Welcome to the
4-M Photo Gallery!
Science Fair
Ferrari World
Character Dress Up Day
Below are a few more pictures from our glorious Character Dress Up Day! Who is your favorite character? And who is your favorite Adventure Time character?
Sports Day
Another Sports Day!! The BONES didn't place in the top 3, but we all did our best, and judging by these smiles, we had a lot of fun, too!
Emirates Park Zoo
A Falcon Visit . . .
In preparation for National Day, we had a visit from a professional falcon handler. I've never held a falcon before. How cool is that?!
Writing a 5 Paragraph Essay
Writing a 5 Paragraph Essay is hard work!! As always when we write, the first step is to make a plan so you can brainstorm ideas and figure out what is important to include. From there it's on to the first draft when we translate our ideas from bullet points to paragraphs. Then we edit our writing (our own and someone else's). Finally, we incorporate the changes and improvements into our Final Draft. This process can be repeated several times to create high quality pieces, but we've just gone through it once to create our 5 paragraph explanatory pieces on erosion.
Below are some photos from our final group project: Students were invited to try and develop ways to slow or stop erosion? After we tested each group's solution, it was important to ask: Did your solution work to slow down erosion? Is this solution applicable on a larger scale? Why is it important to slow erosion?
Below are some photos from our final group project: Students were invited to try and develop ways to slow or stop erosion? After we tested each group's solution, it was important to ask: Did your solution work to slow down erosion? Is this solution applicable on a larger scale? Why is it important to slow erosion?
Erosion Experiments
Erosion usually takes so long that we can't see it - we just see the accumulated effects of it, some of which have taken thousands and thousands or even millions of years to accrue. But we needed to really be able to see it in action in order to understand it! These experiments with sand in the terrain trays were our effort to do just that. We treated the sand with wind (blowing through straws, close and far, hard and soft), water (spraying water from a bottle, close and far, hard and soft), and finally covered sand to see Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition in action!
Kayak Adventure!
Here are some colorful pics from our Kayak Adventure in the Mangroves, near the Eastern Mangrove Hotel. First we went through some safety guidelines and talked briefly about using a kayak paddle. Then, we hit the water! We got into 2 person kayaks and with our guides, went out to a small island, where we found not only hundreds of crabs, but also did a short erosion experiment that really made the concept clear for most of us. Then, a bit tired and wet, we paddled back to shore. Check out these smiles! This is learning in action!
Special thanks to Izzat's mother for coming with us on the trip! She also took some of these great pics! Thank you!
Special thanks to Izzat's mother for coming with us on the trip! She also took some of these great pics! Thank you!
Getting Ready for the Math Test
We generally have the same routine when it comes to Math Tests: Once we finish the unit, we take time to create a Reference Sheet to use during the test. This is a chance to jot down some simple reminders for the various concepts. Completing the Reference Sheets are also entirely the students' responsibility - it's up to them to make sure their complete and correct. Then, during the actual test, we split our desks into rows so no one's eyes accidentally wander onto another student's test!!
Reading Buddies
Here are some photos from our visiting Grade 1 Reading Buddies. Reading with the Grade 1 students let's us practice our Read to Someone skills because we can help them learn read the pictures and the new words! We always try to read their books first and then we show them some of our cool books.
How We Organize Ourselves
These are some pictures from our first unit - How We Organize Ourselves. The big idea of the unit is GOVERNMENTS, a big concept we've built up over several weeks. We started just by looking at rules and consequences, then developed some for the classroom, and from classroom government we jumped to national Governments. You can see - we like to do a lot of group work and group thinking as we develop our conceptual understandings!
Daily 5: Literacy Activities
If you ever have a chance to visit the classroom during literacy time, this is what you might see! During DAILY 5 time, children can Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, or do Word Work. All of this is how we become better readers!
Portfolio Pictures!
Who are the cool kids now?
Everyone was invited to bring in an accessory that expresses something about themselves: a toy, a trophy, a book, etc..., but what I love to see more than any of those things, are the smiles they bring out! :)