Yr4 Curriculum Update – 27/09/19
Working together to achieve success for every child
How We Organize Ourselves
Digital media impacts the way in which people access information and connect to each other.
Students have begun to explore the different ways digital media is organized. The three main categories that we explored were Connect, Create and Consume. Through our perspective, consume not only means purchasing items through digital media, but also investigating questions and finding answers. We are all consumers of information!
We are also exploring what makes a responsible digital citizen and how that connects to the choice we make each and everyday that affects others. In the upcoming weeks, students will be exploring the different aspects of internet safety, including changing and securing our Splat passwords and what to do if a stranger sends us a message online. BrainPop has excellent topics and resources for developing digital citizenship. We are exploring these at school, but we highly encourage you to continue the conversation at home with your child. Here is the login information:
Website: https://www.brainpop.com/digitalcitizenship/
Username: kjs1
Password: brainpop
Literacy
Students have been continuing to read texts related to our unit and tracking their inner voice by using post its. As we continue, students will explore what happens when their inner voice loses their way, which happens when our mind wanders and loses focus. We will share specific strategies with the students to help them become aware and refocus their inner voice.
As students begin to form opinions about their role as a digital citizen, we will be learning what makes a strong persuasive statement and how we can try to convince the reader of our opinion. Some interesting questions we will explore are: Is technology making us rude? Does digital media help us learn? Developing these critical thinking skills are needed in helping our students become more knowledgeable in their role as a responsible digital citizen.
Here are some interesting articles we have read at school that could support your conversation at home: Be Internet Smart, Is Technology Making Us Rude?, Sharing the Screen, France Makes the Call. These are all from the Time For Kids website.
Maths
Learning about value and how the base 10 system works, students have had hands-on experiences with creating structures with base-10 blocks and finding their value. They teamed up in groups to share their thinking and express how they found the value of their structure.
A transdisciplinary maths link we will be making with our current unit of inquiry will involve students taking a survey about their digital media use and understanding. They will then access the data from the survey and use it to make graphs and interpret the data. This rich link will be helpful in developing their knowledge about data handling while linking to our unit of inquiry.
In the coming weeks, classrooms will be setting up Studyladder and MyMaths to help the students practice their maths fluency on the Chromebooks. Login information will be shared by your child’s teacher.
KJS Community
Students met with their Y2 buddy classrooms for the first time in these past two weeks. These will be our buddy classrooms for the year and we will create art together, read together and explore the connections we have with each other. This is a great way for students to make friends with others outside of their classroom and year group!
The Green Dragons gardening club (Y4-6) is working on 3 projects this term and we need some support to help make these projects a success. We are looking for plant pots to be donated, new or old, large or small. All donations can be placed in the box outside the ground floor office. The Green Dragons sincerely appreciate your generosity to help them grow vegetables, herbs, and air purifying plants.
Reminders
- Please help us in making sure students are given the opportunity to read everyday, either on their own or with someone at home
- Please send a pair of inexpensive headphones that have a regular auxillary jack and a microphone. These will be kept at school for use with the Chromebooks
- Due to severe nut allergies in Y4, please do not send any food with any type of nut. Thank you for helping keep all of our students safe!
- Students are reminded to only use the central staircase in the morning and to wait until 8:15 before coming upstairs to ensure there is supervision in all the classrooms
- Sun safety is very important to us! Students need to bring their hats every day, as children who do not bring their hat will not be allowed to take part in snack or lunch play
- Students also need to bring a reusable water bottle every day, labeled clearly with their name
Important Dates
September 30 KJS Staff CPD – No school
October 1 National Day – No school
October 4 Day before Mid-Term Break – FULL Day Classes
October 7 – 11 Mid-Term Break
October 31 & November 7 3 Way Learning Conference
