Students created posters to show the various things they learned about the Haudenosaunee people and to compare the diverse perspectives they used to gather information. Students also created Wampum Belts to demonstrate each learner profile and classroom agreement through symbolism.
In writing, we have been working on narratives and have engaged in self-editing, peer editing, and teacher editing.
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We are learning a lot about place value and number relationships. Students are learning to express numbers in a variety of ways and will soon be rounding, comparing, adding, and subtracting numbers up to a trillion. 4th grade takes concepts from 3rd grade math and expanding them to reveal the patterns that occur in mathematics.
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 connecting. This theme is 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.
13 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 different ways that they expressed themselves. We read several articles and legends about the creation of the Hadenosaunee confederacy, which greatly influenced United States governance. We did a Gallery Walk to explore the history of this group of people and learned about their origin story by comparing the story Chiefs tell, those children in that culture learn, and what was written historically by outsiders. We have been annotating texts and already wrote our first essay. 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. We explored Pascal's Triangle, organized data into graphs, explored shapes, the concept of half, and difficult problems.
Essential agreements are the expectations that everyone in 208 has agreed to maintain. They were created by the entire class. First students brainstormed and then got in groups to create table group agreements. Then students engaged in a classroom discussion to determine the ones best represent what the class needs to have a great year.
The first week of school was wonderful! As a class, we got to know one another and got back into the swing of school. Our first IB Unit is "How We Express Ourselves"., so we began the year by expressing ourselves in different ways. Students got to share a souvenir and practiced expressing themselves orally in morning meetings. Students also created self portraits that showcase what is important to them and how they see themselves. I will soon upload some of the student work!
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AuthorMrs. Heinlein is excited to document what happens in this great year of learning! Archives
September 2019
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