I have finally sat down and started a new class blog, and I hope to be updating it often! The students have formed a Newsletter committee and will be moving forward to create a class newsletter, but I figured I would write the first post!

The past few months have been eventful in division 4. Students have:

• Literacy:
  • Reading:
    • Explored the hero’s journey structure of storytelling in novels and short stories (Orientation, The Giver/Fahrenheit 451/Westing Game/Among the Hidden, Thank you Ma’am, etc)
    • Learned about themselves as gifted learners through a read-aloud and reflections of Orientation (novel)
    • Completed a book club on a novel in small groups in order to create higher-order thinking questions and discuss connections.
    • Started to explore our understanding of Indigenous studies by reading and discussing the non-fiction book The Inconvenient Indian
  • Writing:
    • Introduced themselves through letters to the teacher, and written a letter to their future selves
    • Explored the importance of name and identity through writing name poems
    • Written an essay as a group to explore character archetypes.
    • Found great examples of “showing vs telling” in stories, and practiced in their own writing of a spooky description of a haunted house, a character’s personality through actions, and a hero’s journey short story
    • Written an essay on the hero’s journey and how it relates to their novel using proper paragraph structure and evidence from the novel
    • Learned about and explored Latin and Greek word roots with Classical Roots
    • Learned about the process of writing a book from beginning to end through a virtual book talk from author Kenneth Oppel, and discussed the process of writing a novel or story directly from author Michelle Kadarusman through the Authors in the Classroom program
  • Oral:
    • Shared books of interest through book talks
    • Learned about how to describe and discuss important elements of stories including conflict, theme/message
    • Shared out information that they found through our class inquiry of the body systems and TB
    • Discussed and reflected in small and large group discussions
• Math:
  • Completed diagnostics to find their appropriate math level.
  • Explored more complex math concepts through problem-solving and communicating clear math thinking both collaboratively and independently
  • Worked independently on their math work, while setting specific goals to complete their work on schedule.
  • Practiced mental math strategies using Spirit of Math drills
  • Had the option of registering for the Beaver Computing Challenge, a logical thinking challenge
•  Science:
  • Explored the scientific process and created an inquiry lab on paper towels
  • Participated in a problem-based unit on TB in schools, asking questions, and creating action plan responses.
  • Explored the use of microscopes and scientific drawing.
  • Began and continued working on their science fair projects in an area of their own interest. Students have learned about proper primary and secondary resources, asking questions, creating critical questions, note-taking strategies, and are encouraged to find experts as part of their research or complete original experiments to collect data.
• Art:
  • Started an inquiry of sketching (left brain-right brain) activities
  • Created posters to arouse curiosity in their science projects
  • Practiced techniques of blending oil pastels and unity/movement in artwork through our Fall leaves oil pastel art
  • Expressed their reflections and ideas through art with Orange Shirt Day feathers
  • Began to explore the Fibonacci sequence to create spiral artwork and practice colour value with pencil crayons
•  French:
  • Practiced dictionary use and reviewed important and common class vocabulary
  • Learned new vocabulary through the identification of opposites
  • Practiced new vocabulary and pronunciation with their Salut mon ami plays
  • Learned about how to ask and answer questions using est-ce que, qu’est-ce que, qui, quand,  and quel(le)
• Career Education/Autonomous Learning:
  • Created and signed our class contract around our school RISE code
  • Volunteered for and created contracts for in-school or in-class community service positions
  • Reflected on skills and challenges to form Individual Education Plans
  • Learned about and reflected on gifted-specific traits like over-excitabilities and how that may affect their learning, relationships, actions, and reactions
  • Learned about and reflected on our “Brain on Stereotypes” and how stereotypes can affect our experiences through a virtual book talk lead by the author
  • Explored strategies to calm and focus including using alternative seating, fidgets, guided breathing, and guided meditation exercises.
  • Lead and participated in class meetings to discussed items of issues and suggestions. Followed proper etiquette for discussion like raising hands, waiting for turns, and actively listening. Committees may be formed with interested students to solve problems or start new initiatives. One example was our Halloween Party Committee and our new Newsletter Committee.