The character trait for the month of June is
HONESTY
HONESTY
*** Friendly reminder to review the school dress code now that the warm weather is here!
Number Sense - Fractions
Exploration with equivalent fractions. During this activity, students created equal fractions using pattern blocks. The hexagon was the whole they were to always refer to. Any other pattern blocks represented part of a whole. Take a look at the amazing work Shay did. She was able to find a number of equal fractions. She also wrote the fractions being represented!
Number Sense - Fractions
Exploration with equivalent fractions. During this activity, students created equal fractions using pattern blocks. The hexagon was the whole they were to always refer to. Any other pattern blocks represented part of a whole. Take a look at the amazing work Shay did. She was able to find a number of equal fractions. She also wrote the fractions being represented!
A passion for writing recognized by Craig and Marc Kielburger, the founders of Free the Children (Me to We). Jocelyn's powerful story was an eye-opener for many as she read it in front of students, teachers, and parents at our April assembly. With over 600 people in the gym, not a peep was made as Jocelyn wrapped us up in her realistic-fictional story about a boy named Kabeer and the struggles he faced living in a developing country. To read her story please see the May school newsletter.
Expository Writing
After learning about non-fiction texts (specifically newspapers) and the text features they include, students were given a writing task to complete. Their task was to develop and create their own news articles, using what they have learned about social justice and non-fiction text features. Articles had to be organized and written from a third person point of view. They also needed to include an eye-catching headline, photo, and a strong lead sentence. With use of our interactive learning board, students tracked their progress as they moved through the writing process. The process of these articles took a long time as students edited their work, had peers edit their work, and wrote a personal reflection about their learning. Read a few examples below!
After learning about non-fiction texts (specifically newspapers) and the text features they include, students were given a writing task to complete. Their task was to develop and create their own news articles, using what they have learned about social justice and non-fiction text features. Articles had to be organized and written from a third person point of view. They also needed to include an eye-catching headline, photo, and a strong lead sentence. With use of our interactive learning board, students tracked their progress as they moved through the writing process. The process of these articles took a long time as students edited their work, had peers edit their work, and wrote a personal reflection about their learning. Read a few examples below!
3D Geometry - Constructing Pyramids and Prisms with marshmallows and toothpicks
GEOMETROCITY!!! Students were given the role of becoming a city planner. In groups of 4, each person was responsible for a part of their group city, the coice was theirs (suburbs, entertainment, business, etc...). To be successful with this project, students need to have a good understanding of what they have learned about 3D shapes, pyramids, prisms, nets, angles, area, and perimeter. Cities are being built in 3 phases. PHASE 1 - PLAN... they must carefully plan their part of the city and precisely measure areas where their 3D buildings will be placed. PHASE 2 - COLOUR... in this phase, students must make their grid look as realistic as possible by using coloured pencils. They must also colour their nets to look like the buildings they will include. PHASE 3 - BUILD.... in this phase students build-up their city by cutting out the nets, folding, and gluing them onto the measured and labelled spots on the grid.
Students have really been enjoying this project. I have seen so much collaboration happening in the classroom over the past week. Check back for more pictures of completed cities AND our classroom region with all of the grids combined!
Students have really been enjoying this project. I have seen so much collaboration happening in the classroom over the past week. Check back for more pictures of completed cities AND our classroom region with all of the grids combined!
Here is a little bit about what Matthew learned and enjoyed during the April trip to Duffin's Creek. In the photo Matthew and his team are omnivores running for their lives!
Artists at work. Thanks to Marianne Woolley for running this amazing watercolour workshop with us!
Social Justice
We have learned so much about social justice and global citizenship. We know that the rights of a child are very important, and we are often granted all of our child rights here in Whitby, Ontario. Not all children are so lucky. In fact, we have learned that millions of children around the world are not granted their rights. After listening to the read aloud I Have The Right to Be a Child, students re-created the book cover to display what having the right to be a child means to them. Here are a few examples...
Operations
Take a look at the different ways we multiply, divide, and subtract. Using different strategies helps students to be successful as they choose what makes the most sense and works best for them.
Take a look at the different ways we multiply, divide, and subtract. Using different strategies helps students to be successful as they choose what makes the most sense and works best for them.
Division - Check out some of our explorations with division in the photos below. Students must have an understanding about what division really means. Before moving to standard algorithms, students are given opportunities to explore division with the use of hands on materials, pictures, and student generated algorithms.
RAFIKI BRACELETS
Learn more about Rafiki Bracelets by clicking HERE.
WOW!!! Our class purchased a grand total of 2202 24 Rafiki bracelets. We made a HUGE impact and helped to change lives of people in developing countries. Through the purchase of Rafiki's our class helped:
- mothers in Kenya to receive pre-natal vitamins
- children in rural villages of China receive pencils and books to go to school
- farmers to receive seeds to grow crops in Kenya
- children to receive clean water from nearby wells in India
GENIUS HOUR - BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR GENIUS HOUR PROJECTS
Media Literacy poster to advertise the Grade 4 Optimism Assembly. Target audience: students, teachers and visitors at CMV! Created by: Dylan.
Learn more about Rafiki Bracelets by clicking HERE.
WOW!!! Our class purchased a grand total of 2202 24 Rafiki bracelets. We made a HUGE impact and helped to change lives of people in developing countries. Through the purchase of Rafiki's our class helped:
- mothers in Kenya to receive pre-natal vitamins
- children in rural villages of China receive pencils and books to go to school
- farmers to receive seeds to grow crops in Kenya
- children to receive clean water from nearby wells in India
GENIUS HOUR - BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR GENIUS HOUR PROJECTS
Media Literacy poster to advertise the Grade 4 Optimism Assembly. Target audience: students, teachers and visitors at CMV! Created by: Dylan.
A peak at our interactive math journal entries on 2D Geometry.
Reading: reading for 20 minutes a day is extremely important. Reading with your child, to your child, and talking about their reading is important for your child's reading success and confidence. Continue to encourage your child to read on Raz Kids at home. It is also wonderful when they record their voices for me to listen to. Thank you to all those parents and students who have been active participants in the Raz Kids home reading program!
Letter Writing, Personal Voice and Point of View.
Students have been practicing writing friendly letters to their in school Pen Pals for a while now. They are becoming very good at structuring and including all parts of a letter. We decided to do a fun activity before the December break that incorporated what they have learned with letter writing, as well as new learning about personal voice. Students learned about the importance of personal voice and point of view in writing. In this activity, students had to write a letter to Santa from a well known villain who is simply misunderstood. They had to establish a personal voice and plead their case to Santa by using descriptions, explanations and convincing words. They also learned about point of view and how it is important to always hear both sides of a story. Their letters were structured into three paragraphs. Paragraph 1 introduced the villain and stated what they are known for. In paragraph 2 they had to explain how they are misunderstood and convince Santa. Finally, in paragraph 3 they had to tell Santa what they would like for Christmas and explain why. The students absolutely loved brainstorming, developing and sharing their villain letters!
Writing: students wrote well-developed paragraphs that have a topic sentence, supporting details, and a closing sentence. Students had to choose a favourite body part, take a picture of it, and create a list of reasons why they chose that body part as their favourite. From their list of reasons, they developed their paragraphs. Their topic sentence was simply naming their favourite body part and their supporting details were the ideas they came up with in their list of reasons. Students also needed to have a closing. From my modelled example, students knew to re-state their topic sentence in a different way as their closing. Take a look at a few examples below!
Number Sense and Numeration: take a look at our ordering decimals activity.
Diversity Dolls
The kids absolutely loved learning about their culture. Thanks to Mr. Sallie for the awesome idea! Here are the complete diversity dolls. Students are very proud of their hard work and creativity!
The kids absolutely loved learning about their culture. Thanks to Mr. Sallie for the awesome idea! Here are the complete diversity dolls. Students are very proud of their hard work and creativity!