Volume 21: 10 February 2017

Book club at its finest, as we practice our fluency!

It is official! March Book Share is up. Please read over the guidelines and enjoy creating your marquee poster!

Faced with the task of becoming a "teacher," students have designed their own unit of inquiry. What is Mr. Mike thinking? He must be crazy?! That is partially true. He is a bit of a nut, but also gives a lot of trust and responsibility to his students. With that said, the following is a written account of what happened this week in UOI:

We looked at a description of "How the World Works." Here is the description: 

How the world works:

An inquiry into the natural world and its laws;

the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; 

how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; 

the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.

We underlined important words, circled words we didn't know, and highlighted four words most important. We chose one word and wrote a sentence that connects with how the world works. For example: "I think the word 'laws' connects to how the world works because we have to life with rules and limits." We shared our sentences with our group, and we compromised on one that we thought was best. This helped us see the "themes" of ideas. 

These are the themes we came up with.

We looked at our themes and each person made his/her own central idea. Then, we debated to find one that was best for our group. We shared all five base groups central ideas and then 'smashed' them together. In this situation, that means we combined the ideas to create one central idea for the unit: Humans and nature can impact the weather. 

We will tell you about the "learning by doing", or activities will plan to do tomorrow...

So, probability is done, but we continue to make connections to it throughout the day. We started our study of area and perimeter this week. More specifically, we explored what is perimeter? What does it look like? What does it mean? How is it used in real-life? With a suggestion from a student about a Super Bowl commercial, we launched our study with this video. It brought about some intense debate and sharing of opinions, but students were engaged in real-life applications and understandings of how the concept of perimeter is embedded in our daily lives.

Rich with vocabulary, students accessed their prior knowledge (i.e. dusted the brain cobwebs) about geometric ideas like angles, lines, shapes, and more to construct their own closed polygons using grid paper. Then, we measured the sides to find the perimeter of each figure (shape). With even took a few steps further to challenge ourselves to find a variety of equations to calculate a quadrilateral that has two pairs of parallel sides. What does this mean to you, adults?

Perimeter = Length + Width + Length + Width

Perimeter = (2 x L) + (2 x W)

P = 2 x (L + W)

P = 2L + 2W

Which is the most precise, efficient equation? Well, we debated that as well. Either way, each student chose an equation that is works with their current understanding.

Book clubs have been practice in asking analyzing questions and encouraging others to share their ideas. This way, students can build on ideas and develop a deeper understanding together. We have focused on using what we call "Powerful and Encouraging Language," which entails inclusive words, manners, and compliments all with a smile and positive "I" statement. Cool, right?
Enjoy the week!

Homework

Besides reading 20 minutes each night and planning your book share, please complete the following:

Monday: Perimeter activity
Tuesday: Column Addition activity; For our inquiry into weather, we need you to remind us to bring in a 500 mL (0.5 Liter) plastic bottle. We need it for a Science experiment. Thanks!
Wednesday: IXL Grade 4 BB.2 Create figures with a given area
Thursday: Subtracting whole numbers and money activity
Friday: While doing the "shuffle" (a dance move), sip a cup of hot chocolate and sing the Hamster on a piano song while reading a book.

 A picture book and a Keynote presentation for our final two migration projects. Amazing work.

 Shadow puppet book share

 Welcoming Stuart Stott, our visiting author, with a song!

 Perimeter is all around us: laptop screens and walls.

 Another book share from someone - this time a story from history. Also, writing a migration song with Stuart Stott!

 Special discussions about creating our unit of inquiry into weather!

 Creating central ideas to form one: Humans and nature can impact the weather.

 Measuring and calculating the perimeter of objects that are literally all around us.

 Can you make a closed polygon with your mouth?

 Really, I am not sure what's going on here? 

 Angles, perimeter, formulas - we put it on a poster. Yup.

 Book share about Anastasia & some weird happenings - we have "cupid agents" affecting their will upon 4R with messages of kindness and compliments. How nice! 

 Book share and a song ripe with onomatopoeia.

Book club at its best.