Grade 4-I2

 Hello everyone, We've been through a full month together as a class, and we are starting to learn more about each other and the strengths and areas of improvement that we need to make together as a class. I'm going to make some more worksheets and ways to practice which will include videos, Wordwall, and Sensay practices like before so I hope that students can practice them at home alongside of their parents. I'll be demonstrating how to use the Sensay AI speaking tool in class next week so I hope that students will be inspired to try on their own at home. Remember, "If at first you don't succeed try, try, again" is a great motto for students who are having a difficult time learning certain concepts. Thanks again everyone and have a wonderful weekend!

 Homework for these days: 1. Write the Week 5 vocabulary words (1-25) x2 with definitions x1 2. Optional: Chinese translations for the vocabulary words 3. Use Sensay to practice for the test 4. Scavenger Hunt Worksheet 5. Favorite Place Worksheet Resources: Unit 5 Vocabulary: https://wordwall.net/resource/78700810 Key Information: https://wordwall.net/resource/78478132 We've been doing some activities together and students have been learning at steady pace, and I've been trying to widen the circle of participating students by letting more introverted ones try to answer questions and being encouraging. We are hoping for great results for the test tomorrow and I hope students have gotten a lot out of this semester.

 Hello parents and students, Homework for today is as follows: 1. Reading the RS book ("Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest" text) Pages 64-75 2. Read the vocabulary words for Week 5 Resources for this week: 1. Longest Rivers of the World:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJtMSTpfHfg  (Skip to #1-#4) 2. Lake Baikal:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAcReQHYnuE&t=391s 3. Mount Everest:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqkgKHu1gt0 4. Nile River:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEK6PT7K8OM 5. Death Valley: Hottest Spot in the USA:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZrI14lXFHk 6. Self-Practice Activity  https://wordwall.net/resource/78478132 Summary: Today, we went over more pages of the "Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest." reading and did some reading exercises and Q&A to help students understand the reading with more and more depth.

 Hello parents, Over the past two days, we went over the vocabulary and we did a quiz. I've asked students to finish the "Scavenger Hunt" worksheet to help them prepare for the quiz/test and I sent over a few ways to practice the vocabulary to parents through Wordwall and my PowerPoint presentation on the vocabulary words. While I don't usually assign weekend homework, I strongly recommend that students read the text from the book. "Hottest, Coldest, Deepest, Highest." Homework: 1. Read pages 64-69 of the RS book 2. Do the Scavenger Hunt worksheet. 3. If the worksheet was handed into the teacher, do the corrections with a blue pen and give it back next week. Thanks and I'll hand back the quizzes next week. 

 Hello students and parents, Today, we went over the first couple of pages on the text and I asked students to write down the word "expository text" with the definition being "gives information about the real world" for further study since it might be useful later on. After that, we talked about the preliminary parts of their "Scavenger Hunt" worksheet for bookwork/homework. I assigned it for homework today. Also, I added the "Ten Important Sentences" onto the Sensay website so please use it as a way to practice speaking and the sentences that I'll utilize for next week's test. They might also be helpful for the Scavenger Hunt worksheet so check them out.  As for homework: 1. Write Week 4 Vocabulary words 15-25 x2 + definitions (x1) 2. Optional: Chinese translations 3. Scavenger Hunt worksheet (finish by next Friday 9/27) 4. Recommended: Sensay "Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest" Ten Important Sentences practice

 Hello everyone, We went over the rule to do all test and WS corrections with a blue pen together and I helped some of their students who didn't previously finish their Readers and Writers Notebook pages for the past week. If there are any students who didn't finish then I welcome them to come see me so that we can work on it together. I have told students in all three homerooms about this matter. Also, the "Hottest, Coldest, Tallest, and Deepest" is geography heavy so I played the following video for students to see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzqdDdxr9VI It's called the "Continents Song" and it's catchy so students can learn the seven continents.  As always, students need to write the vocabulary words for homework. 1. Write Week 4 Vocabulary words #1-15 x2 + definition 2. Optional: Chinese Translation After that, I need to inform parents about the sentences that I intend to use in the next unit test for the matching section in which half of on...

 "Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest"-Overview Reading Street-Pages 62-75   The expository text gives information about the real world.  This story is an expository text and it talks about important spots on Earth. First, it talks about the Nile River in Egypt which is in Africa.                The Nile River is the longest river in the world. The second longest river is the Amazon River in South America and the third longest is the Chang Jiang/Yangtze River in China. Next, it goes on to talk about the fact that Lake Baikal, in Russia, is the deepest lake in the world and that Mount Everest, which is in India, Nepal, and China, is the highest mountain in the world.  Then, it talks about how how the Sahara Desert, esp. a spot in Libya, is the hottest spot on Earth, and Russia'sVostok Station, Antarctica is the coldest place. Lastly, it goes over several other spots which include the Marianas Trench, which is the deepest sp...

 Hello parents and students, As you may recall from yesterday's blog, today is the testing day and it was an interesting one since it was the first real test that I've had with this group. Many people know that tests can be a useful indicator of students mastery of certain knowledge and a signal that shows that they need to improve on something. That being said, there is no need to place students under so much stress that they can't function properly and there is more to life than just a number on a test.  However, this test did show me who studied properly, who needs better study habits, and what I need to change to the class style and to my style of making tests.  First, I need to require students to take some notes during my class. Hopefully, this can be done with the "bubble book" or with a personal notebook.  Second, there are a couple of questions that I realized might have the correct answer up for debate so I will accept more than one answer for Part 4-Num...

 Hello parents,  We did more vocabulary practice and review today. Since we used a few resources to practice vocabulary for both Week 2 and Week 3, I've shared some of them in the Line group.  There are three topics that students will be tested on- The Reading Street text "The Man Who Invented Basketball", the Week 2 and Week 3 vocabulary, and irregular plural nouns. Week 2 Vocabulary Review: https://wordwall.net/resource/77444066 Story Review https://wordwall.net/resource/77442339 Since there is a test tomorrow, the only homework I gave was to review and finish all of the previously assigned homework, but that includes the following: 1. Finish Pages 247, 250, 252, and 256 in the "Reader's and Writer's Notebook" 2. Finish writing ALL vocabulary words (x2) from Week 2 and Week 3 with definitions.  (Chinese translation is optional.) 3. Finish the worksheets that I gave students (If you can't find these worksheets then don't worry, they are for the ...

 Hello parents, We continued to read through the book's text about how the Canadian James Naismith created the sport of basketball for his PE students in Massachusetts, USA, and how it spread to locals, students nationwide, and was also quickly adopted by women. James' wife was a woman who played the sport that he invented before they even met. While his students were originally reluctant to try a new sport, they quickly changed their minds and stopped grumbling. It's an inspiring story, and it seems that students are enjoying it. As for our homework, I told students that they have two days to finish it. 1. Write Week 3's Vocabulary Words x2 (#1-25) (Finish by Friday) 2. Optional: Chinese Translation 3. Finish the reading in Reading Street (Pages 30-39) Also, please remind students to bring the book to class every day.

 Hello parents and students, We did some reading exercises to help students get more familiar with the "Man who invented Basketball" text along with traditional teaching and explanations of key parts of the story by me. Students liked to engage with the reading exercises and liked to learn about James Naismith's experience as a student and a lumberjack as well as his time studying at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.  While I am posting this blog a day afterwards, I had students write about the reading homework as I asked them to read the whole text and to finish up homework from the previous day.  Homework: 1. Reading the text-Pages 30-40 in the Reading Street book-"The Man who invented Basketball." 2. Finish up quiz corrections and any homework from the previous day 3. Study the Week 3 vocabulary words

 Hello parents and students, Today, we worked with a concept that students have been working on in their grammar classes which is the topic of irregular plural nouns. Along with that, we've spent some time doing some practice with Week 2's voabulary words. As a class, we are learning the importance of time management and how to utilize it as we go into individual work with worksheets and bookwork in the Readers and Writer's Notebook. While I hope that all students learn time management quickly, and some of them definititely are doing so.  As for the irregular plural nouns, these are some that students struggled with the most often: tomato------tomatoes hero---------heroes mouse-------mice deer---------deer knife--------knives elf----------elves While this isn't a comprehensive list, it certainly does help students and parents know where the points of difficulty are for I2 students.  As for homework: 1. Finish all quiz corrections from the quiz last week with a blue pen ...

 Hello parents and students, We had our first quiz today in class with a key focus on vocabulary. This quiz was created not only to test students' knowledge but also to give me a feeling for students' strengths and weaknesses. Students have proven that they are capable and that there is room for improvement for all of us. Since this is our first quiz together, the grading will be on the easier side of it and I will add ten points to the total score once students do their quiz corrections with a blue pen and show them to me. After we got done with the quiz, we briefly went over the history of the NBA and we did some more reading from the Reading Street text "The Man who Invented Basketball" and did an activity about James Naismith's childhood years. We will finish up this reading and some pages of the Readers and Writer's Notebook next week prior to the test on next Friday. Thanks for reading, Brenden Peppo.

 Day 4- During today's class, we did some vocabulary review and we read the Reading Street story "The Man who Imvented Basketball" again. Since we will be doing a vocabulary quiz tomorrow morning, it is important for students to review all of the vocabulary words. The Activity:  https://wordwall.net/resource/77444066 Homework- 1. Write Vocabulary Words 11-20 and definitions x2 2. Optional: Write the Chinese translations  3. Study for the Vocabulary Quiz

 Hello parents, Today, we reviewed the vocabulary that we went over yesterday and finished all of the major twenty vocabulary words that we have for this reading: "The Man who Invented Basketball." For homework, we only have to do reading for today. 1. Read/pre-read pages 30-32 in the Reading Street Book 2. Review all of the vocabulary words (esp. the word "philosophy" which is abstract and all of the words like "disease" "typhoid" and "infection" which are all related to sicknesses and students might easily get confused about.) Also, for ClassDojo, I need to know at least one parent's phone number or e-mail so please send me either in the Communication Book, the Rules Form, or in the Line group.

 Hello parents and students, We went over vocabulary words #1-12, and 15-17 today and we will be going over the other vocabulary words as we read through the text in the next two days and we will have a vocabulary quiz on Friday. Students got a lot out of our learning activities and seemed to respond well to various exercises that we did which included spelling and writing practice. As a result, we saw a rise in comradery and we got to know each others' strengths and weaknesses more. At the end of one of the activities, we needed to review the rules so that everyone has the chance to learn in respectful environment. We will continue to work on reading fluency in class, but I recommend students spend some time on reading the text  "The Man Who Invented Basketball" by themselves at home within the next two weeks. Anyways, I had students write down the homework for today in their Communication Books. Homework: 1. Write the first ten vocabulary words from page 6 in the CB two...

 Hello parents,   Today, we went over the class rules, introductions and some outlines of what we will be discussing over the course of the next couple of weeks with the story of James Naismith and the invention of basketball. Students got to share their experiences with basketball and sports in general so I found out that some students are super interested in the topic of basketball and its Canadian founder James Naismith. Others have a general interest in sports and perhaps know the names of a few NBA stars like Stephen Curry and Lebron James. We had to repeat the rule that it is not polite to speak over others and to raise one's hand during class so I hope that students are adjusting well to this rule now. While students don't seem to know the names of NBA teams, it will not detract from their understanding of the lessons that we will have within the next two weeks, and I do hope that they gain a lot in terms of critical reading skills. During the presentation of the basket...

 Hello students and parents,   The first story that we will be going over this semester is called "The Man who invented Basketball" that covers the life and success of James Naismith. James goes through many transformations during the younger years of his life and was initially more focused on making money as a lumberjack than he was at studying in his senior high school. After that, he realizes that he wants more out of life and ends up finishing his high school years and goes on to studying at McGill University in Montreal which is a famous school in Canada. McGill University is considered one of the top 3 universities in Canada and is on par with many of the Ivy League Schools in the USA.  James Naismith attended there to study philosophy and Hebrew with the hope of becoming a minister later in life, but he has friends who wanted to play rough sports such as rugby and lacrosse with him. While James was dedicated to the study of philosophy and eventually got into McGill...