Reading and writing are an important means of communicating and learning. This week in Humanities, our focus was on extending knowledge by increasing vocabulary in subject areas and reading for enjoyment. Mr. Brewer began reading aloud the novel Superfudge by Judy Bloome during class. Students showed enjoyment and appreciation during this listening activity. It also gave them the opportunity to reflect on the views and experiences of others. We had the chance to read self-selected books in class. Skills like listening, reading and viewing enable students to gather and verify information. In this manner, they identify areas for further inquiry or research and develop support for their opinions. In the coming weeks and months we will be using effective reading skills and strategies to construct meaning and develop thoughtful and critical interpretations of a variety of texts. A goal for Humanities is for students to explore, shape and clarify their thoughts, and communicate them to others through writing. On Friday of this week, students wrote a friendly letter to their parents/guardians. This letter will be done every month as a means of communicating about what students are learning in school. Through this final week of September, students wrote sentences using new vocabulary from Social Studies and Science. One such term we studied in class was chinook. A chinook is a warm dry wind that blows down from the Rocky Mountains in the winter months. These winds affect Calgary and much of southern Alberta. They have been known to raise temperatures drastically within hours. Chinook winds blow down the Bow Valley and warm up Calgary frequently during the winter months. Students found out that a sure sign of a chinook is the sight of a bank of clouds to the west. The sight of a chinook arch is a sure sign that temperatures will go up and that when there is snow on the ground a lot of it might melt. Below is a picture of what the chinook arch looks like: The homework assignment for this weekend is a reading about chinook winds. Students are encouraged to write or type their answers in full sentences: Social Studies homework: Assigned: Sept. 29 Due: Oct. 2, 2017
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Social Studies Homework: Assigned: Thursday Sept.21, 2017. Due: Monday Sept.25, 2017:
This week in Social Studies we continued our studies of the major natural regions of Alberta. Students used the website: Zooming in Alberta's Regions to do some preliminary research on regions: www.learnalberta.ca/content/sszi/en/We began to learn in more detail about weather, climate and natural vegetation. Weather tells us about conditions like temperature, rain and sunshine on a single day whereas climate describes weather over a long period of time. Climate is affected by latitude (how far north or south a region is) and elevation (whether the region is high in the mountains or low in the plains). The natural vegetation of an area consists of the plants that grow naturally there. Through the site Zooming in Alberta's Regions 4E and 4F learned about the different types of trees, grasses and flowers that grow in different parts of Alberta. Next week we will begin using the grade 4 textbook Voices of Alberta to delve more deeply into this subject. All students had the opportunity to formally visit the Learning Commons at Nose Creek School for the first time this week. Everyone learned about the types of books they can take out and how they can go to the Learning Commons to engage in different activities there under supervision. Every student had an opportunity to take out some books that they can read on their own time and during designated times in class. Beginning from next week, all students will have a designated day when they can visit the Learning Commons during instructional times. Students may also visit the Learning Commons during Nutrition Break, after school and on designated days during Lunch Recess. Mr. Brewer has student library cards from Coventry Hills School on his desk for safekeeping. Students can take these cards to the Learning Commons when they have their designated visiting time. If a student's time falls on a holiday, Ms. Bennett is away and no staff are able to assist in the Learning Commons or students are unable to go during core time, they can go to the Learning Commons on the next available day. This may particularly affect students whose days fall on Mondays or Fridays. I will encourage students to go the the L.C. on their designated days. If students ask me to go outside thier designated times I will encourage them to visit during Nutrition Break, Lunch Recess or after classes. There are many opportunities to visit! Students continued to study poetry. A new type of poetry was introduced this week. Concrete poetry is a type of poetry that takes on the form or shape of its subject! The poem typically uses vocabulary that is related to the subject matter. Here is an example that was shown in class: Language Arts Homework: Assigned: Friday Sept 15, 2017. Due: Monday Sept. 18, 2017:
Social Studies: This week, students identified the position of Alberta relative to other parts of Canada by looking at its place in the world. Students said sentences like, "Alberta is west of Saskatchewan." "Saskatchewan is east of Alberta." "B.C. is west of Alberta." and so forth. Students learned about a graphic representation that can be seen on most maps called a compass rose. The compass rose shows cardinal directions and usually also shows intermediate directions. Two new terms for most students were latitude and elevation. Latitude is a measure of the distance north or south from the equator. Elevation is height measured from sea level. Both of these factors affect the climate and natural vegetation in Alberta. Students have begun studying about Alberta's six major natural regions:
In Humanities, students continued to work on refining and proofreading their acrostic and haiku poems. A new type of poetry was introduced called Diamante. The diamante poem is shaped like a diamond and its name means diamond in English. This type of poetry is seven lines long. 4E and 4C students wrote what is known as an antonym diamante. Here is an example: Cat Gentle, Sleepy Purring, Meowing, Scratching Whiskers, Fur, Collar, Leash Barking, Licking, Digging Slobbery, Playful Dog Uploaded from: https://www.poetry4kids.com/lessons/how-to-write-a-diamante-poem/ When writing diamantes students had to think a great deal about their choice of words. It involved both creativity and trying to think about what part of speech was being used. A diamante begins with a noun and ends with a noun. Some lines involve using adjectives or -ing verbs. Diamantes do not use adverbs. In our class we wrote diamantes with antonyms or near antonyms like: day/night, sun/moon etc. Next week we will continue to work on improving our diamantes by adding details and thinking about the proper use of vocabulary. A homework assignment on proofreading/editing was given on Friday. It is attached as a file to the beginning of this blog update.
Welcome to the 4E and 4F Humanities blog. In Humanities class, students will concentrate on developing literacy skills like reading, writing, viewing visual media and speaking aloud. I will regularly update this blog to explain about what grade 4 students are doing in my class. Please stop by regularly, as this is the place where you can find out about assignments and homework too!
In the first week of classes, students experienced a mini Day 1 and Day 2 schedule on Wednesday and Thursday in advance of the start of our regular daily schedule. I oriented students by explaining about expectations and routines in class. Students learned about two forms of poetry: Haiku and acrostic poems. In grade 4, learners experience oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres. We learned that the Haiku came originally from Japan. We viewed a poem by Matsuo Basho who was a master of this genre. Haikus contain three lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second has 7 and the third has 5. Haiku poems are usually about nature though they need not rhyme. All students had an opportunity to write their own Haiku poem. Acrostic poems were introduced as well. An acrostic poem has the letters of a word written vertically. The first letter of a word written vertically is used to write a word or phrase that describes the subject. In the coming days and weeks we will find out about other genres of poetry and will begin our year-long study of Alberta in Social Studies. |
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