Welcome to the 25th week of Grade 4 at NCS! This week, students worked on a variety of activities in Humanities class. We continue to read for 20 minutes daily, and students also continued their "creative writing" work in class for 15 minutes each day. This week we had a bunch of funny story starters, including ideas from the idea jar (some ideas were magical shoes, space ducks, and super cats) as well as from our story dice, creative story starter flip book, and our animal flip book (todays animal was part hermit crab, part rhino). Their stories are always humorous, and have been brainstorming so many unique ideas. It's also allowing students to practice different types of writing (e.g., news reports, stories, descriptive writing, movie trailers, etc). Students are continuing to practice their presentation skills when they share their stories with peers. This week students in 4A and 4C continued to learn about First Nations in Alberta. We were able to finish our mind maps that we've been working on for a couple of weeks! They have tons of key facts and interesting details. Students had a chance to discuss why places of historical significance/scared places are so important to the past, and important to people's identity (e.g., Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump or Writing on Stone Provincial Park). Students also listened to a First Nations story called "The Story of the Jumping Mouse" this week. This book is a beautiful picture book. After listening carefully to the story, they had to then pick 6-8 key details/ plot points, and organize their ideas into a "comic" with their key ideas in sequence. They had to draw images to represent the 6-8 key plot points (visualizing), and also write a key sentences describing their scene. This activity incorporates many key reading/listening strategies that we have worked on throughout the year, and it was a great way to apply many strategies in one activity! Students worked quite diligently on this task. Great job Grade 4s! Below you will see a few examples of the "sequence comics" that they worked on! Additionally, this week students were able to learn about different ways that First Nations celebrate their cultures and traditions. We talked about sacred/special ceremonies, drumming, dancing, powwows, the importance of circles and certain images, buffalo hunts, and more! Students were able to relate some of these ideas to their own cultures, histories and identities. We also had a chance to do two different art pieces recently -- the first was the creation of Teepees (last Friday), and learning about First Nations artist Norval Morriseau (and using his style to create our own artwork). Below you will seem some examples of both art work pieces! Important Information:
-RRJs - week 18 happened this week! Most students are caught up with this week. Week 19 next week! -Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews are coming up soon! Stay tuned for booking information -Students are reminded to head outside after lunch! Some students have been spending lunchtimes inside but are encouraged to head outside for some fresh air! Have a great weekend! -Ms. Clark
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AuthorGrade four Humanities teacher. Archives
June 2018
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