Tales of Our Fourth Grade Classroom

I believe a teacher needs to recognize children as unique creations of God, accept each child’s potential and provide experiences that will allow them to fulfill their spiritual, emotional, educational, social and physical needs. I feel we should provide our students the opportunities to grow in their relationship with God, their peers and the world around them as they learn in an environment of academic excellence.

I want my students to be actively involved in their own education. I try to encourage, support, and most importantly, motivate my students to care about their academic future. I believe students learn best in a fun, safe, non-threatening environment. I think they learn best through real-world experiences. Students are encouraged to bring their own stories, experiences and ideas into the classroom. Opportunities are provided for them to work together and learn to respect one another’s differences. Since children have different abilities and unique personalities I believe it is my job to be passionate in the way I teach so my students will be able to do their best.

May/June Update

Math proves to be challenging as we learn more about fractions, decimals, measurement and negative numbers. We will be exploring geometry and learning about plane figures, solid figures, area and perimeter. We will end the year with some probability games.

English lessons and writing assignments will focus on adverbs and prepositions. We have enjoyed writing in our journals and used this writing activity as a way of promoting self-expression and fluency.

We will finish reading By the Great Horn Spoon and continue analyzing the different reading genres with an emphasis on the study of major and minor characters.

Social Studies lessons will be about the critical issues involved in California’s becoming a state. We will also learn how the Pony Express, the telegraph and the transcontinental railroad helped link California to the nation. We will finish off the year discussing modern California.

During Science we will be learning more about plant and animal adaptations. We will also study why scientists study fossils and how they are classified.

We have had the pleasure of having pen pals from Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran School in West Hills, CA. We are looking forward to sharing our California Bound – 1850 activity with this group of fourth graders. We will have the opportunity to experience a typical school day in 1850, as well as play old time games and get to know our new friends from the Valley.

I feel incredibly blessed to have had the privilege of teaching my class. We have had fun learning together and I will miss them this summer.

Mary Ann Friedrich