Students are to complete 10 sentences of writing for Friday, October 26 on the natural resource activity we did yesterday. Here are 6 questions to help guide their writing:
- tell me about the activity we did, what did you learn? - what natural resources does Alberta have? - what region are these resources located in? - why are natural resources important? - how do natural resources help Alberta?
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Last week students finished writing their sense poems about two regions. They used the laptops to type up both poems in Google docs. Next students used a metal juice as a base to create a plastercine image of one of the regions from their poems. Grade 4's learned different techniques to create a variety of shapes and textures for their image. If the plastercine image or poems were not completed in class they were sent for homework and should be returned to school already.
On Monday, all students wrote their Alberta regions quiz. All quizzes have been returned and sent home. Please ensure you look over the quiz with your child, initial it and send it back to school. This week we started learning about natural resources. Table groups were given 7 objects to try and identify, determine what they have in common, how they can use each item and the reason I gave them these specific things. Students learned how rich in natural resources Alberta is and that we can find natural resources in each of the 6 different regions. I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! Tuesday began with Grade 4's presenting their infographics to the class. We projected them onto the whiteboard as well as printed them off in colour to display on our bulletin boards. For the presentation, students were reminded to speak in a loud voice, face the audience and not speak too fast or too slow. Students were encouraged to ask questions about the presentations which gave the presenters a chance to share extra knowledge or facts. All students have been given back their rubrics as well as a self reflection sheet they filled out. Anytime a mark comes home, we ask that a guardian signs and sends it back to school to indicate you have seen it.
Grade 4's also did an activity where they had to highlight keywords in a short paragraph about each region with their table group. Then they had to match a picture to the correct region and provide reasons on why the picture went with the description. I encouraged students to think of more than one reason for their explanation. For example, saying the picture had lots of trees in it so it must be the Boreal Forest is not enough explanation. Students should really be pushing themselves to come up with multiple answers, details and reasons to validate their ideas and opinions. We are now working on poems about the regions. Students started writing sense poems. They are required to write two poems on two different regions and include what they would see, hear, smell and feel in the region and if they can think of what they might taste in the region that would be great! Below is the outline of how the poems starts as well as an example. We also talked about adjectives and juicy words. Poetry is a very expressive form of writing and is a great time to use more descriptive, unusual and vivid words to help paint a picture in the reader's mind. Next week they will be finishing writing the poems and then will use Google docs to type up the poems. Title of Region I know I am in the (region) because I (sense) … I can (sense) …. I know I am in the (region) because I (sense) … I (sense) …. I can (Taste- is a bonus/challenge) Rocky Mountains I know I am in the Rocky Mountains when I hear howling from a pack of wolves through the tall, slender trees. I know that I’m in the Rocky Mountains when I smell minty, pine needles from a pine tree. I know I am in the Rocky Mountain region when I see emerald and lapis lazuli spruce trees and wild life all up the side of the mountains. I know I’m in the Rockies when I taste smoky, cheesy hotdogs and melted, fluffy marshmallow and warm, gooey chocolate when I eat s’mores. I know I’m in the Rockies when I feel sharp gravel on my feet when I stand on the dirt road. This week students continued to work on the infographics they started last week on one of the Alberta regions. They were shown how to import pictures in 3 different ways: using a created "object" from Easel.ly, a stock photo or from the internet. Students needed to include all of the information they found when researching last week as well as a "tip" for each category. Some common categories were things like; cities, weather, animals, landmarks and landscape. A tip for the animal category in the Rocky Mountain region may have been "be careful when hiking and be sure to bring bear spray" if students had identified bears as an animal that lives in that region. Each infographic will be printed out in colour to be display on the bulletin board in class. On Tuesday, grade 4's will present their infographic(s) with their partner to the class. A rubric with their marks in several categories will go home next week to be signed by a guardian and returned to school. Below is a link to the rubric they will be assessed on. We will continue to learn about the Alberta regions next week and students will be writing some poems to accompany their new knowledge of the regions. Grade 4's also did some writing in their journal this week abut their thoughts and feelings about Nose Creek School and their first month here. Our writing goal is to write 10 sentences on any given topic making sure to include appropriate capitals and punctuation at the ends of sentences. Each class spent about 30 minutes this week on Read Theory which will be a regular part of Humanities class. Read theory is a website that personalizes readings based on the student's ability and accuracy. Passages are adjusted up or down to provide an appropriate challenge and allow for success at whatever level the students are reading at. This program can be accessed from any computer and students should know their username and password.
Students had more class time to research their region with their partner. Each day, the class brainstormed ideas of topics that would be important to know about. They were finding facts about things like: cities, animals, bodies of water, activities and special jobs. When they finished researching, students were introduced to infographics. Infographics are presenting information in a visual way by using pictures, graphs and charts. We process images 60 000 times faster than texts! So pairing information with visuals makes the info easier and faster to remember as well as more engaging. Students were shown the website Easel.ly. This is a website for creating infographics. Using one, or several, of the templates provided, students will create an infographic with their partner to display their research on their region. Students will continue working on this part of the assignment next week. I have asked that students do not work on their Easel.ly graphic at home as they will have lots of class time to work on it and it is a collaborative project to be worked on with their partner. Once the class has finished, they will present their infographic or graphics to the class!
Last Friday, the grade 4's changed their password to log on to cbe devices. It is important students memorize their 8 digit id number that they will use as long as they are at a cbe school in order to access technology.
On Monday, students received an orientation for the Learning Commons and took out books. Humanities class will begin with reading and it is important students have a book they are interested in reading either from the LC or home. We also discussed students current knowledge of Alberta and they spent time writing in their journals. On Tuesday, I introduced the 6 regions of Alberta that we will be learning about this year. The regions are: Rocky Mountains, Foothills, Grasslands, Parkland, Boreal Forest and Canadian Shield. Students were given a brief presentation on each region and they learned how to take down jot notes. Next, they chose a region they were interested in researching and I partnered them up with someone from the same group. Students began using iPads to research the region they chose with their partner. They are learning skills like how to record information in their own words, how to look up words they don't know, how to find a good website and what type of information you should copy down. Students will continue to research into next week. Our first week of school was filled with activities and transitions, learning to open locks, a hamburger lunch, a pancake breakfast, outdoor fun and of course, getting to know teachers and students! There was lots going on and lots of switching between things. This week, we started our regular schedule that students will be following for the reminder of the year. In Humanities, we began an art project using puck paints, silhouettes and action poses. Students were asked to choose 3-4 colours and paint a background going from the lightest colour in the middle of their page to the darkest colour at the edge. I took a photo of each student in a pose of some sort. After their backgrounds were dry, they cut out the black and white photo of themselves as well as a white silhouette to glue on their page. The final step was to use black paint to add their name on their page nice and big. When the art piece was finished, students began writing about themselves. Their goal was to write at least 10 sentences. This goal will increase throughout the year.
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AuthorMrs. Moldovan has been teaching for 9 years. She has taught Grade 4 for the past 6 years at Nose Creek! Archives
June 2018
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