I would like to start my blog by extending my warmest thank you for the yummy treats you provided for our HALLOWEEN CELEBRATION last Thursday! The students and I enjoyed them very much! In our classroom we use a "Talking Stick" to share our "thoughts, feelings, and emotions." It is an opportunity for all our voices to be heard one at a time, while the rest of us listen with our eyes, ears, and heart. Each child had the opportunity to share: "What was your most memorable Halloween ever?" It was fabulous hearing all the amazing memories my students have with their families. I can tell they cherish all that you do for them! From our hearts to yours ... THANK YOU!!!
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| Spooky Black and Orange 4th Graders! |
Last week, the students finished up their Survey Questions, charts/tables, bar graphs, and explanations with their math group. They truly adore working in small groups to get the job done! Once they finished their graphing task, each group had the opportunity to consolidate (share) their math thinking with the whole class. In our class, we use a "Document Camera" to display and share student work. They love using the document camera as it is an interactive learning tool to share their thinking!
Enjoy seeing our mathematicians hard at work: Displaying and Consolidating their Learning!
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| Grace, Jakeb, Alexander - using the document camera. |
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| William, Xavier, Ryan - proud math thinkers! |
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Owen, Wyatt, Trista - "Our graph tells us..."
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| Eryn, Jax, Daniel - enjoying collecting data and celebrating their work! |
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| Carrie-ann, Josie, Mikaila - effectively sharing their data with their peers. |
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| Alex, Carrie-ann, Josie, Mikaila - receiving "descriptive feedback" from their classmates. |
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| Julia, Alexandra, Sammi - "working together to get the job done!" |
Success Criteria:
Success Criteria is another word for a checklist. You may have heard your child use this term or seen these little checklists attached to student work. We create these lists as a class BEFORE students work on an assignment. They are designed to help the students monitor their learning by allowing them to know exactly what they need to include in their work to achieve a level 3. If they go above and beyond the criteria they can achieve a level 4. We have little sayings in our classroom for each level; here's one for Level 4, it goes like this - "I did all my work, and then some more, that's why I earned a four!" By using success criteria, we are learning how to evaluate our work and identify our strengths (stars) and next steps (arrows). We use them in all subjects and learning skills to help the students know what they need to do to succeed. Here is an example:
Learning Goal: We are learning to show data on a bar graph.
Success Criteria:
____ My graph has a title
____ My graph has a title for the x axis
____ My graph has a title for the y axis.
____ My graph has an appropriate scale.
____ My graph has labels.
____ My graph has neatly coloured bars to show the data.
____ My bars (data) match my tallies.
Check out some of the students' completed graphs using The Success Criteria to help them achieve their personal best!
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| Wyatt, Trista, Owen - great job neatly organizing and displaying your data! |
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| William, Xavier, Ryan - your data LOOKS right! It SOUNDS right! It makes SENSE! |
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| Bradley, Steven - I like how you highlighted important parts of your explanation! |
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| Jax, Eryn, Daniel - working as a team to achieve lesson goals, way to go! |
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| Izzy, Abigail, Paige, Anjoli - working towards choosing an appropriate scale for their data |
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| Sammi, Julia, Alexandra - thank you for putting in your personal best girls! |
REMINDER:
Progress reports go home this Friday! Please take the time to go over the "Learning Skills" portion of the report card and what each skill means. It is these Learning Skills that will assist in creating and putting in Good Work Habits to assist in furthering your child's academic successes. I am so proud of my students' achievements thus far in the school year! They have worked diligently hard to do their best thinking and learning :) It is a joy watching them grow academically, socially, and behaviourally. Each student has worked towards demonstrating "Our Class Promise" in their thoughts, words, and actions!
QUOTE:
"Our Class Promise - today I will be the best person I can be. I will respect myself, my teachers, and my classmates. I will speak kindly to others and include them in my work and play. I will listen with my eyes, ears, and heart. Today, I will make good choices and I will make a DIFFERENCE! This is who we are EVEN WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING!"
Please ask your child about "Our Class Promise" and the actions that go along with it! It is truly a highlight to my day watching your child demonstrate "Character" in and out of the classroom!
Namaste,
Miss Gill
WOW! Lots going on ! Trista continues to enjoy each and everyday of learning in your class. I can not say it enough but your teaching approach is excellent! Thanks for another great BLOG!!!!!
ReplyDeleteRegards Tammy Forsyth
Dear Mrs. Forsyth,
DeleteThank you for taking the time each week to thoroughly visit, read, and comment on my classroom blog. I deeply appreciate this! I have shared with my students on numerous ocassions that teaching is my PASSION and a dream come true. It is a gift to be surrounded with such amazing learners each and every weekday (I do think of and miss them over the weekends, too). I'm delighted to hear that Trista is enjoying our Learning Community as she is a valued and cherished member of our class. See you this Thursday :) I look forward to it!