Ms. Arcenas' Class Pushes Their Thinking Further!

Inspire. Challenge. Succeed. 

Every Student... Every Heart... Every Mind... Grade 4 builds community by enjoying the Brazilian Independence Day celebrations with each other.

Grade 4 AGREES to be inspired by The Eagle Way... 

Grade 4, connect your participation in the Brazilian Independence Day celebrations to The Eagle Way... 

• In what ways did you practice acting safely, giving respect, living responsibly and embracing challenges?

Pushing Our Thinking Further In Our Learning

Reader's Workshop... Grade 4, apply what we know about our reading strategies and pause to synthesize the information gathered from our note-taking see-think-wonder about "The Tiger Rising" by Kate DiCamillo.

• What text evidence could you provide that helps support and builds upon on our ideas?
• I wonder, what could the backstory be that further explains the important events in each chapter?
• Apply the same reading strategies as you read your just right reading book!

Grade 4, as you review the information gathered in our class see-think-wonder, pause to synthesize the information and describe the backstory that further explains the actions and feelings of the characters. 

Valentina Livore uses specific vocabulary to grow her ideas about Rob from "The Tiger Rising".

Writer's Workshop... Grade 4, we used what we know about the thinking routine, CSI (Colour-Symbol-Image) to describe our writing goals. We made thoughtful and meaningful connections using metaphors to describe what we do well, as well as areas for growth, in our writing.

Take a look at Grant's and Luiza's completed CSI of who they are as writers. What do you notice about their writing? Consider the following questions:

• What connections could you make to their CSI's?
• What tools and/or strong words did they use to help make their goals clear and specific?

The Writing App in action... Grade 4, always use your Writing App to help push your writing further! The more you practice using the same tools and structures, the more you will grow in your writing. 

During Writer's Workshop, we have had the opportunity to work in our writing partnerships to reflect on our writing, identifying what we are doing well and in what areas we could improve. 

Using each other for support, we practiced growing an idea for a small moment story. We then used our show don't tell tool for elaboration to help us write a specific scene from our story. 

As you read the following student examples, in what ways are writers working to show what is happening to and in their characters? Consider the question below:

• What examples of actions, dialogue and feelings could you identify in the different small moment scenes?

Parents, make your thinking visible... Parents, use the same tools and structures when reading and writing with your child. Support your child by helping him/her apply what we are practicing in class to his/her reading and writing at home. 

One School. One Community. One Graded.

Grade 4 is STEAM! Our Paper Tower STEAM Challenge is well under way! We will have another opportunity to work in our teams to complete the freestanding structures. 

Review the instructions in the STEAM presentation to help guide your design process. 

• I wonder, in what ways could you connect STEAM to The Eagle Way?
• Could you identify specific skills that will help us build our classroom community?
• In what ways could your participation in STEAM help you grow as a learner?

New challenges will be added to this presentation

The Design Process in action... I wonder, in what ways were you challenged? In what ways did you embrace the challenges and feel successful? I wonder, what did you learn from your participation in this challenge? How could you connect your learning to your life?