This week may have been short, but it was still just as busy as our five day school weeks!
In Humanities, fourth graders began looking at the 6+1 Traits of Writing and continued their discussion around "What Good Writers Do". Students were given time to brainstorm what they thought was most important about writing and were then asked to examine 3 different samples from fourth grade writers. The conversations about the samples were rich and illustrated the knowledge that our students already have about their writing. Students were then given the opportunity to begin some creative writing. We are excited about introducing the 6 Traits and reading more awesome fourth grade material. In the coming weeks, we will continue our inquiry into identity and explore the connection to artifacts. Later in the week, 4.1 and 4.2 will be embarking on their first Camp Sweet adventure!
Our grade 4 Team would also like to thank all of our parent volunteers, teachers and grade 8/9 leadership students for joining us on our trip to North Glenmore Park on Friday afternoon. It was an excellent day for our games and Camp Sweet introduction.
In Humanities, fourth graders began looking at the 6+1 Traits of Writing and continued their discussion around "What Good Writers Do". Students were given time to brainstorm what they thought was most important about writing and were then asked to examine 3 different samples from fourth grade writers. The conversations about the samples were rich and illustrated the knowledge that our students already have about their writing. Students were then given the opportunity to begin some creative writing. We are excited about introducing the 6 Traits and reading more awesome fourth grade material. In the coming weeks, we will continue our inquiry into identity and explore the connection to artifacts. Later in the week, 4.1 and 4.2 will be embarking on their first Camp Sweet adventure!
Our grade 4 Team would also like to thank all of our parent volunteers, teachers and grade 8/9 leadership students for joining us on our trip to North Glenmore Park on Friday afternoon. It was an excellent day for our games and Camp Sweet introduction.
We began math this week brainstorming ideas of how we could easily and efficiently indicate our understanding of each problem we encounter. We established the Red, Yellow, Green method. All students had a voice in deciding the type of language that was required to be present to properly assess their learning. All the thoughts will be gathered into one document and become a common language for students.
Moving forward to self-assessing, the students wrote a formative assessment. The assessment piece was focused on place value and number sense and was designed to inform both the teachers and the students where they are with these particular areas of study. This type of assessment allows the teachers to modify our teaching and the learning activities to best improve student understanding. The students were asked to try their best without asking for help, double-check their work and to take their time. They handed in their paper when they felt confident their best work was represented in answering the questions fully. We will take up the assessment next week to share successes, challenges and various strategies.
In science, we visited Clem’s Garden with our new scientist eyes. In our last visit we explored the space yet in this visit we were able to have a deeper appreciation for the details in nature. Our young scientists were excited to see all the new things that were explored and overlooked in our previous visit. Each student documented their findings with descriptive words and/or diagrammatic drawings. On many occasion we overheard conversations that included the phrase “I wonder…” or predictions supported with evidence. It is exciting to witness the transformation from student to scientist.
Moving forward to self-assessing, the students wrote a formative assessment. The assessment piece was focused on place value and number sense and was designed to inform both the teachers and the students where they are with these particular areas of study. This type of assessment allows the teachers to modify our teaching and the learning activities to best improve student understanding. The students were asked to try their best without asking for help, double-check their work and to take their time. They handed in their paper when they felt confident their best work was represented in answering the questions fully. We will take up the assessment next week to share successes, challenges and various strategies.
In science, we visited Clem’s Garden with our new scientist eyes. In our last visit we explored the space yet in this visit we were able to have a deeper appreciation for the details in nature. Our young scientists were excited to see all the new things that were explored and overlooked in our previous visit. Each student documented their findings with descriptive words and/or diagrammatic drawings. On many occasion we overheard conversations that included the phrase “I wonder…” or predictions supported with evidence. It is exciting to witness the transformation from student to scientist.