This lesson started out in the library with Mrs. Randall, our librarian, reading a story, Be A Bridge by Irene Latham and Charles Waters.
After a short discussion, students thought about what they could do, today, to be a bridge. They recorded their ideas.
Next, students engaged in a STEM activity in which they needed to use the provided materials to build a bridge that would span the river.
We have begun a new social studies unit: People and Environments. While we are learning together and blending the two programs, the grade 4’s are focusing on The Political and Physical Regions of Canada and the grade 3’s are focusing on Living and Working in Ontario.
Over this past week we have been looking at how Canada is divided, first by provinces and territories and then by physical regions.
Students worked on looking critically at pictures and describing the land.
Our student teacher, Miss Moss, engaged the students in a mini-unit about descriptive writing. She began with identifying nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Students then engaged in a reading of “I Need My Monster”. This mentor text is rich in descriptive sentences, using interesting adjectives and verbs.
Then, it was time for students to write. They began the writing process with a brainstorm web of ideas of their own imaginary monster. Next, they organized their ideas using a graphic organizer. Then, they drafted their paragraphs on a Google slide and used the success criteria to revise and edit.
The last step was to use AI technology to generate a photo of their monsters based on their writing.
Thanks, Miss Moss, for this fun, engaging writing project!
On Monday we had the opportunity to go to the local high school to watch a production of “The Rainbow Fish” put on by the grade 11/12 drama production class. For many students it was the first time that they were in a theatre watching a live play. We all loved it!
When we got back we used that experience as inspiration for some paragraph writing. Together we constructed a topic sentence, brainstormed ideas for the middle, and a concluding sentence. Students then got to work writing their paragraphs independently.
We started this project learning a bit about Vincent Van Gogh and looking at some of his art works. Then it was on to our own creating!
First, students learned about a horizon line and how the size of objects change depending on how far or near they are. Students drew a horizon line and a road/path using one-point perspective. They observed that the road narrows as it gets further away from the viewer.
The next step was to use pastels to colour the sky. Students considered texture and colour to create the sky.
Then it was time to begin painting the foliage. Students used a circular motion and blended colours to create an Autumn scene. Painting the road/path was next. Students considered the direction of their brush strokes as well as blending colours to create their roads/paths. Students used some painted paper to create a cabin and added details with a pastel.
The completed projects are beautiful!!
Thank-you to Painted Paper Art for the inspiration
In our classroom we have 4 community agreements:
We have taken a lot of time to establish these rules so that our classroom is a safe and positive place for all to be. Today we completed an art project to “seal the deal”.
We talked a bit about hand shakes and how some people show their agreement to a deal with a handshake. So, we decided to put our hands on our Community Agreement board as a symbol of a handshake.
First students traced their hands. Then they used a variety of lines, shapes, and designs to make their hands unique. We talked about how the designs they used can reflect their personalities and show a variety of feelings. Then, students used markers, water and paintbrushes to paint their hands.
The last step was to reflect on the agreements and think about which ones were the most important. We came to the conclusion that they are all important!
Over the past 2 days students have had a chance to investigate four different soil samples. They took time to use magnifying glasses to observe closely and record with drawings and words.
Then we came together to share the words we used to describe the samples and students had the opportunity to add more to their own recording sheet.
After that we looked at 4 location pictures and completed a shared writing activity, listing words to describe each location and deciding on a name for each.
The last step was to decide where each soil sample came from. Students used their knowledge of writing complete sentences using the conjunction “because” to record their thoughts.
For this project students first learned a little about non-objective art. We watched a video about a well known artist, Wassily Kandinsky. We then looked at several of his paintings and identified the lines and shapes he used to create different sounds and feelings.
We talked about these elements of art: line, shape, colour, space.
Students used a variety of lines and shapes to fill their paper space. Then they were given white paint as well as 2 other colours to create tints to fill the spaces on their paper with colour. The last step was to use a sharpie to go over the pencil lines.
The students certainly rose to the challenge of this creative project!
The last step was to write about their art, being sure to use complete sentences. What sounds do they hear when they look at their artwork? What feeling does their piece create? Note: This was our first attempt at writing with the chromebooks. Students were told to focus on their ideas and writing complete sentences. Spelling was to be “Have-a-go”.
As our journey into math began this year, students completed a fun activity to help reacquaint themselves with the various math manipulatives within the classroom. It was also a time to remember that math can be fun and creative! Here are the characters students created:
Hello families and students! Welcome to a new school year at Mundy’s Bay! This classroom blog is a space for our class to showcase our learning. Posts will be added weekly so be sure to check back frequently. Students will also use this blog to write and respond. They love to see comments about our posts so please take a few moments, when you can, to give us some feedback and ask questions!
This is a space where you can be informed about the learning that is happening in our classroom. I will try my best to keep the Google Calendar up to date so be sure to check that page for special events. Have fun exploring all that is here!
Cindy Hackett