4th Grade Syllabus Staci Piquet

E-mail: spiquet@tceagles.com

FOURTH GRADE AT TAYLOR’S CROSSING: At Taylor’s Crossing Public Charter

School we teach the Harbor School method and use the Harbor curriculum which is aligned with
the Idaho State and Core Standards of Education. As the classroom teacher, I am responsible
for this subject matter: reading, writing, language, math, spelling, and social studies. We are
fortunate to have specialists who teach science, computers, music, PE, Spanish, and library as
well as Educational Assistants who help with daily classwork and student interaction.

Reading: Reading curriculum consists of novel reading, Reading Skill pages, ReadWorks
passages, Scholastic News reviews, McCall-Crabbs and additional comprehension evaluation
tools.
Writing: Writing consists of students responding to reading passages, novels, and Idaho
history projects by writing informative/explanatory texts in complete paragraphs. Writing
standards will be completed through the Shurley English program and the Write Now Right
Now writing program.
Language: We practice editing sentences daily, focusing on correct capitalization and
punctuation. The Shurley Method is taught which incorporates rythms and rhymes to learn the
nine parts of speech. We work on an interactive Grammar notebook as well as practice
worksheets. Assessments will be given after each section and graded. Language Drops in the
Bucket worksheets with be included in homework packets.
Math: We have a morning math review each day which helps prepare us for a weekly math
concept test. We also work together through a comprehensive math concept board four times
per week. The students work on the Imagine Math program on the school laptops. Math fact
practice is incorporated throughout the week, and 8-minute Mental Math is assessed on a
weekly basis. Math homework consists of practice problems in the Saxon Math books.
Spelling/Vocabulary: Daily spelling assignments are included in the first few homework
packets and culminate in a spelling test which is given on Thursdays. SpellingCity, an online
spelling program, will be incorporated and the students will work through assignments, play
games, and take spelling tests online in the computer lab on Thursday mornings. Vocabulary
words will be reviewed daily and weekly. Vocabulary poems will be incorporated to help
students remember vocabulary words. Every other week there will be a vocabulary test on
SpellingCity.
Social Studies: In 4th grade we focus on Idaho History. Daily they will work on an Idaho
History binder. Assignments in the binder will be graded for completeness. Projects and essays
will be assigned throughout the year. At the end of the year each student will work on and
present on an Idaho Proper Noun project. If conditions allow, we will have an Idaho History fair
near the end of the year where the students can present their work.
STUDENT ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONS:
Our goal is to meet the state fourth grade core curriculum standards of learning. Each student is
expected to complete all assigned work on time in order to receive full credit. Homework
packets are sent home every Friday afternoon, but homework is not necessarily an independent
assignment. Parental involvement is strongly encouraged to help (not hinder by giving answers
or doing homework for them) student with any and all assignments (especially math) so that
concepts are correctly practiced at home. Homework packets are expected back in the
classroom the following Friday morning to be corrected (with parent verification signatures on
reading logs). If homework or signatures are missing that morning, students may call home for
parents to bring the packet to school or to confirm parent verification. Any incomplete
homework assignments must be completed by the student that day. Most assignments
(including homework) are corrected and returned to students to take home for parental review.
Ideally, parents should anticipate reviewing corrected assignments with their child to become
aware of his/her learning capabilities and/or struggles and, in turn, work with the teacher to
facilitate the best chance of student success. If assignment scores are lowers 70s, the student is
given one-on-one help to correct the errors and will be awarded half of the original points for
each corrected problem. In our class, EFFORT IS EVERYTHING! Not every student is successful
every time in every task. When students display an effort to learn and work at mastering a task,
every effort will be made to help them through the process.

Grading Scale:

A= 93-100%
A-= 90-92%
B+=87-89%
B=83-86%
B-=80-82%
C+=77-79%
C=73-76%
C-=70-72%
D+=67-69%
D=65-66%
F=Below 65%

N= Not satisfactory for grade level

*All assignments are of equal accumulative value and are not weighted according to
importance in the grading process.
**See attached data sheet for itemized grade breakdown.
***PowerSchool automatically calculates and changes points into percentages. Final grades are
given as percentages.
STUDENT BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS:
Behavior expectations/character education/proactive behavior scenarios are thoroughly and
repeatedly discussed during the first several weeks of school so that the students become very
familiar with class rules and behavioral and character expectations. Kindly reminding students
of these expectations is done as often as is needed for reinforcement. Our curriculum is fast
paced and requires students to be on task to complete tasks. Student grades will be reflective of their
behaviors. Grades will be very reflective of the student’s off-task behavior as they will not be successful
if they cannot stay on task. They may have opportunities to relearn in subsequent lessons, but if they
are not paying attention, they will miss out, resulting in poor grades.