Praise be to God! Today our 4A classroom became a place of quiet wonder and celebration as new life began to emerge.
The first chick hatched about an hour before we even arrived at school, greeting th excited students. It was a tiny black one with a few white spots on her wing tips and chest (a cross between a Black Copper Maran and a Cream Legbar). If she is a hen, she will one day lay soft green eggs.
As the hours unfolded, three more chicks made their way into the world, each one a Cream Legbar. Those would be future layers of blue eggs.
But what made today so special was not just the hatching, it was how we experienced it.
The kind-hearted students took turns drawing close with gentleness and reverence. They spoke soft, welcoming words to the chicks. They read aloud their favourite Bible verses. At times, the room filled with quiet singing—worship songs offered as these fragile lives broke into the world.
When I left this evening, four chicks were fully hatched, one was in the process of pipping, and two remained unknown. By morning, we may be greeted by as many as seven—but we are holding that possibility with open hands.
Today reminded us that life unfolds in its own time, and our role is to watch, to care, and to give thanks.
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” – Mark 16:15
In the coming weeks, our class will be working on a special Bible project: each student will be supported in writing and sharing a short “mini-sermon” based on a Bible story of his/her choosing.
This assignment is about helping students grow in their understanding of Scripture and learn how to communicate a Bible-based message clearly and meaningfully.
A “sermon” format we will focus on is a familiar and effective structure for organizing ideas—moving from introduction, to story, to meaning, to application.
Working through this project supports the development of important skills for faith development, writing, speaking, and thoughtful communication.
I want to acknowledge that families hold a range of perspectives on preaching and teaching roles within the church. This assignment is not intended to position students in a formal preaching role.
Rather, students will be sharing their learning in a classroom setting for their peers, practicing how to thoughtfully explain a Bible story and its message.
Sharing a Bible-based teaching and reflection using a sermon-style format will support clarity and structure. I will give students extensive step-by-step support in class as we work through this process together—brainstorming, researching, organizing ideas, and practicing presentation skills.
The images below show the project outline and assessment criteria that we will be using to guide our work.
That said, this learning experience becomes much richer when it is supported at home if that is your wish. I strongly encourage families to engage with your child by:
Helping them choose a Bible story
Talking together about what it means and why it matters
Asking questions that deepen their thinking
Supporting them in shaping a message they can confidently share in their own voice
Parents are their children’s first and most important teachers, and your involvement here will be incredibly valuable. Yet, if a child is ready to prepare a mini-sermon using our class format with total independence, that is great too.
Our goal is for each student to create a short presentation that reflects:
A growing understanding of Scripture
A clear and meaningful message
An authentic voice and thinking
This is a beautiful opportunity for students to learn God’s Word and practice how to share it with others in thoughtful and age-appropriate ways.
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” – 1 Peter 3:15
Feel free to take a look at the attached materials below for more details about the assignment and how it will be assessed.
Thank you for your continued partnership and support.
Assignment Overview
“Mini Sermon” Structure
There are endless ways to share the Word and craft a sermon.
As preparation for teaching this unit, I took this online course on “The Art of Teaching” (Link: https://www.artofteaching.co) and was inspired by the diverse ways powerful speakers prepare and structure their Bible-based messages. This course and all of the great pastors I have learned from have helped me to refine how I share Bible lessons in our 4A class and when I teach in the children’s ministry at my church; yet I acknowledge that I am just a co-learner in this journey of sermon-writing. I will keep pointing to those who have done deeper work in creating powerful Bible teaching presentations.
For simplicity sake, as a first step for our grade 4 project, I am asking students to follow the format below. Yet students are welcome to consult with me if they wish to shake things up. My answer will be: “Yes—AND let’s work together to make sure you still have the core elements that will help your grade 4 listeners and that you are still demonstrating the skills you have been taught in class.”
“Mini Sermon” Examples
The video below shows an example of what a 3-minute “mini-sermon” could sound like…
Here is a transcript:
Q. & A.
Q: How long does it need to be? About 2–3 minutes. We are not strictly timing, but if it goes much longer, the audience may start to lose focus. If a student has done excellent work and runs a bit longer while also speaking in an engaging way, we can certainly be flexible—but the goal is a short, clear, well-crafted message.
Q: Should it be memorized to get full marks? No. However, the kind of practice and preparation it takes to memorize something will often help students feel more confident, more present, and more engaging—and ultimately more effective as a teacher for their audience.
Students will work toward writing a good copy of a sermon script, which they may read from. They will be encouraged, if possible, to turn that into shorter notes on a cue card to support a more natural, dynamic presentation.
Q: Can we use ChatGPT or other AI tools? Students ask me this in class, and my answer is this: it is fair for you to have available to you the same kinds of resources that many great Bible teachers and pastors use with good judgment.
First and foremost, the Bible is your source.
Pray for guidance and wisdom in understanding your chosen Bible story, and then get to work listening to God and studying.
I do encourage students to listen to and read strong examples of sermons on their chosen Bible story and topic. They can build their understanding from those sources, but ultimately should work toward sharing an inspired message in an authentic voice. When borrowing ideas, give credit where it is due.
Many people today are able to intelligently and fairly use AI and online tools to help with research, organizing ideas, and proofreading—and that may be appropriate here with a parent’s guidance. I encourage students and families to think and pray about what will most help the student deeply understand the story, organize their thinking, and present a meaningful message.
This is a great opportunity to learn about authentic voice, good judgment, copyright, etc.
What would you rather listen to—someone reading something by generated by a robot five minutes ago, or someone sharing an inspired and well-researched message they have spent time thinking about, discussing, and praying over?
What do you hear God calling you to share?
In short, let’s keep it real, but use the tools you need that help you both learn and grow while sharing a Bible-based message with your own voice.
“If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God…” – 1 Peter 4:11
Q: Will this be marked for the report card? This sermon project gives students opportunities to develop skills connected to our Bible course, Language Arts, and Performing Arts, and aspects of this work will be assessed accordingly.
At the same time, the larger goal is for our kids to meaningfully engage with the Bible and learn how to communicate its message in a clear, authentic, and impactful way to share the Good News.
So yes, as part of classroom learning, there will be assessment and communication about student progress. However, I’ve also been very clear with students that the ultimate measure of a sermon is not something I can fully capture on a rubric.
The deeper question is: Was it faithful to God’s Word, and did it move hearts toward truth and action?
I love how this sermon project, which I’ve had the joy to work through with students in a previous school, invites deep learning and the invitation to transformation.
It consistently sparks rich conversations and meaningful questions that lead us back to Scripture and deeper reflection.
Thank you for joining us in praying that we would grow in using our gifts to share the good news of God’s love—His sacrifice and resurrection, the redemption He offers us, and His invitation to live and serve in His Kingdom.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.
It was wonderful to see so many of you awesome folks at the Student Led Conferences! Here is the menu of discussion items from that night:
In Science…
Tomorrow our eggs enter the lockdown phase of incubation. Candling brought exciting learning as we identified viable eggs and explored chicken biology. There were 5 eggs that were translucent and not developing—likely not fertilized. Chicks may begin hatching as early as Sunday, with Monday as our expected hatch day—an exciting time!
We’ve been praying in our journey with the eggs and trusting God’s will, knowing we are guaranteed a rich learning experience (no matter the outcome). It’s powerful to reflect on the wonder of creation and the cycle of life.
In Crew…
In Crew, we discussed the picture book The Good Shepherd and the Stubborn Sheep by Hannah E. Harrison, a story about God’s redemptive love.
We focused on the themes of listening, gratitude, and obedience, and returned to Psalm 23 in our prayer time.
In Music…
In Music, all grade 4 students have been working hard on their ukulele skills in rehearsal together for the chapel presentation on Friday. Here is a little preview..
In Language Arts…
In our word study program in Language Arts, we reviewed homophones (there/their/they’re, to/two/too, your/you’re) and then studied words with the suffix –TURE. We have also being learning how to alphabetize lists of words.
With guidance, students are now taking increased responsibility for their individual spelling learning by going a step beyond copying their spelling corrections into their personal spelling dictionaries and also playing with the words in interesting visual ways to understand and encode them deeper into memory.
Today students chose 8 words they recently needed help spelling to explore through our “Artsy Spelling” sheets.
In Math…
In Math, we continue to build our understanding of fractions, including how to create equivalent fractions for enrichment.
Students have also been developing their mathematical vocabulary through word problems and writing more elaborate math stories.
In Arts…
Here are some more wonderful Salish Sea watercolour paintings—some of them are MINIATURE (not more than the size of a baseball card).
In PHE…
In PHE, this week we played a lively soccer game and began a unit in skipping—students marvelled at how exhausting it can be in a short time!
We had another great week! In Science we have been learning about the Earth, Moon, and Sun—and playing games like “Meteor Shower” and practicing the difference between rotation vs. revolution in the gym to reinforce concepts.
The PCS production of FINDING NEMO was a joyful, colourful event—our grade 4s were inspired by the students’ wonderful singing, acting and dancing.
In Math, students brought home another quiz in equivalent fractions this week, and they are working to write and dramatize their our Fractions Math Stories. They will have these ready to read/perform at the Student Led Conferences this Wednesday, April 22nd from 3:30-5:30 in our class.
Decimals! We enjoyed getting outside with the 4B students for some “mathy” fitness doing creative stations that were timed down to the hundredth decimal place.
A new record! We have been practicing our skill as a class in doing our “attendance countdown” — each student has a class number between 1-22, and we have succeeded in smashing a new record of taking attendance this way in 7.65 seconds! Everyone was so excited. This learning connects to our listening skill, teamwork, understanding of decimals and fractions. 7.65 seconds divided by 22 students is 0.35. That means on average it takes each student just about 1/3 of a second to contribute his or her number to the attendance! Amazing!
A new Language Arts routine for Term 3 is “Word of the Day”—and it’s resulting in some pretty erudite, sophisticated-sounding 9- and 10-year-olds around here!
Each day, we explore a new, challenging word (its meaning, spelling, part of speech, and origin). It’s been so fun to see these words start to appear naturally in student writing and to hear them pop up in everyday conversation. You can keep track of these daily words too as they are written in the agendas each day.
In morning Crew we often start with 5 minutes or silent Bible reading and reflection as all classmates arrive and join the circle.
Then students go around sharing either a verse or insight from that reading time. We pray, share intentions, play “Welcome Ball”, unpack the theme(s) of the week (this week’s was self awareness and self control) and either have a related story or creative/cooperative activity to help get our team working together.
We explored the “Zones of Regulation” framework to help us have a shorthand for expressing what we are feeling.
Table hockey continues to be a favourite game in our class!
In Art, we continue to work on the Learning Coats project, and we are also now deep into our Salish Sea Watercolour unit—the pieces are looking so beautiful! Here are some paintings still in progress…
The rumours are true! 😂 The 20 chicks I got for my family (Silkies, Ameraucanas, Barred Rock and other mixed breeds) are now in that awkward, noisy, teen phase. They are not fully feathered yet and it’s not warm enough for them to live outside in their new coop yet, so they are indoors in a giant brooder box in our mudroom. They get a little “free range” visiting the in the bunny area each day. The bunnies are pleasantly neutral about the chicks. This strange adventure in indoor poultry farming 🥴 for our family has added “exciting” new cleaning opportunities and extended the morning and evening routines. It’s a lot—but it makes for great stories for grade 4 students.
Our class incubation project is underway and we are set to hatch on April 28th. We will candle the eggs next Tuesday in class.
Thank you so much for taking the time to explore our class updates and staying connected with us!
Reminder:Student-led conferences will happen on April 22, 3:30pm – 5:45pm—more details coming next week. As well, a Young Entrepreneurs market will run durng that time in the main school.
In Math, we are continuing to learn about equivalent fractions. Here is a video to help explain this concept and prepare for our quiz on Monday.
In Art, we have begun our watercolour painting unit. Families are warmly invited to follow along at home by using the link below to access ALL of the tutorial videos I’ve created for you. CLICK HERE: https://inquiryninja.com/salish-sea-watercolour-mini-course/
We have two exciting Science units on the go right now.
We’re learning about Earth’s rotation, orbit, and the phases of the moon, and students have been building their thinking and study skills by creating their own quizzes on the content.
At the same time, we’re working on observation in science through our chick incubation project. Students are tracking changes over time, making connections to light, temperature, humidity, and seasons, and will be doing lots of graphing and measuring along the way. More to come! 🐣
Here are some new Science vocabulary words we learned this week…
In the gym, we have continued to enjoy a variety of games to strengthen our physical literacy, and students are invited to teach and lead games and activities after making a successful proposal.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” — Galatians 5:22–23
Two key themes we’ve been working on this week (and will continue with next week) are self-awareness and self-control. We’ve been exploring these through our games in PE, as well as through our art lessons and stories.
In Bible, we have now wrapped up our study of the Easter story, and we’re now shifting back to focus again more closely on Jesus’ parables. Over the next little while, we’ll be zooming in on a few key parables as we prepare for our chapel presentation that will involve students in dramatizing them.
We had a very special CREW on Tuesday! The cutest piggies visited and celebrated the students’ success in our classroom “Ducky Hunt” for fun!
W.O.T.D (Word of the Day): Each day in our class we focus on learning a challenging new vocabulary word—we choose a word that naturally emerges in our learning. For example, on April 1st there was quite a commotion in the school after an April Fool’s prank was played. On April 7th we talked about how the egg incubator’s humidity can fluctuate. On April 9th we learned about how to dilute paint with water to create more subtle tones. On April 10th, we focussed our attention on the dendritic way watercolour paint can spread out through the page—looking like the dendritic roots or branches of a tree or veins. Ask you child to explain and use any of the above words meaningfully in a sentence.
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” – Matthew 21:9
In Math this week we have been making strong progress in understanding fractions and their equivalents. Tomorrow we will have a short check-in quiz.
Students have been asked to bring home their daily math practice sheets to receive and show to a parent.
We have been doing fractions with food, toys, Lego, number lines, math stories, and more. Here are two tutorial videos.
In Language Arts, we have started a new class novel study on Jean Craighead George’s award winning book, My Side of the Mountain.
As well, we’ve launched a new “Word of the Day” routine…
Each day, we will explore a new word by examining its spelling and meaning, analyzing its prefixes and root words, exploring its origins, and applying it in engaging activities such as our “Story Chain” game.
As part of this routine, each student will be asked to:
1. Record the word in his/her agenda.
2. Sharethe meaning of the words and use it in an example sentence with a family member at home.
3. Challenged to use it a few times throughout the day.
The ongoing record of our “word of the day” work will be kept in your child’s agenda. (This makes it important that agendas travel to and from school each day. This simple home connection reinforces learning while helping students build responsibility and organization.)
This routine is intended to expand vocabulary and deepen word knowledge in a consistent, manageable way, while perhaps inspiring a fun, lifelong healthy habit.
Students have also worked together to compile a giant “Easter Vocabulary” list, which they then used as inspiration for Easter free verse poems tomorrow.
Our Bible lessons have been preparing students to reflect deeply on the meaning of Easter. This week, we explored key moments in the Easter story, including Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, the cleansing of the temple, the Last Supper, and tomorrow we have a special Easter Chapel experience and then focus our Bible learning on the discovery of the empty tomb.
Along the way, we also discussed some of the rich symbolism woven throughout these events and what they reveal about Jesus’ mission and God’s kingdom.
Palm Branches Crown of ThornsDonkey
To help bring this learning to life, students are creating resurrection gardens in Art class as a hands-on way to celebrate that He is risen.
Through this activity, we are reflecting on how God’s kingdom continues to grow and how we are called to be good stewards—tending to what God has entrusted to us and nurturing love, faith, and life in the world around us.
For this project, students were provided with a base, plastic greenery, and plasticine, and then we went outdoors to forage for additional natural materials on and beside the school property.
Before heading outside, we had a safety discussion and chat about ethical foraging. Students were coached to carefully identify plants with teacher help before picking to make sure they are safe (e.g. some natural things in our area are poisonous, like poison hemlock, mushrooms, or spurge laurel).
We emphasized respect for living things and “honourable harvest” by not damaging plants, and instead focused on gathering fallen nature bits and taking only very small amounts of materials in ways that would not harm the environment or the school’s landscaping.
In Science, we have been learning about how the Earth’s rotation, axis, and orbit create predictable patterns we observe in our world that affect living and non-living systems.
Another focus this term will be practicing our observation, data collection and analysis skills as we do the “Hatch a Chick” program!
I am planning to pick up a classroom kit and a dozen hatching eggs so we can get started incubating next Tuesday. The students have also been very creative in brainstorming cute and fun chicken names.
SNEAK PEEK! Next week will start an in-depth watercolour painting unit, focusing on skills for painting “Salish Sea” landscapes. This course is one I developed during the COVID era to also reach some students who were home sick, so the video versions of the lessons are online. You can find them at the link below in case you’d like to follow along at home or get ahead in practicing skills.
We have wrapped up term 2, and report card will be sent home next week. Congratulations to all learners and families on your hard work!
Personal Interest Projects…
We have such an amazing range of P.I.P.s on the go, including songwriting, novel writing, making a sticker company, sewing, puppet-making, comic books, clay sculpture, and planning a profitable lemonade stand. We also have some wonderful crochet animals coming to life including a flock of cute little ducks!
As well, the variety of engineering problems solved with Lego keeps growing.
In Math…
This week we are continuing our review of core Term 2 concepts, with a special focus on division and adding and subtracting decimals.
Today we also worked on strengthening our word-problem comprehension skills. Students practiced reading carefully for understanding and drawing pictures to help make sense of the questions before solving them.
The Learning Coat Project…
The detail, symbolism, and l rainbow of colours growing across the students’ Learning Coats is so very joyful to behold! Ask your child what recent addition he/she has made…
Screenshot
In Language Arts..
We have returned to studying prefixes and suffixes. Please watch the videos below for a quick review and take a look at the study sheets as well.
In class, students are also exploring two prefix and suffix literacy centres to help them practice these ideas in a hands-on way.
The English language can sometimes feel mysterious, but there are helpful patterns that show us how words are built. Prefixes and suffixes are important building blocks that help us understand the meaning of words and how they fit together.
In Social Studies…
We have been focussing on the map of Canada, learning the locations of the provinces and territories and learning their capitals. Here is a link to an online game that can help reinforce this learning: https://world-geography-games.com/en/americas_canada.html
In Science…
In Science class, we have been continuing to build our research skills. Last term, students learned and practiced summarizing longer pieces of information into short, meaningful bullet-point notes based keywords to help strengthen comprehension and remember key ideas.
This week, we explored additional note-taking strategies for organizing different kinds of information, including tables, charts, Venn diagrams, flowcharts, and idea boxes.
Learning to interact with information in these ways helps students process scientific ideas more deeply. The next step will be using these notes as a foundation for developing thoughtful scientific questions and designing simple research investigations.
In Crew…
Discussing how we can thoughtful care for God’s creation in Crew has special meaning when the bunnies are visiting.
We have be “redoing” the Canada vs. US Olympic hockey game in class with our alternate preferred endings. 😉
In Social Studies…
UPDATE! Wow – today was a victory for our Social Studies learners! Thank you all for studying! I had a fabulous time marking everyone’s quizzes and paragraph responses because I could see truly remarkable growth!
We have been learning about British Columbia’s path to confederation and the provinces and territories of Canada.
We have explored “documentary filmmaking” as a creative way to reinforce key concepts.
We made this “documentary”! It’s a great study tool!
Students have been using visuals, icons, and storytelling techniques to represent ideas. Students are understanding the material more deeply and remembering it with impressive clarity—even the dates. It helps that confederation was 1867…67! If you know, you know 😉
We’ve seen how combining visuals with narrative strengthens memory and builds meaningful connections between ideas.
We have been also been doing lots of trivia games and practice quizzes.
Students have been demonstrating their learning in many ways all term. As well, we had a more formal unit quiz in class on Thursday: this assessment was just like the practice quizzes and had multiple choice questions, a written response section, and an oral component (I will give students a chance to flesh out their written responses in discussion with me—each learner will have many chances and ways to show his/her learning.)
Some great examples of student writing from the quiz (composed without the help of notes)…
It’s important for students to study exemplars—to see good examples of work and analyze how and to what extent they meet assignment criteria. We want to know the facts in context and be able to explain them with clarity.
In Physical Education…
We have been loving the beautiful PCS sport court and field.
Math…
Students have been practicing division with both the traditional method and partial quotients method and as well working on adding and subtracting decimals.
Please see your child’s agenda for their daily worksheet. Any incomplete class work is recommended to be finished at home. Then, it can be brought back in for marking at school or you can mark it at home yourselves.
In Bible…
In Bible, we have continued our deep dive into the parable of the lost son—the story Jesus told about forgiveness, humility, and the extravagant love of a father. We have explored the big themes woven throughout the parable:
• repentance and second chances
• jealousy and comparison
• grace that is freely given, not earned
• and the joy of restoration
Students reflected on the heart of each character (the younger son, the older brother, and the father) and considered what this story teaches us about God’s character and our own responses to others.
We have seen interpretive dance, comics, plays and artwork expressing the students learning of the parable of the prodigal son.
As a creative extension, students expressed their understanding in meaningful and imaginative ways. Some created their own dramatizations of the story, others choreographed interpretive dances, and some designed thoughtful comic-strip retellings that captured the emotional turning points of the parable.
It has been beautiful to see how deeply students are engaging, not just retelling the story, but wrestling with its meaning.
More to come as we continue unpacking its layers together.
Just a fun look at what a “bunny circle” is in our Crew block.
You could ask your child: What was in the black gift box in your Language Arts lesson today?
Hello, 4A families!
Peek inside our class! These photos and descriptions of learning are here to support you and your child in conversations about learning.
Upgrading Our Writing Skills…
As writers, how can we learn to capture our readers’ attention right away? Students worked in term one on writing topic sentences, and this important learning continues.
However, it is time to add some style and depth to our paragraph writing by crafting hooks!
This was lesson 1 of 3 before students will be asked to apply their new hook writing skills next week in an expository paragraph on topic of their choosing for a final unit assessment. (Before then, for practice they will write dozens of hooks and a few practice paragraphs and get feedback on them.)
Below you can see a graphic organizer students have used this year to plan their writing and some rubrics to assess and provide feedback.
Our Novel Study…
We finished reading E.B. White’s novel, “The Trumpet of the Swan” and have been discussing its five major themes: finding your voice, perseverance and hard work, responsibility and honesty, friendship and support, and the fact that everyone has value.
We have been studying Jesus’s early life and ministry, especially his parables.
We also did a deep dive on the Parable of the Lost Son (Prodigal Son). Stay tuned for a future full blog post on this unit of study once students are finished the creative dimension of this work.
Students have begun plans for plays, comics, songs, videos, puppet shows, and more to deepen and communicate their learning of the lessons Jesus has for us in this story.
I have a few fun props and costumes students may use, but we welcome families to send in more “prodigal son”-related items to help us bring this story to life! Before Bible reading, we learn new vocabulary and its meaning in context the Bible times context to deepen our exegesis.
Below is a video of Christian music artist Josiah Queen’s song, The Prodigal. We played this song in class today to illustrate how we can creatively engage with ideas in the Bible.
Skating was awesome!
In Math…
We are continuing with daily practice of the Partial Quotients method of division. I have assigned all students to do 3 division questions at home each night (like complete their daily math worksheet that they bring home in their agenda or make up new questions to check with a calculator, parent, or with multiplication).
Math stories continue as well.
Students who finish their work early are invited to explore grade 5+ level worksheets, choose math enrichment handouts, play math card games, work with manipulatives, or dive into math stories that challenge them to apply their understanding in new ways.
In our class, math leaders have a special role—anyone can work their way to becoming a math leader. Once they demonstrate mastery of a topic in an assessment and complete their own regular work, they are “deployed” first as helpers (serving their peers for a few minutes) before moving on to new enrichment challenges or choice activities. (Doing your homework pays off!)
Learning Coats…
They are coming along beautifully! The symbolism and thought expressed in this textiles project is powerful! We can’t wait to show you!
Perhaps ask your child to share with you something he/she has newly added…
Here is a window into our week of learning. *Reminder that our class will go on our SKATING FIELD TRIP this coming Monday, Feb. 2nd. Please send in that day a helmet and warm outerwear (and skates only if your child is not renting).
In Language Arts & Arts Ed…
We have continued our novel study of “The Trumpet of the Swan” by E. B. White.
They have analyzed photos and watched swan videos to help them draw sketches and then sculpt swans from plasticine.
In Social Studies…
We are in the middle of our unit of study on the path BC took to confederation. We have been working on props for a play to help tell the story of the early days of British Columbia.
Students have been studying the map of Canada and learning about the location of the 10 provinces and 3 territories.
In Science…
Students have been learning to summarize and take “bulletpointnotes” of texts to aid their comprehension and retention of academic content. They applied this new study skill when doing a practice quiz and two additional quizzes on the topic of what factors have put biomesindanger in the past.
This video is a reading of a book from our school library on biomes.
This topic was an excellent jumping off point to practice critical thinking and consider point of view and purpose for writing when reading scientific information.
For example, farming was listed repeatedly as a historical cause of harm to various biomes; indeed, there is lots of evidence to support this.
But how do we define “farming”? Is all farming harmful all the time? Are the trade-offs of the benefits of some farming important or necessary?
Ethical scientists consider how their own perspectives can intentionally or unintentionally impact their work and how they share and frame their research.
So, this was a time when I modelled acknowledging my bias: “I live on a tiny farm surrounded by other farms, and that informs how I would view and interpret research about the impact of farming on biomes.”
A strong education in science prepares students not just to unthinkingly consume data, but to investigate it, contextualize it, reflect upon it, and challenge it.
This approach does not ask students to dismiss evidence, but to more deeply understand it with awareness of how evidence is gathered, framed, and interpreted.
These skills will help students work towards becoming thoughtful readers of scientific studies, news articles, and real-world claims now and in the future.
In Math…
Students have been creating division math stories, working at times with maximum freedom of choice of materials and math topics. At other times, I challenge students to work within constraints from a teacher-curated prop list with defined questions.
In Math, we are deep into our unit on division and now learning the “Partial Quotients Method of Division”—which is more forgiving than the traditional method because it doesn’t rely on students having memorized most of their times tables. See some videos below…
Yesterday I sent students home with two extra practice sheets to complete in their own time as desired. I recommend students complete and mark 2-3 questions each day. I will not be marking this work, but I let them know the answer key is here on the blog.
Work will vary, but the goal is for the answers should match the answer key.
Some students prefer doing math on grid paper because it helps them to stay organized. However, for some folks the grid adds distracting visual clutter. Which layout does your child prefer?
YES! I will be teaching the traditional long division method next.
However, we started with “Partial Quotients” because it is more flexible and far easier for students with minimal division experience and who do not have the whole multiplication table memorized.
In Physical Education…
Students have been working hard on their “make a fitness station” projects. They worked in teams to create plans and have been presenting their stations, complete with skill demos and safety guidelines. So much creativity!
In Bible & Crew…
This week’s focus has been on our call to “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). We considered these questions: Who does Jesus show kindness for whom others don’t? What can we learn from this?
We have read, analyzed and discussed the parable of the good Samaritan, the parable of the unmerciful servant and the story of Jesus welcoming the children—and sought to connect these stories to our studies of how to meaningfully respond to racism. Students created more related puppet shows for us to reflect upon.
Students have also continued presenting their plays that illustrate strategies for how to respond to hurtful, racist comments.
Next week, we focus in Crew (and throughout the curriculum) on the concept of “transformation”—so today we soft-launched that topic with a brainstorm so students can have time to beginning noticing transformations in our world.
Lovely Moments…
Wowzars! Wildly huge division questions have been popping in class just for fun! Well done!This “Eraser People” personal interest project continues to grow with new characters and stories. When you have the heart of a sculptor, mundane objects can transformed into whimsical art!
In Spelling…
We finished our “Adjective to Adverb” spelling unit this week.
Our next Spelling list focuses on reviewing short vowel sounds with a focus on some words that have come up in students’ writing lately…
Update from me…
This past Sunday, I was baptized—an incredibly meaningful moment in my faith journey. My husband was also baptized on the same day right after me.
