2010-2011 Course Syllabus
4th & 5th Grade Language Arts & Religion

Writing:

The Archdiocese updated the Language Arts Curriculum in August of 2007 and St. Louis purchased new textbooks that support those changes. We will be using Voyages in English published by Loyola Press for Grammar and Writing. The students will have a workbook that supports their text as well as assessments to evaluate the student’s knowledge of the skills taught. The students throughout the year will have writing assignments that will be done in class. Rough drafts however may come home for editing and revising.

 

Students will…

Use the 5 step writing process:

  • prewriting/organizing ideas

  •  drafting

  •  revising

  •  editing

  •  publishing

  • sharing

Understand and include the 6 key elements (6 Traits) of a written piece:

  • Ideas (main idea/thesis, introduces it in a new way)

  • Voice (writing has a style, conveys how the author feels)

  • Sentence fluency (has a nice flow, variation on how a sentence begins)

  • Organization (has a logical order, has a beginning, middle, end)

  • Word Choice (words used correctly, descriptive words create a mental image)

  • Conventions ( clean, no errors)

Write for a variety of audiences and purposes:

  • Write reports

  • Write in a journal

  • Produce Poetry

  • Write a narrative

  • Write an expository piece

Use resources to assist in writing process:

  • Thesaurus

  • Dictionary

  • Internet

  • Reference

Reading:
The Archdiocese updated the Language Arts Curriculum in August of 2007, and St. Louis purchased new textbooks that support those changes. The reading series is from Macmillan/McGraw and is titled Treasures. The students have a Spelling workbook that supports the reading program and worksheets will be copied and assigned accordingly.

Students will…

Understand and use the strategies for comprehending texts:

  • Making connections (uses prior knowledge to make sense of new information)

  • Inferring (to go beyond the literal meaning to figure out what is implied)

  • Summarizing (to be able to put together important information while reading)

  • Synthesizing (to put it all together to create new understandings)

  •  Analyzing (closely analyze separate parts to achieve greater understanding)

  • Critiquing (to judge or evaluate)

Understand and use the strategies for reading texts:

  • Engages schema (reader uses prior knowledge to help them connect to the text)

  • Creates mental images (reader uses description in the text to create picture in mind to clarify meaning)

  • Re-reads (reader will read a sentence more than once to check for meaning)

  • Makes connections (reader will throughout the course of a piece make a personal connection to a character or situation)

Explore a variety of Genres:

  • Poetry

  • Biography

  • Fiction

  • Non-fiction

Use resources to assist in the reading process:

  • Dictionary

  • Thesaurus

  • Resource texts

Improve reading through the following methods:

  • Sustained silent reading

  • Guided reading

  • Read aloud

  • Group discussion

Handwriting:
Using the required workbook your student will work on handwriting everyday.

Religion:
The Catholic religion curriculum is based on Sacred Scripture, the Second Vatican Council, and the writings and teachings of Pope John Paul II. The We Believe texts used by St Louis Catholic School have been approved by the Archdiocese of Denver. The students will participate and lead the Mass for the school in the month of January. Throughout the year they will have an opportunity to lead Rosary and Stations of the Cross. Each month the students will be required to take either a written or an oral test on the prayers St. Louis recites throughout the year.

The Fourth Grade program focuses on:

  1. Various aspects of the Sacred Scriptures including God’s covenants, the Gospels, and the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy
  2. The Church’s history as outlined in the Acts of the Apostles and the saints who assisted in the growth of religious life
  3. How the Ten Commandments play a role in our morality  
  4. The Beatitudes in our daily life
  5. The liturgy: the rituals, parts, symbols, liturgical season and the vestments
  6. Doctrines of the Church pertaining to The Apostles Creed, the Immaculate Conception, Annunciation, and the Assumption
  7. The Church as the Body of Christ and how our behavior and the behavior of others affects everyone
  8. Prayer and how prayers can help our relationship with God

The Fifth Grade program focuses on:

  1. Identifying Scripture passages that relate to sacraments and how to locate them
  2. Identifying the Acts of the Apostles as the history of the early Church
  3. Doctrines of the Church pertaining to ways the Holy Spirit is manifested in the sacraments, that sacraments are a personal way we meet Christ, and the role grace plays in our relationship with God
  4. Recognizing that we must be Prophets, Priests, and Kings in our lives as a testament to our Faith
  5. Understanding morality as it applies to the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and vocations
  6. Stewardship and how the sacraments empower us to serve others
  7. Prayer and how prayer can help our relationship with God

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