Hello 4A Families,
Here is a recap of some of our learning this week!
(In the future, I look forward to sharing more vivid multimedia weekly recaps on our class blog. Until I have had a chance to meet with families to understand everyone’s comfort and specifics of photo permissions, we will stick with text.)
Learning Coats
How wonderful it is to see students thinking creatively to express who they are and their learning through words, doodles and symbols on their Learning Coats!
Math
Today, students are bringing home a check-in quiz on reading analog clocks. They also wrote an assessment on patterning and 3x tables that will come home on Monday.
We have been learning to create “math stories” and math enrichment began this week both with Mr. Rathburn and in our class for any interested students with a discussion of exponents and order of operations with BEDMAS.
Language Arts
We have been reviewing compound words and expository writing structures, and today we began our novel study of Babe: The Gallant Pig, a novel selected by PCS for Grade 4 classrooms.
It is a charming story and already proving to be a wonderful springboard for conversations about character, plot, language, dialect, and even the origins and changing meanings of words. We have read through the end of Chapter 2.
A note for families: one of the characters speaks in a regional dialect with “grammatical errors”—so we consider those as we go to promote clarity. As well, the early chapters also contain a traditional technical term for a female dog that, over time, has acquired a different and inappropriate meaning in some contexts today.
I chose to substitute the word as female dog and used this as an age-appropriate opportunity to discuss how language changes over time and how the meaning and appropriateness of a word can depend on its context. ***We also discussed what students can do when they encounter unfamiliar, confusing, or concerning language in books: seek the perspective and guidance of a trusted adult. This is a lesson we return to when students encounter words they find surprising in the Bible as well.
This week we also did a spelling diagnostic, which will help inform our personalized spelling instruction.
We completed our School-Wide Write to get a baseline of strengths and needs of the writers in our class. Students responded to this prompt:
What is something you enjoy doing? Think of a time when you did it and write about that particular time. What did you see, hear, feel, and think? What made this time special?
Students were supported in build up lessons to think about the structure of their writing, incorporating sensory description and specific details, and bringing their personal narratives to a thoughtful conclusion.
Here are some of the recent Words of the Day (WOTD):
Science
We have begun our unit on matter, starting with the three states of matter.
We are also learning about the scientific method and brainstorming scientific questions that we could investigate through experiments. Students are beginning to distinguish questions that can be tested scientifically from other interesting and important questions we might ask about the world.
Bible & Chapel
We had a beautiful chapel experience this morning in the newly renovated Numan Centre, including worship music and a focus on our school’s Bible verse for the year:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 (NIV)
In Bible, we are beginning a chronological journey through some key stories of Scripture, starting in the Old Testament and moving into the New Testament over the three terms. Today, we explored the Creation story and considered different ways we might bring Bible stories to life and explain them for different audiences.
We are learning more about how the Bible is organized, how to navigate it, and how its many books come together to tell God’s story. We are growing in our understanding of Scripture as God’s Word—true, trustworthy, and our ultimate written authority for faith and life—as we seek to know God, understand His purposes, and live faithfully in His world.
Much of our work during these opening weeks has been about building our class culture—getting to know one another and creating the kind of safe, joyful, caring community in which every student can learn and thrive.
In Career Education, students have new “class jobs” assigned and we discussed how they can use even these smaller responsibilities to practice leadership and how Colossians 3:23 reminds us, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.”
There are so many wonderful things ahead for our 4A students! I look forward to meeting with you in person or by video conference during our upcoming conferences. (PCS will send out further sign up info soon.)
Please continue to send in those earthquake kits, PCS gym shirts, and Learning Coats—and reach out if any help is needed with these or other school supplies.
Reminder that if you are interested in ordering hot lunch for Thursday, the order deadline is Sunday night.
Thank you for all you work getting your children off to a wonderful start this school year! Blessings to you and your families!
Tiffany Poirier, 4A teacher.
