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.
What a great day we enjoyed at Swan Lake. We learned how local plants and animals have adapted to survive in their habitats. What other animal's behavioral or physical adaptations can you think of that help them survive where you live? 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.
Throughout the second term, we have enjoyed many opportunities to learn about First Nations in British Columbia and Canada. We felt fortunate to be able to learn from Leslie McGarry, who delivers a wonderful program through the Victoria Native Friendship Association. She visited us at school, where we made potlatch pouches and toured us around the Royal BC Museum where she shared stories of her ancestors and family. Grade 4J Update
Hello all, Here we are in February, so hard to believe. Our class has suffered from lots of colds and flus; let’s hope we have had the worst of it! Updates I encourage you to check our class blog regularly for information about our learning in and outside of the classroom. The students have also been responding to their learning using their own blogs which you can connect to from our class website and blog. I am still building this site but try to post information and photos of different events happening regularly. If it is helpful you can subscribe to the RSS feed on the website which will inform you of updates made to our Grade 4j class blog. www.msrees.weebly.com password: student4j Wildlife Reserve Book Launch – At the end of last term, both classes worked collaboratively with Rachel Boult to prepare a non-fiction soft cover book. Each student has two pages of text and visuals allocated to the animal that they researched. The children have had a sneak peek at the book, we anticipate being able to order these books once the proof has been finalized. Stay tuned for this exciting opportunity for our students to be ‘published’ authors. Curriculum Mathematics –Measurement is now our focus. We will be working on calculating elapsed time, using money and linear measurement. You can support your child by asking how long something might take or ask him/her questions such as: “If we leave at 4:30pm and it takes 2 hours and 10 minutes to travel, what time will we arrive?” -FSA practice will continue with problem solving activities discovering ways to best represent full solutions. Writer’s Workshop –We are continuing with our mini-lessons and have started to plan important events in our legend. We are working hard to notice the difference between telling stories and summarizing stories! In addition, students will be practicing with more written pieces similar to what they will encounter with their FSA’s. Reader’s Workshop – An in-depth study of different genres as well as visualizing and questioning strategies continue to be our focus. We have also started a new read aloud novel Wonder by R. J.Palacio. Science – We are continuing to explore different aspects of weather and will start a project incorporating recording weather from a specific location and researching extreme weather events. Social Studies- We are learning about different aspects of culture represented by First Nations in Canada. We are looking forward to our Field trip to the museum next week. Reminders Emily and Oliver will be students of the week for February. VISSA Swim Meet – Feb. 5th– Students may come in PE strip. Please refer to the email sent out by Nicky Newsome. Victoria Symphony – Feb. 12th. Look for details about this trip to be sent home soon by Mrs. Smith Royal BC Museum Field trip February 13th. Please see the attached parent information form for more details. Student Led Conferences will take place on March 13th, 2013. Please see the attached letter, there will also be a hard copy sent home today. With gratitude, Jane On what turned out to be a beautiful day late in November, both Grade 4 classes headed to Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary to discover more about Wetland habitats. The students and parent volunteers engaged in three different activities. The first was a wetland walk where they learned about the plants and animals that live in the Swan Lake wetland. The second activity involved dip netting, observing and identifying living organisms from the lake. Finally the students explored the nature house and learned about local species and their adaptations. Meeting the turtle and the snake was a big highlight for the students.
The students in 4J are each allocated a week in the school year where they are celebrated individually. Students of the week will share special memories and sometimes important items or artwork with the rest of their classmates. As individuals we recognize different virtues that we think represent our students of the week. |