Most of the kids found the building process very hard. I explained that it was our pre-assessment, so there is a lot of space for growth within the unit.
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Our next unit is an amazing one. By the end of it the kids will have built a structure that includes evidence of technological innovation with a blend of social needs and a touch of beliefs and values. It may sound complicated but by the end of it, it will make perfect sense. To start the unit off we looked at a variety of images and completed an 'I see, I think, I wonder, What makes me say that' chart. Please see the picture below. The idea was to get them to make connections between old architecture and more modern structures. As well as the role of an architect, talking with clients as well as builders. We also looked at which of the attributes of a global citizen can we transfer to the attributes of an architect. After that I asked them to design a building or a structure that has evidence of global citizenship. Most made the environmentally friendly link which is a great connection but some went deeper and connected things like access to health and education.
Next we will investigate how architecture have developed over time and what invention happened to allow structures to get bigger and more complicated. Like I said, this is a great unit! I really want them to think like an architect by the end of it. If you are an architect or you know one, please take a few minutes to sit and talk with your child about what your average day looks like. What kind of questions do you ask your clients? We will try to get an architect in to do a chat with the kids, if you are interested please let me know. GWA has recently subscribed to World Book Online, a digital reference suite by one of the world’s leading publishers of reference materials. Students in Grades 4-8 are supported by World Book Student. World Book Student is tailored for students in upper elementary and middle schools and includes all the articles from the print versions of the World Book Encyclopedia, plus thousands of additional articles, learning resources, and research tools. World Book Student is also optimized for tablets so that students can access information any place and at any time.
Key features include: • More than 40,000 encyclopedia and reference articles • World Book Biography Center, with more than 10,000 biographies • Thousands of links selected by World Book editors and expert contributors • Rich multimedia • Historical features • Extensive dictionary and atlas • Audios, videos, and animations • Student activities To access World Book Student, please use the following link and passwords, valid only for members of the GWA Community: http://www.worldbookonline.com/?subacct=TRUAE42016 Username: gwadubai Password : gwawb We hope that you and your children enjoy using this valuable resource! Please let us know about your experiences, and please contact any member of the Library Learning Commons staff should you have any questions or concerns. The children will receive their reading journals today. There are instructions glued in and some pointers on what good readers do. The plan is for them to reflect on their reading and improve their comprehension skills. I will also be providing each child with a book at the level that I think they are reading. For math homework please continue to do IXL and for spelling do spelling city. I will be replacing the words on spelling city tomorrow. Also remember that they have many books available to read on Raz-kids. Here is a list of all of the websites we currently have membership for, the kids are welcome to use these whenever they want: www.raz-kids.com www.brainpop.com (login = gems, password = Brainpop) www.tumblebooks.com (username = gems password = books We also have membership to Education city and I will share those details with you soon. Keeping a diary might also be helpful, particularly if your child is struggling with writing. Writing what he/she did everyday in a diary format is a great way of improving writing skills. Arabic A students need to visit the Arabic Weebly page to access their Arabic homework. Click on subtitle Magid4 and subtitle Manal4, where you will be able to get the Arabic home learning for next week. Unit of Inquiry - Who We Are!We only have a few weeks left on this unit so the time to demonstrate our understanding is just around the corner. The kids have working on their first draft for a few hours already but we still have a long way to go. As I have explained before, they are going to produce a guide on how to be global citizen. Their task is to connect beliefs and values to the attributes of global citizens and then give a real life example to show their understanding. For example: Global citizen treat everybody equally. They do this because they belief that everyone is born equal and has the same rights. We can show that we are global citizens by working hard to make sure that everybody has equal access to resources. I don't want to give too much away but that is the kind of thing I am hoping to see. They need to include 10 attributes in their presentations and include an introductions as well as a conclusion. Please have a look at the rubric below for some guidance on what I am looking for, for each level. Spelling CityEveryone now has a Spelling City account. Please visit www.spellingcity.com to sign in. Each person has been provided with a login name and password.
We will be using Spelling City to learn and practice the spelling of new words as well as those words that are being misspelled. I will update the words on a weekly basis and each person will get words that are personal to their needs. There is an app for this site which will make it easier to access. Unit of Inquiry -Who We Are |