Grade 4-A
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The learning process continued for the students under the unit ‘Economic activities rely on systems of production, consumption and exchange’. They were exposed to current concepts like demonetization under the second line of inquiry -‘How systems of exchange have changed over the time’. They analysed the effect of demonetization on the country’s economy through videos and group discussions. Students were shown the evolution of money from barter, shell currency and other means of exchange to modern modes like paper currency, plastic money and digital transactions. Students brainstormed with the PMI strategy (plus, minus, interesting) of the importance of multinational companies on economy. They discussed the PMI of electronic money. While learning about demonetization students learnt about being responsible citizens of the country by paying taxes. During the Math classes students were able to understand the relation between fractions and percentage. They learnt to plot proper and mixed fractions on the number line. They understood and practiced simplification of fractions. Students were assessed on their understanding of fractions by creating a factsheet, which was their formative assessment. In their English classes students were tuned in to ‘conjunctions’ by editing a paragraph by rewriting using conjunctions. Debate writing was initiated on the topic ‘Global trade is a boom for the economy’. The class was divided in two teams ‘proposition’ and ‘opposition’. The teams brainstormed with the help of the facilitators to identify the main points that should be discussed in the debate. Students began writing debate speech in their process journals. During Hindi lessons students watched a video and a presentation based on consumer awareness and issues and discussed the news and incidents related with it. They also shared their views and experiences on consumer affairs. They had an activity based on reading the cover/ packet to know what details should be there and why its important to know about them i.e. MRP, manufacturing date, date of expiry of the product, various sign and symbols mentioned there etc. They also read the story 'sambhav ki bhool' and did oral comprehension based on the same. Students also had their SA based on the last unit. .
For Hindi ab-intio lessons students enhanced their verbal skills through reciting a poem ‘Titali aur kali’. They revisited the grammar concepts like ‘ Sangya aur visheshan’ (Noun and Adjectives). In their French class, students gained knowledge on the names of different parts of the body and various types of clothes. They played online games, participated in a quiz and watched educational videos to further strengthen their knowledge. A formative assessment was conducted. Students also enjoyed singing the song on clothes i.e 'Promenons-nouns dans les bois' During the Spanish lessons after learning parts of the body and clothes in Spanish, students enjoyed participating in a quiz in their class. They also took a formative assessment on both the learnt concepts. In their visual art classes students inquired into Madhubani art. They also inquired about the Indian folk Madhubani artist Bharti Dayal and observed some of his artwork. In their ICT lessons students created a quiz on questions related to trade using Kahoot. They also learnt how to colourful illustrations using MSW Logo. During the Music lessons, students learnt tabla taal ‘Kherwa’ and also played it themselves. In their PE classes, the children practised forehand and backhand shot in Badminton. They also played a rally match with their respective partners. Students started their swimming classes. Initially they are practicing the basic skills of front crawl.
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The students continued their learning journey and understood how the body systems are interdependent in the 2nd line of inquiry. This was illustrated through watching a video of the circulatory system. Students were able to establish the inter connectedness between circulatory and respiratory system, and the digestive system. They tuned in to skeletal system by reflecting upon the importance of a framework in our body. The children discovered that bones are essential for protecting our vital organs and learnt names of bones in our body. The importance of joints in the body was done through an experiment. Students were also shown a video to understand how muscles are crucial for the movement of the body and that they are interconnected with the bones. In their English classes, students differentiated between paraphrasing and summarising text. They understood what is an extempore and the elements of good extempore. They were given various situations and practiced their extempore skills by sharing their views on the same.
In their Math classes, students applied their knowledge of data handling to analyse the trend and write their observations. They practiced creation and interpretation of bar, line and pie graphs in their process journals. Students tuned in to area and perimeter, understood the difference between the two through a class activity. They measured and calculated the perimeter and area of desk, cubby, floor tile etc. In their Hindi lessons, they were introduced to the grammar concept 'Visheshan’. They watched a video on ‘Visheshan’ and attempted the ‘Listen and answer’ activity. They picked up new vocabulary and were able to form simple and meaningful sentences from the new words. They had class discussion about elements of nukkad naatak and how it can be useful in spreading awareness on important issues like health. In their Spanish lessons, students learnt the Spanish names of fruits and demonstrative adjectives. They also revised definite articles . Students memorised the names of vegetables and their pronunciation in French. An interactive video on vegetables was shown to them where they were asked to identify and associate the vegetables with their names. They enjoyed participating in classroom games such as ‘unscramble my word’ in their French classes. In P.E classes, students revised the rules of cricket, practiced the skills like batting, bowling and fielding and also played intra-class match. In their dance lessons, the students fine-tuned the Scottish Highland dance for the Annual day 2017. They also brushed up their core workouts. During their music lessons students played instruments (Guitar , Melodica, Recorder & Keyboard). During their ICT classes students worked on Microsoft Word and created a document on harmful effects of too much technology on our health. In the art classes students have inquired into the technique of ‘Stippling’ and have drawn the object which they would create using this technique. Students returned from their winter break and the new term began with the start of a new unit under the transdisciplinary theme – ‘Who we are’. In this unit, they will be inquiring about human body systems, their interdependence and the impact of lifestyle choices on the body.
As a tuning in activity to the first line of inquiry –‘How Body Systems Work’, they reassembled different parts of objects like torch, pen and mobile arriving at the conclusion that every system is has different parts and are interdependent on each other, thus connecting to the body systems. The students rearranged the puzzle pieces of the digestive system to understand the different organs in it and the order in which the food travels in the digestive system. They also watched a video to consolidate their understanding of digestive system. They were involved in a discussion on the importance of various types of nutrients present in food and identified the various kinds of food in each category. In their English classes, they understood the nuances of Journal writing and have started to maintain a food journal. They also learnt about travelogue and wrote the travelogue of food by portraying their understanding of how food travels in the stomach. The 2nd body system that they have started their inquiry into is the Respiratory system. They also recognised the different organs of respiratory system and the mechanism of breathing through a video and breathing exercise in the classroom. Students performed a simple bottle and balloon experiment in order to understand how the lung functions and the importance of diaphragm. An experiment to test the lung capacity was conducted to strengthen their understanding on the importance of lungs and how the capacity of the lung varies from person to person. To further the students understanding of what they have learnt, Ms Kamal Shah, PYP Principal came in as a guest speaker to enlighten the students about the role of healthy eating and lifestyle choices that can be easily adopted by them. The students tuned into the second line of inquiry ‘ways to know about civilizations’. They understood about Archaeology by watching a video on the excavation process and learnt about the tools used in Archaeology. Students used their note taking skills to take notes of this whole process. They applied their knowledge of excavation and demonstrated the skills of an archaeologist by carrying out an activity in school where they dug up hidden objects from a sand pit and recorded the observations in a graphic organizer. They watched videos of the different civilizations and understood the influence of each civilization on the present world. Students attempted the summative assessment on civilization. English was integrated with their unit through a ‘Take and Talk’ where students spoke on the models and posters displayed, related to the civilizations which they had prepared for the in-house exhibition. Student Led Conference The highlight of the week was the Student Led Conference, through which students recalled their learning journey and apprised their parents of the same. They had fun playing simple games related to Maths and English with their parents. In their Math classes students recapitulated the rule of conversions for measurements and practised word problems. They attempted a summative assessment on measurements.
In their Hindi classes children practised the informal letter writing and revisited the grammar concepts like Kriya, Paryayvaachi and Vachan. In their Hindi (Ab-initio) classes students revised different maatraa through various activities. They also enjoyed the poem 'aaloo khaa loon'. In Spanish classes, students revised the number, days of the week and months. They learnt how to say today’s date and the day in Spanish. Students now know how to share the date of their birthday in Spanish. Children also enjoyed a quiz related to the same. In their French classes students revised all the concepts done so far including numbers, classroom objects, greetings, colours. They also practiced asking and answering simple questions. In ICT students gave their unit end reflection of the unit Civilization using ‘Padlet’. In Music students learnt quarter, eighth & sixteenth notes. They learnt Christmas carols and played percussion instruments. In their PE classes, students practiced their athletic skills on the field. While pursuing their journey under the current unit ‘Civilization’ the students travelled back to the past and researched the different civilizations. They gained an insight into the first line of inquiry ‘Kinds of Civilizations’ and third line of inquiry ‘Influences of past civilizations ‘. They identified the famous civilizations and collectively explored and discovered different aspects of each civilization. Students were able to relate to each civilization and they recognised their contributions to the present-day world. Students enjoyed the experience they had while making clay models, diagrams specific to each of the civilization and presented their work in the form of an exhibition. They also took their understanding further by presenting an exhibition to the students of other grades and their parents too. A glimpse into the Ancient Civilization exhibition Field trip visit In their English classes, students were introduced to formal letter writing and a mind map was created to understand the need of formal letters. Their vocabulary was enhanced with spell bee words related to the unit. Usage of few words were discussed and written in process journals as sentences. They read a chapter from ‘At least a Fish ‘and answered questions related to it.
In Math students were able to recall the various units used for measuring distance, weight and capacity. They reflected on the techniques employed for conversion of bigger units to smaller unit and vice versa. They continued solving simple word problems related to distance and weight. In their Hindi classes students read a text related to the unit - ‘Sindhu ghaati ki sabhyata’. They read the poem ‘Koi lake mujhe de’ and expressed their wishes. Children enjoyed listening to the story ‘Thapp roti thapp daal’ In their French classes the students have started revising the concepts done so far. They had a quiz on numbers and a question answer round on classroom objects. In their Spanish classes students revisited the names of classroom objects with the definite articles. During their ICT classes students researched on general information related to internet and played a quiz on Kahoot. In Music students played percussion band and learnt carols . In their Dance classes students continued to learn Hip-Hop and its elements. They have also learnt basic down rock hip-hop movements which are used in old-school hip-hop choreographies. In Art students are studying about ancient cave paintings. After studying the characteristics of cave paintings children are trying to create their own ideas by using poster colours. They are also trying to learn water colour application. In their P.E classes students participated in intra class hurdle races and shuttle relays. When life is perfect, there are overwhelming smiles. This is what happened at Sariska, students screamed, yelled, laughed, played and danced together. The days were perfect at our camp site. The resort is in Alwar surrounded by Aravalli hills, which is the oldest mountain range of India. Away from the pressure of home and school, two days were comprised of fun filled activities. Activities included rock climbing, obstacle race, shooting, knot making, hiking, rafting, cooking maggi on the hill top, tent pitching. On the eve of children’s day there was a party organised for the children which involved many competitions. The next day, students went for safari where they saw different animals and enjoyed thoroughly. What a wonderful experience it was to see the animals wandering about freely in the forest! Students tuned into the 3rd Line of Inquiry ‘Using media responsibly’ under the TD theme ‘How we express ourselves.’ The concept of academic honesty and integrity was demonstrated through a video. The term ‘plagiarism’ was described using examples of songs which have been plagiarised from other languages. Students gained knowledge and differentiated between patent and trademark, copyright etc. by examining common items like books, pencils and tooth paste. As part of their summative assessment, students illustrated their skills of creating an advertisement to promote their school through various forms of media. Students had fun participating in a debate as they were asked to prepare for a debate on the motion “Advertisements influence children’s choices and perception’’. They brainstormed as a group to arrive at the arguments proposing and opposing the motion. The debate was fun filled and was executed with much excitement. In their ICT classes students started creating their advertisement on the various topics given to them using iMovie Trailer. They collaborated and used their critical thinking skills to create interesting advertisements using images, captions and sounds. Students reflected on the role of media in promoting certain sports in their P.E classes. They also created jingles in their music classes. In their Math classes division sums were computed with two-digit divisor and the check method was followed with special emphasis on division by 10, 100, 1000. In their English classes, students were introduced to the concept of ‘onomatopoeia’ wherein they danced to the tunes of a song and understood words depicting the sound. Students used their proof reading skills and practised common editing notations. In their Hindi classes, students read and enjoyed the poem ‘Naav banao’ and completed the task related to the same. They wrote a poem using synonyms and practised for ‘Vaad- vivaad’ competition. Students watched a video based on the topic ‘Patakhon se taubaa’ & wrote a paragraph in their process journals. In their Spanish classes, the students did a role play on greetings in class. They watched some episodes of ‘Mi vida loca’ and learnt some new questions like - How to ask the name of a street? How to ask for an address? In their French classes, students gained knowledge on the difference between formal and informal ways of asking questions regarding colours. They also understood the difference between singular and plural and how their use changes the sentence structure. They also enhanced their social skills while practising dialogues in pairs. In P.E, the students learnt how to serve with forehand and backhand in badminton. They practised how to rally over the net with control from the back of the court. They also played short set matches in pairs. Students explored their movements and did a funk jazz routine enhancing their skills of jazz form of dance. They also focussed on the flexibility and strength work outs. In the Music class, students learnt the ‘Demons’ song and created their own rhythm pattern on percussion instruments. In Art, the students have started creating different forms of Pop Art using basic elements, human figures and symbolic colour representation. Recently, they have started drawing human figures based on geometric shapes and are learning how to use lines for drawing. Students continued their journey into the first line of inquiry “Various types of media” under the current TD theme “How we express ourselves”. Through classroom discussions they gained knowledge about the various types of media their advantages and disadvantages. Using the grouping strategy ‘think pair share’ students were given an advertisement and they analysed the importance of colour, font, image and celebrity endorsement. They viewed various advertisements and realised the importance of jingle, tagline and music. They understood the importance of mascot and role it plays in influencing choices. Understanding LogosStudents also classified advertisements into various categories like matrimonial, obituary, commercial and advertisements with social message. In their Hindi classes students discussed the role and the impact of advertisements in our life. They also discussed the difference between social and business advertisements. They had discussions on the positive and negative aspects of advertisements and wrote them in their process journals. Students further enhanced their knowledge through videos of Hindi news and reviewed Hindi newspaper clips and news headlines. During an activity they created news headlines in Hindi. They also watched a seen the video on ‘Swatcch Bharat Abhiyan’ a social campaign. Students enthusiastically designed their own checklist of an effective print ad. In their respective groups they created and presented advertisements of the product allocated to them. Under the second line of inquiry “How media influences our choices” students understood how gender stereotyping is promoted by media and the role of celebrity in an ad campaign. Creating and Presenting advertisementIn their English classes students comprehended the meaning of inference and worked on strengthening the key skill of making inferences . They appreciated simile and going further they created their own similies on their family members, friends or favourite car. Grammar concepts covered so far were assessed through comprehension and writing skills. They developed the skills of persuasive writing and enhanced their writing skills by writing a paragraph using persuasive writing vocabulary. In Math classes they practiced multiplication, subtraction and division sums . They also attempted a formative assessment on subtraction. In their ICT classes students started working on Pivot Animator. They learnt how to add stick figures, give movements and add background.
Students created the classroom display of their date of birth and birthdays in their French classes. They practiced numbers 21 to 40 and learnt colours in French. They explored formal and informal ways of asking someone their favourite colour. In their Spanish class students did a role play on greetings in the class. They practiced "numbers, days of the week, months and greetings" in the class. They attempted formative assessment on "numbers, days of the week, months and greetings" .They also learnt colours in Spanish. In Art students started different forms of Pop Art using basic elements, human figures and symbolic colour representation. They have also started drawing human figures based on geometric shapes. In their PE class students practiced dribbling in football. They practiced dribbling with shoe lace part, dribbling around the cones and dribbling the ball while changing directions. Further they practiced penalty kicks and shooting the ball when the ball is in motion. They also played short sided matches during the lessons. In Dance classes students worked on flexibility workouts along with elements of jazz such as isolations, plies and releves. The choreography was revised thoroughly for style and musicality. In Music classes students learned about the jingles (as a part of their unit) and learnt song "Demons". The students continued to pursue the 2nd and 3rd line of inquiry – “means of space exploration and its impact”. They gained knowledge about the life on space and researched the reasons why astronauts use dehydrated food on space. Students also understood the advantages and disadvantages of space exploration and its impact. They inquired about the constellations and enjoyed finding out their individual zodiac constellation and its correlations. They shared their zodiac constellation through illustrations with their peers. Students enthusiastically researched on the various topics given to them related to the unit and made models / illustrations. Students presented the same with a lot of enthusiasm during the “Take and Talk” activity. In the Hindi lessons, students displayed keen interest in gaining knowledge about the life history of Rakesh Sharma through audio visuals shown to them. Hindi ab-initio students watched a video on astronaut Kalpana Chawla which was followed by a classroom discussion. In their ICT classes the students completed their iMovie project on space. The unit was concluded with a Summative Assessment to assess their understanding. Students tuned into the 2nd unit of this term under the transdisciplinary theme, “How we express ourselves”. They will understand how media influences our choices and the importance of using media responsibly. In their English lessons, students enjoyed understanding the difference between Countable and Uncountable nouns through a relay race in class. They enhanced their reading and listening skills by a loud reading session and answering questions related to it. Students attempted a formative assessment on the concept of addition in their Math classes. A recap of multiplication tables was done through a class quiz. They gained knowledge on the concept of multiplication of numbers through various strategies. Students enthusiastically participated in the Hindi special assembly. They practiced synonyms and understood how to apply while writing. Ab-initio students read Hindi books of basic levels and presented the story in class. Students recited stories orally and also attempted a written comprehension based on these stories. During their French lessons, students gained knowledge on - numbers 21 to 40, days of the week, months of the year and used this information to write the dates in French. They practised writing their date of birth as a complete sentence. In their Spanish classes, students had a quiz on spellings. Greeting in Spanish was practised through a role play In the PE classes, students practised dribbling and shooting while playing football. They practised dribbling around the cones while keeping the football in control. Students also practised penalty kicks Students learnt the techniques of charcoal painting and completed one of their own in their art classes. In the Music class, students were observed while singing “Counting stars”. Students did a lot of strengthening workouts, which included abdomen and rhythm workouts. Students are learning street jazz ensuring compliance to basic jazz elements like isolations and style in their dance classes. Quiz masters- grade 4Current TD Theme-How the world works The students continue to gain knowledge about their current unit - ‘Space’ and while pursuing the 2nd Line of Inquiry - ways and means of space exploration, the students understood the concept of “gravity” and how weight and mass are related to gravity by watching a video. They also attempted a formative assessment on the 1st line of inquiry - how the universe is changing through a Bingo game. They watched a video of Sunita Williams and other astronauts sharing their life on the Space station and compared their lives here on Earth. Students understood the layers of the atmosphere and the position of planes, satellites and rockets through a class discussion. They comprehended the difference between a satellite and a probe through research on iPads. Students appreciated the responsibilities of the people working in NASA and ISRO and their functions. Students learnt the art of appreciating poetry in their English classes by reading the poem written by Rabindranath Tagore “The Astronomer”. They explored various planets and constellations through a real time star gazing app Skywalk and clicked images through this app in their ICT class. In their Hindi classes they performed a short Hindi stage play based on their unit 'Space'. During the preparation students learnt key vocabulary words related to space in Hindi and researched various facts about earth, solar system and space. They also recited the poem 'man ke bhole bhale baadal' and did grammar activities based on it. They also attempted 'shrutlekh' (spell bee) test. Students sharpened their listening skills by listening to a story “The ant and the grain” and answered questions related to it in their English classes.
Students were assessed on their understanding of the number system through a Summative Assessment. They tuned into the concept of addition and practiced sums and word problems in their process journal. In their French classes students explored the various ways of responding to the same greeting and worked in pairs to practice their speaking skills they also took notes to improve the writing skills. Students gained knowledge on the names of the months in French and numbers till twenty with a learning outcome of writing date in French. In the Spanish classes - students revisited the calendar. They did a role play on greetings and learnt vocabulary related to space. Hindi Ab-initio :- Students read and learnt the poem 'Ibnbatoota ka joota' and later had a presentation of the poem. They did reading practice of story books and did oral comprehension based on the same. |
AuthorJayashree Venkatesh Archives
February 2017
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