This week, we began to talk about our identities. In class, we read the book entitled Small Beauties, the Journey of Darcy Heart O’Hara by Elvira Woodrift. It helped us understand the importance of connecting the small beauties in our lives to who we are. As we start this year together, we will think about our own identities and the identity we hope to weave into our classroom community. To do this, students brought in 3 small beauty "artifacts". We are using them to talk about ourselves, their importance, to help us explain more about our own individual identities. Students shared information on the items they chose to bring, and began to write a personal essay about it. They will be displayed as a gallery walk for parents at Open House on September 26th from 5:45 to 6:30pm.
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The first 2 weeks was focused on creating a math mindset that values perseverance, problem solving, pattern seeking, and the construction of mathematically reasoned arguments. Students engaged in math that was slightly above grade level to practice finding a starting point, making mistakes, and working as a community to find new learning. We explored Pascal's Triangle, analyzed graphs, challenged the concept of half, and created conceptual 3D shapes. Students worked on activities like "which one doesn't belong" (https://wodb.ca) to practice creating arguments to support reasoning. I am so inspired by their hard work! This group of students does not back down from a challenge and they work hard. This is amazing work for the first 8 days of 4th grade! I am excited to give them opportunities to develop as problem solvers and critical thinkers! Due to the nature of an IB school we explore content and 4th grade standards through units of study. During this unit, students will be exploring, experimenting, researching, questioning, and making connections to the theme "How We Express Ourselves". In this unit we will focus on our central idea of how creative expressions provide ways to communicate ideas and emotions. We will inquire about how creativity can communicate ideas, about the value of creation, and how ideas form and grow. Students are learning about expression, identity, and perspective.
8 days in and we have already done so much! We have learned about the Haudenosaunee, a group of people in New York State, sometimes referred to as the Iroquois Native Americans, and the way they identify themselves. We have been annotating texts and learning to tackle difficult nonfiction writing. Everyone, including teachers, signed the agreement.
Parents, thank you so much for turning in those Media Consent Forms so quickly! I appreciate everything that you do and I understand that there is a 1st week of school paper swamp that you have to deal with. The first week was all about building the classroom environment and getting used to classroom procedures. We created norms for group work, carpet time, and the official classroom agreements. Students learned about me and one another and created self-portraits. We began working through mathematics problems that create a positive mindset for problem solving. The class engaged in gallery walks and other activities to show me what they want and need to have a successful year. I'm beyond excited for this new year! I can tell that I have wonderful students and I am so ready to get started! I can't share any photos of students until everyone submits a media consent form, but I will start taking them right away. Parents, feel free to contact me any time with questions. Here are some ph.otos of the classroom I am sure you have heard a lot about this project! Students are creating a room with a cardboard box that has to have a battery, motor, and light weaved into it. They first had to plan and then ask for materials. As an engineering challenge, the materials requested were the only ones given, and had to be used. Students were allowed to incorporate any number of materials, and had access to switches as well.
I can't wait to show the photos! As a stand-alone science unit, we have been studying energy and have conducted several experiments with circuits. Students have learned energy basics and have been able to power light bulbs and motors in increasingly difficult challenges. We experimented with conductors and insulators to see how the flow of energy is evident in electricity. Students learned a lot about switches and light bulbs. This has been an exciting unit so far! |
AuthorMrs. Heinlein is excited to document what happens in this great year of learning! Archives
September 2019
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