May 30, 2015
by AM
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For the last few weeks of school, we would like you to continue to work on the last Mathletics assignments, Live Mathletics, your final writing assignment or Spelling City for 4A students. There will not be any Genius Hour project presentations as a class, but if there is a research topic that you want to work on, please do that in place of the usual homework.
May 25, 2015
by AM
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Monday: Look, cover, say, write, and check each of these words. Then use this word in a sentence.
Tuesday: Watch the video on the blog post “All work, no play for footy’s child labourers” http://grade4.co/2015/05/22/all-work-no-play-for-footys-child-labourers/ How would you feel if you had to do this kind of work? Would you do this for your family if necessary? Write your thoughts in the comments section.
Wednesday:. Work on www.mathletics.com for 25 minutes.
Thursday: Prepare for Spring Concert tomorrow!
*a reminder about homework: please spend only 25 minutes on it and complete what you can!
May 22, 2015
by AM
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May 22, 2015
by AM
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Grade Four News
May 22, 2015
Parents,
Our annual Spring Concert is one week away. Thanks for all the help you gave us these past few weeks putting the LEGO costumes together. This week, students did a full dress rehearsal and they looked great! We hope to see you all next Friday at the hall for the big performance.
Today, Linn came in to talk about her work with refugees in Malaysia and around the world. Students did a role play situation where they had to choose which members of the family to take with them while fleeing a country. Tough choices!
Also today was Teacher Appreciation Day at TIS and Carolyn and Andy would like to thank the parents and students for the contributions. We are truly grateful to be part of this community and feel honored to be a part of your child’s education.
Thanks, as always, for your support at home.
Andy and Carolyn
Grade Four Teachers
Mathematics:
Throughout the year, we have been reinforcing addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Please practice at home with your ‘Xtra Math’ account!
We have been looking at how to order, round and add decimals this week. We learnt a little about how place value helps us to round numbers as well as order and add them.
In addition to working on Mathletics, students are encouraged to practice multiplication times tables at the following websites:
www.multiplication.com (the games section is good)
Literacy:
Reader’s workshop: This week finished reading Parvana’s Journey, wow that was a great story with so much happening. It had us laughing and crying.
We then looked at why the author, Deborah Ellis, selected certain words and phrases to include in the text.
Writer’s Workshop: In this unit, students are writing essays about some of the books and short stories they read. This week, students worked on essays about The Breadwinner and Parvana’s Journey. Next, they will be comparing two different books in a single essay.
Units of Inquiry:
Unit of Inquiry: It’s Not Fair
Title: It’s Not Fair!
Central Idea: People of the world have varying rights, responsibilities and opportunities.
Lines of Inquiry:
The rights of children
Our rights responsibilities and opportunities
The responsibilities, rights and opportunities of child labourers
Concept Questions:
What are children’s rights and why?
What are our responsibilities, rights and opportunities?
What responsibilities, rights and opportunities do child labourers have?
Summative Assessment:
The Summative Assessment is a reflective journal recorded in the Unit of Inquiry notebook through the unit.
You will participate in a series of simulations depicting the lives of child laborers around the world. After the simulations, you will be asked to think about and record your understanding of the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of the children’s lives you role-played and compare them to your own life.
During these reflections we reflected using the six facets of understanding: self knowledge (asking students to reflect on their learning) empathy (asking students to reflect through the eyes of characters) perspective (asking students to reflect about the different points of view), explain (students explain their reflections) interpret (tell meaningful stories making connections e.g. to self, texts, analogies), application (ask students to apply their understandings in a scenario eg You are a…)
This week we discussed our responsibility as a consumer and the responsibilities of governments when it comes to child labourers. We also performed a simulation where we were child labourers working in cramped, hot and poorly lit conditions. It was enlightening for some of us.
Reminders:
May 18, 2015
by AM
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Monday: Look, cover, say, write, and check each of these words. Then write a definition of this word.
Tuesday: Interview question: This Unit of Inquiry is on children’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities. Ask one of your parents or older brother/sister “What is the most important children’s right that should not be taken away?” Please write their answer in one paragraph.
Wednesday: Watch the videos on the blog post “Videos on Carrying Water” http://grade4.co/2015/05/14/videos-on-water-carrying/ How would you feel if you had to carry water this far every day? Leave your answer in the comments section.
Thursday: Work on www.mathletics.com for 25 minutes.
*a reminder about homework: please spend only 25 minutes on it and complete what you can!
May 18, 2015
by AM
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May 15, 2015
by AM
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Parents,
A reminder that the warm weather is here. Our school nurse, Megumi, has reminded us to wear a hat, wear sunscreen if necessary and bring a water bottles from now on. It can get very warm on the track and the roof during morning and afternoon recess.
Thanks, as always, for your support at home.
Andy and Carolyn
Grade Four Teachers
Mathematics:
Throughout the year, we have been reinforcing addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Please practice at home with your ‘Xtra Math’ account!
This week we revised fractions and then moved onto the world of decimals. We worked on defining decimals and finding them in real life contexts.
In addition to working on Mathletics, students are encouraged to practice multiplication times tables at the following websites:
www.multiplication.com (the games section is good)
Literacy:
Reader’s workshop: This week we talked about how a character behaves on the outside and compared it to their thoughts and feelings on the inside. We begun to talk about the many layers of characters as well as growing our thinking about literary fiction. We used these prompts to help us
“Hmmm….I’m just wondering…what could this be teaching me?….
Hmmm…I’m thinking about…”
“What could that mean….Could it maybe mean….Or could it mean….?”
Writer’s Workshop: In this unit, students are writing essays about some of the books and short stories they read. This week, students finished their work on the forst literary essay and are moving on to the second part of the unit: comparing two different books.
Units of Inquiry:
Unit of Inquiry: It’s Not Fair
Title: It’s Not Fair!
Central Idea: People of the world have varying rights, responsibilities and opportunities.
Lines of Inquiry:
The rights of children
Our rights responsibilities and opportunities
The responsibilities, rights and opportunities of child labourers
Concept Questions:
What are children’s rights and why?
What are our responsibilities, rights and opportunities?
What responsibilities, rights and opportunities do child labourers have?
Summative Assessment:
The Summative Assessment is a reflective journal recorded in the Unit of Inquiry notebook through the unit.
You will participate in a series of simulations depicting the lives of child laborers around the world. After the simulations, you will be asked to think about and record your understanding of the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of the children’s lives you role-played and compare them to your own life.
During these reflections we reflected using the six facets of understanding: self knowledge (asking students to reflect on their learning) empathy (asking students to reflect through the eyes of characters) perspective (asking students to reflect about the different points of view), explain (students explain their reflections) interpret (tell meaningful stories making connections e.g. to self, texts, analogies), application (ask students to apply their understandings in a scenario eg You are a…)
This week we looked carefully at our responsibilities as a consumer in relation the UNCRC. Have a look at this interactive Guardian article to see some of what we looked into. We also looked at the hidden costs involved in ‘cheap fashion’.
Reminders:
May 14, 2015
by AM
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May 12, 2015
by AM
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This video from Miguel shows how to make a LEGO Man costume.
May 11, 2015
by AM
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Monday: Look, cover, say, write, and check each of these words. Then write a definition of this word.
Tuesday: Write one paragraph (5-7 sentences) on a way you can “take action” for a global issue such as poverty, education, child labor.
Wednesday: You are a book editor. Write a blurb (a one paragraph preview) of the book Parvana’s Journey or another chapter book. Your job is to get people to buy and read the book, but do not give away too much of the story. Make it sound exciting!
Thursday: Work on www.mathletics.com for 25 minutes.
*a reminder about homework: please spend only 25 minutes on it and complete what you can!