May/June Grade 4 - isb.co.rs · Iz pravopisa smo naučili da ne pišemo slovo j između slova i i...
Transcript of May/June Grade 4 - isb.co.rs · Iz pravopisa smo naučili da ne pišemo slovo j između slova i i...
From the Principal
Grade 4
May/June 2013
ISB Lower School Specialists’ Newsletter
Inside this issue:
French/Spanish 2
Art 3
Serbian/EAL 4
Music/SMT 5
PE 6
cation, and language study are essential elements to a comprehensive and holistic primary school education. The content of these subjects is transdisciplinary in na-ture, meaning that the skills and concepts developed by specialist teachers have rel-evance throughout the Lower School curriculum and our students’ lives beyond school. A great example of this is when your children ‘connect’ their school learning with something that happens when they are at home or out and about with the family. Our specialists teachers work alongside our classroom teachers to develop lessons and learning opportunities that are both interesting and connected to the classroom Units of Inquiry. Our specialist teachers work with our classroom teachers regularly to find connections between subjects and even participate in field trips when the connection is natural. For this reason, we think it is important that we keep our parents informed about the teaching and learning taking place in our specialists’ classrooms. You will receive our specialist newsletter six times during the school year. As always, if you have any questions about your child’s education, feel free to contact us. Enjoy your summer holiday. I look forward to seeing you all here on the Lower School campus, Brian H. Lettinga
Welcome to final edi-tion of our Specialist Newsletters. We have had a great school year here at ISB! Our specialist teachers (also referred as single-subject teachers) play an integral and im-portant role in our Pri-mary Years Program. The arts, physical edu-
French
Page 2
Newsletter Title
Dubravka Kostanjsek
French Teacher
Milica Rkulovic
Spanish Language Teacher
Spanish
Dear fourth grade parents,
Here is the last newsletter for the French class for this school year.
Since you’ve last heard from us, we continued working on orientation in time, daily
and weekly routines and organizing activities with friends. Until the end of the
school year, we will spend our time reviewing the most important contents we
have covered since September.
Thank you very much for all of your support and collaboration throughout this
school year.
I wish you nice and exciting summer holidays!
See you next year!
Grade four Spanish students spent the month of May discovering the Hispanic
world. We began by completing a whole class sample project on Spain and then
moved to working in partners on projects about different countries of South and
Central America. The students put a lot of effort into researching and presenting
general information and interesting facts about a country of their choice. Currently
we are looking at vocabulary and expressions associated with preparing trips and
going on vacation. We’re studying different means of transportation, pros and
cons, discussing things we like to take with us when traveling and talking about
activities usually associated with different destinations. In this unit we’ll review
and practice expressions used to give personal information and learn to ask and
recognize various questions associated with traveling and discovering new places.
Page 3
Art
Svetlana Spasic-
Glid
Art
Over the past weeks, the students spent time working on the standalone unit of in-quiry entitled How We Express Ourselves – Stories About the World, during which they looked at the works of the Expressionist artist Aleksey Jawlensky, the work of David Hockney, and Kazimir Malevic. They studied the ways well-known artists saw and presented the world, combined the ideas of the mentioned artists with their own, and expressed them through drawing and painting. The students reflected on their learning during the third trimester.
I wish my students a great summer break! Grade 4A students have classes on Wednesdays. Grade 4B students have classes on Fridays.
Serbian as a Foreign Language
Page 4
Newsletter Title
Ivana Jovanovic
Serbian Language Teacher
During May, Grade 4 students focused on reading and understanding. We read a set
of four stories about two friends, Bojan and Dejan. The stories describe situations
and dialogues from everyday life. The students practiced reading and translating;
upon completing each story, they answered related questions. Our main focus was
the dialogue. After reading each story, the students used www.pixton.com to create
a comic that would match the plot.
At the moment, we are reading Azbukvar Srbije, a booklet of facts about Serbia. It
was written for Serbian native speakers and it is full of complex sentences and new
phrases. This is a good opportunity for students to learn some more things about
Belgrade and Serbia as well as to improve their comprehension.
EAL
Visnja Plecas
EAL Teacher
Grade 4 students had the opportunity to listen to stories read aloud and were then
involved in discussions about the theme, characters, plot and settings of the stories.
After reading Henry and the Kite Dragon, we touched upon issues related to migra-
tions. The story was linked to the Gr 4 unit of inquiry on Migrations and brought to
light issues about migrations that are not obvious – why people change names, why
they live in the same neighbourhoods, what traditions and habits they bring with
them, how they adapt and survive and continue life in a new country.
Page 5
Fourth graders were able to put it all together and finish the school year on a high
note. Our focus was on learning the difference between chromatic and diatonic me-
lodic patterns in C scale. Playing keyboards, they practiced fingering techniques and
have created accompaniment for “Sunrise Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof. Song of
the month was “Diamonds on the soles of her shoes” by Paul Simon for which the
students created accompaniment using melodic patterns on xylophones.
Music
Ljudmila Janicijevic
Music Teacher
Serbian Mother Tongue
Učenici četvrtog razreda su na časovima maternjeg jezika nastavili sa čitanjem
najpoznatijih bajki koje pripadaju našoj narodnoj književnosti. Pročitali smo priče
„Usud“ i „Baš Čelik“. Razgovarali smo o tome da li bismo voleli da postoji mitsko
biće kao što je Usud koje svima određuje kako će živeti i koliko će sreće u životu
imati. Pričali smo i o tome koliko se jezik i svakodnevni život ljudi razlikovao u
vreme kada su ove bajke nastale. Podsetili smo se i proširili ono što znamo o Vuku
Stefanoviću Karadžiću. Sada znamo da je on pored sastavljanja naše azbuke
napisao i prvi rečnik i prvu gramatiku našeg jezika, kao i da je zapisivao narodne
priče, pesme i izreke i obajvljivao ih kako bi ostale sačuvane. Iz pravopisa smo
naučili da ne pišemo slovo j između slova i i o. Takođe polako obnavaljamo sve što
smo iz gramatike i pravopisa do sada naučili u četvrtom razredu.
Milena Jovanovic
Serbian Language
Teacher
Page 6
Physical Education
Our students took advantage of the sunny spring weather at the beginning of the
month to work on their track and field skills, outdoors.
We started with running events, such as running middle and short distances. The
main focus was on proper running technique, including our foot position and arm
motions, as well as on the importance of proper breathing. Students were involved
in individual and pair activities in order to improve their technique and endurance,
as well as gain better speed and agility.
Since a good start is crucial for any race, especially for short distances, we practiced
starting on signals from different positions. Later, we ran many races from standing
starts and sprint start positions. We focused on our arm motion to help students to
realize the importance of the arms’ swing during the run, especially in the very first
moments of a race.
We continued with relay races; practicing running with a baton along with a hand-off
technique. Students were very excited about relay races. They all participated whole-
heartedly, while being very supportive to their fellow runners and displaying great
sportsmanship towards other teams.
The biggest challenge was probably running hurdles, which were higher than the
year before. After spending some time exercising the lead and trail leg, we got used
to the height of the hurdles and dared ourselves to run races. Although some of the
students had doubts about completing the run, they all faced the challenge bravely
and asked when they would do it again!
We also worked on improving our jumping skills by practicing the broad, the long
and the high jumps. Our focus was on take-off and landing techniques, as well as on
the approach to the take-off area.
The end of the year Physical Fitness test is ahead of us. We
have been working on our stamina, strength, agility and flexi-
bility, thus we all believe that we have improved throughout
the year!
Stay healthy through sports!
Marija Dimitrov
PE Teacher