Grade 4 – An Exploration into Energy

Upon our return from winter break, Fourth Grade soon began ‘tuning into’ our new UOI unit, How The World Works. In this unit, students are inquiring into and gaining knowledge about the forms of energy, how energy is stored and transformed/transferred, and sustainable energy practices. In the classroom, students will be honing their abilities as thinkers and inquirers by participating, observing, and writing reports on a variety of energy experiments. They are also working on and developing science investigation and questioning skills in order to deepen their understanding of energy and for use in future science inquiries. Students continue to work in cooperative groups and to reflect on their experiences in the classroom and especially with the many experiments that the class is conducting.

This year grade 4 will also connect our energy unit with FON. Germany and Singapore have been chosen as countries in which to explore energy use. We look forward to using what we will have learned throughout the unit to make connections and demonstrate understanding via a Germany and Singapore link. Please be on the lookout for more details coming soon.

Library

In the IB PYP, the Library is considered a hub for learning. It is a place where students not only gather knowledge and learn information literacy, but it is also a place where we can share a sense of community by holding different events throughout the year.

READING ACROSS THE GRADES:

BUDDY READING AMONG THE ELEMENTARY CLASSES

Different Elementary classes come and read here at the Library. The Elementary class teachers collaborate to create a schedule for buddy reading. They have a fixed schedule built into the week where older students find books to read to their younger buddies, or the younger students choose some of their favorite books which the older buddies can read to them. We feel that this is a great way to get our students to read and practice their fluency, as well as build relationships among our Elementary students.

SILENT READING FOR SECONDARY STUDENTS

Research has shown that reading motivation and interest tapers as students grow older and they focus more on information text and content areas. We are fortunate to have our English teacher, Mr. Ariail, continue to bring his students weekly to the Library for silent reading. We hope that through this activity, the students will have the opportunity to do pleasure reading and to reclaim their interest in books.

PARENTS and FAMILIES

We are also happy to note that our Library is very welcoming to our parent community, with whom we have a strong relationship. We have parents who come here daily to read to their young children and to enjoy our collection. We also had parent volunteers who decorated our Library for Halloween. The students loved the photo booth as well as the library door decor. We are very grateful for parents who became so involved and committed to making our library “Halloween-ready”!

EVENTS and ACTIVITIES

ELEMENTARY STUCO – HALLOWEEN:

Once again this year, the Elementary StuCo decided to hold their ever-popular Halloween Fair for the Elementary Students, and one of the chosen venues was our SIS Library. With our space and movable furniture, the Library is a perfect place to accommodate enthusiastic students with their fun games and energetic dancing. There was a dance area near the stage, party games in different spots, and even a coloring station! With all the fun and excitement going on, we were still able to accommodate parents who were waiting for their kids, and secondary students who were using the space to study. We truly have a multi-functional space for everyone in the whole community!

CHRISTMAS RING and READ-ALOUD

Last December, we were able to hold our Christmas Ring and Read-Aloud for our K-5 Elementary Students. It was a fun activity where teachers volunteered to read their favorite Christmas books to our students, and where the children had a chance to read and look through the pages of our Christmas book collection. The students were placed in mixed groups of different ages, so all the children had a chance to read with younger, or older students from the school. We hope activities such as these continue build our students’ reading lives and enrich their learning experiences through shared reading.

BOOK REVIEWS:

For the past couple of months, the Library has been providing pieces of paper where you can write reviews about books that you’ve read. These reviews will be placed around the Fiction shelves for the students to have a quick insight into what the book is about.  If you would like to write a short review about a book that you enjoyed and would like to recommend, please ask our Librarian for the book review sheet.

AND FINALLY, SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO…

We are pleased to inform the whole community that Ms. Frane Lessac (www.franelessac.com) , an author and illustrator, will be coming to visit us at the end of February. More details to follow soon!

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