August 2008

Creative Writing

The first Unit of Inquiry, “The Value of Me” has a focus on “Recount Writing” or the re-telling of a personal experience or event. Inventors, and inspirational people may become a focus to allow children to recount the lifestyle of these famous people.
Writing of narrative stories, letter writing, diaries, journals as well as narrative poetry may also be included in this unit of self-discovery. Conjunctions, verbs and past tense, direct speech and reported speech will be included in the focus for grammar.

The following Unit of Inquiry “Forces and Machines” involves Procedural Writing or being able to identify and describe a range of purposes for written procedures. This unit will also include some narrative writing focusing on adjectives, adverbs, noun groups, conjunctions, past tense and antonyms and synonyms.

Punctuation and writing structure will become a focus in the Unit “Living Long Ago” which will consolidate Narrative Writing skills. Folk tales, fairy tales, myths and legends should enlighten the children's imagination in this genre.

Reading

Reading testing and analysis of children's individual needs will be a part of this programme at the beginning of the year. Autobiographical literature will be included to give greater understanding of other people's personal values and as a comparison for their own values. Appropriate reading books and novel sets related to the Units of Inquiry will be a regular part of the class reading programme. Related activities to meet group and individual needs will be undertaken in class. i.e. comprehension, prediction, summarising and vocabulary study. Reading happens across all areas of the curriculum.

Students should also receive reading homework on a weekly basis. Reading logs are encouraged to record reading and provide a line of communication between parents and school. Parents are encouraged to be involved in their child's reading homework and in Gr Four, 15 – 20 mins of daily reading is a general time guide.

Each student is encouraged to borrow fiction and non-fiction books from the library weekly. Students may also choose books from baskets with suggested home reading. Borrowing guidelines can be flexible to suit the needs of individual children. There is a range of big books, small books and novel sets which are available.

Our grade level has identified literature (i.e. picture story book) that relate to units of inquiry as well as the PYP learner profile and concepts. Through these literature connections, students will gain a deeper understanding of the central idea and/or inquiry points of the unit. Teacher aims are to introduce books that allow for in-depth guided exploration and discussion. Teachers are entrusted with choosing novels that allow students to experience a variety of genres and a wide selection of authors. Grade Four level contains the following Genre.
Short stories
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Folk Tales/Fables/Fairy Tales
Fiction
Biographies/Autobiographies
Non-fiction/Information
Poetry

The use of guided and shared reading is critical in teaching specific reading skills. In guided reading we plan for and target needs, and guide student's thinking and understanding through a range of deliberate questions. Questions related to text and contents during the home reading session can also be important to aid comprehension.

Spelling

Finding appropriate spelling levels for children, will allow individual skill needs to be addressed. Profiles and attitudes, thematic words related to Inquiries, commonly misspelt words, as well as level words will be included in spelling activities.

Students should be encouraged to spell words independently and use ‘have a go’ sheets in learning the word sessions. Encouraging students to write the word based on the sounds that the student hears and the spelling rules they know assists them in applying their knowledge in their daily writing. Word walls, dictionaries and word lists also assist students to find the correct spelling of a word. Weekly spelling homework activities are encouraged.

Listening and Speaking

Poems, oral recounts, presentation of diary entries, oral talks and power point presentations related to Units of Inquiries will become features of listening and speaking.
Students are encouraged to:
Speak and listen in one to one situations with peers and adults
Participate in small group and class discussions - listening and speaking, explaining opinions, giving information, expressing ideas and reflecting.
Form questions during units of inquiry which show higher level thinking skills.
Participate in the shared reading of stories, poems and plays.

There are a variety of concepts and skills within Language Arts and not all are mentioned in this news overview, although we do hope this provides a general summary towards general Grade Four expectations.