Kenneth D Taylor - Grade 4 - Miss. Willis

So far this week ... In Language Arts we have started writing our autobiographies!  We are working on writing exciting beginnings, then will progress to the middle.  Students will also be practicing some self-editing using this checklist: I have checked that my beginning: is exciting, draws the reader in, grabs their attention includes the beginning events of my life has a title is detailed is in an order that makes sense is not just a list of events COPS Capitals (proper nouns, the beginning of sentences, “I”) Organization Punctuation (sentence stoppers .?!, commas, apostrophes, quotation marks) Spelling (make sure to ask if you are unsure about how to spell something) and will also be doing some peer editing with this form: Peer Editing - Beginning My work was edited by: __________________________________ Two stars about your beginning (two things I really liked): One wish about your beginning (one thing to work o...

Home Journals are coming home today!  Here is the web that we created which highlights the learning that happened in our room this week.  Please take a moment to read and comment on your child's journal and send it back to school on Monday. On Monday we observed World Children's Day.  We went over the UN Charter on the Rights of the Child and each member of our class came up with a wish that they had for every child around the world. Today was our first Flex Friday day.  Students were involved in a multi-grade whole school project that was based on the art of Wassily Kandinsky and the book "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds.  The work will be compiled into an art installation in the Embassy, so you can keep your eye out for that next week! Upcoming Dates and Reminders: - Every Thursday will be book exchange day.  Students are asked to bring both home reading books and learning commons books back to school to be exchanged. - Monday November...

Tomorrow will be our Home Reading exchange as well as our Book Exchange.  Students should bring their Home Reading folders and their Learning Commons book back to school.

Updates and Reminders Monday is "blue shirt day" in recognition of Unicef's International Children's Day.  Autobiography questions need to come back for Monday so that students can move on to the next stage of their writing. To help ensure that students are remembering to change over their home reading books on a regular basis, I will be making Thursday home reading day.  This is also our Learning Commons day, so we will be able to get all book exchanges done on the same day.  Students will need to have their home reading folder and book at school every Thursday.  Have a fantastic weekend!

What has been going on in Room 106? In Humanities we have begun looking at the Organization Trait.  Key Qualities of the Organization Trait ·       The writing has a brilliant beginning. ·       The writing has a mighty middle that develops logically. ·       The writing concludes with an excellent ending. ·       The details tie together so that the writing is easy to follow. We spent Monday and today looking at the importance of sequence words to help guide us through writing in a logical way.  Here are some of the sequence words that students came up with: The culminating activity for the Organization Trait will be for students to write their autobiography.  We came up with 21 different topics that we might want to write about for our autobiography and students were asked to pick at least 10 of them to sit down and talk with you about over the next f...

Here is the Home Journal web for this week: Have a fantastic weekend!!

This week in Room 106: Monday: We welcomed Mr. Barker to our room.  He has already been working with students and has been a great addition to our classroom community. Tuesday: We went on our chilly community walk down to the ponds by Symons Valley Parkway.  The purpose was to start looking at how the native and non-native plants of Alberta change throughout the seasons.   Wednesday: We went on a virtual field trip to the Royal Tyrell Museum to learn about "The Lost Quarry".  Here are some things that we learned: Logan learned that they found guns from back in the 1700’s Zymal and Badia learned that there are thousands of different types of dinosaurs. Zymal learned that there was lots of water and erosion to create the valley. Zahed learned that Charles Hazelius Sternberg discovered Albertosaurus Khushi learned that there are many different types of dinosaurs and that they have unique features.  She also learned that long...

We are welcoming Mr. Barker to our classroom on Monday!  Here is a note from him: Home Journals are coming home today.  Here is the learning web that we created for our writing: Here are the links to some of the resources that we have been using in class: BBC Dance Mat Typing (keyboarding practice) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3c6tfr Duolingo (French language practice) - https://www.duolingo.com/ Have a fantastic weekend!!

This week in class we have been: - working on our persuasive writing in Humanities.  Each student has chosen a character and an issue from the book "Fatty Legs" and are now doing a persuasive and perspective writing piece.  We are using graphic organizers to help us plan our writing.  Students are finding the project challenging but have wonderful ideas and are persevering.   - exploring strategies for 3-digit addition.  We have so far looked at using Base 10 blocks (or drawing a picture) and Partial Sums (Expanded Form).  We will also look at using a number line as well as the traditional vertical algorithm.  Students will have a chance to show what they know next Thursday with a Take 5, and then we will move on to 4-digit addition. - continuing with numbers in French.  This week we learned the 40's, 50's, and 60's (students will now be learning up to 100, instead of just 59).  Next week we will finish off the numbers and stu...