Reader’s Workshop 4 provides students the opportunity and skills to expand their comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, and interaction with the text. This course follows the PA Core Standards for 4th Grade and assesses students’ proficiency and growth through weekly written responses and comprehension assessments, as well as through projects and unit tests. Students will interact with instructional videos, games, practice quizzes and an online textbook, to enhance their learning. Students will incorporate the use of Google Drive and other online tools in addition to their written responses to demonstrate their understanding and comprehension of the stories and skills obtained in this course.
In Reader’s Workshop, students will:

• Make connections with reading: connections between two texts, connections between the world and texts, and connections between the student and the texts directly.
• Use high-quality texts to do close reading.
• Dig deeper in the text, answering questions and engaging in classroom discussion.
• Master their foundational skills.
• Develop skills in comprehension using before reading, during reading, and after reading strategies.
• Focus on fluency.
• Identify various literary elements in fiction and non-fiction writing.
• Use leveled readers to individualize instruction for the student.

Digital Textbook:

• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Journeys Grade 4 Student Set

Books/Novels:

• Phineas L. MacGuire Gets Slimed!, Frances O’Roark Dowell
• Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World, Mildred Walter

Writer’s Workshop 4 follows the PA Core Standards for 4th Grade. Students will interact with instructional videos, games, graphic organizers, as they embark on a journey through the writing process, to enhance their learning. Students will incorporate the use of Google Drive and other tools to demonstrate their development and mastery of the writing process and skills learned in the course.
In Writer’s Workshop, students will:

• Develop proficiency in elements of writing such as voice, ideas, organization, word choice, and fluency.
• Develop writing and grammar skills by writing persuasive letters, personal narratives, poetry, creative stories, research reports, biographies and autobiographies.
• Build fluency in writing through continuous, repeated exposure to the process of writing.
• Organize thoughts to create a story or write about a given topic and develop it into an understandable narrative with a voice and focus that present information to the reader.
• Use writing mechanics comfortably and shift their cognitive abilities to higher order thinking to allow them to develop a more sophisticated sense of what makes good writing.
• Learn about story planning, peer conferencing, revision, teacher editing, and direct instruction in the mechanics of grammar.
• Develop expression, revision strategy and skill in writing, and be encouraged to try new things during the revision process.
• Work on a large assigned task from another area of the curriculum.

Math Explorations 4 provides students the opportunity and skills to build upon and develop their mathematical proficiency, while being introduced to new concepts to further their advancement. This course follows the PA Core Standards for 4th Grade and assesses students’ proficiency and growth through both formative and summative assessments. Students will interact with instructional videos, games, practice quizzes and an online textbook, to enhance their learning. Students will demonstrate their understanding of concepts through their ability to model their work, while explaining the process to solve problems.
In this course, students will:

• Build upon many previously learned skills and be introduced to new concepts that will help students develop mathematical proficiency.
• Reinforce and explore making math a habit of the mind.
• Engage in discovery learning and model their work.
• Be asked to think critically and make real world decisions that demonstrate cognitive growth.
• Focus on concepts such as multiplication and division, fractions and probability, algebra and geometry, measurement, and data analysis.

Physical/Digital Textbook:
Glencoe/McGraw-Hill: My Math Grade 4

Manipulatives/Kits:
Grade 4 Math Kit

Science & Social Studies Explorations 4 follows the PA Core Standards for 4th Grade and assesses students’ proficiency and growth through weekly written responses and comprehension assessments, as well as through projects, experiments, and unit tests. Students will interact with instructional videos, games, practice quizzes and an online textbook, to enhance their learning.
In this course, students will:

• Alternate instruction between science and social studies topics.
• Expand their understanding of the key questions relating to Life and Physical Science in preparation for the content of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) fourth grade science test.
• Develop a foundational understanding of concepts relating to Earth Science and Space and Technology.
• Participate in experiments using the Scientific Method to develop skills in processing science and to test and illustrate scientific principles.
• Engage in scientific inquiry related to making real world connections to science content.
• Investigate Pennsylvania and its history.
• Develop a greater understanding of geography in the United States.

Physical/Digital Textbooks:

• Pearson: Regions of Our Country
• Discovery Education: Grade 4 Science

Manipulatives/Kits:
Grade 4 Science Kit

In this course, students will:

• Be introduced to the vital aspects of the human body and their importance in movement and healthy living.
• Reflect on course content that promotes higher order thinking skills and relate topics to their own experiences
• Be introduced to specific developmentally appropriate vocabulary to better understand the whole body, how it functions, and how to stay safe at home and in the community.
• Be introduced to and develop new activities which promote lifelong fitness and creativity through various movement concepts and principles.

In this course, students will:

• Draw, paint, and use clay and other media to communicate ideas, experiences and stories.
• Expand creativity and confidence in art skills.
• Solve art problems common to many artists.
• Develop a definition of art by exploring aesthetics in famous and personal works.
• Learn about and review a variety of artists, styles and periods from countries around the world.
• Be encouraged and challenged to use materials in new and different ways while creating art.
• Connect skills learned in art to other subjects and real-world situations.
• Share artwork and exchange ideas and opinions in virtual class.
• Develop respectful opinions about their work and the work of others in a safe, fun and dynamic class.
• Receive an art kit with brushes, watercolor and tempera paint, colored pencils, a Sharpie, a kneaded eraser, canvas, watercolor, construction and drawing paper, modeling clay and a ruler. Families will be responsible for providing some additional standard home office supplies such as pencils, scissors and glue.

Manipulatives/Kits:
Grades 3-5 Art Kit

This elective course will explore coding using sites like Scratch and Hour of Code.
In this course, students will:

• Learn computer programming basics while creating animations and games with CodeStudio, Scratch, and a variety of other programming sites.
• Examine and compare computer programming languages such as JavaScript and Python.
• Discover the history of computer programming and its applications.
• Identify the parts of a computer and its uses.
• Explore the world of engineering learning about inventors and inventions that have affected our world.
• Apply the engineering design process to create student made projects.
• Recognize technology in the world around us.
• Work both independently and collaboratively, sharing ideas and projects in virtual lessons, group discussions, and code studios.
• Build character qualities such as perseverance, problem-solving, and creativity.
• Work both independently and collaboratively, sharing ideas and projects in virtual lessons, group discussions, and code studios.

Prerequisite: Prior experience with Scratch.
In this course, students will:

• Further explore coding using sites like Scratch, Hour of Code, Google Computer Science, CodeStudio, CodeCombat, and Kahn Academy.
• Examine and compare computer programming languages such as JavaScript and Python.
• Write computer programs in Javascript and Python.
• Discover the history of computer programming and its applications.
• Identify the parts of a computer and its uses.
• Explore the world of engineering learning about inventors and inventions that have affected our world.
• Apply the engineering design process to create student made projects.
• Recognize technology in the world around us.
• Work both independently and collaboratively, sharing ideas and projects in virtual lessons, group discussions, and code studios.
• Build character qualities such as perseverance, problem-solving, and creativity.
• Work both independently and collaboratively, sharing ideas and projects in virtual lessons, group discussions, and code studios.

The Rosetta Stone program allows students to select a foreign language to study through use of self-paced Rosetta Stone software. There are many languages available upon request and interest. Please see rosettastone.com for a list of all available languages.
Students selecting Rosetta Stone Spanish, French, German or Japanese may receive additional assistance or content from PALCS teachers.
Rosetta Stone does not have a live weekly required virtual lesson.
The Rosetta Stone program has limited availability and continued enrollment in the program requires active student participation.