3rd and 4th Grade Class

3rd and 4th Grade begin each day with a Biblical devotion, prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Pledge to the Christian Flag. The class then completes its weekly recitations. These recitations include Bible memory verses, manners, poetry, and important terms or facts.

3rd Grade Subjects

Reading and Literature: The subject is taught using Memoria Press’s Literature Guides which accompany the classic novels Farmer Boy, Charlotte’s Web, A Bear Called Paddington, and Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Students will practice fluency skills, deciphering unknown words, vocabulary that is above grade level, comparing and contrasting dialogue, ascertaining the characters and plot of a story, and determining meaning of advanced vocabulary from determining the Latin root.

Language Arts and Spelling: This subject is taught using Memoria Press’s English Grammar Recitation, Core Skills Language Arts 3, and Traditional Spelling III. 3rd Graders will memorize and understand basic grammar rules, sentence types, sentence parts, antonyms, synonyms, homonyms, and subjective and objective pronouns. They will master encoding weekly word lists, as well as prefixes and suffixes.

Math: This subject is taught using Saxon Math 3. 3rd Graders will master skip counting, all basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts, adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers, multiplying multiple digit numbers by single digit numbers, and adding and subtracting fractions. They will learn about measurement, mass, volume, telling time, counting money, angles, and graphs.

Science: This subject is taught using Memoria Press’s Mammals. 3rd Graders will learn characteristics of each group of mammals: monotremes, marsupials, insectivores, chiropterans, edentates, lagomorphs, hyraxes and aardvarks, rodents, ungulates, elephants, carnivores, cetaceans, and primates. Students will make observations, discuss, compare, and contrast.

4th Grade Subjects

Reading and Literature: This subject is taught using Memoria Press’s Literature guides which accompany the classic novels The Cricket in Times Square, Homer Price, The Blue Fairy Book, and Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrim's Progress, as well as Memoria Press’s Poetry for the Grammar Stage. 4th Graders will learn to compare and contrast, and to recognize literary devices such as puns, foreshadowing, and conflict, and to understand allegory and idiom. Students will practice reading with fluency and ascertaining vocabulary meaning from context clues.

Language Arts and Spelling: This subject is taught using Memoria Press’s Core Skills Language Arts 4, Classical Composition I: Fable, English Grammar Recitation, and Spelling Workout. 4th Graders will practice formatting paragraphs and properly applying grammar concepts to composition. Students will master basic grammar rules and verb tenses. They will master weekly word lists.

Math: This subject is taught using Saxon Math 4. 4th Graders will learn how to solve real world problems. These may include practice of elapsed time, inverse operations, multiplying two and three digit numbers, improper fractions, decimals and percentages, geometry and measurement, division of two or three digit numbers, perimeter, volume, area, and probability.

Science: This subject is taught using Memoria Press’s The Book of Astronomy. 4th Graders master naming and describing planets, vocabulary relating to the heavens, knowledge of the brightest stars, and knowledge of sixteen constellations. Students will make observations, draw seasonal constellation groups, and understand planet types.

Shared Subjects

Christian Studies: This subject is taught using The Golden Children’s Bible, Memoria Press’s Christian Studies, and Timeline Program. 3rd and 4th Graders will learn that God created the world with purpose. They will gain a deeper understanding of Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy. They will memorize Bible verses, the Old and New Testament books, and be exposed to time-period geography.

Latin: This subject is taught using Memoria Press’s Latina Christiana. 3rd and 4th Graders will memorize 1st and 2nd noun declensions, 1st conjugation present tense, and the present system of the "to be" verb. They will understand 1st and 2nd declension adjectives, master 130 vocabulary words with several English derivatives, and understand basic syntax, subject/verb agreement, and predicate adjectives.

American Studies: This subject is taught using living books and Memoria Press’s States and Capitals, and Timeline Program. Through books such as Pocahontas by Ingri d’Aulaire, 3rd and 4th Graders will learn about the beautiful and challenging history of our country, and through books such as The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz, they will learn about the lives of Americans who lived long ago. Students will learn to identify all 50 states and become familiar with other points of geography.

Classical Studies: This subject is taught using Book of Greek Myths by Ingri D’Aulaire. 3rd and 4th Graders will memorize facts about Greek mythology, become familiar with the myths accompanying Greek gods and goddesses, and become familiar with the geography of ancient Greece. Students will be taught that the gods and goddesses that were worshipped by the Greeks were false and taught to compare the limitations of these gods and goddesses to the power and sovereignty of the one true God of Scripture.

3rd and 4th Graders also participate in specials. These include Chapel, P.E., Art, and Music.