Monday, August 31, 2015

Sensory writing

We wandered over the the grassed area in front of the Secondary building and sat very quietly for 15 minutes. We wrote what we could see, smell, feel, hear and taste.

The plan is to think of detail and description to make our writing more interesting.

We came back to class and shared our ideas. The students then had a second attempt using descriptive words from our class brainstorm.






Here are some descriptive passages .....

I can smell clean, fresh air. It is slapping my face and my hat. It is cold and clean. It makes me heal. 
Jiwon

I am sitting in the field. I feel the breeze pass by. I can see birds hopping. I can smell freshly cut grass. I can feel the smooth grass. 
Shelby

I see water shooting up and falling on the grass. The water looks hot.
Nikor

I see bugs hopping, jumping towards the grass. i feel the wind blowing in my hair. I hear the Secondary students talking. I can see them going to their next class. They don't look happy. 
Seo Yeon

I sit here in silence, with the occasional sound of talking. I see a leaf flutter down and land on the grass. I see a snow white flower planted calmly in the grass.
Jed

I'm having a great time out here. I can see dragonflies rushing by me. A butterfly flutters in the distance. 
Teppi

I could hear the Secondary students talking to each other. Chit chat, chit chat. I smell my wooden grey pencil with bold lead inside. i hear a little bird chirp. 
Lyka

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Happy snap

The whole class was at school today.
Here is a picture of all 17 students.


Vocabulary and review

Today we checked our understanding of place value, ascending and descending numbers.
We also did activities to practice using Greater than, Less than and Equal to.







Lesson on how to give effective feedback

Ms Marcelle joined us today to talk about giving good feedback.

We looked at examples of feedback and rated them from 1 - Not very good / 5 Great.
The students came up with their rating for each example and explained their reasoning.

The students then worked out the formula for writing good feedback. They will use this when they are writing comments on each others blogs and peer editing writing.



DO .....
  • Explain what you noticed
  • Show empathy and be caring
  • Help them think and reflect
  • Ask open-ended questions
  • Praise their efforts
You may include ....

Sentence 1: What you noticed about their learning / product.
Sentence 2: A reflective question to help them improve.
Sentence 3: How their learning has inspired you or caused you to reflect.





Homework due Friday 4th September

Home Learning Activities Grade 4 – Ms Alison Due: Friday 4th September


                 
Reading
Remember to read for at least 15 minutes  every day and record the time/pages you have read  in your reading log.  Find a descriptive sentence from within a story that paints a picture in your head. Write the sentence,  the author and the title of the book on the new  google document shared with you.

Mathematics
1) Talk with a member of your family about the questions below.
Record your ideas in your homework book - ready to share with the class.
WHY DO WE HAVE A NUMBER SYSTEM?
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE DID NOT HAVE A NUMBER SYSTEM?

2) Mathletics:  Log onto to Mathletics and complete the assigned tasks, then play Live Maths to practice your mental math skills.

U O I - Shape of a Leader / Writing
On Friday we had a special day at the NGO Fair, when we learned about what the different organizations  do to help in the community.  Write a recount about the NGO for homework this week. Please write your draft in your homework book.  Read it to an adult and then edit to make improvements.


NUMBER SYSTEM: A system for representing (that is expressing or writing) numbers of a certain type. Example: There are several systems for representing the counting numbers. These include: The usual "base ten" or "decimal" system: 1, 2, 3, … , 10, 11, 12, … 99, 100, ….


Reminders:
Tuesday 1 Sept          Elementary Parent Workshop Music room (Building C, Level 1) at 7.45am
Friday 4 Sept          Staff PD: Early Dismissal students at 11:30 am


Tuesday 8 Sept            Grade 3-5 ISA Parent Information Session - Music studio (Building C, Level 1)

Wednesday 9 Sept     Parent / Admin Coffee morning - Black box theatre at 7.45am

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Learning about NGO groups

We visited the NGO groups in the Black box theatre and found out more about the great work they do. Each students was assigned an NGO to interview. The students will be 'experts' and share their findings with the rest of the class on Monday.

One of the favorites was PPAWS. Almost every student in Grade 4 wanted to adopt a kitten.

Another favorite was Kampuchea Balopp. Jean Baptiste, one of the co-founders spoke to the students about their organization and showed films about the how they play with children who are blind and have other disabilities. The students also did an activity on the field with Cambodian players from the National Rugby team.


















Working with Grade 7 and Grade 9 students

The Grade 9 students led a session about rubbish in our neighborhood.
The Grade 7 students led a session about Water.

What great role models we have in our school.

The Grade 4 students had the opportunity to test different techniques for purifying water with some interesting results. The Grade 7 student then helped explain their findings, show an even better way of purifying water and explained how Access to clean water is a big issue in different parts of the world.

They also reminded us that World water day is March 22nd.
We need to do something special - better mark it in the class calendar.












Leader presentations

The students presented their posters and shared their knowledge of their leader this morning.

They filmed each other and will upload the video of their presentation to their blog next week when we are in the lab.



Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Fun with buddies today

We got to know our buddies by doing an interview activity with them today.
They asked each other questions relating to their favorite foods, colors, places and drew pictures.
The Grade 4 students and Kindergarten students found they had many similar favorites.

The Kindergarten students then invited their buddies to play a game they enjoy.





Research posters

The students have working in pairs and completed their first research posters about leaders.
They have included Who, Where, Why information. Also - What the problem is, How they solve it, What attributes the leaders exhibit and How they created change in their Community, Country or the World.

The students will be presenting their ideas to the class tomorrow.
They will post video of their presentation on their own blogs.