Third Grade At St. Peter’s
The Program
The third grade focuses on responsibility, first and foremost. In Religion, we receive reconciliation twice a year and continue to emphasize Christian, Catholic values. Academically, we focus on basic math facts including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and we also work on our handwriting, both print and cursive. In English Language Arts, the development of reading for pleasure in chapter books is stressed and by the end of the year students' love for books will increase along with vocabulary and comprehension.
Fourth Grade at St. Peter's
The Program
Fourth grade students begin to read with a higher level of fluency and expression and apply comprehension strategies to literary and expository texts. During the year, fourth graders formulate multiple paragraph pieces that focus on a specific purpose or audience, utilizing root words, prefixes, suffixes, and context clues to analyze unfamiliar words.
Additionally, students add and subtract large numbers with sums up to 1,000,000, complete basic multiplication and division problems, and understand basic fraction and decimal concepts. Students also learn about the characteristics, structures, and functions of living things and of how living things interact with one another and their environment: types of rock, glaciers, static and current electricity, and the history of California.
Teacher
MR. DAVID GUZMAN
Mr. David Reyes Guzman started teaching fourth grade at St. Peter's School back in 2010. He is returning after taking a year off from teaching and is looking forward to working with fourth grade Aztec scholars this year. Mr. Guzman graduated from San Francisco State University with a bachelor's degree in sociology and later earned a single subject and multiple subject teaching credential from SF State a few years later. He has been an educator in a variety of different schools: public high schools and middle schools as a substitute teacher in California's Central Valley; a public high school as a history teacher here in the Mission,;an elementary school and tutoring center in Maui as an elementary school tutor; and Catholic schools here in the city as Catapult reading and math teacher. He is now in his tenth year as a member of the St. Peter's School faculty. Mr. Guzman uses his time outside of school to visit family and friends, hike trails nearby, read, and watch as many Niner, Giant, and Warrior games as he can.
Third Grade Activities and Field Trips
Owl Pellet Investigation
Utilizing our FOSS Science program, students learn about owls which culminates in an owl pellet investigation.
Saints Project
Around the time of All Saints Day, students pick a saint and then do research for a presentation about that saint. It's an opportunity for them to learn about the many great people from our Catholic history.
Archaeology in the Presidio
Students travel to the Presidio to explore and act as archeologists, learning about the history of the Presidio and participating in many hands-on activities.
Fourth Grade Activities and Field Trips
Visiting the California Academy of Sciences
Students take a field trip to the California Academy of Sciences, which includes a lesson on plants or rocks from the Academy's educators. Following the lesson, students and parent chaperones tour the museum.
Missions Project
Students create a model of a California mission and present their research using PowerPoint as part of their Social Studies course.
Project-Based Learning
Students create a number of projects throughout the school year, including: annotated illustrations, illustrated dictionary entries, illustrated timelines, mosaics, perspective pieces, pictowords, sensory figures, spoke diagrams, T-Charts, and Venn Diagrams.
