4R Experiences: June 2016

This is the last blog post of the year. Yes, another school year has quickly passed us by, and what a time we had! I am proud of the hard work we have put into laughing while we learn. None of our accomplishments are possible without your support. It is rare to have a group of parents who have raised such creative, intelligent, and wonderful human beings. As a teacher, I am fortunate to have you asking questions at home about school, reading with your child, taking them to places to explore new things, and modeling a standard of excellence in life-long learning. Thank you for making this year fantastic!

At the start of the school year, I said to our community "This will be the greatest year ever!" and it holds true. We are ending the year with a bang! Our Bizarre Bazaar! is our final performance assessment, in which students have worked hard to brainstorm, create, and build a shop that sells goods and/or services that our Grade 4 community would want to buy. Using their knowledge of consumerism, laws of supply and demand, currencies, and different money systems as bartering/trading, commodity money (e.g. fur, pearls, gold, silver) students have created a closed economy. They might make it an open, free-market economy, but the bank (Ms. Tina and myself) need convincing. We will see what happens this Monday afternoon. To top it off, students have used their creative juices to create a currency of their own that represents our 4th grade community. They had to determine the denominations, design, name, and so on.

We have completed our study of fractions, decimals, and percentages and have explored the world of Geometry! With our knowledge of different types of angles and geometric shapes, our final project will be an instructional manual that describes how to build our original 3-dimensional designs. We will go around the room and try to build each other's designs for fun next week.

Our final writing piece was a letter to our teacher next year, in which we told her about ourselves as a person, learner, and whatever else we thought important to know about Grade 5. Some students even asked questions and made requests about what they wanted to have next year - like a class pet!

In other news, our Grade 4 class parents have arranged a Sprinkler Party Monday, 6 June 3:30-5:00 after school. If your child is participating, please have them bring a change of clothes, towel, and maybe some shoes to run around in. Ms. Tina and I will be there to play as well! Thanks!

Again, thanks for all the memories and support. I wish you and your family the best in the future and have a restful, safe summer holiday!

My final words: Read a bunch this summer. Laugh at all times. Dance like no one is watching. Hug someone once a day. Try some new food. Climb a mountain (because that's what I will be doing).