Mrs. Gill's Grade 4: Language

Language Arts

Language Arts is seen in every aspect of students’ learning and is used every day when students listen, view, speak, represent, read, write, etc.

We are going to be working on learning commonly misspelled words, and we will also be working in Literacy centres from time to time. Guided reading will also be a part of our classroom, as it allows me the opportunity to work closely with students on specific aspects of writing and reading.

On October 2nd, our class will be participating in the Global Read Aloud. We will be reading "The Wild Robot" as a class. Visit the website for this year's GRA here. During the Global Read Aloud, we will be connecting with classrooms globally and will have a chance to discuss the book with them and collaborate on different activities.

THOUGHTS ON READING

As we begin to roll along with our routines, students will be given more time in class to read their selections. If students were unable to find a book that interests them in our school library, there is a fairly extensive classroom library from which students are encouraged to borrow books.

Students are encourage to read for at least 20 minutes every day. We all have busy families and understand that finding even 20 minutes a night to complete tasks (even reading) can be a challenge; however, the benefits of finding this time is huge (see the graphic below).

Reading Logs vs Book Reviews

I will not be sending home reading logs or other tracking devices as it is difficult to monitor for students, parents, and teachers. Furthermore, these logs are often incomplete and do not paint a true picture of a child’s reading capabilities (we both admit to quickly signing off on our own children’s reading logs without knowing if what was written there was actually true!). We want students to read for enjoyment and to just fill out a log or to meet a reading “quota”.

So rather than logging time spent reading, I am asking students to help share the titles of great books (and not so great books) with other students. I am hoping that students will take a minute to fill out the Book Review once they have completed a book. This will help me track the students’ favourite books and purchase new books that students want to read!

Reviews are authentic ways to share opinions. We use reviews in our own life when looking to purchase new books, appliances, video games, and other items. Therefore, I hope to teach students how to use recommendations and the opinions of others to help them make educated decisions.

So every evening and weekend, I hope that students (and parents) take some time to curl up with a good book and enjoy!

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”– Dr. Seuss

“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”

Blogging

KidBlog is a great website where students can publish their own blogs which could include an opinion piece, story, retelling of an event, etc. Students can upload files from their Drive once they have edited and revised their work. I love this website too as it allows us to connect with different classrooms from around the world, locally, or within our own school! Students are able to access their blogs from home and can write whenever they would like. The link to KidBlog can be found here:

KidBlog

The following are some general rules when posting and commenting online:

Only use your first name.
If you are mentioning another student, only use their first name.
Don’t give your email, phone number, or street address.
Don’t share specifics of your daily routines that involve time and location (i.e. what time and field you are playing soccer that evening)

Writing Posts

Always start a sentence with a capital letter.
Always end a sentence with punctuation like . ? !
IF YOU WRITE EVERY WORD IN CAPITAL LETTERS, IT MEANS YOU ARE SHOUTING!
There is no need to use more than one exclamation mark if you are excited, passionate or annoyed about something!
Have at least one space after punctuation like , . ? !
Remember that many people will read what you write. Think carefully before clicking the “submit for review” button!
Our blogs are not places to chat with your friends or share links to games and videos. You are encouraged to leave comments for classmates but it has to be about their writing.