Welcome to the 23rd week of grade 4 at NCS! My apologies for the post last week -- I'm not sure what happened, but it appears as if it only posted the title, not any of the content. I will re-type that post for you to catch up on. Sorry again! On Monday, students wrapped up our Fossils unit and we began our unit "The Stories, Histories, and Peoples of Alberta." We've begun to learn about the First Nations that inhabited the 6 Natural Regions of Alberta. We've done some readings, heard accounts of First Nations members, had class discussions, looked at maps and more! Students have been able to share prior knowledge and make connections to new information that they have learned. We've started to learn about what life was like for First Nations communities, and how they were able to survive Alberta's climate and regions. We've learned about the buffalo, other food sources, shelters, and more! Today, students started a "mind map" or web, about key facts that they have learned so far. This is yet another way that students can record and remember their information, in a creative, organized and individual way. We will continue to use these mind maps/webs throughout this unit! See below for a few examples of the students mind maps/webs. We will continue to discuss and learn about the First Nations communities found in Alberta, and do a variety of activities over the next few weeks (including art, writing, researching, exploring perspectives, some small quizzes, etc). Students seem quiet engaged and are sharing lots of things that they know! Many students have been participating frequently this week! We've continued to read for 20 minutes daily, but we've started a new daily activity (in place of Literacy Centers) -- Creative Writing! In this activity, students have been getting a variety of prompts (inspired by a few different books that I have). We share the story starters/prompts, and then put a timer on for students to work on their writing -- we are aiming to write for 20 minutes (uninterrupted). Then, students have had the chance to share their writing/stories with the class (usually about 4 students per class are able to share). Students have been very excited to share their creative writing with the class, and have seemed to really enjoy this daily activity (many students have asked to continue this for more weeks)! Below you will see some photos of (example) starters/ prompts and student work! Important information:
-Next week we'll be starting weekly spelling practice (as Literacy Centers usually worked on spelling activities) - this will occur in flex - students can bring home their spelling pages for further practice as needed! -RRJ's will be starting up again next week-- Week 17 -Scholastic Book Orders - will go home next week -Calgary Hitmen field trip on Tuesday. Please Bring a lunch, water bottle, and anything else that you may need for the day -Anti-Bullying activities happening at school next week (The Calgary Hitmen game being one part of it) -- please check the main grade 4 blog page for more info Have a great week! -Ms. Clark
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Welcome to the 22nd Week of school at NCS!
This week was a short and sweet week here at school, as it was only 3 days long! On Monday, students worked to finish their in-class presentations for "Ms. Moneybags!" They were super engaged, and got to practice both their listening as well as speaking skills. Well done grade 4's! There are still a few grade 4's who were absent and will present next week after Teachers Convention. I will send the rubric home in their assessment duotangs once all students have presented, and I have gone through their research, good copies, and notes! Students continued to work on 20 minutes of daily reading, and at their Literacy Centers too! There were no RRJs due this week. This week we also worked on story writing skills (using story cubes), and inferencing! Inferencing is when you gather clues from what you read or see, and then combine those clues with things you already know (prior knowledge) to help you make a guess, prediction, or inference. Students had a chance to read a small text and gather clues from the reading, as well as, look and analyze pictures. Today, students were able to watch a movie (with limited dialogue) in order to practice their inferring skills. Most students realized that they infer all of the time and in a variety of ways! Next week, we will finish presenting to "Ms. Moneybags" and hear her verdict about if she will donate her fortune to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. We will finish up our fossil unit, and then begin our new unit on the peoples of Alberta! Important Information: -No school this Thursday/Friday (Feb 15/16) as it is Teachers Convention -No school this upcoming Monday as it is Family Day in Alberta. -4C has done an AMAZING job with exploring "community" with me this year! They helped me get ready for my presentation this week! We will continue to explore what community means in our classroom, school and community throughout term two! -Book Orders for March just arrived, and I will send those home in the next week or so! -Calgary Hitmen Field Trip on Feb 27th -our whole class is going! -Please return your assessment duotangs and report card envelopes if you haven't done so yet! Have a great long weekend, -Ms. Clark Welcome to the 21st Week of school at NCS! This week sure was a busy (and snowy) one! Students in 4A and 4C spent the majority of their working on their "Ms. Moneybags" project. Ask your child about what the "Ms. Moneybags" project is all about - they should be able to describe our work with lots of detail! Last week (Week of Jan 29th), students researched their questions on the internet and from our textbooks. This week, we brainstormed what an informational paragraph should look like, and we talked about assessment. Students then worked to summarize all of their information into clear and concise paragraphs. Then, once they had written their 3 paragraphs, they had a chance to work through the editing process with a partner, and to practice their paragraphs for presentations that began on Thursday (and continued on Friday). With the snowy weather, several students were away on Thursday, but many students were luckily still able to present! We moved the desks around to look like a conference room, and students had fun presenting to Ms. Moneybags (Ms. Clark with a wig). Presentations will continue next week. Below you will see a few photos from their work this week! We continue to read for 20 minutes on a daily basis, and worked at Literacy Centers a couple of days as well. The majority of the time did go to our work with the "Ms. Moneybags" project. We also worked on different literacy activities too! Students also had an opportunity to work on "stamina writing" this week. This is similar to our 20 minutes of "stamina reading," but where students work to write, instead. We are able to work for approximately 8 minutes of uninterrupted, individual time spent writing, and this term, we will be working to increase our time spent writing each day. The writing tasks and formats will change, and students will often have choice in their writing. On Friday, we had an exciting "design challenge" in which students had to work together in groups of 3 or 4, to solve a problem. The problem, was a scenario in which someone was hurt on a mountain, and had to be transported down the mountain. Students were able to combine skills and understanding from a variety of subjects (including their new unit in science, as well as humanities) in order to collaborate and come up with a solution. Design challenges present an opportunity for students to use their problem solving, team work, presentation, building, and critical thinking skills all at once. During the process, students had to identify the problem, brainstorm solutions, work with others to decide on and build a solution, and then present their ideas to the rest of the class. It was a fun morning, and students worked so hard! Below you will see photos from the design process, as well as, the finished prototypes of each groups solution. Important Information:
-Report Cards went home Friday. Please sign the envelope and return to school with your child. -Teachers Convention is on Thursday, February 15th and Friday, February 16th - so, there will be no school on Thursday or Friday of this upcoming week! -Family Day is on Monday, February 19th - so there will be no school (which means a 5 day weekend for students!) -4C has been working hard in Flex time and learning all about community, and helping me prepare for my presentation at Teachers Convention this week. They have done a phenomenal job, and I am so impressed! -If you child wants to hand out valentines day cards this Wednesday, February 14th, there will be time to do so in the morning! Class lists went home last week for name spellings. -Forms/Payment due this week for the field trip to the Calgary Hitmen game. Please return to your homeroom teacher. Have a wonderful weekend, Ms. Clark |
AuthorGrade four Humanities teacher. Archives
June 2018
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