Social Studies homework assignment: assigned on Fri. Nov. 10. Due: Monday Nov. 13.
In Social Studies this week, students completed their infographic assignments and we began learning about the fossil heritage of Alberta. Students discovered that the badlands of Alberta are a place where a great variety of dinosaur species have been found. Fossils are the remains or impressions of prehistoric organisms preserved in rock. Students viewed a powerpoint presentation made by Mr. Brewer on this topic. Paleontologists have discovered the presence of dinosaurs here in Alberta. Particular features of Alberta's landscape make it an amazing place for finding fossil remains such as the Albertosaurus, a prehistoric creature that students are reading about over the weekend for their homework assignment. Many students were fascinated by the question of how dinosaurs became extinct. A popular theory is that the extinction was caused by a large meteorite from outer space impacting the earth. While it was explained in class that the size of an object that could have led to a mass extinction was huge, we did look at a meteorite impact site in Canada as a means of comparison: The picture above shows the Manicouagan Resevoir in Quebec. The shape of this lake is circular and it is thought to be the result of the impact of a meteor of 5 km in diameter. This weekend an article was published on the National Geographic website that speculates about the impact of the object from space that it is thought to have led to the mass extinction of dinosaurs: news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/11/dinosaurs-extinction-asteroid-chicxulub-soot-earth-science/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20171109news-dinoasteroid&utm_campaign=Content&sf157171398=1
Also this week students attended the Nose Creek School Remembrance Day assembly. Ms. Ross is to be thanked for her vital role in organizing this assembly. It was clear that students took seriously their obligation to reflect on the difficulties and dangers faced by those who undertook going into battle. They were solemn during the songs and performances that took place in the assembly. Many students in both 4E and 4F were directly involved as members of the grade 4 choir and are to be commended on the quality of their performance. All staff, students and visitors to Nose Creek were reminded of the ultimate sacrifice of our war dead who paid the ultimate price to ensure our freedoms.
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Students brought home Spelling Word Work duo tangs in the latter part of the week. In class we studied about some common plural forms: both regular and irregular ones. Plural forms that are irregular are those that do not change when pluralized: e.g. deer (sing.) is also deer (pl.). Another example would be the word 'sheep' which does not change form in the plural (i.e. 'There are many sheep.' versus 'There are many sheeps.') In the second sentence the writer has made a plausible prediction about the plural form based on prior knowledge, but clearly it is grammatically incorrect. We never say 'sheeps' with an 's'. One activity which we have done repeatedly in the class is a three-point organizer. The three point organizer allows multiple access points for learners when learning new vocabulary associated with curriculum. They draw a picture of the word, define it using a dictionary, text or other reference material and they are prompted to think of synonyms for the word or give examples. 4E and 4F students are familiar with this type of work. Below is an example of how to do the three point organizer effectively that may assist parents who are helping their sons/daughters at home to complete the three-point organizer: In our word work this week students have been learning about identifying and applying common spelling generalizations in their own writing. The spelling list from this week and in-class assignments prompted students to use spelling generalizations such as changing "y" to "i" and adding -es to make a word plural. In addition to the plural forms the list includes words frequently used in Social Studies and in student research for the infographic assignment. The weekend homework involves writing 10 sentences using the words from this week's list. Students are asked to do this in preparation for a quiz on Monday. As part of our ongoing word work in class, students write their own sentences as a means of further developing the ability to write in a legible style that demonstrates awareness of alignment, shape and slant of letters. They identify and apply common spelling rules, attend to capitalization and edit their own work for subject-verb agreement errors with prompts and cues from Mr. Brewer. As students work through the weekend homework they should be actively attending to points that are reviewed frequently in class such as capitalizing to indicate the beginnings of sentences or proper nouns. The aim should be for students to become increasingly independent in recognizing errors in their own writing and applying strategies to self-correct.
This week Mr. Brewer read from the Judy Bloome novel Superfudge. As students listened Mr. Brewer frequently stopped and posed questions. The questions were meant to illicit students' own ideas about the thoughts and actions of the characters portrayed in the book. Many students could make personal connections to the story and students were encouraged to ask relevant questions and respond to questions on topic. While some questions prompted students to recall events in the story, many questions were intended to make student explain connections among events, setting and main characters. As we continue to develop the skill of active questioning while reading, students will sometimes be asked to recall events, but increasingly we will look to develop the ability to probe more deeply into texts by predicting, making evaluative statements and inferring about the actions of characters. When reading together, parents can assist in increasing reading comprehension by asking 'why' or 'how' type questions: "How do you know that will happen?" "Why do you think the character did that?" These types of questions prompt students to 'think between the lines'. In this way we come to appreciate the artistry of texts and enter more readily into the minds of characters to understand their motives. This week in Humanities a big focus for students has been on representing their ideas through a variety of media. Mr. Brewer read to students from the novel Superfudge. Students were encouraged while listening to imagine what the story might look like if it were a movie. Students took these images and created a comic in their creative journals based on a particular scene in the book. We discussed the use of speech bubbles in cartoons. Many students truly enjoyed re-telling the events of the story in a different medium. They understood that they could present information visually as well as in written form. The cartoons incorporate both! Drawing and using speech bubbles allowed for students to develop their ability to personally express their ideas about oral media texts in class this week. Mr. Brewer shared with classes his love of the artwork and storylines in the Tintin books that were authored by Herge. Many students are familiar with the stories and some have seen the Tintin movie too. Herge used a style called claire ligne to draw his panels. Seeing these beautiful illustrations inspired some students to use their artistic ability to explain connections between the characters in the novel. Students continued to use and develop their knowledge of the meaning of prefixes, such un- (not), and sub - (under), to read and understand the meaning of new words like "unknown" and "indifferent". These two words were on this week's spelling list. Through applying this knowledge more readily grade 4 students can read and begin to understand many unfamiliar words in context. We continued to work on our infographic project. Like the work with creating cartoons, students were using a different medium to convey a message. We will continue to work with Ms. Asis in our Humanities class to identify how specific techniques are used in infographics to affect viewers’ perceptions in media texts. Mr. Brewer said in class that students may access the easel.ly website on their own time outside class. www.easel.ly/ The username for the site is: [email protected] and the password is Kodiak1 Below are the rubrics for the project work. The two rubrics are essentially the same, though one is simplified and easier for grade 4 students to follow:
Social Studies Homework: Handed out Friday Oct. 20 in class. Due: Mon. Oct. 23 In class this week students continued to identify and learn the meaning of some frequently used prefixes. They applied this knowledge to work towards reading unfamiliar words in context. The prefix words in this week's spelling list are ones students discovered through intentional cooperative learning activities done in class. Students put the words from this week's list into alphabetical order by first and second letter. Through doing this activity they became increasingly familiar with this method of looking up words so that they can more independently find information in glossaries, dictionaries and other such reference materials.
Students also began project work this week on infographics. The word infographic is a blend of two words: information and graphics. Infographics include visual images such as a charts or diagrams used to represent data. Students discovered that information can be recorded and presented visually in different ways. They had an opportunity to describe and compare different examples of infographics in class. Students discovered that good infographics are colourful, include lots of information, have titles, are easy to read, and use a variety of fonts in different sizes and styles. The observations of students will be used as a basis for evaluating the infographic projects that they make for class. Next week, Ms. Asis and Mr. Brewer will be collaboratively explaining in detail how to use the site easel.ly www.easel.ly/ to create their own infographics. Students decided whether they would work together with another student or in pairs on this project work. Mr. Brewer and Ms. Asis will be randomly assigning each pair or individual to research about one of the six natural regions of Alberta. Students said that they would like to include information in their infographics about the landforms, climate, natural vegetation and wildlife in each region. As well, students will be including two samples of poetry about the region they research. Next week on Thursday there will be a unit test on the natural regions of Alberta. To prepare, students brought home their green Social Studies duo tangs to review from. In class this week, students mapped some of the major landforms and settlements in Alberta. They will be tested on some of this material. The following map was used as a basis for this activity in class: There will be a Social Studies quiz on Alberta's Natural Regions on Thurs. Oct. 19, 2017:
Word Work homework: Assigned: Oct. 6 Due: Oct. 10, 2017
In Social Studies, students continued to learn about how natural vegetation, climate and landforms characterize each of Alberta's natural regions. As a class, students did a matching exercise where they looked at photographs of each natural region and attempted to match the photos to descriptions. Below is a picture showing the descriptions on the left in column A. In the column titled B students wrote down the number of the picture that they thought fit the description in column A. In Column C. they wrote down the reasoning for their choices. We took this up as a class. Most students could explain their reasoning. Finally, students were given the model answers we see in the picture below: Reading comprehension strategies were discussed this week. Students were encouraged to ask questions as they read their own books and while listening to Mr. Brewer read aloud from Superfudge. Questioning is an effective means of monitoring reading comprehension as it encourages students to think actively as they read, focus on their purpose for reading and to attend to the meaning of texts. Certain decoding strategies were reviewed as well. Decoding is the ability to apply knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words. Students learned about chunking words into syllables to pronounce them correctly. Knowing the meaning of some of the more common prefixes such as "un, pre, de, or im" were presented as a means to glean the overall meaning of new words. Weekend homework focuses on the meanings of several of the more common prefixes. When one knows that many words beginning with im have a negative meaning it helps to understand the meaning of words like "impossible" or "improbable". In class we studied the prefix 'in' which is a common variant of 'im'. Students discovered that while many words have 'in' at the beginning (e.g. indirect), they are not all in prefix words. Inukshuk and India both begin with the in, but neither of these words has a negative meaning.
When talking about reading strategies, Mr. Brewer introduced the five finger rule as a way for students to choose "just right" books: 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
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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