Religion

St. George teachers follow the religion standards put forth by the Archdiocese of Seattle. Standards are tied to the 6 tasks of Catechesis:

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1. Knowledge of the Faith
2. Liturgical Education
3. Morality/Life in Christ
4. Prayer
5. Life, Community, and History of the Church
6. The Church’s Missionary Life and Service
 

All students get the opportunity to participate in weekly Monday morning prayer services and participate in weekly all school Mass. 

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All K-8 students are divided into cross grade Faith Families that meet monthly and focus on a Catholic Social Teaching and works of service to our community. 

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The main concepts focused on in 4th grade are: 

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• ​Deepening our understanding of mass and prayer by participating in weekly prayer services and mass.

• Growing in the knowledge of our faith through learning church history, the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. 

• Developing our moral formation by learning how to live the Catholic Social Teachings to build a global community.

• Building our Catholic school community by participating in Faith Families activities. 

• Memorizing the St. Francis of Assisi Prayer of Peace and learning about his life, and the lives of other saints.

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Weekly Social Emotional Lessons using Second Step Curriculum helps students learn skills to help with empathy and learning, emotion management, and problem solving. 

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Reading

St. George follows Common Core State Standards for Reading Informational and Literature texts and Reading Foundational skills.

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Key Ideas and Details

• Refer to details and examples in a text, draw inferences from a text

• Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details

• Describe the connections between events, ideas or information in a text

Craft and Structure

• Determine the meaning of words and phrases

• Know and use various text features and overall structure  to locate key information

• Explain structural elements of informative, poetry, prose and drama texts

• Compare and contrast point of view and narrators

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

• Make connections between texts and visual or oral presentations

• Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support a text

• Compare and contrast similar themes and topics in stories, myths and traditional literature from different cultures

• Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words

• Reading with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension

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We use a variety of reading materials including weekly Scholastic Magazines with informational articles, Picture Books and Novels. Novels may include books by Kate DiCamillo, The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, Love that Dog by Sharon Creech and Save me a Seat by Gita Varadarajan and Sarah Weeks. Students participate in various Novel studies and book clubs throughout the year to help them become close readers. 

 

Using 95 Phonics Core Program, students receive direct and explicit instruction in phonics, morphology and fluency by studying and applying patterns in the English language. 
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Language Arts

St. George follows Common Core State Standards for writing, language, speaking and listening. 

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• Writing:

  • Forming strong paragraphs by crafting interesting and detail filled paragraphs to pull in our readers. 

  • Use of the writing process to work on opinion, informative/explanatory, and narrative writing pieces. 

  • Writing skills are integrated into all content areas and developed with cross-curricular projects

• Language:

  • Conventions of standard English grammar and usage, when writing or speaking

  • Conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing

  • Determine the meaning of unknown or multiple-meaning words based on reading and content

  • Understanding of figurative language, word relationships and word meanings

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Math

St. George follows Common Core State Standards for Math and Mathematical Practices. Math work focuses on the process and understanding of concepts, problem-solving in a variety of ways, discussing and explaining math concepts and work and applying the skills students have learned to solve new problems. 

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Operations and Algebraic Thinking

• Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve word problems involving comparisons

• Gain familiarity with factors and multiples and find factor pairs for a whole number in 1-100. 

• Generate and analyze patterns that follow a rule. 

 

​Numbers & Operations

• Generalize place value understanding for multi- digit whole numbers up to 1,000,000 including reading and writing standard, word and expanded forms of numbers, comparing numbers and rounding.

• Fluently add and subtract multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm. 

• Multiply one-digit numbers by up to four digits and two two-digit numbers, using strategies based on place value and properties of operations.

• Find quotients and remainders with up to four-dividends and one-digit divisors.

• Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering using numerators and denominators.

• Understand decimal notation for fractions, and compare decimal fractions.

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Measurement & Data 

• Know relative sizes of measurement within metric and customary units 

• Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, time, and money

• Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements

• Geometric measurement: understand concepts of angle and measure angles.
   

​Geometry

• Draw and identify lines, angles and classifying shapes by properties

• Measure angles using a protractor

• Recognize a line of symmetry and draw lines of symmetry in shapes

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Science

St. George follows Next Generation Science Standards. The standards are tied to life science, earth & space science and physical science. 

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Human Body, Vision & the Brain:

• Investigate structures and functions of the human body by  exploring how our bones and muscles are interconnected, how our eyes interact with light and impact our vision, and how our brain responds to stimuli in our environment.

Earth’s Features & Processes:

• Investigate features and processes of the Earth’s surface by exploring the rapid process of volcanic eruptions and  the gradual Earth processes of weathering and erosion.

 

Sound, Waves, & Communication:

• Investigate the science of sound by constructing physical devices to feel the vibrations that allow us to communicate across distances.​​

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Energy, Energy Transfer and Electricity

• Investigate how energy is stored, how it can make objects move, and how collisions transfer energy between objects.

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Salmon in the Schools 

• Students become environmental stewards as they help raise young salmon learning about their life cycle and needs, habitats, how human actions impact salmon and our local waterways.

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Social Studies

St. George teachers follow social studies learning standards created by Washington State in the categories of civics, economics, geography, and history.

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• Civics

  • Washington’s government looking at the levels, branches, how a bill becomes a law, current events and current leaders. 

• Geography

  • Washington’s regions and key geographical features and landforms

• History

  • Washington’s history including the Pacific Northwest Coast, Exploration of the PNW, the Lewis and Clark journey

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Technology

 

One-to-one with a Chromebook​​​​​​​

• Students access a variety of materials and resources. 

Google Classroom 

• Complete typed assignments and digital work. 

iReady 

• Personalized instruction in math and reading, which targets skill gaps to help students who are behind access grade-level content, and it provides challenges and enrichment for students who are on grade level.

Seesaw

• Students share their understanding to different subjects  in a variety of ways. 

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Field Trips

• Carkeek Park   

  • Learning about salmon with the opportunity to observe spawning salmon

• Seward Park

  • Release salmon into Lake Washington, while also participating in a scavenger hunt and sharing their knowledge of salmon stewardship

• Fort Nisqually​

  • Visiting the Living History Museum at Fort Nisqually, connecting to our study of the fur trade and its affects on Washington and the PNW​

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Music

See Music page for details.

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Physical Education

See PE page for details.

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Art

See Art page for details.

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