This week 4.4 and 4.3 were off to camp. We were lucky enough to enjoy some river time the first day and the students worked hard to create a dam as well as soak their teachers in a splash fight. Students kept the smiles and giggles coming throughout the three days participating in campfires, games and various camp activities. A big shoutout and thank-you to all of our parent volunteers, our trip would not have been nearly as amazing without all of you.
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Our first grade four camp trip was a success! We had a terrific time despite some cold weather and smoky fires. Everyone kept a positive attitude and enjoyed what the environmental space had to offer from games, mealtime and exploring, to magic spots and creating our very own tree fort village: "Connect Bennett." We would like to extend a HUGE thank you to all the parent volunteers who contributed to making this experience happen! We couldn't have done it without you! In humanities this week while 4.1 & 4.2 were away, we continued our inquiry into identity by dipping into what makes up Alberta's unique identity. In Math this week in 4.3 & 4.4 we looked at the triangle math problem in which students had to find a pattern in the numbers and use this to fill out the rest of the triangle as seen to the left. In science we began our summaries to wrap up our known study. Norovirus Update: Several students on the grade 8 Rocky Mountain Tour in Jasper were taken ill with what appears to be a gastrointestinal virus (Norovirus). While we are following all recommendations of the Public Health Nurse to limit further transmission of the virus through the school population, it is important that you are aware of the signs, symptoms, and preventative measures. Should you require further information, please contact HealthLink at 403-943-5465. Thank you. Fun Lunch Reminder: Last Wednesday's fun lunch that was missed due to camp will be delivered for 4.1 & 4.2 this Monday September 26th.
This week was a short, but busy one for our fourth graders! In humanities we continued to develop our understanding of the Goldilocks Zone, and had more chances to practice this skill individually and with the support of our classmates. We began using a graphic organizer to identify connections between the ideas about our names, and our identity. This meant looking back at the ideas we generated last week and digging deeply to identify connections that we could "warm up" for our readers. Fourth graders will be compiling their ideas into a polished draft next week! During class and library time fourth graders also began to have individual reading conferences with their teachers. It is exciting for us to learn about each child as a reader in order to identify ways to support their journey this year! Ask your child to share the chapter book that they are reading with you. We also continued our exploration of the Zones of Regulation, challenging students to create skits identifying how to get out of tricky situations that took their out of the Green Zone. The fourth graders already have interesting ideas about how to handle challenging situations! Thank you to everyone for returning the FreshGrade forms this week! We look forward to sharing your child's portfolio with you as they get more familiar with their iPads in the coming weeks! REMINDERS:
The information meeting regarding our Fall Camp at Camp Riveredge will be on Thursday September 15 at 6:00pm in the Gym. We are looking for volunteers for the following opportunities: Sunday September 18: WORK BEE @ Camp Riveredge 1:00pm-5:00pm Sandy Beach Park, 4500 14a St SW, Calgary, AB T2T 2V8 Two options for getting to the camp for our Work Bee: Option 1: Meet at Connect Charter Staff parking lot at 12:30pm (load and depart at 1pm). Option 2: Meet at Camp Riversedge 1pm. Work bee should be complete by 5pm at the latest. Many hands make light work! Here's what needs to get done: -Tent Set up -Wood Splitting -Kitchen Set up -Area clean up -Lighting -Miscellaneous * If you are able to attend, please RSVP via email to your child’s homeroom teacher no later than Wednesday September 14. September 19-21: 4.1/4.2 Camp Riveredge September 26-28: 4.3/4.4 Camp Riveredge Sandy Beach Park, 4500 14a St SW, Calgary, AB T2T 2V8
This week in science we continued our exploration of our unknown specimens. Students were given a small object that they were asked to describe using their observation skills they had practiced in the past few weeks. Students worked like scientists to prove what the specimen was through their descriptive writing and sketches. It was interesting to watch the students classify what they believed were bones, they had found inside of their specimen. Students were encouraged to make connections and comparisons between what they had found and things that they had seen in the past.
Our exploration of patterns found in numbers and figures continued in math this week. Students were asked to identify growth patterns found in drawings and then represent the pattern using t-charts. Additionally students began to extend these patterns by figuring out each pattern's rule. This week in Math we have been continuing our work with patterns. We have been working on identifying and describing patterns that can be found both in numbers and in the world around us. Earlier in the week, we hunted for patterns around the school. This lead to an inquiry surrounding the question “What is a pattern?”. Yesterday students worked on examining growth patterns through the Fibonacci Sequence as well as various pictures. Students will continue to examine and unravel patterns over the next few weeks. Students have continued to improve and hone their observation and description skills this week in science. We continued our work on observational drawing through an exercise where students were asked to draw only the negative space in a still life picture of fruit. This challenged to students to draw what they saw in front of them instead of what they “saw in their mind” and thought the drawing should look like. Over the next few weeks students will be beginning their first inquiry project where students will be asked to use scientific method to communicate their questions observations and discoveries so that they can identify new connections. In humanities this week fourth graders inquired into what makes up our identities. We began by reflecting on what we already know about what makes up who we are; including things like hair and eye color, personality, unique features, and family genetics. To further our perspectives, we read the book “Chrysanthemum” by Kevin Henkes looking for themes of identity within the story. This prompted conversation around how our names are special and unique to who we are as individuals. Students then began a brainstorming a mind-map of ideas answering the question: What do I know about my name? Students were given prompts to help generate ideas about spelling, pronunciation, feelings, history, and nicknames etc. Fourth graders then shared in groups and worked together to determine categories for their mind-map ideas. Common category themes that came up were family, pronunciation, popularity, nicknames, and feelings. The purpose for breaking our ideas into categories is to help students organize their work for the next steps in our inquiry. We hope that you can participate in our “Parents as Partners” activity over the weekend and write one note about their name on a sticky for your child to add to their piece of writing. Our first writing focus this term is determining juicy words in writing and making purposeful word choices. We recalled some of the word choices used in Chrysanthemum and discussed how word choice can enhance writing and storytelling. Later in the week we continued to focus on developing our writing skills. Students were introduced to the idea around Goldilocks Zones of Writing: too hot, too cold, and just right. Students were challenged to try writing “just right” sentences of their own. Here is an example we used in class: HOT: The small stinky messy disgusting bedroom had old moldy green socks on the shaggy carpet. JUST RIGHT: The messy bedroom was stinky from the rotting socks on the floor. COLD: The room was messy. Next week we will continue pre-writing and work on putting together our best paragraphs explaining how names connect to identity. Fourth graders were also introduced to the Zones of Regulation this week! We are excited to continue building strategies for staying balanced, happy, and ready to learn.
We kicked off the year with a busy week in fourth grade! As students settled into their homerooms on Monday they were given supplies and got to know their teachers more. We covered some important procedural drills this week including lockdown and fire drill walkthroughs. On Wednesday the grade fours had their first assembly and were officially welcomed to Connect by our community. They were surprised and excited to see photos of them in the “welcome back” video! In humanities this week, grade fours reflected on ideas that fit with our culture of mutual respect by brainstorming what makes a great classmate, and what makes a great teacher. It was a wonderful way to see our personal values come together as a group. We also began thinking about our first inquiry question that will guide our reading study over the course of the year: “what do good readers do?” Students took a reading survey and reflected on strategies they already use when they read. Later in the week we continued our focus on reading by shifted our thinking towards the joys of literature by watching the short film: “Fantastic flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.” After the film, students working in small groups and rotated to stations with different guiding questions. The ideas was for students to begin developing collaboration skills through sharing ideas and building on one another’s thoughts. This week in science we have been working on our sketching skills. We have been practicing the five different types of drawings; Blind Contour, Modified Contour, Quick Gesture Sketches, Diagrammatic Drawing, and Finished Drawing. We will continue to practice these styles of drawing in order to improve our ability to capture detail. Leonardo Da Vinci once said that to draw something is to know it. The students have been drawing from life and using their observation skills to become scientists and discover the world around them. Today student shad the opportunity to visit the Lakeview Community Garden and choose a plant to draw. The students were encouraged to add enough detail to their drawing and written observations, so that other students would be able to guess their plant without looking at at.
This week in mathematics students in grade 4 have been exploring pattern searching and problem solving. This weeks problem required that students colour circles in the hexagon in such a manner that the same colour is not next to each other. Students recorded their problem solving strategies and shared them. We observed that there were many ways of looking at the problem and applying strategies. If a “mistake” was made, we studied it, and learned from it, to understand the pattern more deeply. |
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June 2017
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