Grandfriends Day

To be grateful means to display deep appreciation for something done or received.

Today the students in 4T showed enormous gratitude towards our special visitors – and we had a whole lot of fun!

The Year 4s started off with an impromptu song along with our Bumble4 conductor and music teacher Mrs Summers on the deck. Click play below for a small snippet:

Then, together with our grandfriends we had to complete a sheet called figure me out where we had to think of an answer to a question. Eg. What year did you start Prep? We then had to come up with an equation for someone to solve so they could learn our answer to the question. ‘This is trickier than some of the maths I did at school!’ one of the grandfriends was overheard saying.

4T with their special visitors

We then went off to a wonderful assembly where we heard many uplifting musical items and were reminded of the importance of the special people in our life who support us, love us and who we can turn to at anytime.

Leave a comment with something that you are grateful for and why.
4T, can you also share one of your equations you created with your grandfriend.

Enthralled in our Class Novel!

Together we have been reading our class novel ‘Fish In A Tree’ by Linda Mullaly Hunt. Here is what we think so far:

This book is intriguing. I always want to keep reading because there are always cliff hangers at the end of the chapters. – Mimi and Veda

Some characters are very mean to Ally. – Ava

I find this book inspiring because it makes me want to stand up for myself more. In every paragraph Ally has to make new decisions – Gabby and Raph

All the characters have different personalities just like the many people in our class. – Ophelia and Cooper

This book is based on a quote by Albert Einstein. There is also a character who is very smart called Albert, I am wondering if this was done on purpose. – Susie and Isla.

One of the main messages or moral is to not be scared to tell people how you feel or if something is wrong.  – Veda and Ophelia

To show our deep understanding of the text we have been discussing character traits. 

What traits do the characters in Fish In A Tree display?

Choose a character from the novel and think about a trait that would describe them. Don’t forget to give evidence from the text from a time when they displayed that trait. 

4T Bookworms

In our first weeks of Year 4, we have been learning a lot about each other and what we share in common. One thing many of us have found (particularly the David Walliams fans) is that we LOVE reading!

This week we received our next round of Year 4 Book Chat books. The class have to read their book in 3 weeks and record their thinking on post it notes. They will bring their notes along with them to our Book Chat session and share their thoughts and curiosities about the book. 

Our Reading Selection

What do you love about reading?

Leave a comment and tell us about the book you have this round and a prediction you have thus far. 

Hello 2019!

http://picasion.com/gl/92WN/

Welcome to the 4T 2019 Class Blog!

New year, new teacher, new opportunities to connect around the world!

We have had a couple of exciting first weeks, settling in to our new class and participating in many school activities such as Chinese New Year and meeting our buddies at House!

We have had many discussions about how we want to feel and our expectations of others and ourselves at school which led into creating our Learning Expectations for the year, so that we can come to school everyday and feel happy, safe and motivated to learn!

4T’s Learning Guidelines

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#GRA18 Character Traits

Wow! We are over half way through our first Global Read Aloud Experience. 

We have loved connecting with classes from around the world, learning about Pakistan and its cultures and most importantly we have loved how this book has made us stop and THINK!

Think about contrasts and comparisons to our own lives and think about how we would feel or react if we were in their shoes. 

This week we have been discussing character traits.

Choose a character from the novel and think about a trait that would describe them. Don’t forget to give evidence from the text from a time when they displayed that trait. 

Finish off your comment with a prediction of what you think is in store for Amal’s future. 

Whose Is It, Anyway?

When 4T logged onto their blogs today, something very alarming and strange had happened. 
Their content was there, but someone else’s name was on the title. Someone had claimed their own work as their own!

‘But I wrote that!’ Lucas exclaimed

‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ Esther said confused.

4T were outraged! But unfortunately this happens on the internet more often than you think. People copying other people’s work or images and pasting them into their own projects. That’s not fair!

As we begin our research for our extreme weather event project, this led to a very important discussion about why it is so important to give credit to someone else’s work when you have borrowed a picture or used their website or book to assist you in your research. 

What is plagiarism?
Why is it important to credit the work that you use?
How do you credit someone else’s work?

GRA Week 3 responses

We have reached the 1/3 marker in our #GRA18Amal book.

So far 4T have enjoyed responding to comments on our own blog and leaving our thoughts about the themes of the book on our buddy class’ blogs from Saskatoon, Canada and Powhatan, Virginia in the United States of America.

Our thoughts so far on what we have read:

  • I think it is unfair that Amal’s dad is keeping her away from her education and pursuing her dreams. – Joanna and Max
  • Amal is like Malala in some ways, they both want to go to school and learn. – Esther
  • Girls are treated unfairly compared to boys. For example, boys get a bigger library and are encouraged to learn more than the girls. – Alex and Morgan
  • I think that it is scary how different Amal’s life is to ours. – Tori
  • The Khan landlords treat others with disrespect. – Lucas
  • I think the author Aisha Saeed has written the book really well because she leaves a cliff hanger at the end of each chapter. – Joanna

This week, we would like you to record yourselves filming a short (20 sec) clip responding to one of the questions in the Padlet below. 

Made with Padlet

Click here to open this Padlet full size.

Global Read Aloud

This term 4T will be participating in the Global Read Aloud (GRA) where classes all over the world connect with each other and discuss their thoughts and predictions about a chosen class novel. Click here to read more about classes that we will be connecting with.

This year, the chosen book is called ‘Amal Unbound’ written by Aisha Seed.

In the first chapter, Amal tells us that she dreams of becoming a teacher when she grows up. Leave a comment below and share your dreams for your future. 

For our international visitors, don’t forget to also tell us where you are from in your comment!

Meet the Scientist Afternoon

The Year 4 ‘Design Your Own Experiment’ project culminated with a ‘Meet the Scientist’ afternoon, where the Year 4 scientists shared their thinking with family visitors and the school community.

Here is a snapshot from the afternoon:


4T, leave a comment with something that you have learnt from this term’s Integrated Unit or what worked well at our Open Afternoon and something you are still wondering about.

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