Monday 24 May 2010

Maths Homework for week starting 24th May

Activity
Complete p. 62 of textbook - how good are you at finding patterns!?!

Practice
Multiplication and division facts to help you with your division this week!

I shall add more information about this week's maths tomorrow.

Thursday 20 May 2010

Unit of Inquiry hw due 25/4

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since we have had Unit homework since we were practicing SO hard for our oral presentations - which were a HUGE success.

We also did an activity looking at the accessibility of our school: where we're doing well and where we could improve.

You have a choice regarding your homwork this week.

You need to try to PERSUADE someone of the importance of access for all (especially those with Special Needs).

You can do this by means of a poster, a letter, a magazine article, a flier - WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE just make sure it's persuasive!

Children in 4LB already have their hw set for them: some are designing posters or fliers, some are writing letters and some are doing magazine articles. (You know who you are)

As we have had a brief look at letter writing - I will attach TWO links to a games below that will teach/remind you of the skills invloved in writing a letter and what the different parts of a letter are called.

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Letter Writing Generator

Make sure you visit both the links! Remember that if you are writing to someone you don't know it will be more of a business/formal letter. I have visited these sites quite a few times because I find them so much fun!

Enjoy and see you soon!

Miss Lamb

Monday 17 May 2010

Maths for this week - starting 17th May

Hello!

The focus for this week is angles and direction. We shall be looking at the vocabulary used for angles (rotatio, turn, acute, obtuse, reflex, right angle, vertex, arm, protractor) and direction (north, south, east, west, right, left, next to, besides). We shall also look at how fractions and angles are connected as well as how these relate to clocks and time. So many connections!

This week we will be using lots of our thinking skills as we shall be having a big focus on problem solving. We shall be looking at a variety of problems and the children will be expected to use their different strategies for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We are so impressed with the progress year 4 has made in multiplication and this activity will be great revision for everybody!

We shall also be looking at some investigations which will be great fun. We have one very special investigation about toffee in a tin and another using dice. We expect to hear lots of chatter about maths and look forward to seeing who can work together effectively in their groups - yet another opportunity to improve their group work skills!

Maths Homework - due Friday 21st May
Activity
p. 71 and 145 of the textbook - let's see who can follow directions and use a compass!

Practice
Please record in maths homework book- if you do not have this (4LB will not) then please record on a piece of paper.
Monday - Practise multiplying different numbers by ten.
Tuesday - Divide numbers by 10
Wednesday- Multiply numbers by 100
Thursday - Divide numbers by 100.
By the end of this week you will all be super duper at multiplying and dividing by 10/100!

Tuesday 11 May 2010

4D's Assmebly!

Hello one and all!

Last week 4LB had their sharing for the assembly (which everyone thoroughly enjoyed) and now this week it is 4D's 3rd and final time to show the school what we've got!

The student's have chosen their topic they will talk about, have split into groups of common interest, have written their OWN scripts, and will present all of this marvelous work on FRIDAY! Please be sure to clear your schedules, it is going to be great!

Monday 10 May 2010

Summative Assessments - oral presentations! WOW!

Hello all,

4LB started their oral presentations today and Miss Lamb and Miss Katy were completely BLOWN AWAY by the incredibly high standard of the first 4 presenters. We are SO looking forward to hearing the rest of them. I have certainly learnt a lot of things about Down's syndrome, Tourettes syndrome, ADD and Epilepsy that I didn't know before - so thank you children!

For those of you who haven't yet presented. Please remember that your note cards should include only 'Tarzan-talk' notes or key words or phrases (that you may find hard to remember) and that you should know most of your presentation off by heart. Make sure you look up at the audience and speak clearly with good use of tone of voice. keep practicing to your parents, your dog and in front of the mirror! ; )


Good Luck to both 4D and 4LB with the rest of the presentations!

Miss Lamb

Saturday 8 May 2010

Congratulations to 4LB on assembly, Terry fox run and links

CONGRATULTIONS 4LB!


A HUGE congratulations to all the boys and girls in 4LB for their fantastic perfomance in the assembly this morning. I am especially proud of them for remaining calm whilst we were having all those technical difficulties backstage which was a real pity.


However, they did a spectacular job! Many of the children had very long and complicated lines to learn and there a quite a few shy children in the class who find it very difficult to speak up in front of such a large audience. The sign language was a real challenge for us to learn but, once again, the children rose to the challenge and did a super duper job! (I heard that there were a very teary eyes in the audience...)

We will try and upload some photos and hopefully even a video ASAP. If any parents managed to get a good recording of the assembly could you perhaps burn me a copy please?


Well done 4LB - I am very proud of you!


We look forward to our buddy class - 4D's sharing next week! I wonder if they are going to do the same thing a different way?!


TERRY FOX RUN!


We really hope to see you and your families at this special event tomorrow to raise money for cancer.


Please click on the link below for more information about Terry's legacy!


http://www.terryfox.org/


Where? Parque das Nações, Pavilhão de Portugal, Lisbon (where the aquarium is and the Vasco da Gama shoppin centre)
When? TOMORROW! 8th May. Registration starts at 9.30am but Miss D and I will be there around 10ish. The actual 'run' starts at 11am.
How much money should I bring? We hope you can bring a minimum of 1 euro but there is no limit to how much you can donate
Who can come? This event is open to all people of all ages. The distance is between 1.5 to 5km and you don't have to run. Most people who come in families will be walking. The more the merrier!
What should I wear? Comfortable walking shoes, sun cream and a hat!


It would be really great to see St Dominic's (especially Year 4) well represented at this event. Come on guys!


LINKS TO OTHER SCHOOL BLOGS


Finally - we have added links to the other blogs relating to the Year 4 curriculum. (Thank you Mrs Balazs!) You should see them if you scroll down on the right hand side of the page.


Have a lovely weekend and I REALLY hope to see some of you tomorrow!


Miss Lamb

4D/4LB Presentation Differences

Just as our unit is entitled "Same thing different way" the presentations in both of the classes will also be conveying the same messages but in a slightly different.

4LB has decided to work on their presentations entirely in an oral fashion and so will not use power points, posters, etc.

4D students have created some different visual components to their presentations and so will be allowed to use those, be they posters, diagrams, or power point presentations. If students do choose to create a poster or power point they are NOT to use any full sentences as it would be likely that the oral presentation would turn into simply reading a report.

But remember, the most important thing about these presentations (with OR without visuals) is that you ORALLY communicate your information in a clear and understandable manner.

Good luck!!

Friday 7 May 2010

Summative assessment - oral presentations!

Apologies for the fact that I put up the incorrect MONTH for 4LB's presentation dates. They are obviously in May not April... (silly me!)

The children should now have all the information they need to finish their 'speeches' on the special need they have been researching. Apart from a very small number of children - the majority have already finished their oral presentations which they can now edit, add interesting facts (optional) and a short closing paragraph/sentence. The children need to make sure that they have addressed all the criteria on the rubric - which has been uploaded.

This rubric is what the children will be assessed on so PLEASE make sure they keep referring back to it!

Please could you also assist your children in preparing note-cards with short notes (they should not read what they have written directly from a piece of paper or card - this will make for a poor presentation). Engaging with the audience is of the utmost importance: looking up, standing up straight, speaking clearly and with expression. Another good technique to engage the audience is to ask some questions to the audience. Practicing in front of a mirror is a great way to check how the audience will 'see' you during the presentation.

As was mentioned previously, the children may change or alter the presentations they have written at school as long as they still meet the criteria on the rubric and no props, Powerpoint presentations etc should be used please. We are trying to concentrate directly on the children's communication skills, using their voices expressively and engaging the audience with an interesting presentation.

Support will continued to be given to the EAL children and a few other children, within class next week to finish off their work.

We really feel that this has been a challenging but very worthwhile activity for the children to do. Their research skills have hugely improved as has their confidence in speaking in front of an audience.

This unit we have been focusing a lot on the concept of RESPONSIBILITY! It is YOUR responsibility to learn your lines for your presentation. Do it paragraph by paragraph and you will definitely make lots of mistakes at first but you'll get there!

Please come to see your class teacher if you have any concerns about your presentation and we will make sure to help you out! However, the only thing we can't do is learn your lines and do the actual speech for you ; )

We are really looking forward to hearing your presentations! Please remember to stick to the time limit of between 2 to 4 minutes.

Rubric for Special Needs Unit

Rubric for Same Thing

Tuesday 4 May 2010

4LB homework for this week

Dear children and parents,


As you all know 4LB's assembly is coming up on Friday and we have A LOT of preparation left to do. The dress code for the assembly is blue jeans and a plain white T-shirt. Children may come to school and stay in these clothes all day. It is not a fashion show so please do not go out and buy new clothes for the occasion. If your child does not have a plain white T-shirt, the white school (veritas) T-shirt is perfect!


Children should have all been given scripts today so PLEASE could you make sure you have learnt your words OFF BY HEART by Thursday. You need to know who you will be speaking after so you know when to say your lines and you must bring these scripts into school with you every day!


ALSO - PLEASE make sure you learn the sign language for 'Imagine' by Thursday too.


This homework will replace any Unit of Inquiry homework or language homework you have this week and even though there is nothing that you will be required to 'hand in' as such - if you do not learn your lines or the sign language it will affect the whole classes assembly on Friday.


So, please be considerate and responsible and make sure you learn your lines, the song and the sign language.


Click here to learn the sign language

Click here to learn the lyrics
By the end of this week we will also have finished our preparation/notes for the oral presentations (please see Miss D's post on this). 4LB, however, will not be allowed to use any props, pictures or posters for their oral presentations. They will only be allowed note cards on which they should have short (Tarzan-talk) notes. They will all have their speeches written out and ready to take home by Friday as well as their rubric which clearly states what criteria they will be assessed on. They may make some changes to their speech if they feel after reading the rubric that they have not fully met the criteria or cut it down if it is too long. 

Presentation dates are as follows:

Monday 10/5 - Carla, Afonso, Laura, Miguel

Wednesday 12/5 - Rita, Sofia, Zé, Amrit

Thursday 13/5 - Daniella, Inês, Aya, Charlene

Friday 14/5 - Leonor, Sonia, Marta, Chiara, Luis, Andrea*

Monday 17/5 - Francisco, Rodrigo, Gonçalo, Khalid

NB - Please could you support your children in learning their words for their oral presentation, making note-cards and ensuring that they meet the criteria on the rubric.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or queries.

Thank you,

Miss Lamb

PS. Please remember to come and support your children in their class assembly on Friday! You´ll make their day.

PPS: PLEASE do not forget the Terry Fox Charity run this Saturday (May 8th). Registration starts at 9:30 am and the fun run will take place at 11:00am.

For more info on Terry Fox run click here!

4D Language Homework

This week our friends in 4LB will be doing their assembly (Friday May 7th) so their Language Arts homework will be associated with their assembly preparation.

4D's Language Homework is related to our exploration of the accessibility of buildings to people with special needs. Students are given either wheelchair access, visual impairment, or hearing impairment. They must create a t-chart with the special need they are assigned to written at the top of the page and underlined. The two sides of the t-chart must say What we have and What we need pertaining to St. Dominic's. The students need to list the various things we DO have here to provide accessibility to people with special needs and things that we still NEED to have to make our school more accessible. This ties into our key concepts of perspective and responsibility.

This homework is due Friday May 7th.