Learning Highlights from Room 4A - September 24-28

 Here is a Web of our Learning from this Week.  This was a special week because we discovered that it is our 4th week of school and as you know the number 4 is special to us this year.  Can you think of why?  

In class we read a picture book called: 

We learned about a technique that authors use called foreshadowing.  This is when the author or illustrator provides a clue about upcoming events in the story.  This is a great technique for sparking the the readers thinking, specifically questioning and inferencing skills based on background knowledge.  

On Wondering Wednesday we ended our day by listening to nature's stories using our ears and eyes.  The Blackfoot  people believe that everything in the world is interconnected and that all things in nature have a spirit and therefore are our teachers.  For example, plants offer medicine and signs of changes in the environment.  

With this in mind, we decided to explore nature through storytelling today.   Students found a spot in our gardens out front and sat and listened to the story of a specimen from nature.  

Stop, drop and listen with your ears and your eyes.  

What is the story of the trees?  

What is the story of the grass?  

What is the story of the ladybug? 

A sharing circle is very powerful because it represents circular events such as the cycles in life, the medicine wheel, the directions on a compass.  It allows everybody to see each other as the person speaks.  It is a wonderful space for oral storytelling.  

On Thursday afternoon we did our annual Terry Fox Run -- it was wet and cold, but that didn't stop us.

Running to support cancer research and remember a Canadian Hero, Terry Fox 

On Friday we returned to our sketching of another Alberta symbol the Lodgepole Pine.  Just look at the accuracy and effort that has gone into these realistic pictures.  Do you know why it's call the Lodgepole pine?  

Careful coloring.