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Kowloon Junior School - ESF https://www.kjs.edu.hk/yr4-curriculum-update-30-08-19/ Export date: Sat Apr 20 3:28:27 2024 / +0000 GMT |
Yr4 Curriculum Update - 30/08/19Working together to achieve success for every child Welcome to our 1st edition! In each update, the Year 4 Team will share pictures with you showing the learning engagements they have been participating in. You will also read about what we are currently learning about and what is coming up, including important reminders and dates. We hope you will use this newsletter as a tool to help you discuss the rich learning that is happening with your child. Year 4 Teachers and Educational Assistants  We are all thrilled to be your child's class teachers this year and look forward to the great learning we will be doing! Transdisciplinary Learning - It's all connected Central Idea: Values and beliefs define individuals and communities. Unit of Inquiry Year 4 students have been developing their understanding of the central idea and lines of inquiry for Who We Are, which has a well being focus across KJS. These first few weeks of school were vital to establishing safe and positive classroom communities where students can go into depth with their learning. This is a unit that will continue throughout the entire school year and we will look at what well being means, how our choices affect ourselves and others and how we can work to maintain positive well being. Within well being, we will focus on the areas of physical, social/emotional and environmental.   We provided opportunities for students to team up to solve different challenges together, including getting through a stick spider web, building a tower out of spaghetti and blu tak, writing a drama piece about the learner profile, creating some AAROW and essential agreement art for our shared area and collaborating to build using the large blue blocks outside. The students had a choice of where they could go, opening up the opportunity to learn with students from different classes. It was a very fun and engaging time! As a Year 4 team, we have all incorporated some fitness into our weekly classroom routines, like stretching, meditation, yoga, cardio, singing and dancing. Not only does this provide a useful brain break for students to tune back into their learning, but it provides the space for us to talk about how important it is to maintain our physical well being.Here are some great resources we've been using in our classrooms. Check them out! Smiling Mind Cosmic Yoga GoNoodle Literacy We have been exploring a variety of stories and videos that have strong messages, like developing a growth mindset. We've also been developing our understanding of what successful readers and writers do, and how we can support that within ourselves. We also created our essential agreements and defined what that meant for us. Ask your child about the following essential agreements and what they look like around our school! Respect for self Respect for others Respect for the environment In the upcoming weeks, we will set reading and writing next steps. We'll also explore specific strategies that will help students reach their goals. It is very important that students be given the opportunity to read everyday, either on their own or with someone at home. Maths As we build upon the importance of nurturing our wellbeing, students have been answering big questions like “What makes a successful learner/mathematician?” through rich maths tasks. Throughout KJS, we are using the Week of Inspirational Maths 1 that comes from Stanford University. Click on the link above to see some examples of the rich maths tasks we have been using in class. They also provide excellent parent resources 2 on how to best support your child at home! We will begin exploring the base-10 place value system in the next few weeks through games, rich tasks and the use of manipulatives. PE   Our Year 4 students have had a fun and positive start to the year where they have been engaging in short challenges that emphasise the need to respect ourselves, others and the PE environment. Carrying out all tasks with positive actions and having an awareness of how choices affect relationships has been our focus. Continually reflecting on our own actions and the effect they can have on others has helped the students engage with a fun and respectful outlook. Reminders
Important Dates September 2 ‘You Tell Us' Meetings – No school September 5 PTA AGM and Mid Autumn Festival Evening (new date) September 12 KJS Staff CPD – No school September 30 KJS Staff CPD – No school October 1 National Day – No school October 4 Day before Mid-Term Break – FULL Day Classes October 7 - 11 Mid-Term Break October 31 & November 7 3 Way Learning Conference |
