Final updates for Grade 4
DRUMROLL PLEASE
First place 4A: Oren with a speech on Infinity
First place 4B – (Tied!) Livia with a speech on Helping the Poor and Ari with a Speech on Why Kids should have TVs in their rooms.
Second place 4A: Noa with a speech on The importance of Mental Health
Second place 4B: Orly with a speech on The History of the English Language
Third place 4A: Jonah with a Speech on Who I am
Third 4B: Jack with a speech on Inflation
Congratulations to all grade 4 students for taking part in this important event and developing their speaking skills!!!
Ms.M as a minion…because why shouldn’t the end of the year include some silliness!
Final workshop with Josh Max about safety around safe extensions on your computer:
JK Lemonade Stand – Tuesday, June 13th
Hello, Grade 4 families!
Grade 4 Upate!
WHAT…it is JUNE already?! With so much behind us, let us start to look forward to the summer and getting ready for Grade 5…
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Homework – Please check out the Grade 4 homework board for any tasks!
Upcoming events – Friday, June 9th – Grade 3 and 4 Family Kabblat Shabbat, starting at 3:10pm
What is happening in Grade 4:
Maccabiah games – what great fun we had!
Last week, both classes attended a workshop led by Ms. Beswick about Integrity and what it means to live and make choices that stay true to who you are. The task was to create posters about integrity for the Grade 2-4 hallway. Ready to inspire next year’s students.
Our Self directed science is coming along wonderfully – Student blog write-ups will be available soon!
We started our final reading/writing unit last week – Myths and Legends! Students will be finishing up the year with a boost of creativity!
Grade 4 – Self directed study
As the Grade 4 year begins to ebb closer to summer this means Grade 5 is looming… I begin to introduce skill sets that will prepare or at least give insight into what Grade 5 could look like. Self-directed study is one of those areas. I deliberately choose a topic that has high student engagement and a topic that they all have studied before (setting them up for success by building upon prior knowledge).
A study from Waterloo University states “Learning independently can be challenging, even for the brightest and most motivated students” and for the years in which I have completed Self-directed study units, I see this every single time. Despite this, I have never had one student give up. What I do see is an increase in student collaboration, thought partners to problem solve, and a quiet buzz (this year not so quiet!) of curiosity. It is a point in the year when I sit back and observe the students and how far they have come. This is not a task that one simply ‘does on a random day that nothing is planned’, there is a build-up of trust between students and teachers. In fact, the lessons that look like they have the least amount of structure, have the most amount of background structure (See John Spencer’s – awesome ‘out of the box’ educator’) .
The self-directed study needs four key stages:
-being ready to learn,
-setting learning goals,
-engaging in the learning process,
-evaluating learning.
As per my personal growth project this year, I have been working on (re) introducing Language Arts into Makerspace and building assessment tools that include 21st-century skill development and evaluation. Here is one of the tools that I am currently using, it is taken from the Bank of Resources at the University of Waterloo.
Let me show you the start of how we are moving through this exciting unit this term. Here are the first two stages as planned by a Grade 4 Student – Being Ready to learn and Setting Learning Goals:
Engaging in the Learning Process:
Students completed research and extended their learning beyond the classroom by bringing their own rock collections:
Students working on their projects:
Here we are taking our learning outdoors:
The final stage is evaluating learning so check out the individual student blogs to see what we produce… Students will produce their own assessment tool. Here is a John Spencer thought video about students owning their own assessments.
Weekly Updates in Grade 4
Upcoming reminders!
- Grade 4/5 Night out at FunHaven on Tuesday, May 2nd from 5pm-7pm!
Homework:
We will be entering week 3 of book club podcasting! Please check the homework board.
What’s happening in Grade 4:
Podcast episode 1 has dropped! Please check them out via this link: www.theojcs.ca/podcast
In Science, we started our Rocks and Minerals Unit
Ms. M’s social studies class had an unexpected visitor!
We had an unexpected teacher in our Social Studies classes this week… Mr Z! Mr. Z had recently vacationed to Costa Rica and took his learning outside of the classroom! We have been studying early civilizations in Social Studies and one area in particular stuck with Mr.Z… the creation and development of chocolate! Although, Costa Rica did not have a thriving indigenous culture such as the empires of the Mayan, Aztec or Inca people. The native people were culturally influenced by Mesoamerican peoples from Central America and cultures from northern South America which is why many will find Mayan, Aztec or Inca links when visiting that area.
Mr Z brought Cacao beans to show the class and explained the process of indigenous methods of making chocolate! Here he is in action:
Thanks Mr Z! We all look forward to what you will bring into class next time!! Keep exploring and keep being curious!
Weekly updates
Upcoming events
– Grade 4/5 night out (please see below)! Please see the email or blog post about this.
– Yom HaZikaron will be commemorated on Tuesday April 25th, Grade 4 will attend an assembly in school.
– Yom HaAtzmaut will be celebrated on Wednesday April 26th. A full day of fun activities has been planned!
-DRESS DOWN DAY! See below
-The Grade 8 Silent Auction is live! Check out the fabulous list of prizes that can be yours. All funds support our Grade 8 trip to NYC. Bidding is open through May 5.
Homework
Check out the homework board!
Whats happening in Grade 4:
4A enjoyed their virtual field trip to the Humane society:
We prepped for the French play on Friday with a bilingual context talk with the Stage Director Elyse:
Students started planning for their public speaking – please see my blog and Ms Gordon’s email explaining the new format!
Please see my blog about Book club podcast development! Exciting!
We will be starting a self directed science module based around Rocks and Minerals. I will be sharing a post about how it works and the combination of student autonomy and the teacher as a guide facilitator. The end products are so interesting, I can not wait to see what is produced this year!
Grade 4 Model Seder 2023
Morah Dana led Grade 4 in a beautiful model Seder yesterday. Students threaded the Seder with songs about Pesach! Check out the recording’s here!