Last week, the students in Grade 4 visited the residents at James Bay Care Home. This service trip is a regular trip that happens for all students in our Junior School once a year. We decide as a class what we would like to share with the seniors, considering their interests and how we would like to communicate. This year, we decided to share some of our individual musical talents as well as some of our 'old favourite' picture books. We learned a great deal about the lives of the seniors and tried to ask questions that were important for them. We are so grateful to spend time with some of the senior members of our community.
Students in grade 4 are becoming more and more familiar with using criteria to create and effectively assess their own work. Throughout the assignment, students are encouraged to reflect back on class-generated criteria. Upon completion of the mapping project, students conferenced with a partner to get feedback and assess their own work. The learning and diaogue was rich and meaningful for students; sharing thoughtful suggestions between one another. As part of our habitat unit of inquiry, students have been exploring where different animals live in the world based on what they need to survive. They have been using their knowledge of maps to create their own distribution maps to show the range of their chosen animals. Students have been using a variety of resources to research and learn. What tools do you like to use to explore the world? atlases, maps, google earth, google maps...On Thursday, October 24th we had a visit from Kansai University Junior/Senior High School. The students from this school prepared many fun games so that our students could experience aspects of their culture. We enjoyed ourselves very much. Here are some thoughts from Grade 4J. The activity I enjoyed the most was: • the chopstick game because you got a pair of chopsticks and you tried to pick up beans. I got one bean and my opponent got two beans. (Sam) • writing because I like how Japanese characters look. (John) • writing the Japanese letters because it was a bit challenging and that was what made it fun. Also, it was cool writing letters from a different country. (Willem) • the fishing one outside because the balloon had water in it and was like a yoyo and that was awesome. (Erik) • the balloon one because I think it was hard for me and I like hard games. (Christian) • the paper throw because I got a cool prize and it was fun. (Matthew) • fan-making because of the materials I used to decorate it (origami, glitter pens) and I got to do it right from the start which was absolutely splendid! (Emma) • making a paper fan because you could be creative and also draw and glue on pieces of origami. (Marina) • when you had to put a face together with a blindfold covering your eyes. It was really fun because it was a challenge that was creative. (Bree) • fan making because it was nice that they had so many colours to work with and I never knew that they used different glue in Japan. It was really cool. (Cassidy) • picking up the water balloons with a hook and piece of paper connected to the hook. It was challenging and fun because when paper gets wet it gets mushy and you have to go fast. (David) • where you could paint with some oils or some sort of black paint. You had to choose a picture of a letter or word and then you painted the word. I liked this activity because it was interesting and fun. (Cypress) • the Japanese fan making because it was something I don't get to do a lot and you could decorate with many materials like origami, pens or even sparkly pens. I thought Japanese glue reminded me of white out. (Elizabeth) • making the fans because there were so many things to put on them and the glue was awesome because it was really sticky and easy to put on. (Sofia) A Japanese dance above. A bean counting chopstick race below. We had a great Halloween day. In the morning we enjoyed some spooky Halloween math and writing activities. In the afternoon, the students worked collaboratively to plan and prepare a Halloween puppet play which shared a message about Halloween safety. We also paraded, sang and danced with the entire school. What fun! Last week we had some incredible weather moments. The wind and the rain kept us inside a great deal more than we wanted or needed. During one of the most intense parts of the rainstorm we stopped everything we were doing, moved to the window, and simply observed the rain. One student suggested that we have a 'mindful moment', which we did. We practiced some mindful listening and were completely silent as we paid attention to the sounds around us. What a great way it was to slow down and appreciate nature.
To make learning place value fun, exciting and meaningful is a priority in Grade 4. Place value is often not well represented in text books and math programs yet it is a foundational and key element in a strong mathematical understanding. When students start to really understand the value of the digits in numbers, math really does make sense. In our first few weeks of school students engaged in a variety of activities, they played a number of challenging games to cement these concepts and bring meaning to numbers. Here are a few examples. In the 'roll a number' game, students use a 10-sided die to create a number of their choice: highest, lowest or closest to a particular number. Probability and chance are also important in this lively game. When the last roll comes around, students know exactly what they are hoping for to win the game! After many math games and activities we try to journal to really think deeply about the concepts we have learned. We know that recording our experiences and reflecting on our learning enhances our mathematical thinking and communication skills. What games can you think up using 10-sided dice, double dice or a deck of cards?We are so excited! On Monday of this week we launched the Global Read Aloud book, Out of My Mind, OOMM. All around the world, students and teachers began reading this book with a plan to communicate about the novel not only within our classroom but also within a pre-selected online community. We have used the tool, Edmodo to share our predictions and thoughts. This tool allows the students to respond to their teacher and other students as well as post their own thoughts. This platform widens the audience for students and helps them to communicate on a deeper and more meaningful level. In class we shared our predictions non-verbally and then grew our ideas as we read what others had shared. As we moved around the room, reading, sharing and thinking our predictions changed and developed, all without muttering a word! After we shared our predictions on Edmodo about OOMM. We watched the trailer for our book and added more thoughts and ideas with one another. Our enthusiasm for this project is phenomenal! What are your predictions about our global read aloud novel, Out of My Mind? We have been working hard in these first 10 days to learn routines and share with one another what each of us needs to create a happy, healthy and productive Grade 4 classroom. Listening respectfully and carefully to one another will help us to create and ensure this climate in our class throughout the year. In these opening weeks, our focus has been on learning to collaborate together, to think critically about challenges and problems that we are faced with, to make good choices and then to reflect on our contributions to the class.
This week April 8-12, 2013 is our Brain Awareness Week. We will be having assemblies and events throughout the week to learn more about the brain. In addition to our school wide events, the Grade 4 students will be completing a brain inquiry project about a question of interest to them. We look forward to an exciting week of learning. Be sure to ask your children about how the brain stretches and grows. The video below is from our Mad Science assembly which focussed on magic and how the brain makes connections. How does your brain grow and stretch?
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