YEAR 4 NEWS

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

How we express ourselves

Our fourth unit of inquiry comes under the transdisciplinary theme of How we express ourselves. Our central idea is:

Voice can be found in creativity and innovation.

We will be inquiring into this through the concepts of CHANGE and REFLECTION.
Our Lines of Inquiry are: voice and how it is used in the Arts how we can be critically reflective how we revise to make voice stronger As teachers we were very lucky this unit to have our professional development days with Kathy Short, an educational expert on inquiry. She assisted us with ways that we can help the students to connect personally to the conceptual ideas of this unit. We began by asking the students when they feel heard, or noticed and what is really important to them. With this underlying connection to their own life experiences and developing understanding the students curiosity and interest is very high already! We have Music, Art and Drama all working on this same unit along with homerooms, so the students are being exposed to a wide variety of experiences that will help them to expand their knowledge, experiences and perspectives, to build upon their current understandings. We already have a lot of interesting inquiries developing and are looking forward to seeing what creative and innovative things happen as a result of these.

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YEAR 4 NEWS: How we express ourselves

TRANSDISCIPLINARY LEARNING

Language Arts:

Mathematics:
Shape and Space - We will also be looking at the real life application of shape and space through creative and innovative expressions - such as architecture, and cubism. Well be looking into the language to sort and classify shapes - both 2D and 3D, as well as developing our understanding of the different properties of these.

Written Language - Reading and Writing

When writing, the words we choose and how we chose to use them enable us to share our imaginings and ideas.

Throughout this unit we will be looking at the revising process of writing how do we ensure our personal voice is heard in our writing. We will be using a variety of genres to look into this such as poetry, cartoons and reviews. Viewing and Presenting

Visual texts provide alternative means to develop new levels of understanding. Selecting the most suitable forms of visual presentation enhances our ability to express ideas and images

With the varying art works well be viewing well be considering the creators intent and aims and the choices theyve made to achieve certain results. Reading

Wondering about texts and asking questions help us to understand meaning.

Year 4 will be using Literature Circles to encourage discussion amongst the students regarding what they are reading, and the meaning of it. They will discuss the physical aspects of the book - such as illustrations, as well as the creative aspects of the story. Listening and Speaking

Wondering about texts and asking questions help us to understand meaning.

The idea of being an active participant will come through in this unit, both as a member of a reflective discussion, as well as an audience.