Learning Highlights for February 5 - 9

Dear Parents:

Responsibility was our theme this week.  Responsibility is one of the heart values.  Our task this week was to capture examples of how we are responsible role models at KTS.  These examples will be shared through the weekly announcements and watched by all the students at school.  We are proud to take on this important ambassador role.

"Think before you act"  is one of our mantra's in room 105, have a look at all the ways we do this.

A big task this week was completing the accountability pillar survey.https://education.alberta.ca/accountability-pillar/?searchMode=3
This is a big responsibility in grade four and it is a powerful example of the importance of student voice.  Students were excited to share their opinion about the education they are receiving at KTS.  We deconstructed the word accountability to understand the importance of this task:

We made connections to math and data collection.  As well, we connected to child rights and responsibilities.

Snap shots of responsible role models in room 105:

Caring and sharing with our Kindergarten friends. 

Walking like an ambassador through the hallways. 

Our Core breathing routine: setting the stage for mindful learning.  

Grand conversations - discussing texts using our reading powers.  

Yoga Pretzels to help our bodies sync up with our brains.  

Here is a link to the story:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JwWvABsnDk

Persuasive writing is an important skill consequently,  we have been focusing on writing five paragraph essays  with thesis statements and transition signals.  We began writing about pumpkins and then moved to our historical piece on the Fatty Legs novel.  The next essay was based on the book Hey Little Ant where students had to take a side of the moral dilemma presented in the book.  There are two points of view presented in the story -- the boy and the ant.  The dilemma is to make the decision to squish or not squish an ant.  I was very impressed by the writing skills that are developing daily in room 105.  Well done!

Here is the rubric that we used to mark these essays.

We are engaging in intentional mini lessons to learn how to insert examples to support the thesis statement backed up with evidence (quotes, or data nuggets from various sources).  We are learning the transitions that are clues or signs within the text to tell the reader what is coming up.

Responsibility is being able to respond to any situation in a mature and caring manner.   This week we are taking the writing skills established and transferring them to paragraphs about responsibility.  Here is a video to illustrate  point of view through powerful writing.

Here are some other examples of the way we are responsible every day: