Children entering the third grade have mastered their basic reading and math skills and are primed to build upon what they have already learned. Students will make more use of reference books and other materials, and they will use math and science to continue to explore the world around them. They will also begin to think more globally as they learn more about the world beyond home and school, and they will become very interested in learning new things.
Our third grade teachers will help expand students horizons and give them more of a "big picture" perspective. These social skills relate not only to friendships and interactions with the teacher and other students but to more in-depth learning experiences.
Fourth grade is the approximate year in which teachers say children experience a shift from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." Fourth graders at Saints Francis & Clare of Assisi will begin to use reference books and the Internet to find the information they need for schoolwork. Math, reading and other subjects will become more challenging, as will homework, which may take as much as an hour or more to do each night.
Social development is a huge part of growing up, especially during the school-aged years and our fourth grade teachers know it. Our teachers will help students to develop a sense of self, which they will learn through social skills taught in the classroom.
For many students, fifth grade marks the end of elementary school. Soon they will be headed off to middle school. Since they have had different teachers for each subject since the beginning of fourth grade, fifth grade students are expected to take on more responsibility for organization and long-term planning.
Our fifth grade teachers prepare students to stretch their brain to come up with solutions to more complicated problems, ones that ask them to use multiplication, division, subtraction, and addition all within the same problem. They also empathize with their students, motivate them to learn, and help channel their creativity.
