Academics

Grades 4 through 6 Curriculum :: 2011-12

Classroom Practice and Community Building

Our day starts at 8.30, with a class meeting, run by each of the children in turn. By taking responsibility for the meeting, the children learn both how to lead a meeting and how to listen to other people’s reports and opinions. Room jobs are also an important part of our routine, and class members take turns to perform jobs every day. We will have regular class council meetings in which individuals may talk frankly about issues that are important to them, safe in the knowledge that the council is entirely confidential.

Theme

This year’s theme is the Middle Ages. This is a complex theme, rich in social, cultural and political history. As a rough guide, we are taking the Middle Ages as running from 1000 to 1500 CE, and as the very phrase ‘Middle Ages’ refers to European history, our study will be based mostly in Europe. However, we will refer to other parts of the world and, in particular, the Middle East, when we study the Crusades. In this part of the curriculum, we will look at the Crusades from European, Byzantine and Arab perspectives. In general, historical events will be presented as examples of the way things were done in the Middle Ages, rather than as a straight narrative. For example, we have already talked about how the Battle of Hastings changed English and wider European history in a single day, because hand-to-hand battles were usually short!

A highlight of the theme will be our class trip to England and Wales in February, when we will visit a number of castles, and Westminster, Tintern and Tewkesbury Abbeys. This gives the children a wonderful opportunity to experience medieval buildings directly. We will also spend two days in London, riding the London Eye and visiting the National Gallery (of art) and other prominent sights. Closer to home, we will visit the excellent collection of armor at Higgins Armory, in Worcester Massachusetts.

We started our theme study by reading from Chaucer’s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales in its original Medieval English. The children worked together to decipher some of the vocabulary, which helped them understand the complex roots of our own language. We then looked at social arrangements under the feudal system and we are currently studying castles from a social and military point of view. We will read the stories of Robin Hood and King Arthur, and discuss how much these myths are based on fact. We will study the art and symbolism of heraldry, and the children will decorate wooden shields with their own coats of arms.

At some point we will also study the Magna Carta, a document celebrated more in the U.S. than in its native England as a great first step in the road to democracy. We will look at various clauses of the Charter, and the social and legal conventions that they were designed to redress. The finest surviving copies of Magna Carta is on display at Salisbury Cathedral, which we will visit during the UK trip.

Language Arts

Reading: Our reading program has two main strands: individual books and whole-class books. Individual books are chosen to be just right for each child’s reading level, to develop fluency. Comprehension is developed by discussion of the individual book with the class teacher and through group and whole-class conversations about our various class readers. Our first whole-class project reading project is The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and we have already enjoyed lively discussions and improvisation sessions based on key scenes. Children have been given book-bags as a tangible contact between reading at home and reading in class. The aim is that children will bring their individual and group reading books to and from home every day, and that each child should spend at least twenty minutes reading every evening. Our class meetings include regular book reports in which children describe and recommend books to each other.

Writing: We begin the year with a focus on journal writing and move on to poetry writing. This year the class will take part in a whole-school poetry project, writing poems for two voices with their reading buddies. Other writing projects will include a short story and a non-fiction report, each based on whatever aspect of the Middle Ages interests each child. The class will also write short stories for their reading buddies, which will become part of the K-1 class library

We will also study aspects of grammar, including basic parts of speech and conventions of syntax and punctuation, but we will study these as part of the writing process, rather than as stand-alone subjects. There will also be regular exercises to reinforce the children’s learning. Children are learning various general spelling rules in class and will be taking home a weekly list of ten words to learn, depending on grade level. Weekly tests cover the ten words, plus four more from previous lists.

Handwriting: In general, the expectation is that all 5th- and 6th-graders will use cursive script as a matter of course for all their written work, from note-taking to final drafts. Fourth-graders will learn (or consolidate) cursive skills, so they can adopt cursive for all their work by the end of the year.

Mathematics

In the 4th, 5th and 6th Grade we are following the TERC Investigations curriculum. The value of this curriculum is that children build on their own understanding, and develop confidence in their own mathematical and investigative abilities. The curriculum fosters an intuitive and collaborative approach to math, in which children often arrive at solutions because they can recognize mathematical patterns. The curriculum also covers the standard algorithms that children are expected to know in 7th grade and beyond.

Science

Our focus is to connect children with the natural world and explore major scientific concepts with hands on activities. We will develop theme connections whenever possible. We will develop familiarity with the scientific method through independent science projects. The science curriculum is planned throughout 1st-6th grade so topics can be introduced during an appropriate theme and developmental stage. When the topic does not fit well into any theme, the topic is sandwiched into the curriculum.

Science Topics:

Kingdoms of Life-We will explore the five kingdoms of life. We will make a plant kingdom type collection, go on a mushroom hunt, use microscopes to study pond water and engage in a skull lab.
Plant and animal cell, DNA, genetics and evolution.
We will make a herbal salve, study herbalism in the Middle Ages and compare European and Islamic medicine during the Middle Ages.
Science Night Project: The students use the scientific method to do an independent experiment, write a report using lab report format, prepare a poster explaining the experiment's findings and show their project at Science Night (a non-competitive event). This is a classroom-supported activity.
Immune system and the black death in the Middle Ages
Alchemy and chemistry including an introduction to the periodic table, atoms and a basic chemistry experiment.
Biodiversity Day

Spanish

Spanish is taught through movement, stories and games, and is based on the TPR (Total Physical Response) system. Students actively participate in each class, learning basic conversational skills and telling simple stories, aided by movement and acting as they learn to understand and respond to the language. Weekly homework assignments help to reinforce vocabulary.

Music

The class will sing a mix of theme-related songs and newer tunes with harmony parts and room for improvisation. The class listens to live and recorded music, and will learn basic music theory. Recorders are an especially important part of the Middle Ages theme, and will be featured in the end of the year play. Students should practice Recorder for five minutes every day.

Art

This year the children will be looking at art of the Middle Ages in both ‘painting of the week’ and art lessons. They will learn about illuminated manuscript and radial design, a main component of stained glass rose windows, and apply these themes to their own art. Children will use clay to make a miniature castle, based on their understanding of castle architecture, and they will draw from landscape and architecture with pen and ink. New this year will be a sketch pad allowing students will record their visual journeys. Art class is equal parts fun, creativity, and gaining confidence with new skills.

Yoga

Like the rest of the school, the 4th-6th class has a weekly session of yoga, which helps them to work with attention and to develop awareness of their own bodies. It also helps the children develop ways of coming to a state of quietness and wider awareness of themselves and their surroundings.

Homework

The core of our homework is a daily reading assignment, which the book-bag system is intended to support. We expect each child to read at home for at least twenty minutes a day. In addition there is math homework on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, designed to support the class lessons that precede and follow it. There will also be some writing homework, generally to help a child to develop individual writing projects, but sometimes on specific writing topics. Homework assignments should generally be completed on the day they are given, with the exception of the weekly spelling assignments, which should be done between Monday and Thursday. The total time devoted to homework should be no longer than 45-60 minutes a day, including reading, because we believe children need time to follow other pursuits at home.