The Intermediate School at Queen of Angels consists of fourth and fifth grades.  During the two years children are in the Intermediate grades they will experience a rigorous education, athletics, socialization at a new level, and a discipline system that accentuates the positive through a variety of awards. 

The Intermediate student experience is departmentalized.  Students change classrooms to meet with their individual area teachers.  This experience provides students the ability to become more responsible for their school life. This accountability prepares the students for middle school.

Welcome to the 4^th Grade.  Fourth grade is a transition year for our students.  They are introduced to departmentalized learning.   Fourth graders are required to be more responsible, organized and independent.  These skills along with Catholic values and beliefs are modeled and taught throughout the intermediate grades and school.

Participation in the sacraments happens frequently.  We attend weekly liturgies where we listen to the Gospel and receive the Eucharist.  The liturgical year is discussed as we move throughout the seasons.  The children are taught how to use the Bible to find verses and psalms.

Saint studies, service projects, and the role of church leaders is a significant basis for our religion program.  The sacraments are introduced and practiced throughout the year.

Reading

In fourth grade, Reading is composed of five critical areas of instruction: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Text Comprehension. The Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Reading Series is the springboard for reading instruction within the classroom.    All students receive instruction in a variety of settings which includes direct instruction, small group instruction, literature circles, author studies and self-selected reading.

Fourth grade students receive explicit reading instruction, focusing on comprehension skills.  Students learn increasingly complex words in grade-level text and materials ranging from classical literature to online information. We work on determining cause and effect, drawing conclusions, sequencing events, recognizing main idea and supporting details, as well as author’s viewpoint.  The fourth grade Reading curriculum is aligned with the Common Core Standards. Students have multiple opportunities to show mastery of each skill, giving them the opportunity to gain fluency, improve their confidence, build enthusiasm for reading, while comprehending complex text.

Fourth grade Language Arts encompasses spelling, grammar and writing.  Each week students are given a spelling list that focuses on a particular word strategy and a grammar/mechanics skill.  These skills coincide with our Reading program from Macmillan/McGraw-Hill.  Through various educational resources, students practice and master each skill.  Fourth graders will begin concentrating on editing skills. The focus is on spelling, correct punctuation and capitalization, and language errors.  Student learning is differentiated to meet and challenge individual needs.

Our fourth graders are introduced to a more structured and rigorous writing program.  Along with our Reading textbook writing program, Getting Started with the Traits from Scholastic is used.  Both programs assist students in developing a strong foundation for good writing skills.  Each program follows the six-traits of writing:

•    Ideas:  the main message and meaning of the piece
•    Organization:  the internal structure
•    Voice:  the person behind the words, bringing the topic to life
•    Word Choice:  the use of rich language and specific vocabulary
•    Sentence Fluency:  the rhythm and flow of sentences throughout the text
•    Conventions:  the rules behind the words – mechanical correctness

We explore each trait, organize it and have clear directions on how to carry them out.  The end result is that each student writer will discover for themselves if a written piece is or is not working, and what to do about it. 

Specifically, 4^th will write personal narratives, persuasive and expository pieces as well as a variety of fictional creative writing and poetry.  Each student keeps a Writer’s Portfolio which showcases their work and shows a natural progression of their individual writing development.

Math

We use Everyday Mathematics (2012), developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. The curriculum is based on research about how students learn and develop mathematical power. This program provides the broad mathematical background needed in the 21^st century. The lessons are based on activities and discussion of mathematical content as well as practice of basic skills, often through games. The instructional approach is based on the notion that students build understanding and develop skills over time through multiple learning experiences so math concepts are revisited throughout the year.

In fourth grade, students will be introduced to new calculation methods such as lattice and partial products for multiplication and partial quotients for division. The program focuses on multiplication and division number stories as an introduction to algebra. Students will learn about decimals, measurement and fractions.

Social Studies

The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt series is the springboard for fourth grade Social Studies instruction.  The fourth grade Social Studies curriculum is based on several areas: history, geography, culture, government, economics, national symbols, technology, map skills, as well as research skills.   Fourth graders focus on learning the five regions that make up the United States and their valuable resources they provide.

In fourth grade, students learn about the reasons for our laws, relationship of local, state, and federal governments, relative and absolute location, map skills, states and capitals, as well as resources that factor into our supply and demand system.  The program incorporates numerous activities to enrich students’ knowledge, such as outlining skills, hands-on projects, written and on-line research, and student generated inquiry projects, which increase their historical and geographical insights.  The fourth grade social studies curriculum is aligned with the Common Core Standards. 

Science

In fourth grade science, students will be learning about the three main areas of science: life science, earth science, and physical science.  The fourth grade will be introduced to approaching problems using the scientific method.  Additionally they will learn important vocabulary and science concepts surrounding each section of science.  Students will be doing research, problem solving, effective note taking, reading for information, and hands-on investigation to answer questions about understanding the world around us.  All of this is with the Scott Foresman Science: The Diamond Edition program.

Every chapter is set up as introducing concepts of more specific areas of science.  Here are some of the areas we will cover in fourth grade:

• Classifying living things
• Biology
• Ecology
• Environmental science
• Meteorology
• Physical science
• Chemistry
• Sound and light energy

In fifth grade, students are comfortable with departmentalized learning and they continue to become more and more responsible, organized and independent. They are growing academically and maturing socially as they prepare for a smooth transition to middle school. Fifth graders are eligible to become alter servers which help them feel like an important part of the Queen of Angels community.

Religion

Students in the 5^th grade religion program will use the text “Call to Faith” ( Harcourt Religion Publishers- 2009).  The students will study the Seven Sacraments. Through the study of the sacraments students gain insight into their faith and Catholic traditions.  Students are exposed to Bible studies for insight into the life of Jesus.  The students also delve into the order and parts of the Mass.  The Church calendar and specific liturgical parts of the year help us to understand our faith.

5^th grade students learn to become acolytes in the second semester of school.  We believe as Catholics that participation at Mass is beneficial.  Students are encouraged to become a part of all aspects of the liturgy.

Saint studies, service projects and our church and lay people help to see how to respect the dignity of individual people and call us to work with one another.  We also spend a great deal of time discussing morality and the dignity of human beings.

In fifth grade, students read and interpret a wide variety of texts, including literature from different time periods and cultures.  The reading program focuses on five critical areas of instruction: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Text Comprehension.   The Macmillian/McGraw-Hill Reading Series is also the springboard for fifth grade reading instruction within the classroom.  The emphasis in fifth grade is on students’ comprehension of complex narrative and informational texts.    This year students analyze how structure, point of view, visual elements, and figurative language contribute to the meaning, or tone of texts.  Fifth graders learn academic language and content-specific vocabulary through reading more complex texts.

In fifth grade,  text-analysis skills deepen and students are able to determine the main themes of stories, understand how the author’s point of view support the theme or argument of the text, and draw inferences, supported by details from the text.  Students are actively engaged in book reports and readers’ theater throughout the school year.

Language Arts

Fifth grade Language Arts encompasses spelling, grammar, and writing.  Each week students are given a spelling list that focuses on a particular word strategy and a grammar/mechanics skill.  These skills coincide with our Reading program from Macmillan/McGraw-Hill.  Through various educational resources students, practice and master each skill.  Fifth graders will have a strong focus on editing skills including correct capitalization, punctuation, spelling and language errors.  Student learning is differentiated to meet and challenge individual needs. 

Our fifth graders continue refining their writing skills through our Reading textbook writing program and Using Picture Books to Teach Writing with the Traits by Scholastic.  Both programs assist students in developing a strong foundation for good writing skills.   Each program follows the six-traits of writing:

•   Ideas:  the main message and meaning of the piece
•   Organization:  the internal structure
•   Voice:  the person behind the words, bringing the topic to life
•   Word Choice:  the use of rich language and specific vocabulary
•   Sentence Fluency:  the rhythm and flow of sentences throughout the text
•   Conventions:  the rules behind the words – mechanical correctness

We review each trait, organize it and have clear directions on how to carry them out.  The end result is that each student writer will discover for themselves if a written piece is or is not working, and what to do about it. 

We use Everyday Mathematics (2012), developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. The curriculum is based on research about how students learn and develop mathematical power. This program provides the broad mathematical background needed in the 21^st century. The lessons are based on activities and discussion of mathematical content as well as practice of basic skills, often through games. The instructional approach is based on the notion that students build understanding and develop skills over time through multiple learning experiences so math concepts are revisited throughout the year.

Fifth graders will continue their investigation of basic properties with emphasis on multiplication and division of whole numbers, decimals and fractions. Students will also learn about properties of two and three dimensional shapes and they will evaluate simple algebraic expressions.

Fifth grade social studies differs greatly from fourth grade in the sense that this is the first time students begin a survey of United States history.  Whereas with fourth grade, students study the culture and geography of the US, fifth grade is far more focused on our nation’s history and the ability to read and use maps and images to support it.  The curriculum is enhanced by projects and activities to give students a better understanding of their identities as citizens or inhabitants of America.  In fifth grade, we use Harcourt Social Studies: The United States (2010). 

Historically, fifth grade focuses on people, ideas, and events that helped shape the way the United States has changed over the years.  We look at all of this chronologically starting with ancient American civilizations and generally ending around the beginning of America as an independent country. This type of history is not focused on memorizing dates, but knowing the significance of people, ideas, and events and how they shaped American culture and politics.

Geographically, we focus on five themes of geography.  Location—everything on Earth has its own; Place—every place has its own physical and human characteristics; Human interactions—people interact with their environments in different ways; Movement—people, products, and ideas are constantly moving; Regions—areas of Earth with main features that make them different from other areas.

Fifth grade science is a more in-depth continuation of learning about many of the same areas of concepts of science.  We will look at four main areas of science:  life science, Earth science, space and technology, and physical science.  Fifth graders will continue approaching problems using the scientific method.  Vocabulary and concepts will be more focused and advanced, and there will be new terms and concepts to learn.  In fifth grade, students will be: conducting research, problem solving, taking notes, reading for information, and investigating in more advanced ways than in fourth grade to understand the world around us.  All of this is paired with Scott Foresman Science:  The Diamond Edition (2008) program.

Every chapter is set up as learning concepts of more specific areas of each of the sciences.  Here are some of those areas we will cover in fifth grade:

• Classifying
• Biology
• Anatomy
• Ecology
• Environmental science
• Space & Technology
• Energy
• Physical science
• Chemistry
• Physics