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Fourth Grade at Saint Paschal Baylon School (SPBS) is a fantastic year full of  excitement and challenge! We are not just "learning to read" anymore . . . we are "reading to learn."  During Fourth Grade, students study different literary genres, including: myths, folktales, historical fiction, realistic fiction, and expository text. Our class reading themes interlace with our Science and Social Studies units, including: rocks, electricity, habitats, and California History. Students practice different forms of writing: narrative, informative, persuasive, and response to literature – all within the context of our school wide writing program, and the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards (CCSS.ELA).

 

Within our 100% Catholic student body, Catholic faith formation is inculcated throughout all aspects of the Fourth Grade year, including: participation in weekly school wide Masses, liturgical events, student-led Stations of the Cross during Lent, prayer services, annual Sacrament of Reconciliation, conflict resolution based on gospel values, and the formal/academic study of our Catholic faith.

 

SPBS believes in educating the "whole child", therefore our Fourth Graders participate in an extensive variety of Enrichment Classes: "Accelerated Reader" (Reading Renaissance), Spanish, Art, Music, Library, Computers/Technology, and Physical Education. In the spring of Fourth Grade, students may also begin their training to become altar servers at Saint Paschal Baylon Church.

 

One of the favorite Fourth Grade class faith formation traditions at Saint Paschal Baylon School is a visit to the Santa Barbara Mission during Lent, visiting the same place where Native Americans worked and prayed during the 1800's. The class also takes a day trip to the “Gold Rush Camp” , where students learn to live like an early California settler - making adobe bricks, staking a claim and panning for gold, even playing pioneer games!

This important grade level marks the first year in the school's “upper grade” building for our students, and it is the beginning of the transition from Primary Grades to Intermediate Grades for our SPBS students. Students are presented with a challenging curriculum in a technology-rich environment, which includes wireless iPads and an interactive touch screen SmartBoard in the classroom. Fourth Grade is also the first year that students receive "letter grades", and participate in the Honor Roll program and Trimester Honors and Awards Assemblies here at SPBS. Parents and students alike are able to access academic grades online via Gradelink.

 

We invite parents to collaborate with our credentialed and highly-experienced Fourth Grade teacher (a graduate of SPBS!), who also holds a Masters Degree in Education. The teacher is assisted daily by a classroom Teacher Aide for a fun-filled and exciting Fourth Grade year! Come and join us for a fun-filled and exciting year of learning more about our Catholic faith, our great state of California, how to help/serve the less fortunate, intermediate-level academics, altar serving, excellence in Catholic education, and ourselves!