Fourth Grade

Mrs. Jill Schmelz

 My name is Jill Schmelz and I am proud to call St. John’s my home. I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was young. I used to play school with my sisters and I would always be the teacher.

I am the 4th grade teacher and 5th grade Math teacher here at St. John’s. I earned my bachelor’s degree in early and elementary education from Missouri Baptist University.

I earned my master’s degree in elementary education from Central Methodist. My teaching career started at St. Gertrude in 2003. I taught Kindergarten, 2nd, and 4th. I moved to St. John’s in 2012 and have been teaching 4th grade ever since.

I grew up in Marthasville and have two sisters. I am very close with my family. I married my husband, Jason, in 2008. We have 3 boys: Collin, Cole, and Cody. We moved to Villa Ridge in 2016.

Some of my favorites: I love the color orange, penguins, baseball/softball, St. Louis Cardinals, football, swimming, strawberries, cheesecake, math, gerbera daisies, baking, winter, summer with my boys, and especially being with my family and friends.

I love teaching 4th grade because the students are eager to learn new things and have fun when learning. I love how they make me laugh with the little things they say when they learn. The small class size allows me to teach to all different levels and help those who might need more.

I love being able to help out not only as a teacher but also a parent at St. John’s. I am the President of the Athletic Association. I also help with Grandparent’s Day, school dances, and the Dinner Auction. I am also one of the leaders of the Student Council.

4th Grade Curriculum

Religion

Topics include the Law of Love, Beatitudes, Ten Commandments, Laws of the Church, Sacraments, Liturgical Seasons-Advent, Holy Days, Lent, Easter, Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, social justice, moral choices, sin.

Reading

We read a variety of stories in class together. They take a weekly test covering vocabulary and comprehension. We also will read a short book or chapter book together about every 5 lessons. Each month the students are required to complete a book report. The type of book report changes each month. They are also required to complete a monthly book log.

English

Weekly tests are taken that cover decoding and grammar. Topics include mechanics (sentences and punctuation) and grammar (nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs.) They also write a variety of stories each week. We then type those stories to put in a folder to take home at the end of the year.

Spelling

Weekly pretest and tests are given that coincide with the Reading series. They also complete daily workbook pages. Some of the skills are short and long vowels, and homophones.

Social Studies

Topics include geography, history government, economy, five regions, states, capitals, and abbreviations for the United States.

Math

Topics include computation for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and properties, computation using 2 and 3 digit numbers, rounding and estimation, perimeter and area, fractions and decimals, geometry, numbers to hundred millions, problem solving, weights and measures, and solving equations.

Science (Emily Patke)

Science we cover a wide array of topics. Such as states of matter, physical and chemical changes, solar system, Earth’s systems, and human impacts on those systems. We do a variety of science experiments, along with questions to answer about our lesson. Tests will be taken after each chapter is covered. Tests include multiple choice, matching, fill in the blank, short answer, and essay questions.