Last week, we had a special guest who taught students all kinds of cultural dances, including First Nations, African and Bollywood! They had a blast learning dance moves and learning about different cultures! Today, students visited the Makerspace to learn about pulleys. Working in groups, students built their own pulleys! Ms. McIntosh and Mrs. McLean were impressed by their creativity and ingenuity. They learned a lot about simple machines, teamwork and problem-solving!
Remember, students need to be reading for 20 minutes everyday! This is the most important homework they have. Reading every day strengthens reading comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking skills. It also improves writing ability, spelling and grammar. More importantly, reading nurtures imagination, creativity and empathy. It allows us to understand different points of view, different cultures, as well as historical events and unique perspectives. It truly broadens their horizons!
It's important to let your child choose what they want to read. It's not about reading the most challenging book about there; it's about cultivating a love of reading so they become lifelong readers. Picture books and graphic novels are just as helpful as chapter books; in fact they help to build strong inferential skills. Check out the graph below to see one of the reasons reading is so important. Last week, students worked with Mrs. G and special guests in Physical Education on baseball skills! They worked on pitching, passing, and batting skills, then finished off the week by playing the game! They had so much fun, and their baseball skills really improved! Perhaps some of them will make it to the major leagues one day!
Last Thursday, students in room 6 shared experiences and knowledge of Canada. After writing them on a sticky note, they placed them on a map. Next, students will be working on making their own map of Canada, before learning about Alberta's regions. Students also had a chance last week to explore the Makespace for the first time. Their only challenge was to work together and build something- anything! Room 6 students took on that challenge with enthusiasm, collaborating and making to their hearts' content! Mrs. McLean will be working with students on poetry over the coming weeks. Today, students created poetry containing juicy vocabulary words! They had a blast coming up with descriptive, fitting, and sometimes silly words to describe dogs and dinos...among other things. They enjoyed working with a partner or in small groups on their own poems, and a few can be seen here using dictionaries to find "just right" words.
Today, students created emojis to express their feelings and their personality. They used paper plates and construction paper to make their emojis. Some used already existing emojis, while some created their own! They had a blast thinking of hashtags to describe their emoji's status! #grade4awesomeness
School is off to a great start! The highlight so far is the enthusiasm students have shown in the classroom library. We got into a "book frenzy" on the first day, and students had a blast looking through the books, making recommendations, and choosing a book to read. The graphic novels were a hit! We talked about the need to find books that they want to read, so that they can become passionate readers!
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AuthorMs. McIntosh is a grade 4 teacher at Le Roi Daniels School in Calgary, Alberta. This is my sixth year teaching grade 4. I'm also a student studying learning commons, literacy and technology at the University of Alberta. Archives
May 2017
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