Grade 4 - Week 1: Who We Are

In Grade 4, we started off the first week of school with a group building activity.  The goal was to work together to build the tallest structure they could with only marshmallows and spaghetti.  The students really enjoyed the building, but they also learned about how making group decisions, accepting responsibilities and jobs, and talking together to work out problems can help make a better product and be more successful in the end.  

Another activity we did was creating our essential classroom agreements.  We started off with each student thinking of their top 3 agreements to have a positive classroom environment.  Then they got in pairs and combined their ideas to make 3 ideas even better.  Then the pairs got into 4's and combined their ideas together, and finally as a whole class combined ideas together to make our final 3 essential agreements!

1. Focus on doing your best work
2. Be honest
3. Respect other people and the school

Challenge books

These are the books we use, to record our information. 

Grade 3 - Week 1: Who We Are

It has been an exciting and busy first week of school for Grade 3 students.

We have many new friends this year, so we have been learning about each other.

We started Language this year by practicing our word study in class, so that we will be ready to complete it for homework independently.

In art, we completed portraits for our art journals.

Who We Are Week 1

One of the things we had to do in our first week, was to make our class essential agreement. 

In a PYP school, every class, every team, even the whole school has an essential agreement, which sets the tone for collaboration and teamwork. How else would we know what the shared norms and expectations are?

One of the ways to see how we change physically, emotionally and socially is to set ourselves challenges. We began with two challenges. The first one was to keep a balloon in the air for as long as possible. Each week, we will continue to get better and better at this challenge.

The second challenge, was to balance a spoon on our nose. It was difficult at first, but we soon got the hang of it. 
Try it for yourself, it isn't as easy as it looks. 

Grades 5/6 Week 1 Who We Are Term 1 8/29/2017

Homework

Grade 6
8/28/2017
PYP Math Equivalence (Fractions, Decimals and Percent) page 21 

8/29/2017
PYP Math Adding and Subtracting Fractions page 22

8/30/2017
PYP Math Assessment Unit 4

8/31/2017
Study Spelling Words

9/01/2017
Mixed Problem Solving

 Grade 6 read a story on Amazon Cloud about Jackie Robinson. He was the first black man in major league baseball. The book is about inclusion of different races.

 We looked at superstitions from Germany. A superstition is a belief in an excessively credulous belief in super natural events.

We are into our "Who We Are" unit of inquiry. Our lines of inquiry are: 1. How personal qualities and spirituality contribute to identities and inform world views. 2. How family, peers, and media influence how individuals interact in given situations. The key concepts of this unit are perspective and causation. The group is focusing on the attribute of confidence and the learner profile is reflection and open-mindedness. 

 We made identity connections with I.D. cards, culture, race and the "Bourne Identity" movie.

 We found out that all countries have superstitions and some are the same.

 Grade 6 made some rules and essential agreements for our classroom.

Our class is going to use a robot to help them clean the floors. Look how shiny they are!

Moritz has been labeling his books for our units of inquiry according to subject matter. 

 Grade 6 made an incentive chart to help 1st Grade with their reading. 1st Grade students get a star and gold medal if they can read the book that we have prescribed for them. If the child can't read the book then they still get a gold medal. 

We had Guided Reading with Grade 1. The primary teacher has allowed the upper grade students to start a Read to Lead program. 

We have been learning about Algebra and Cartesian Planes in Mathematics. We are also doing the Primary Years Program International Targeting Mathematics.