Our Week in Review:

UOI:  The students are continuing to research different body systems and how they work.  They had a chance to learn a new presentation skill of their choice this week in order to explain their understanding. The presentation skills they learned were: stop motion animation, model making, robotics, experiments, and green screen.

In PE the students chose a sport they want to improve at and body systems they will need to focus on in order  to improve at that sport. They then wrote a fitness plan to work toward their goals. They will be working on this fitness plan for the next several weeks both in class, in PE and at home.  At the end of the unit they will need to present their results and explain how the body systems were affected.

Literacy: The students are focusing on the text type “explanation”. They wrote a couple of explanations this week. In reading, they are learning non-fiction comprehension and note taking strategies.

Math: The students all showed growth at meeting their multiplication goals.  If your child doesn’t know their times tables yet, that is ok but please remind them to practice them at home. This week we are looking at visualizing multiplication and breaking large problems down into easier problems.

Website of the Week: Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a website with video explanations of skills and concepts followed by questions about those skills and concepts.  All of the students are already signed up through the class.  If they want to log in and practice at home they are welcome to. I can track their progress and use that to better support them.

We had a great week of learning in 4D.  My apologies for the short post but I am headed to Hong Kong to lead a workshop.  Here are some photos of our week in 4D.

Reminder: Grade 4 is supposed to contribute to the healthy snack sale on this upcoming Monday.

Our Week in Review

UOI: This week we started a new unit with the central idea of “Our body systems are affected by our choices.” The students will be inquiring into

• The different body systems
• How the body systems work
• The affect their choices have on their body systems

Literacy:  This week we practiced editing and revising our writing.  We looked at different samples of writing and used our rubric to grade them. Then we gave each other feedback on our own writing.

Math:  We began to work on fluency with multiplication facts.  Each student has chosen a multiplication goal.  In class they learned a few techniques for practicing multiplication facts.  Each week they will see if they have met their weekly goal. They are encouraged to practice 10 minutes a day at home.

Game of the week: Quick Draw Multiples

Purpose: To improve fluency with multiplication facts

Materials: Multiple cards

Multiple cards to print:  3 multiples, 4 multiples, 6 multiples  7 multiples 8 multiples, 9 multiples

It was wonderful to speak with all of you this week for parent teacher conferences. It is such an honor to work in partnership with you to support your child. You all have such lovely children who I am sure you are very proud of. I am very proud of them as well. This week was just another good example of how great they are.

They had a very successful Market day. Our class raised a significant amount of money to be donated toward different charities. Thank you for all of your support leading up to the event.

The students also had a fun and successful Blue Dragon Walk-a-thon. They worked hard in their effort to support the kids at Blue Dragon.

Our Week in Review:

Math: Students continued to focus on factors and multiples

Writing: The students finished their information report about their social enterprise and wrote a response to Market Day.

Reading: This week we celebrated World Read Aloud Day by practicing reading aloud fluently and then reading aloud a favorite book with our buddies.

UOI: We prepared for Market Day, had Market Day, calculated our profit and then reflected on the process.

Game of the Week: Prime Climb

Because many of you will be going on holiday next week and may be in a country where you could purchase this game, I wanted to recommend a great board game.  Prime Climb is an award winning very highly recommended, fun game that also teaches multiplication concepts. The students have not yet been introduced to it in class but students in years past have loved it.