This week in math/science grade 4's have been busy setting up their Tomatosphere study. The importance of sample size and how to set up a controlled experiment has been the focus of our work. Students have been given two groups of seeds- the control seeds and the treated seeds. The treated seeds have either been on the International Space Station for 2 months or have been in a vacuum at -80 degrees celsius for 50 days. This is a study to compare how these seed treatments could affect germination of the tomato seeds. Once our data has been collected we will report our findings to the Tomatosphere Project, the Canadian Space Agency, and the University of Guelph. We are also continuing to work on our study of plant anatomy. In mathematics we have completed our study of pattern in number, culminating in our final assessment and review. We are continuing our study of computation and the importance of "balance" in equations. Humanities Update We are all excited to be continuing our journey with Peter and Pax this week, in our read aloud unit. Students have been working on their close listening and reading skills as we use this story to help us understand what good readers do and why. They have used these skills this week to help them make inferences based on what they already know, and the clues in the text. The novel Pax has also allowed us to meaningfully use new technology in class. The apps Google docs, MindMeister, Overdrive (our digital library service), and Freshgrade have allowed us to explore our ideas in new ways. Thank you to everyone who posted their selfie and explored the Freshgrade platform. If you have any questions about this learning management system, please do not hesitate to contact your child's homeroom teacher! We have also been working collaboratively and talking about what it means to be a good group member. Our social thinking curriculum reminds us that our minds and bodies need to be present in order to work well with others. Looking ahead, we will be exploring the theme so of gratitude and global citizenship in our family groups and classrooms! To support this theme, please see the note below from one of our family groups:
The Yellow Bumble Bees Family Group is collecting non-perishable food items to support The Calgary Veterans Food Drive. Please help us support this valuable cause by bringing in non perishable food items next week.
0 Comments
This week in humanities fourth graders have continued to read Pax and apply learned strategies in their visual and online journals. Grade fours completed a Freshgrade check-in to demonstrate their understanding of how and why good readers visualize. Students also explored why our next strategy, making connections, helps us become better readers. Posters on display in our humanities rooms were used to open a conversation about what it means to make deep connections to ourselves, other texts, and the world. We watched the Pixar short film “Dug's Secret Mission” to try this strategy together! This week in Science students have been continuing our exploration of Plant Growth and Change. Students had the opportunity to go back into the science lab and observe and explore the beginning of plant life in beans. Students used their skills from the Unknown exploration to again observe and record their observations on a sprouting bean plant. Students were able to identify the beginnings of leaves and roots. These skills will be used in the coming future as the students begin work on the Tomatoshpere project in the next few weeks. For more information on Tomatosphere please visit the website: http://tomatosphere.letstalkscience.ca/Investigation.aspx This week in Math students have begun to look at mental math strategies as well as addition and subtraction computation. Students were able to show what they know, coming into grade 4, through an addition and subtraction check-in. We will continue to develop and build on these skills in the coming weeks as we continue to work on strategies students can use for mental math as well as why regrouping works in both addition and subtraction. To introduce mental math skills, students had the opportunity to practice these skills by playing mental math games on their iPads, the website we used is linked bellow if you would like to take a look and play a few at home. http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/mental-maths Students also reviewed why we regroup in both addition and subtraction problems and why we do it, to better understand the theory behind these computations. If you would like to understand more about this please take a look at these Khan Academy videos we watched in class: Addition- Why Carrying Works: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic-home/addition-subtraction/adding-carrying/v/why-carrying-works Subtraction- Regrouping: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic-home/addition-subtraction/subtract-within-100/v/introduction-to-regrouping-borrowing Reminders:
Mini Me to We will be hosting Spirit Week Oct. 31- Nov. 4. Our theme days are as follows: Mon. Oct. 31 - Costume Day (Afternoon only/ No masks or face coverings) Tues. Nov. 1 - Match Day Wed. Nov. 2 - Crazy Hair/Hat Day Thurs. Nov. 3 - Animal Day (dress like or wear a picture of an animal) Fri. Nov. 4 - Pyjama Day Student Valuables The grade 4 team would like to remind you that students in grade 4 do not have a locker or private places to keep their belongings at school so it is important that they leave any valuables at home to avoid running the risk of things going missing. We will be keeping our classroom doors locked at break times and reminding all students who use our room of the mutual respect we expect of each other and for other people’s personal space i.e. desks, coat hooks etc. This week math/science students have been practicing their ability to find pattern in number and pattern series'. Grade fours have been practicing their computation skills and had an opportunity to show, what they know in an addition and subtraction check-in. In science, students have begun preparation for the Tomatosphere, studying germination and gaining supporting information about plants. This week in humanities.... We started reading the novel Pax aloud as a class. We are so excited about this novel and the learning opportunities it provides. As we read this week students were introduced to the reading strategy visualizing and demonstrated their skills in a visual journal featuring pictures, words, and questions. We also introduced the strategies of questioning and making inferences, and are excited to continue working with the students on using clues from the text to answer their questions. The app "MindMeister" will digitally hold and organize students' questions as we continue to read! This week students also selected novels from the library that they will allow them to practice the reading strategies independently. Students also contributed to a class "What Are We Reading?" wall. Check out the digital version from 4.3/4.4 here: https://padlet.com/ivy_w1/43reads2016, and 4.1 / 4.2's display on the wall in their humanities room! Students are also now working in Googledocs, and have each created their own digital journal. In this document students will be completing a variety of activities (including uploading images of their visual journals), and will receive feedback from their teachers. Your child will still be sharing their learning on Freshgrade though, so keep watching those portfolios! The beauty of Googledocs is that they save automatically, are accessible from anywhere on any device, and have wonderful comment features that allow teachers and students to have meaningful conversations about learning. Ask your child to show you their journal! Next week we plan to continue following Pax and Peter on their journey, and will be looking at how making connections is another thing that good readers do. Lastly, a HUGE "Thank You" to everyone who volunteered to help out on November 15 with the in-school Teacher's Pet activity. At this point all classes have enough volunteers and are good to go.
Have a wonderful weekend! 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.
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. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2017
Categories |