Virtual Curriculum Night:
4th Grade
Reading
Writing
Writing Curriculum: Being a Writer
Vocabulary Surge
Children will grow in awareness of word sounds (phonological awareness), knowledge of spelling patterns in words (orthographic knowledge), knowledge of word origin (etymological knowledge), and the understanding of relationships among base words and their derivational forms (morphological awareness).
The goal of our vocabulary instruction is to help
children become fluent and accurate in reading, writing, and spelling!
Social Studies
* Enduring Understandings are statements that summarize important ideas and core concepts for students.
Social Studies
Class Texts:
Social Studies
BizTown
JA BizTown combines in-class learning with a day-long visit to a simulated town. This popular learning experience allows elementary school students to operate banks, manage restaurants, write checks, and vote for mayor.
Parent Volunteers
Classroom teachers will send home more information later this year about volunteer opportunities and training dates.
Interview Fair
Each school will schedule their own interview fair. Classroom teachers will send home more information about how to help with this.
Math
Habits of Mind, Habits of Interaction
What are the Habits?
Dispositions or attitudes that reflect the necessary skillful behaviors that students will need to practice as they become more thoughtful in their learning and in their lives.
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Universal Constructs (UCs)
Our instruction in all content areas embeds the UCs for students to develop 21st century skills. These come from the Iowa Core.
Keyboarding
Students in 3rd grade and 4th grade will be using an online keyboarding program. The district has adopted a program through typing.com that will teach students the proper hand position and techniques for typing. This will help students become more proficient in their digital work, whether at school or at home.
4th Science Curriculum
Mystery Science Adoption
Mystery Science curriculum at the elementary provides great continuity between primary and upper elementary classrooms that students enjoy. The units are both engaging and hands on leading to positive student outcomes. Unit topics include:
4th Grade Computer Science
4th Grades students will build on block programming concepts from previous years through Course E on Code.org.
Main concepts include:
Expectations
Pleasant Valley Elementary Libraries
Providing the blended experience of library classes and collaborative teaching using the Iowa CORE, Universal Constructs and American Association of School Librarians Standards to foster a love of reading while preparing students for the classroom and beyond.
Click image to view more information
Click image to view Iowa School Library Standards
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Helping students develop academic, career, and personal/social skills
to help all students build 21st Century Skills.
School Counselor
English as a Second Language (ESL) Program
Our mission is to help all students in our district who come from diverse language backgrounds to learn and improve their English, share their culture and background with others, and feel comfortable, accepted, and supported within our schools.
ELP
The mission of the gifted and talented program in Pleasant Valley is to provide services to meet gifted and talented students’ needs through the investigation of authentic problems that require them to analyze, evaluate and create new ideas and solutions that extend and transfer their learning.
If you have any questions, please reach out to your building ELP Teacher.
BV/CO-Melissa Miller FG-Will Wiesner HW-Erin Latoria
PVHS/PVJH-Emily Becker PLV-Rebecca VanBlaircome RVDH-Erin Ahnquist
Specials
Classroom teachers keep parents informed of their individual class’ schedule.
Music
In the elementary music classroom, we sing, move, listen, and play instruments. Through these experiences, we create, respond, perform, and connect with each other and the world around us to discover the ways we will make music a part of our life for our whole life.
Concepts include…
Students are able to join…
Performances include…
PE Concepts:
1. Cardiovascular activities
2. Team Games/Strategy
3. Hand-eye coordination
4. Fitness Skills/assessment
5. Challenge/Cooperative activities
6. Sportsmanship Skills
Physical Education
Please bring appropriate PE shoes and clothes ready for activity to be worn on PE days. PE shoes will be left in classroom lockers.
Physical education is designed to develop motor skills, knowledge, and behaviors for physical activity and physical fitness.
PE develops students' competence and confidence to take part in a wide variety of physical activities that become an integral part of their lives, both in and out of school. PE helps students develop patience and meet challenges, both individually and as a team.
Creating |
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Presenting |
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Responding |
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Connecting |
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The purpose of the elementary art program at Pleasant Valley is to give students the tools they need in order to understand, create and interact with art in our world.
The art curriculum is based on the National Art standards and benchmarks. The standards are all covered within 4 units of study.
Art
Report Card
Students’ progress will be communicated to families by using indicators (see below) to show the level of mastery for prioritized end-of-year standards at that grade level. These will be reported at the end of each trimester at the elementary level. Please click the Report Card Parent Guide for more information or click the 4th Grade Report Card to see a blank example.
Indicators for Mastery of End-of-Year Standard:
B = Beginning
P = Progressing
PM = Partial Mastery
M = Mastery