What do you think we as fourth grade teachers want for upcoming students? I was wondering because rarely at schools there are vertical team meetings. If it's at your school, I commend you! We tried a little bit of one last year when we visited third grade. What do you think students need to know for math, writing, and reading, for example?
To be honest, I don't know. You're right about the lack of vertical alignment. That would make things much easier. I'm moving to 3rd this year from 2nd and will probably find out exactly what I should have taught them in 2nd to get ready for 3rd. My guess would be that 4th grade teachers would like: Reading: readers who know features of various genres and how to pick a book that they are able to read. They should be aware that they should be asking themselves questions as they read to make sure that they understand the book. Reading at grade level would also be a plus. Writing: a writer who enjoys writing and doesn't just write because they have to, someone who can write in complete sentences and put together coherent paragraphs, also kids who are able to proofread, cursive and legible handwriting. Math: multiplication and beginnings of division, solid addition and subtraction concepts including two digit and more. I'm not sure what else right at this moment (I haven't been sleeping and I'm getting really tired). I'm sure I'll think of some more later.
I am going by the TX standards, and "hope" that as long as I meet those, I will prepare them. Coming from teaching 5th grade, I definitely know what they are lacking, which are mainly spelling skills, so I am going to hit phonics & suffixes/prefixes/latin root words hard. I have the vertical alignment strands printed out, which makes it a lot easier to see what they should have mastered, what they need to master in/by 3rd grade, and so on.
Oh, both of your posts are fabulous. Thank you! I agree on the spelling skills completely. The 3rd grade teachers at our school are awesome, and they said they really worked hard on the multiplication and division factor last year...
