Dear Parents, My apologies for not having updated our weekly page earlier! I'll keep it short and sweet. Please check the previous post for information about our new unit. The curriculum map will outline our overall learning focus for our new unit, How the World Works. It is a hands on unit where students will be inquiring into how machines serve a purpose and meet needs in innovative ways. This week in unit of inquiry, we will begin by researching inventions in the world that have made a big different to how we live. Students will then present the invention they research about and try to justify why their invention is the most important of all the ones researched. As a class, we will have to debate and critique why certain inventions carry more value than others. We will also sort through images to assess our prior knowledge of what a machine actually is before exploring simple machines. In math, this week is dedicated to revisiting previous concepts taught. We will focus on using the inverse relation of addition and subtraction to find missing addends and minuends. e.g. 13 + ____ = 69, ____ + 24 = 48, ______ - 24 = 56. Once we practice our number skills, we will transfer our understanding to solving number stories and word problems. In language, we are experimenting with combining a recount of an actual moment in our lives with story elements including characters, setting, and plot to create comic strip recounts. The children are very excited about it, so please ask them about how their comic strips are coming along! Announcements/Reminders
Please find attached the curriculum map for our upcoming Unit of Inquiry, How the World Works.
Dear Parents,
I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a great time on our field trip, hunting for signs and symbols around the mall. We will be sharing photos very soon. This week is the last week of our Unit of Inquiry ‘How We Organize Ourselves’. The children will be walking around our campus to identify an area that would benefit from a sign. They will then design the sign to communicate a message - a command, a warning, or an information sign. Once these are finished then we will be working with 2PH and showing them our signs and asking them to critique their effectiveness. Students will then reflect if their sign does communicate their message, and if not, identify what they could have done differently. In Math, the children will be looking at the associative and communicative properties of number to understand that addition and subtraction do not follow the same rules and that the order of certain steps and operations can alter the output. Language: Last week, we learnt to identify and sort steps within the scientific method including asking a question, conducting background research, forming a hypothesis, conducting an experiment, observing/recording/analyzing data, and forming a conclusion. We also attempted our 'lava' experiment, completing the first half of the scientific method. This week we will do the experiment again, following the same steps (when conducting the experiment) but in a different order to see if we end up with a different result. We will complete our observations, analyses, and conclusion this week. In addition to this, if time permits, the children will watch Pie Corbett who tells stories through signs. They will attempt writing their own stories using signs to communicate. Announcements/Reminders
As always, thank you for your continued support at home. Warm regards, Bhavna
For our unit How We Organize Ourselves, Grade 4 has been learning about market economies. To apply what they have learned, they will be putting on their very own souk! We would love it if you could join and offer your support by purchasing the various goods and services that will be on offer.
Who: Grade 4 students When: January 25th Time: 9:00am-11:00am Where: The Peace Garden All proceeds for the souk will go towards Dubai Cares. If you have any questions, please contact Leigh Ann Fitch at [email protected]. Dear Parents,
As we didn't quite get around to inquiring into the Scientific Method last week, it will be our focus for this week. We will then use the structure and our understanding of forming a hypothesis to conduct an experiment - https://sciencebob.com/try-some-lava-in-a-cup/ This also ties in well with our procedural writing focus, allowing students to follow instructional steps with independence. If you are inclined to conduct some interesting experiments at home with your child for some hands-on learning, here are some simple guided experiments you can set up which also explain the learning behind them: https://sciencebob.com/category/experiments/ Our math focus continues to be on 2D and 3D shapes. We will investigate parallel lines, tessellating patterns, and learn to compare 2D and 3D shapes using a Venn Diagram as a graphic organizer tool. The children really enjoyed learning to sign their names using the American Sign Language chart last week. This week, we will recap our understanding of the differences between signs and symbols and features that make them effective for universal communication. We will also look at how certain signs are localized and only make sense to people who understand a particular culture or way of life. Announcements/Reminders
As always, thank you for your continued support at home. Warm regards, Bhavna Dear Parents, We have a busy week ahead of us as we wrap-up mid-year assessments. We will also wrap up any incomplete MAP tests this week. MAP test results for all completed tests will be sent home by the end of the week. In math this week and next, we will be investigating shape and space, looking at 2D and 3D shapes. Our inquiry will lead us to discover features and attributes of those and how they are connected to each other. We will also analyze how shapes can be important within authentic contexts for building, design, functionality, etc. There will be a lot of new vocabulary to learn. Here are a few you can review at home with your child as we begin to use them in the class: 2D vocabulary: Circle, Triangle, Square, Quatrilateral, Kite, Diamond,Parallelogram, Polygon, Rectangle, Trapezoid, Pentagon, Hexagon, Heptagon, Octogon, Nonagon, Decagon, Sides, Corners, Parallel Lines, etc. 3D vocabulary: Sphere, Triangular Prism, Cube, Cuboid or Rectangular Prism, Cylinder, Pyramid, Hexagonal Prism, Edges, Faces, Vertices, etc. In language, we will study the steps and format of the scientific method for conducting research and experiments to understand the important features and learn how to formulate a strong hypothesis before conducting experiments later this week or early next week. As our literature focus is on non-fiction texts, if your child is reading a non-fiction text at home, please revise some of the following features that are markers of non-fiction texts: table of contents, real images and photographs, diagrams, charts, maps, glossary, index, biographies, information books, real information/events, etc. In unit of inquiry, we are learning to identify features that make signs and symbols. If we had to create a sign, how would we make sure it effective? How will it communicate the required message apart from using "language"? Announcements/Reminders:
Warm regards, Bhavna |
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