Daily reflections

September 26-30

This week we learned what a number talk is. A number talk is basically when we see a picture for two seconds.The picture is made of dots. We have to say how many dots we saw in all and how we saw it.

This number talk is about the dot pattern on the bottom right side of the board. Students' thinking is drawn and explained with numerical reasoning. We recognise that our original thinking is subject to change once we see/hear other perspectives. 

We also learned about levels of experience 1,2,3,4 in writing. A level 1 experience is something that happens to everyone. A level 2 experience is a thing that happens to everyone differently. A level 3 experience is that you would only tell to your best friends and it doesn't happen to everyone. Level 4 is something that is your secret.

Levels of experience remind us that it's our unique beliefs and experiences that inspire writing others want to read.

In unit we built a spaghetti tower using: spaghetti, one marshmallow and one piece of sticky tape.The team with the tallest tower would win.




In drama we put on a play in which we were in a restaurant and we met with other people from other countries and we had to explain why we were there. But also we had to act as another person, not ourselves. 

                by Shourya and Aleksandras

It was another wonderful week of learning in grade 4L! We spent the week trying out a new model where we stopped at the end of each day to reflect where the BIG learning happened for each of us. We then posted our ideas on the board and collected them to use in our Friday letters. 

In Unit this week we began to focus on our second line of inquiry: "I have an impact on my community". In order to change our focus from the team to who I am as part of the team, we rated ourselves and our own participation in relation to teamwork. We evaluated ourselves during a spaghetti tower building challenge and in a game called "Traffic Jam." We determined that it was very difficult to decide how we rated without a clear outline of what a 1, 2, 3 or 4 was on our rubric. On Friday, we set to defining these ratings in groups so we could better figure out how to be a more active participant in teamwork, but also in our class community. 

After the spaghetti challenge, we reflected that our big learning was: we worked together better as a team to plan because our supplies were limited. We thought more deeply during this challenge than others. Since we rotated one team member toward the end, we also reflected on how we felt about the switch as it altered our teamwork and even our emotions!

Here Rojus, Veronika, Gerda, Shourya and their new teammate Sofia reflect on their teamwork.

Referring to their team plan, Migle, Aleksandras, Yigit and Benas reflect on their work together as a team.

Our feelings and what makes us say that regarding the swap of one of our teammates during the Spaghetti Tower challenge

Our big learning after playing "Traffic Jam" was that we gave up too soon. We realised that we were very close to the solution a couple of times but didn't recognise it because we gave up too early. We learned about the saying "Impossible is nothing," and spoke about the importance of being resilient. 

"Traffic Jam" is a game where 8 players are cars. They can only move forward, move one space at a time, and can only jump one person at a time. There IS a solution, contrary to popular belief by the "cars". Here Elena is trying her hand at being a director of traffic.

 Here Krista is the director of traffic. 

We were in charge of planning for the park this Wednesday and voting on whose idea we'd use. We wrote our ideas out on a small whiteboard and then everyone got an equal vote by using 3 small tokens. Each person could only put 1 token in their own cup and had to share the other 2 tokens any way they liked. The unanimous vote went to full free time at the park! 

Small groups from 4A and 4L finalise their plans for Wednesday at the park.

Students roam from team to team to decide where they'd like to put their token votes.

We mostly broke into two large groups. One played "American football" while the other ran an outdoor "beauty salon". What we valued most of all about this day was the inclusion and that everyone felt like they were invited to participate in any activities that were created. Our big learning was that WE alone make choices about how/if we participate, which led us to reflect deeply on how our participation affects us and our friends -both positively and negatively- depending on the choices we make. *We also particularly enjoyed being allowed to eat our snacks whenever we liked! 

Nora, Elena and Mante enjoy some time to chat in our favorite climbing tree.

Migle, Ina and Eva enjoy a game they made up last week with hula hoops.

Aleksandras, Lukas, Shourya, Antanas, Basel, Rafael and Dovydas play a rough and tumble game of "American Football". I've told them that I'd like to show them a video to prove that there are rules to this game and that players typically enjoy the perks of proper padding!

Sofia shows off her manicure done by Krista at the "Nature Salon".

Sofija, Shourya and Rafael practice skipping stones in the pond.

Veronika, Steven, Ina, Yelyzaveta, and Yigit discover cattails down by the water!

In mathematics, we continued our study of geometry. This week we practiced using a compass. For some of us it came naturally, for others of us...it was a long process. We then studied how to inscribe a square in a circle, construct concentric and congruent circles, and figured out what the radius of a circle is. We continued to work on naming polygons by completing some riddles and using properties to sort different polygons. 

Antanas, Rojus, Nora, Yigit and Basel create fine messes while teaching themselves to construct circles with a compass.

In reading this week, we re-organised our classroom library. This time, we organised by fiction picture, fiction chapter, non-fiction picture and non-fiction chapter. This turned out to be a bit of a challenge for us as we're still learning about the different types of fiction and non-fiction. We also shared ideas about what good readers when what they're reading doesn't make sense. Naturally, we did a lot of reading during reading time and are beginning our reading assessments. 

In writing, we composed a couple more free verse poems inspired by topics from our writing territories. Some of us were risk-takers and shared writing that we felt was a level 2 or 3 experience. Mid-week, we tried our hand at personal narratives. We continue to use our topics from our writing territories to see which topics inspire different genres of writing. 

Yelyzaveta, Sofija, Eva and Nora work on writing compositions.

Basel and Yigit working on their compositions.

Finally, we got to enjoy celebrating our friend Rojus' 10th birthday! As we become a closer classroom community, we become more comfortable reflecting deeply about who we are. We look forward to another week learning and growing together! 

Happy Birthday, Rojus!

Finding value and purpose in our learning

                            Sept.19-Sept.23

This week at Math, we learned what are the properties of polygons and how to know that a shape is a polygon.We also learned to identify angles, acute angles, obtuse angles and right angles. Last, we learned what are concave polygons and convex polygons.

At writing time, we learned how to write a free verse poem. We learned by looking at examples. Also, we learned to use our writing territories. 

On Reading,we started to give book talks which means giving people reasons why they should maybe try to read this book, and tell what this book is about without giving out the end. Then, we learned what kinds of fiction and non-fiction there are. Also, we practiced interviewing books.

Last, but not least at Unit we built a marble run, went to the park, played with dogs in the park, and we wrote what was important (what we value) for us at the park.

All this time we have tried to answer these questions:

• What sort of learning are you looking for? Why?
• Where does learning live?

                                                      
                                           BY SOFIA AND YELYZAVETA


It has been an interesting week for us in 4L this week as we've spent some time taking a step back to be more reflective about what it is we actually do and why we do it! 

During unit time this week, we investigated the learner profiles and did a sort to discover what each profile actually means. We realized we had heard these words but were not really always sure what they meant. 

We got in teams of 4 to create a marble run to practice using our teamwork skills under a time restraint because we had noticed that was when our teamwork tended to break down. We changed our model and sat for 5 full minutes to come up with a plan before we ever began to build our marble runs. Not one of our teams successfully kept the marble rolling for 60 seconds, but we did reflect that our teamwork was better when we all knew exactly what to do before beginning. We rated our teamwork and then got together to compare our ratings in order to agree as a group on one rating. This was almost as difficult as building the marble run! 

At the park this week, we did an energizer called "Apples, Oranges, Bananas"! We had to try to repeat patterns with our bodies and it warmed up our brains and got our bodies feeling more coordinated...also it was pretty funny to watch! We played a game called "Streets and Alleys" and had some more good giggles as we watched our classmates chase each other as a cat and dog through the streets and alleys we made. Finally, we had some free play time. We are improving our abilities to create our own games. When returning from the park, we each shared what the most valuable thing about our time in the park this week or something new we learned while we were there. 

Playing "Streets and Alleys"

 Some students decided to build a small dam (then were kindly reminded by classmates to take it down before we left so it didn't hurt the habitat of the park)

 This was a game these students created called "Blind Trust," where a leader in front had their eyes open while the others trusted and followed with their eyes closed

This was one of the hula hoop games that was created where the partners must toss their hoop and catch their partner's

Our park reflections about what was most valuable or new learning for us

Speaking of the park, both 4L and 4A got together on Friday to plan for next Wednesday's park activities. We worked in groups of 3 or 4 to come up with the schedule, materials, games, and purpose of our time at the park next week. We began to present these ideas, and will finish on Monday with a final vote for which idea will be implemented this coming Wednesday. 

In mathematics, we investigated how intersecting, parallel and perpendicular lines are related. We also learned a new song about these lines to the tune of "Frere Jacques". Just ask- we'd love to sing it for you! :) We also began to explore different types of polygons and their properties, and ended with our definition of what a polygon actually is. Something that surprised us was that some polygons have special names that relate to a root word like: quadrangle - quad means 4, which is why a quadrangle is a polygon with 4 sides and 4 vertices. 

In reading this week, we began to give book talks about books we've been reading. We talked about what pushes us into the reading zone and how we can get pulled out...which is very annoying to good readers! We used our book interview skills when we visited the library. Several of us have begun to realize that we know ourselves quite well as readers as we know exactly what kind of books we like and have made recommendations for what to order to put in our class library. Now we just have to figure out how to get them there! We also learned about the different types of fiction and non-fiction. We went through our finished book logs to see if we could find any patterns about ourselves as readers and the genres we typically choose. 

In writing, we looked back at our writing territories to discover the purpose of these lists. We read some free verse poetry and made a list of everything we noticed about it. We then returned to our writing territories to pull topics to use when writing our own free verse poems. Our big learning was that writing is a messy process because writers draft and draft, changing their minds almost every time they read their compositions, until they have made it the best it can be. We also learned that we like to see models and examples because each time we look at these, they give us new inspiration and ideas. 

Finally, we celebrated our friend Migle's 10th birthday! It's been another great week in 4L, and we look forward to what exciting learning and "ah-ha moments" next week will hold for us. 

"Unpredictable" Learning

In math we learned that music is involved with math. We learned a song that reminds us about a line segment , a line and a ray. Next, the hailstone sequence. It's a sequence that you start with with a number: if it's even you divide it by two and if it's odd you multiply it by three and add one. It will always end with the number one. Also we learned that speed doesn't matter in math!

   
In language arts we learned what is writing territories. It's when we write a list of stuff that is on our mind lately. Also we learned how to interview a book and ordered our class library. We also talked about why people abandon books.

In the park we learned really unpredictable things. For example we learned teamwork in the tree by one hula-hoop getting stuck in a high tree! Everybody started throwing things on the tree. In the end we got three hula-hoops and one ball stuck. Then we got a long sunflower and took down two hula-hoops. Then one classmate started throwing somebody's water bottle and we got the ball down and two hula hoops but not the last one. 

In unit in PE we imagined everyone was on an island and we had two mats and 3 frisbees. We needed to cross to the other side of the gym without touching the floor. We did pretty well but we still are working on improving making a plan as a team. 

by Nora & Yigit

It's been another wonderful week together in grade 4L! We welcomed a new classmate and friend, Shourya, from the UK. 

Our highlights this week seemed to come in the form of unintended learning, which was a new concept for a lot of us. 

In Unit, we continued to work on the goals we set for ourselves:

• FULL team participation 
• Respect each team member
• Listen to everyone's ideas
• Make a plan BEFORE beginning a task

Though we were able to organise ourselves to create a plan before beginning our team challenge in PE, we struggled to give every member the opportunity to share their ideas before jumping into action. We rated our teamwork quite high at the end of the lesson, and then were very surprised when we watched ourselves on video! We then re-evaluated our teamwork using the rubric after seeing the lesson from a different perspective.

We continued to practise teamwork during the week as we worked in small groups to agree on ways to organise our classroom library and create a system for lunch helpers and cleaners. Both jobs took us much longer than we thought they would because it was difficult to get everyone to agree! We're learning daily about the importance of listening to other's ideas and ensuring that each member of our team/community feels valued. Our big learning was "We don't have to achieve our goal or win in order to have good teamwork!"

During our trip to the park this week with 4A, we played a game called "Chuck the Chicken Egg." We got some free play time. We didn't realise how much learning could come from a trip to the park!

In mathematics, we began our first unit of Everyday Math which is geometry. We investigated lines, line segments, points and rays. We even learned a song about them. Just ask- we LOVE to sing it and show the hand motions! We learned that singing often helps information "stick" in our brains, even when we didn't realise it was hidden there! We also discovered that two rays together make an angle. We constructed some different geometric shapes with straws and shared our thinking about these shapes. We also played "Addition Top It" to polish up our mental math skills. 

In reading this week, we learned to interview books by reading the back blurb, looking at the cover, reading some pages inside and getting a real feel for the book before deciding whether or not it's the right fit. We visited the library and interviewed as many books as we liked and even took a few home. We're working on building stamina by reading the same book at school and at home until it's complete. 

In writing, we created our "Writing Territories" page and talked about how good writing comes from our beliefs and experiences. We realised that good writers put the two together to create compositions we most enjoy reading. 

Last, but certainly not least, we got to take a trip to Cathedral Square to see the record breaking LEGO ship made by DFDS. It had over 1 million LEGOs! We even got popcorn, cotton candy and balloons! What a way to end the week! 

        

Our first full week together

In math we learned how to get different answers with only four 4s.

And the second most important thing in math was that there is no such thing as a math brain. A math brain is a person's brain that is very good with math.

And the most important thing in math was that if you make mistakes your brain grows.We learned that by watching a short video about brain growth. And the last thing we did in math was learning how to do math talks. A math talk is when we share answers of different questions.

In p.e. we tried to make 2 contraptions that will make the ball roll to the other side. Material was; carton boxes and sticky tape, but it didn't work because we didn't work in a team. Our class decided we need to listen to each other's ideas, respect each other, and that everyone should participate for good teamwork. 

In reading, we read for about 20 minutes every day. We learned about how to choose good books so we could find our "reading zone". The reading zone is when you are reading a book and you love the book so much that you only pay attention to the book.

by Rojus & Krista

Our first Unit of Inquiry is Who We Are. The central idea is: "Listening to other people's perspectives and communicating our own points of view helps us to live together." We spent Wednesday morning in the park with 4A playing games and completing team challenges. We continue to investigate what it means for a team to be successful and how we can work best together. We are beginning to understand the value of struggle and even failure at times, as it enables us to pinpoint areas for improvement.

In math, we have begun the year with some short videos about brain research and mathematical thinking. We practiced keeping a GROWTH MINDSET rather than a fixed mindset by embracing challenges in order to grow our brains. We worked in teams to solve different types of problems and then did "number talks" where we shared our way of thinking and methods for solutions. We were excited to see how differently we all solve the same problems! 

In language arts, we set up our Reader's Workshop. We talked about the importance of picking the perfect book and how that looks very different for each of us. We also gave ourselves permission to abandon books that are not a good fit for us because there are just too many wonderful books and so little time to read them all!