Fourth Grade School Activity Night

1. Fourth GradeSchool Activity Night Learn about what’s new in Reading, Science and Math as well as the latest on our EOGs

2. What’s New in Reading? What are the differences between the old North Carolina Standard Course of Study and the new Common Core State Standards?

3. Common Core Standards require students to be savvy consumers of information • NCSCOS • Most reading was fiction • Emphasis on reading at “comfort level” • Standards were broad and lacked a clear focus from grade to grade • Language Arts included reading and writing • COMMON CORE • CCSS require a 50/50 split of fiction and nonfiction • All students read grade level texts that become more and more complex • The same standards are followed from k-12 with a specific focus at each grade • Language Arts includes reading, writing, listening and speaking

4. Example: CCSS on Key Ideas and Details says a kindergartner can answer questions about a story with prompting and support, a second grader can answer specific questions about a text such as who, what , when, where, and why. A third grader refers to the text when answering these questions and fourth and fifth graders are able to quote explicitly from the text to justify answers.

5. What will the EOGs look like with these new standards? • Rather than just choosing an answer, students will analyze and evaluate a text which will require a deeper understanding of a passage. • In the coming years, the tests are no longer exclusively a multiple choice test. Students will use fill in the blank, short answers, essays, and multiple choice. • Instead of one passage with a set of questions, students will be asked to compare and contrast multiple sources related to a topic. • Results will be available within a week after testing is complete for our school. Fourth grade will NOT have retakes this year.

6. The more students read, the more experiences, vocabulary, and knowledge they have to draw from. Thus time spent reading is the #1 predictor of comprehension success. Students may be able to decode or read the words in a book but if they don’t have the knowledge of the subject or some experience to connect to what they read, they won’t understand the text.

7. Check Understanding Build Fluency Sense It Ask Questions Reading is Thinking Connect To Text Making Inferences/ Draw Conclusions Decide What’sImportant Expand Vocabulary Summarize/ Synthesize Predict and Prove

8. Fourth Grade Science subjects have grown from 4 to 7 under our new Essential Standards! (Red indicates new standards) • Force and Motion:Explain how various forces affect the motion of an object. • Matter: Properties and Change - Understand the composition and properties of matter before and after they undergo a change or interaction. • Energy: Conservation and Transfer - Recognize that energy takes various forms that may be grouped based on their interaction with matter • Earth in the Universe: Explain the causes of day and night and phases of the moon. • Earth History: Understand the use of fossils and changes in the surface of the earth as evidence of the history of Earth and its changing life forms. • Ecosystems: Understand the effects of environmental changes, adaptations and behaviors that enable animals (including humans) to survive in changing habitats. • Molecular Biology: Understand food and the benefits of vitamins, minerals and exercise.

9. Why are we doing this ‘New Math?’ • The needs of our nation and world have changed drastically with technology and different real life demands/careers. • Research shows that developing flexibility of numbers and problem solving creates not only better mathematicians, but stronger problem solving and creativity in general. • Flexibility in problem solving allows students to access problems in a way that makes sense to that individual learner and his or her learning style. A. Wagner

10. Why? Why? Why? • Students will have a more in depth conceptual knowledge that allows students to apply the concepts to a wider range of situations with deeper understanding. • Through discussions about solutions and reasoning, students gain increased understanding and valuable skills for presenting arguments and critiques. • Confidence in mathematical reasoning and problem solving has shown a great impact on the future success of students both in school and in their careers.

11. 4th Grade Math • It is extremely beneficial for all 4th Graders to have mastered their multiplication facts for 1-12 by the start of 4th Grade. Multiplication seeps into nearly every concept learned this year. • Fractions are a major focus and a difficult concept historically for children. Continue to work with where you use and see fractions in the real world. • Multiplication infiltrates the math curriculum for 4th grade and beyond; they need to know what is happening in a multiplication problem – no just have a fact memorized. A. Wagner

12. 4th Grade EOG • Operations and Algebraic Thinking– 12-17% *Use 4 operations with whole numbers to solve problems. Gain familiarity with factors and multiples. Generate and analyze patterns. • Number and Operations in Base Ten– 22-27% *Generalize place value for multi-digit whole numbers. Use place value understanding and operational properties to solve multi-digit arithmetic. • Number and Operations Fractions– 27-32% *Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering. Build fractions from unit fractions. Understand decimal notation for fractions and compare decimals. A. Wagner

13. 4th Grade EOG (cont.) • Measurement and Data– 12-17% *Solve problems involving measurement and conversions of larger units to smaller units. Represent and interpret data. Understand concepts of angle and measure angles. • Geometry– 12-17% *Draw and identify lines and angles. Classify shapes by properties of their lines and angles. A. Wagner