Asalaamu’alykum Dear
Parents,
Lots was accomplished
last week alhumdulilah.
Language: We played a whole-group game called 4Corners. In
each corner of the classroom there hung a sentence banner (declarative,
imperative, exclamation and interrogative). Students chose a corner in which to
stand. As I read out a sentence to them they identified the type and if it was
designated by their corner they immediately sat down. Students who got it right
all the way through the end received the most stickers and earned the Sentence
Champ title! The next fun thing we focused on was an active learning strategy.
I did a call and response chant with them. As I called out the 4 different
types of sentences I had all students repeat them and do a corresponding
movement. It really helped increase their engagement. Finally, on Friday they
wrote a pop quiz on the 4 types of sentences.
Spelling: They wrote their spelling test on Thursday,
learned about the long “I” vowel sound and completed a few exercises in their
workbooks. The words for next week’s spelling test (November 17th)
are: wide, mile, line, hide, fire, nice, fine, mind, find and behind.
BONUS: Survey, axis, data, fifteenth and sixteenth
Science: We studied the great white shark! It was
fascinating to learn about the facts. Students familiarized themselves with
great white sharks’ habitat, their skeleton structure, their favourite prey,
their speed, significance of dorsal fins, their dangerously serrated teeth,
their important role in the oceans and where they thrive. We also discussed the
differences Between big fish and small fish. They worked independently on a
related activity. The great white shark is an on-going study which will be
completed by next week inshaAllah.
Math: We worked hard all week to perfect our graphing
skills. Students practiced creating bar graphs in groups and accurately
interpreted them. Individually they made their own bar graph booklets. They
created a survey question of their own interest (favourite sport team,
favourite season, favourite places to visit etc), made a tally chart and collected first-hand data by asking at least 11 of their peers. After tallying, they constructed and labeled a bar graph derived from their data and properly identified the different parts of a graph (aka TAILS). Once completed they formulated 3 questions that their graphs could help them answer. On Friday students were introduced to
pictographs which is also a graph that organizes and shows information using pictures. We watched a video to help make the concept clearer and worked on
related activities individually.
Islamic Studies: We read a new chapter in our textbooks called
The Shining Treasures (i.e. Qur’an and hadith). It was about how the qur’an was
revealed, to whom it was revealed, from whom did Prophet Muhammad (saw) learn
it, in which language it was revealed, what is hadith etc. Students read aloud
the story of a boy named Zaid who learns from his parents that one can derive a
lot of lessons from the qur’an and hadith. Learning both qur’an and hadith is
not enough though because practicing it in our everyday lives, sharing it and
teaching it to others is very important as well.
Health/Gym: The 4 food groups dairy, fruits/vegetables,
grains and protein were re-introduced to students last week during both gym
classes. We went over the importance of eating right as Allah (swt) mentions to eat from what is halal and tayyib (pure and
good). We went into a little bit more depth about the portions of each food
group we should be consuming on a daily basis and how a range of different foods from all groups provide our bodies with those essential nutrients, vitamins and
minerals. For practice, all students worked on an activity where they drew and
wrote about a proper wholesome well-balanced breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Social Studies: Picking up from the week before last, students worked on a community package in which they had to list as many things as they could in each box about their community such as buildings, grocery stores, favourite places, restaurants, employment and main streets. We reviewed who community helpers are and focused more on special people in our community whose job it is to help others in a special way like firefighters, doctors, dentists, pharmacists etc. For practice, they filled in a chart about some of these community helpers, what they wear, what tools they use and how they help the community. We also compared past communities to present communities for instance people in the past used wagons and horses to travel, now people use all sorts of transportation (planes, trains, cars etc). On the whole, the activity was thought-provoking which increased the effectiveness of learning.
Please encourage
your children to read on RazKids for 20 minutes everyday
Also please note homework
packs are due Monday, November 21st not Thursday, November 17th
JazakAllah khayr.
