MR. Brewer
HUMANITIES - SOCIAL STUDIES/LANGUAGE ARTS
The final week of classes before the winter break was a busy one around Nose Creek School. Students brought in food bank items during the week and on Dec. 19th many wore colourful holiday sweaters. On Friday, students watched a Christmas movie in the Foods Room. Students put final touches on their dinosaur research pieces during class this week. Demonstrating skills and processes for inquiry and research are integral parts of the social studies curriculum that will be further explored in January 2019. If the research is not finished or students wish to add additional details they may log into Google docs and complete their work. Over the Winter break, students are encouraged to read 20 minutes every night. Behaviours that will support reading are:
In class we have been reading the novel Owls in the Family. During read-aloud sessions students practice different reading skills. This week we learned the skill of predicting what will happen next in the story and using the text to confirm our predictions. Using this strategy helps readers make connections to the text, think ahead, and become more engaged in what they are reading. In class we followed these steps:
Another strategy that we have been developing is making a picture or mental image when reading our story. This strategy is called visualization. When readers visualize what is happening in a story they are far more likely to remember more about what they read or hear. In the latest chapter of the book students were asked to create a mental image of a place that was important in the book. It's like pretending you are in a theatre and watching the story. As a follow up to this they drew a picture of this place in their creative journal. I would like to thank all parents/guardians for the many thoughtful gifts I received this week. All of them were very good and I enjoyed getting cards made by students especially for me! Have a peaceful and enjoyable vacation! I look forward to seeing everyone back in January 2019.
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Dinosaur research is due on Fri. Dec. 21. Students can share the Google doc online. My e-mail is [email protected]
This week on Monday, students received back their spelling quizzes. They brought home their red Spelling Word/work duo tangs on Monday to show parents/guardians how they are progressing. Before spelling quizzes, students are given some time to work individually or in pairs, to study their spelling words. They look at the word, say it, visualize the word, and often practice writing the word in sentences. After writing their tests they receive back their work. They edit and revise their spelling sentences using feedback from Mr. Brewer. Attending to conventions in written work has been an ongoing area of growth for students in grade 4. When they get back their work they are encouraged to check if the word looks right to them. Students often will try different spellings, check in dictionaries and many of them seek out peers or ask for assistance from an adult. By checking spelling, correcting errors, and repeating this process 4A and 4B students are developing their phonic knowledge and visual memory to systematically spell words correctly in their own writing. On Tuesday all students completed their fossil opinion pieces and moved into research about Albertan dinosaurs using the Internet. Every child chose a dinosaur found in Alberta to research. Mr. Brewer chose a selection of appropriate Internet resources that were shared with all students via Google slides. Through this research, students found out about how paleontologists discovered the presence of dinosaurs in Alberta. The foundations of the research process are the application of acquired skills, the selection of appropriate resources and the use of suitable technology. In class, students collaborated with Mr. Brewer to develop a list of areas they would like to research to accurately explain to others about their chosen dinosaur. Over the weekend, students are encouraged to work further on this research. Everyone may log into Google docs via their CBE student gmail account and CBE password. Below is a copy of the checklist we used in class. Students agreed that all required elements should be part of this research piece: Next week students are encouraged to wear a Christmas sweater on Dec. 19th.
At school we are conducting Season of Giving. It is an initiative to help those who are less fortunate during the holiday season. Different sections of grades at N.C.S. (e.g. A, B, C: 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B etc.) are competing for points. Any of the following things may gain points for the various different cohorts:
More information about this can be found on the grade 4 Home Page. Dec 21 - we are having a grade 4 PJ/Movie Day!!! This week was a busy one at the school as students built the portable escape room. The escape room was showcased on Thursday evening. Below are pictures taken as students were building the escape room with their facilitator: on Monday we had a spelling test. These tests have been marked and the results will be inputted into PowerSchool shortly. When students come back on Monday next week they will edit their sentences. Using prefixes as a means to enlarge vocabulary was a focus for this list. As students spent large parts of their instructional time building the escape room, lessons were somewhat punctuated this week. Thus, students focused on finishing ongoing assignments. Consolidating and completing work on the fossil opinion piece and Owls in the Family reading comprehension questions were targets for this week's classwork. Some students completed their fossil opinion pieces in class. Anyone who completed it was encouraged to check over spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and add additional descriptive details or other arguments for/against a viewpoint. The assignment due date has been set at Dec. 11. By that date all students should have shared their writing with me. Note that this involves clicking on the Share icon in the upper right hand corner of your Google doc and typing in my e-mail address. You can see this in the picture at right: Students may work at home on the opinion piece as they are typing into a Google doc. To write the piece, students went through the stages of the writing process. Firstly as a pre-writing activity, we had a class-wide discussion where students had to think about different various opinions and consider the validity of arguments for and against the law of 1978. We talked about opinions of:
This list of words and expressions is on the back of their planning sheet. Currently students are in the revising and editing stage of the writing process. They are typing a piece that they will receive feedback on from myself and a peer. We will continue to work through this process next week.
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