It was a funny week this week; the older students went on a residential trip so we were here with the lower school on their schedule. We were able to continue our work and play with the little kids and breaks, and it was nice to be the biggest kids at the school for a while.
In maths we looked at Venn and Carroll diagrams. Students found they could easily compare two groups within a data set, and organize their data into categories. We were out of our seats and moving around quite a bit for math class, but it made for the mornings to be a lot of fun.
For English students really went to work on writing their play scripts. In small groups they have planned and written the rough draft of a small play script they will act out next week. For the final draft, we are using Google Doc collaboration to incorporate a bit of ICT into our lesson. There was a bit of a learning curve, but by the end of the week everyone was typing away with great ease.
Reading groups got more interesting with the creation of more groups to practice and perfect English phonics recognition and pronunciation. After last weeks Cambridge Testing, it was clear many students still struggle with reading fluency and comprehension. The goal is this focus on fluency will improve reading speed and word recognition to ensure students are understanding what they read better. The most proficient readers started a year 3 level novel study, so lot’s of variety all around!
In IPC we looked at consumers and producers, and wants and needs. We defined and identified the properties of a producer and tied in the variety of goods and services they produce. We also found out that we are all consumers in some capacity as we buy and use the goods and services of producers. We did a little internet research on some of the worlds’ biggest producers of common items – the answers were surprising! We also broke down the differences between wants and needs, and came to terms with the fact that most our favorite things are wants while those we take for granted are typically needs.
Lastly, this Friday we held a special assembly while the big kids were out. Unfortunately behaviors and attitudes have not been great these last few weeks. Many students, Mrs. Leah’s class included, are behaving very disrespectfully to teachers and one another. Basic school behaviors like not talking while the teacher is teaching, staying on task during class, not running in the classroom or halls, or playing nicely at breaks have gone to the way side. We reviewed the meaning of respect and how we can show respectful actions and attitudes while at school with group collaborative posters and role plays.
We will continue to review and practice respectful student behavior the rest of the term to ensure students understand how their behavior affects their peers and their own learning in a negative or positive manner.
Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Leah