Winter Trip 2019

Last week, we went on our winter residential trip to Kannabe!

Here, we are getting reading for the two and a half hour bus ride...

...and here, we have just arrived at the hotel!

All geared up for snowboarding and skiing!

For many of us, it was our first or second time to ski/snowboard. 

We all took risks and kept challenging ourselves while maintaining a growth mindset!

When we fell down, we just got right up and tried again. 

We even had some extra time to play in the snow. 

We also enjoyed buffet-style meals while we socialised with our friends. 

What a wonderful time we had!

Book Club

Take a look at our fourth book club meeting!

Compared to our first meeting, we are becoming better at communicating effectively using the sentence stems as well as keeping the conversation going. 

This week's student-generated questions were the following: 

• If Jake hadn’t have blown up the tomb, what would have happened?

• Why was Jake’s mom the only one who had escaped from the evil cult?

To learn more about how the book clubs are run, please see the post from last week. 

Cheers!

Book Club / Generating Quality Questions and Tasks

This term, we started our weekly book clubs!

We have been learning about the importance of generating quality questions and tasks to help us learn. 

See the video below to find out about the different levels of questioning and thinking. 

 Here are some examples of the types of questions and tasks that can be generated at each level. 

In Grade 4, we are challenging ourselves to work with level 2 and 3 questions/task in our inquiries. 

Please note that questions around similar topics have been color-coded. 

During our book club, we had a discussion about the following student-generated questions as we read Jake Atlas and the Tomb of the Emerald Snake in connection to our inquiry into ancient civilisations: 

• Why doesn’t Pan like Mr. Kit?

• What would happen if the white-haired woman were part of the Cult of Osiris?

During the discussion, we try to be responsible and active communicators by using the sentence starters in the picture below as we reference the text. 

We keep track of the sentence starters we've used by moving them over to the left side.

Check out the video below to see our discussion in action!

Preparing for the Museum of the Ancients

Preparing for The Museum of the Ancients as we research about ancient civilisations and create artwork! 

Stay tuned for more information in the upcoming weeks!

Grade 3/4 Drama Assembly

On Wednesday, we collaborated with the Grade 3 class to lead a whole school assembly. 

This assembly was linked to our year-long unit on How we Express Ourselves with the central idea: Drama is a universal art form that allows us to express ideas and feelings. 

In order to create the scripts for our three plays, we worked together in groups to 'twist' fairy tales, changing the plot such as the settings and characters from the original story. 

In our performances, we focused on considering the space, our facial expressions, and body movements to effectively communicate on stage. 

Below are videos of the three plays, just in case you missed the live show! 

Goldifox and the Three Bunnies

Chinocchio

Dog in Roller Skates Part 1

Dog in Roller Skates Part 2

Pattern Carnival

In Grade 4, we have been exploring growing patterns.

Once we came up with several examples, we designed posters representing the patterns we created.

Can you figure out the rule (how the numbers are increasing)?

We also applied our communication skills to make sure our posters are well organised and easy to be understood by the viewers. 

Below is the success criteria we developed as a class. 

• Use colours
• Be precise
• Use clear and big writing/drawings
• Include a chart with terms and numbers
• Think about the space we use (composition)
• Start from the left and move to the right

During our Pattern Carnival, we tried to get other learners to figure out the rules. 

Can you figure them out too?

First Week Back

This week, we started our third unit of inquiry. 

This unit has the following transdisciplinary theme: Where we are in place and time. 

As we tuned into the unit, we began exploring books, videos and other resources related to ancient civilisations. 

Below, Gabriel is using a headset which allows him to experience ancient cities through virtual reality!

The central idea will be revealed soon.

Right now, were are trying to figure out what it is as we make connections between ideas and concepts we notice through the learning engagements. 

Stay tuned to find out more about this exciting unit!