September 23rd-26th

Students did a lot of great work to recognize the importance of Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. During our Orange Shirt Day Assembly, the grade fours, along with a grade two class, led the school in saying the Calgary Public Library's Children's Land Acknowledgement.

What did students do this week?

Reading: Students listened and responded to a variety of Indigenous picture books. They made connections to prior knowledge and made personal connections. After one book focusing on nurturing respectful, reciprocal, and responsible relationships with the land, students enjoyed our school's Learning Grounds where they made nature art. The grade fours also read and listened to a number of different Land Acknowledgements.

Writing: After reading and listening to different Land Acknowledgements, students wrote their own. They focused on their connection to the land, their favourite place, and what they will do to care for the land. This piece of writing followed a particular format, was clearly written, and included capitals, punctuation, and descriptive vocabulary. This is in Google Classroom. Have your child share this with you!

Math: Students continued their work with graphs using scale. They extended their knowledge from pictographs to bar graphs. Students interpreted different bar graphs and also created their own. They used scales of two and ten, and also determined their own appropriate scale. 

Science: Students continued learning about sensory organs of animals. They focused on wolves and how these sensory organs help them survive. This outcome is related to our class read aloud called A Wolf Called Wander. The grade fours started using Google Slides as a way to represent their understanding. 

Social Studies: After learning about the different treaties and the treaty we are on, students connected their knowledge of treaties to their own Land Acknowledgements.

English Language Arts and Literature Learning Outcomes  (I can...)

• I can create writing using a specific format.
• I can clearly write my ideas.
• I can edit and revise for descriptive words and details, capital letters, and end punctuation.
• I can use tools to spell or check my spelling.

Possible Questions to Ask Your Child:

• What did you write about in your Land Acknowledgement?
• What is one thing you did really well in your Land Acknowledgement? What is one thing you are going to work on?
• Why is Orange Shirt Day important?
• What scale did you use in your bar graphs this week?
• What is one interesting thing you learned when creating a Google Slide?

Photos

Student Land Acknowledgements

Appreciating the land by creating art

The beginning of students' One Pagers to represent their understanding of Orange Shirt Day.

September 16th-20th

Thank you to those of you who came to the school's Open House. It was great to connect and for you to see your child's work and learning space. 

If you were unable to come, I look forward to connecting in the future. Please check your child's backpack for the grade four Scope and Sequence which is a document outlining the outcomes we will cover from now through January.  

What did students do this week?

Reading: Students read a variety of texts this week. They read paragraphs on different topics to learn the paragraph structure. They also read information about wolves, focusing on identifying key information and recording it in their own words. 

Writing: Students used their understanding of the paragraph structure (which is like a hamburger) to write a paragraph about their goal; they wrote about something they can't do YET. They included a topic sentence,  body, and concluding sentence, in addition to capitals, punctuation, and descriptive words. 

Math: Students compared similarities and differences between pictographs and bar graphs, using many-to-one correspondence. Then, they focused on bar graphs. First, students created a concrete bar graph which they then transferred to a concrete bar graph using a scale other than one. Finally, they coloured their own bar graph using scale to represent data. 

Science: Students continued learning about sensory organs of animals. They focused on wolves and how these sensory organs help them survive. This outcome is related to our class read aloud called A Wolf Called Wander. 

Social Studies: Students learned about the different treaties in Alberta. They compared a treaty map to the map of Alberta and coloured their own. 

Mathematics Learning Outcomes  (I can...)

• I can choose an appropriate scale to share data.
• I can put data in a graph using a scale other than one.
• I can interpret and create bar graphs using scale.

Possible Questions to Ask Your Child:

• How are pictographs and bar graphs similar? How are they different?
• What scale did you use to colour your bar graph on Friday?
• Why are graphs a great way to share or read data?