Mrs. Patry's Grade Four Blog

April 2nd - April 5th I hope everyone enjoyed spring break, whatever it looked like for you. It was lovely to be back together as a class and hear about everyone's time away from school. Thank you for attending conferences. It was so nice to be able to share your child's successes with you! 🥕 Exciting News: After a lot of hard work, the grade fours have reintroduced compost back into our school! This was our first week composting and the students took on this responsibility amazingly well!  English Language Arts Students summarized what they had previously read in their small group novel studies and continued with reading these this week. They also wrote about their spring break, using poetry, paragraphs, or a letter. The grade fours dove into their Minecraft Challenge this week. This challenge encompasses many learning opportunities in reading, writing, collaboration, problem solving, and inquiry. They read The City of Calgary's Council's Strategic Direction to pull o...

March 11th - 15th Thank you to those of you who have already booked in for conferences. If you have not yet done this, please remember to do so when you get the chance. If you have any trouble booking, please reach out to the office. During conferences, we will meet for 15 minutes to discuss your child's progress during your booked time. You can also have your child show you their fantastic work before or after our scheduled meeting time. These conferences are a great opportunity to see how your child is doing!  English Language Arts Reading  Students continued with their small reading groups this week, developing a variety of reading strategies. They focused on summarizing in detail and making predictions based on context clues. I can use strategies that support my comprehension. Questions: Can you summarize what happened in your novel this week? Predict what you think will happen next in your read aloud of Edward Tulane. What makes you think that will happen?  Writing T...

March 4th - 8th  English Language Arts For reading this week, students continued focusing on different strategies in their small groups, while reading their novels. They worked hard on clarifying words and phrases in the text.  I can use strategies to support my text comprehension.  Questions: Summarize what happened in your novel this week. Did you learn any new vocabulary words or the meaning of a saying from your book? Predict what you think will happen next! Writing In writing, students continued to develop their understanding of figurative language and types of poems. In groups, they used our vertical surfaces to discover alliteration within a variety of poems. Then, they focused on using alliteration in their own concrete poems. I can investigate figurative language used in imaginative ways. I can experiment with creating concrete poetry. Questions: What is alliteration? Can you give me an example? What did you write your concrete poem about? Mathematics Students wo...

February 26th - March 1st English Language Arts In small reading groups, students continue to work on their fluency, accuracy, and comprehension. In these groups, students read aloud and discuss their reading, using a number of strategies. We continued our whole class read aloud of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,  where students also practiced using these comprehension strategies. It was very interesting to hear them share aloud when they heard examples of figurative language, which students are working on in writing. For writing, students continued to develop their understanding of figurative language, focusing on personification. They wrote their own poems about their favourite places, including a number of personification examples. Before publishing, they ensured they followed the success criteria, checked their own work to make edits and revisions, and also checked a partner's and provided feedback.  I can use strategies and make connections to support my understa...