MR. Brewer
HUMANITIES - SOCIAL STUDIES/LANGUAGE ARTS
On Thursday this week students had their first spelling quiz. The spelling quiz comprised two parts - recall of the spelling of the words from the weekly list and using the words in context. Students received a mark on the quiz and on their sentences. Below is the rubric attached the the reverse of the test page: Mr. Brewer edited student sentences and gave feedback. All students had class time to edit and revise the sentences they'd written. In a few instances student had no editing to do, though most did. In the Spelling/Word Work duo tang on the inside cover is a list of proofreading symbols that Mr. Brewer used in class on Friday and will use throughout the year to give ongoing feedback to students on their writing: Students brought home their Spelling/Word Work duo tangs on consecutive days for review. Parents/guardians are encouraged to review the test results that came home on Friday. They should sign and return the test contained in the Spelling/Word Work duo tang. Writing longer, more detailed and fluent sentences will be an ongoing emphasis in Humanities class this year. Next week students will be developing research skills as they embark on project work about the regions of Alberta. In class, we will be using the textbook that appears at right: Voices of Alberta: and the website Zooming in . . . Alberta's Regions: www.learnalberta.ca/content/sszi/en/index.html In Social Studies, students continued to learn about how natural vegetation, climate and landforms characterize each of Alberta's natural regions. As a class, students did a matching exercise where they looked at photographs of each natural region and attempted to match the photos to descriptions. Below is a picture showing the descriptions on the left in column A. In the column titled B students wrote down the number of the picture that they thought fit the description in column A. In Column C. they wrote down the reasoning for their choices. We took this up as a class. Most students could explain their reasoning. 4A was particularly notable in their enthusiasm about finding out if their choices were the correct ones! Finally, students were given the model answers we see in the picture below:
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Students received a list of spelling words in class this week. The list consists of common English sight words and curricular terms related to our study of Alberta's natural regions. Sight words are high frequency words that are used frequently in print that do not always follow commonly held spelling rules. Students should ideally understand how to read and write these words by sight rather than having to sound them out. This week we have: to, too and two & there, their and they're. These sets of homophones are frequently confused in student writing and many students are not always certain which one to use in a given context. Our first major activity with curricular words (social studies terms related to our study of Alberta's natural regions) was to begin a three-point organizer in class. The three point organizer allows multiple access points for learners when learning new vocabulary associated with curriculum. They draw a picture of the word, define it using a dictionary, text or other reference material and are prompted to think of synonyms for the word or give examples. Below is an example of how the three point organizer looks: Spelling words: Above are all fifteen spelling words for this week. We will continue to work with these words in class by writing sentences as a means of understanding meaning. There will be an emphasis on developing the ability to write in a legible style that demonstrates awareness of alignment, shape and slant of letters. In word work, students will study spelling rules, attend to capitalization and edit their own work for subject-verb agreement errors with prompts and cues from Mr. Brewer. Capitalizing to indicate the beginnings of sentences or proper nouns and becoming increasingly independent in recognizing errors in their own writing and applying strategies to self-correct will be a major aim in grade 4 Humanities.
A quiz will be given next Thursday Sept. 27 on these spelling words. It consists of spelling the words correctly and using them in sentences. All students had the opportunity to formally visit the Learning Commons at Nose Creek School for the first time this week on Wednesday/Thursday. Everyone learned about the types of books they can take out and how/when they can go to the Learning Commons to engage in different activities there under supervision. Every student had an opportunity to take out some books that they can read on their own time and during designated times in class. In the Learning Commons we also had a lesson on Digital Citizenship with Ms. Asis. Students logged onto computers and used the C.B.E. Self Serve Password tool: webapps.cbe.ab.ca/PasswordReset/Account/LogOn?mode=student to change their passwords to make them more secure. Parents are encouraged to ask students what it means to be a good digital citizen. In class, students continued to study poetry. Two new types of poetry were introduced this week. Concrete poetry is a type of poetry that takes on the form or shape of its subject! The poem typically uses vocabulary that is related to the subject matter. On the right is an example that was shown in class: We also studied a type of poetry called diamante. 'Diamante' is an Italian/Spanish word that means diamond in English. The poem is in the form of a diamond and involves students choosing certain types of words to convey ideas about the subject. Being able to distinguish between different parts of speech is important when writing a diamante poem. Students needed to choose adjectives to describe their topic and use 'ing' and/or 'ed' verbs. Diamante therefore follows rules and has a certain aesthetic pattern. By writing these types of poems students enhance their appreciation for the artistry of texts and continue to work through the writing process. There are variations on this type of poetry. In some instances the top word and bottom word in the diamond poem are opposites (i.e. antonyms). In our class we did an example where the top and bottom words in the diamante were synonyms (words that mean the same thing). In our lessons students needed to use their phonic knowledge to spell the words they had chosen correctly in their own writing. Through word choice they worked towards creating a mood and conveying meaning. When they did not know how to spell a word they were encouraged to use dictionaries, sound out words, and actively seek feedback from peers and teacher to spell words correctly and confirm that they had made good word choices. Below is an example of a diamante poem: In social studies this year we will learn all about our province of Alberta. We began this week by identifying where Alberta is in relation to other provinces in Canada. Students said sentences like, "Alberta is west of Saskatchewan." "Saskatchewan is east of Alberta." "B.C. is west of Alberta." and so forth. Students learned about a graphic representation that can be seen on most maps called a compass rose (see image at right). The compass rose shows cardinal directions and usually also shows intermediate directions. Two new terms for most students were latitude and elevation. Latitude is a measure of the distance north or south from the equator. The equator is an imaginary circle around the earth that is the same distance from the poles. Elevation is height measured from sea level. We learned the north or south pole are farthest from the equator, and are surrounded by icecaps. Countries along the equator are generally the hottest places on earth. The further a place is from the equator the cooler it is. The exception to the rule is that the higher a place is from sea level the colder it is. Thus, in Alberta, even in the hottest months of summer there is still snow at high elevations in the Rockies. In both classes we talked about how Hawaii is typically thought of as a tropical paradise, yet even in Hawaii there is snow on the tops of the highest peaks. Next week is Think Pink Week at Nose Creek School. Here is the itinerary for the week:
September 26th is the first Fun Lunch at Nose Creek School. Please remember that you have to place your orders through the Healthy Hunger website before Friday night, Sept. 21st. The website is www.healthyhunger.ca/. You also have up until Sept. 21st to cancel an order for a full refund – please do this through the Healthy Hunger website. Your child’s lunch will be delivered to them in their lunch room. For any unforeseen illness on that day – you may come and pick up your child’s Fun Lunch from the main office between 12:50pm and 3pm on that date. Did you know that this is a Parent Council fund raiser for our school? The money raised helps to enhance education programs with guest speakers, field trips, and special equipment. This is a message from your Parent Fundraising Committee F.A.N.S.”
Welcome to the 4A and 4B Humanities blog. In Humanities class, students will concentrate on developing literacy skills like reading, writing, viewing visual media and speaking aloud. I will regularly update this blog to explain about what grade 4 students are doing in my class. Please stop by regularly, as this is the place where you can find out about assignments and homework too! In the first week of classes, students experienced mini Day 1a and Day 1b schedules on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings in advance of the beginning of our regular daily schedule. Below is the mini schedule: 8:35 ~ 9:10 Period 1 9:10 ~ 9:45 Period 2 9:45 ~ 10:20 Period 3 (Nutrition Break took place at 10:10 during this period) 10:20 ~ 10:55 Period 4 10:55 ~ 11:30 Period 5 11:30 ~ 12:00 Period 6 In Humanities class, I oriented students by explaining about expectations and routines. Students learned about two forms of poetry in the first week of classes: Haiku and acrostic. In grade 4, learners experience oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres. We learned that the haiku came originally from Japan. We viewed a poem by Matsuo Basho: www.poemhunter.com/matsuo-basho/ who was a master of this variety of poetry. Haikus contain three lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second has 7 and the third has 5. Haiku poems are usually about nature, and need not rhyme. All students had an opportunity to write their own individual Haiku poem in English. They were free to choose their own topic, though many did write nature themed haikus: Below is one of Basho's most well known poems about a frog jumping into a pond in Japanese with an English translation: Acrostic poems were also introduced as well this week. An acrostic poem has the letters of a word written vertically. The first letter of a word written vertically is used to write a word or phrase that describes the subject : In the coming days and weeks we will find out about other genres of poetry and shortly will begin our year-long study of Alberta in Social Studies. A major focus this year will be on learning about the many languages and cultural traditions of the First Nations people of the plains and woodlands of Alberta.
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