions.
Schedule a tour and a shadow day for your child.