Term II has ended and grade 4 students will return in September as grade 5 students. I wish to thank my amazing students for a very good year. 4E and 4F, you have been a pleasure to teach. All through the year I witnessed so much growth in my students. Your confidence has risen. Students can reflect back on September and October 2017, when so many struggled with learning how to open combination locks and had to adapt to new ways of doing things. Despite those challenges you advanced and adapted. There were different expectations for you in middle school and it likely felt quite daunting to you at first, yet you have come such a long way since those beginnings. Through the year your parents and teachers have supported you and have looked out for you. We came to know you through your triumphs and during the bumps along the road. Please know that myself and Mrs. Ross were always there for you throughout the year and that even as you move forward into grade 5 and 6 and beyond, you'll always be our students and we will never stop caring about how you are faring. I look forward to seeing you once again in the halls of Nose Creek School in September 2018, rejuvenated and read to learn. Do not hesitate to say 'hello' or drop by the grade 4 wing. We will continue to take an interest in your academic and social success at school. Good luck!
Sincerely, Mr. Brewer
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This year in grade 4 humanities we have followed the history of Alberta from ancient prehistory until the present. At the beginning of this term, we studied the different types of dinosaurs that roamed the land now known as Alberta. Students did research about a dinosaur that fascinated them. Later in the term, we began to explore the influence of the diverse First Nations peoples in Alberta. Students cooperated together to research, make posters and present information about a designated First Nation group. Through the course of the term we learned about Europeans who came to Alberta. Voyageurs were primarily Francophones who paddled along waterways in birchbark canoes and traded manufactured goods for furs with First Nations people. We learned about the Métis people whose ancestry is both First Nations and European. We later learned how British institutions and peoples were an integral parts of Alberta’s heritage. The Canadian government began to encourage homesteading on the Prairies in the late 19th and early 20th century. It was during this time that newcomers began coming from other places in Europe like Ukraine, Poland, Germany and elsewhere. As part of our study we made Easter eggs to celebrate Alberta's Ukrainian heritage. In June, we continued to follow the story of Alberta as we recognized how the diversity of immigrants from Europe and other continents has enriched Alberta’s rural and urban communities. Each student chose to work either on his/her own or in a pair to research about a country in the world. People have come from across the earth to live here in Alberta. Grade four students researched about countries from all continents. A student in 4E told me on Thursday that Multi-cultural fair was one of her most favourite activities in grade four. On Thursday, students displayed their work for others to see. Teachers and students got to ask students about their research projects. Each group or individual had a unique artifact and had learned different facts about the country they had chosen to study. Students chose to bring unique objects from the country they studied. In many cases their unique artifact was a food that is unique to the country they studied. A great time was had by all. Many students said how proud they were of what they had created for this activity. Below is a gallery of pictures showing many of projects students made for this activity:
This week students of grade 4 visited Canada Heritage Park. Canada Heritage Park is a is living history museum. I was very impressed by the many excellent and insightful questions the student group I travelled with asked in a Kainai teepee and when they visited the Hudson Bay Company trading post. The atmosphere and the genuine interactions with the staff at the park made many of the lessons we have learned in class come alive. One of my students told me that the highlight of his visit was the Caterpillar (a ride at the park). Then he asked me about my highlight. I told him my highlight was simply listening to the many questions my students asked. When students got answers they asked follow up questions too. This impressed upon me the fact that so many students were actively listening in Social Studies class when we talked about the voyageurs, First Nations culture and early settlement of the prairies. The visit really gave our students an opportunity to learn more about the lifestyles of early settlers to Alberta and how this experience has contributed to and enriched Alberta’s history. In class we learned that soddies were made by early settlers from natural resources found in Alberta and that they were warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Students saw a real soddy at Canada Heritage Park. Now that students have shared their opinion pieces on the oil sands and legendary stories we are moving into doing two final projects for the end of the academic year. Students have started their Y.E.P (Year End Project). This project is titled "The ABCs of Grade Four" or simply "Grade Four". It is an overall review of the year. Students use the first letters of words in the alphabet to guide them in this. For each word they must find a link to subject areas they studied this year in grade 4. As an example, in Humanities we studied about pemmican. This word came up when we visited Heritage Park where we were told that pemmican and bannock were important foods during the fur trade. Pemmican could be the 'p' word that a child chooses for his/her ABCs of Grade Four project. Another ongoing project is our Multi-cultural Fair. This project work is meant to familiarize students with many of the diverse groups of people who have arrived in Alberta during this century and the last century. Students have chosen a country to study about. They will be presenting about this country on June 21st. Parents have received a home communication about this project work. |
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