Fourth Grade Curriculum Connection
October
Reading Level
Students are formatively assessed throughout the quarter using running records aligned with the Fountas and Pinnell Reading Levels. The running records will be used to guide instruction and determine students reading levels. The summative assessment (end of quarter) for reading is the determination of a student’s F&P reading level.
Literacy Block
Westward Expansion
Through genre studies of narrative non-fiction and historical fiction, students will be learning about the motivations, hardships, and consequences of westward movement. Students will be using a variety of primary and secondary sources to synthesize their learning. In this unit, students will be inferring, comparing, contrasting, and analyzing a variety of perspectives and viewpoints and how those opinions can change over time. The content embedded in this unit will require students to evaluate the impact of expansion on Native Americans, explain Missouri's role in westward expansion, the Civil War and Missouri's statehood. Students will communicate their learning through sequencing the events of westward expansion through the use of a journal. The journal should reflect students' ability to write in a variety of writing types (opinion, informational, and narrative), as well as produce clear, coherent writing in which they elaborate on their thoughts and ideas using evidence from texts. Students will also be writing a literary essay stating an opinion about a historical fiction text. Students will be using details from the entire text to support their opinion.
Essential Questions:
Students will keep considering…
• How does reading narrative nonfiction and historical fiction compare to other texts?
• How do primary & secondary sources help me understand historical events?
• How can point of view affect your understanding of historical accounts?
• How do the events of westward expansion impact those involved?
• What was Missouri’s role in westward expansion and the Civil War?
• Why is it important to learn all the facts and understand others’ viewpoints before forming my own opinion?
• In what ways can change/progress/growth be both positive and negative?
Vocabulary words and definitions:
• primary source: a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event.
• secondary source: interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event. Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes or graphics of primary sources in them.
• First hand accounts coming directly from actually experiencing or seeing something
• Second hand accounts not directly known or experiences, knowledge is obtained from others or from books.
• encounter: to come upon or meet with, especially unexpectedly
• hardship: a condition that is difficult to endure; suffering
• obstacles something in the way; problem
• contribution: to give (money, time, knowledge, assistance, etc.) to a common supply, fund, etc., often for charitable purposes
• achievements something that has been completed successfully with effort provided
• disasters something (such as a flood, tornado, fire, plan crash, etc) that happens suddenly and causes much suffering or loss to many people
• relocate: to move (a building, company, etc.) to a different place
• territory: a region or district of the U.S. not admitted to the Union as a state but having its own legislature, with a governor and other officers appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
• Coward: a person who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things.
• endurance: the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina:
• persevere: to persist in anything undertaken; maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement
• landmark: a prominent or conspicuous object on land that serves as a guide, especially to ships at sea or to travelers on a road; a distinguishing landscape feature marking a site or location
• technology: the use of science in industry, engineering, etc., to invent useful things or to solve problems.
Spelling for 2nd Quarter:
• Vowel-r words: er/err; air
• Consonant-le syllable
• Schwa syllable • sch/str
• y as short i – Greek
• dge vs. ge; k or ck
• Silent letters mn, mb, wr, gn 28.