Homework: Read Your Book Talk Book; Prepare for our Class Work Time January 10

Students, this is a reminder that you should be reading your Book Talk book. I recommend that you have finished reading it before you come back to school on January 9.

You will have one and a half hours to work on your Book Talk presentation and/or project during class time on January 10. Make sure that you're prepared by gathering the materials you'll need and make a plan for what you'll use this time for. 

See you on Monday, January 9th! Have a safe and relaxing holiday!

~ Ms Elder

Playground Design Project

This week we have been working on our Playground Designs! After spending the past two weeks learning about playground components and city criteria, we were ready to start designing! This cross-curricular assignment meets outcomes from a variety of subject areas: Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Well-Being. To learn more about the specifics that the students will be marked on, take a look at our Google Classroom where the instructions and assessment are linked. 

Students finished up designing today. They have double-checked to see that they have included all 6 simple machines and all 4 healthy play components. They have ensured that their designs are inclusive and that the space meets the needs of all demographics of Calgarians. Now, they are calculating the cost of their designs with reasonably realistic prices based off the Blue Imp catalogues we've been using.

Check out each group's design so far!

"Something I liked was how I could add my ideas with my group." ~ Arsh

"I liked how I wrote the script and add our points to it." ~ Pari

"I liked how we could use our creativity to create different things. In our project, we used our imagination to create a pond with a fountain in the middle." ~ Vihaan

"I learned how expensive a playground actually is!" ~ Sy

"I liked how I learned more about other people in my group." ~ Suzi

"I liked learning about the six simple machines and the four healthy play components." ~ Abbey

"When we started it, it was really fun to learn about it and I told my mom. I've been trying to make simple machines at home~" ~ Kashvi

Math Squares and the Banker's Game

This week in Math we are working on our adding skills, with regrouping. After doing a lesson together on the Smarboard, students had the option of choosing the Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced Math Squares worksheet. You need to add up all four boxes to find the total. Some questions have blanks instead of the addends, meaning you need to use the inverse operation to solve. Students loved having choice over the difficulty of their work. All were checked by the teacher and students needed to make corrections, if necessary.

When they were done, the students played the Banker's Game. In this game, you roll two dice to gather Base Ten blocks. Every time it's possible, students need to regroup. The first one to reach 1000 wins!

Chasing Vermeer Read Aloud

Today, we finished reading our novel, Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett! We started it on our very first day of school in September. The mystery has been solved and the secret code in the book has been decoded! Today, we also took home our Case Files with all of our information about the story. 

Parents, ask your child what the "coincidence" is of us finishing the book today, on December 12, and whether they think it is a coincidence at all...

We will be writing an end-of-book response in class on Wednesday. You can prepare at home by thinking about: 

• What you liked about the book
• What you didn't like about the book
• What you didn't understand
• Questions you'd have for the author
• Who you'd recommend the book for
• Who your favourite character was and why

We have two puzzle pieces left to receive in December!

Chasing Vermeer is what drove all of our inquiry into What is Art? We have now wrapped up our work on this cross-curricular study. I hope everyone enjoyed this mystery novel and the work that went with it!

Gaga Ball is Back!

Wowzers! Many students were THRILLED to see the return of the Gaga Ball pit this week in Gym. We use the Gaga Ball pit for a variety of Gaga games. For our first class, we reviewed the rules and had a practice game with a one-in-one-out play style. For today's class, we played an elimination style and students had the choice to participate in either an "intense" game or "relaxed" game. Next week, we will try a Team-styled Gaga Ball, as well as Revenge Gaga Ball, both with the option to play "intense" or "relaxed." When students are not in the pit, there is ample gym space leftover to use for exploring other equipment. 

Gaga ball helps us achieve our Wellness curriculum outcomes by providing opportunities for striking, dodging, and experimenting with different types of equipment. It also encourages strategizing. 

Memorial Project Sharing

For the past two weeks, we have been working on a culminating project for our inquiry into What Is Art? For this project, students have applied their learning of different art forms and styles, as well as what Public Art is, to create a piece of Public Art work honouring those who attended Residential Schools. 

To learn more about this assignment, click here. 

Today, we shared our work within our own class, as well as with our Grade 1 buddies in Ms Paradis' class. We also completed a self-evaluation of our artwork and writing. 

Here are some take-away quotes from this learning: 

"I think one of the puzzle pieces from Chasing Vermeer said that art doesn't have to be perfect; it's just how the viewer sees it. It gave me confidence to build." ~ Arsh

"By using the quote "Humans Need Questions More Than Answers" I created my house. When I planned, I asked myself about the artwork to make a good plan." ~ Vihaan

"It was my first time using clay and now I know how to make a lot of things out of clay." ~ Pari

"If you have the original plan, it won't always turn out the way you wanted it to be." ~ Alice

"I liked the building part because building is one of my favourite things to do in Minecraft. Since I used Minecraft, I could make a waterfall. I wouldn't be able to do that in real life." ~ Nico

"I made mine from the cardboard. We learned from the Minecraft Sessions; I like how I got to learn more things about Minecraft and using the keys and more things. I've played Minecraft but now I see how it could be used for this type of project." ~ Kashvi

Parents, you can expect to see these self and teacher-evaluations coming home on Monday. Please take a moment to review my marks and comments with your child.

Gr 4 Place Value Game

In preparation for Wednesday's Quiz, we played the Place Value game. In this game, you play against an opponent. You each draw an array that is 2x4, like the one shown. 

One person starts by rolling a die. They can choose where they put their number. 

You continue by taking turns to roll the die. Once a number is placed, you cannot change where it is. When all the spaces are filled, you add up the two numbers. The person with the greatest number, wins!

Hailey is the winner!

This is a great game you can play at home to practice Place Value concepts. We are working in class on recognizing which number is greater. There is strategy in this game for where you should put the bigger numbers, like 5 and 6. On the Quiz, students will need to order a group of numbers from greatest to least.

Public Service Announcements

For the past three weeks in Science, we have been applying our learning of Human Impact (Waste in Our World and Wetlands) to create a PSA. A PSA is a Public Service Announcement. A Public Service Announcement is something that tells people information about an issue, which helps us and our planet. Some real-life examples of PSA's from this year are mask mandates, flu shots available, Alberta Health Services COVID announcements, vaccines, etc. 

We learned that to create a great PSA it should have: clear solutions for people to easily do, short and snappy sentences, and pictures that are eye-catching and relate to the topic. We got to choose whether we made a poster on paper, a google slides poster, a radio announcement or a tv commercial. We also got to choose if we worked alone or with a partner. 

We took this assignment through the whole writing process: planning sheet, rough copy, one-on-one conference with Ms Elder, and revising to make a good copy. We kept the assessment rubric close by so that we could keep checking it to find ways to make our work better. 

Today, we are bringing home our marks in our backpacks for this project. 

We are sharing them with the class and choosing the top 2 to share with the school. The important part of making a PSA is to share it with the public! :)

HOMEWORK: Book Talk Steps 1 & 2 due Monday, December 19

Students, this is a reminder that your Book Talk Presentation & Project are due on Monday, January 23. You must have Steps 1 and 2 completed by Monday, December 19.

The full instruction package was sent home today. It can also be found in our Google Classroom.