October 31 - November 4
Students Should Know:
Unit of Inquiry: The reason for opening and closing paragraphs and the parts of a supporting paragraph.
Maths: add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions, and complete fraction word problems.
Language arts: present perfect, present perfect continuous, idiomatic meaning and pull details from text.
Letter from America
Now there are two classes from America that we are writing to as part of the Unit of Inquiry, Who We Are. We have
written letters as a class and as individuals. However, the letters as individuals need a lot of work. This is their letter as
a class. They in the process of writing letters as individuals.
Dear 4 th graders,
Have ever heard about the “south” United States? That is us. We are southern in many ways. We live in a small community outside Little Rock,Arkansas. We also have accent when we speak. The South has a story behind it if you haven’t researched it. The story is told closely to this. Once upon a time, there were 2 divided sets of states and believed in different ways of treating people, the North and South! The Yankees up north thought we southerners were not smart. Yankees up north felt strong and thought they could defeat us. Two leaders battled and battled with many lives lost. Probably more lives were lost in the fight than what it started over. Well, this lasted for a period of time and it finally came to an end. Unfortunately, the south gave in. The saying still goes today, “The South will rise again.” That’s a little about our history but you need to know us now. We are very big on family and we stand up for them. We are bullheaded most of the time too. We eat very simple foods most of the time like roast and potatoes, spaghetti, turkey, mashed potatoes and of course yes, we love sweets. The men and women don’t differ much around here. A woman can do most things a man can and she will. During the winter, we hunt a lot with guns and bows. Women will hunt as well or do as I do and work all the time. Yes as a teacher I work 7 days usually.
Summertime is very nice here! We have lots of lakes and lots of fishing that we do. It really is a sport where men and women compete. Money is usually a prize along with boats and vehicles. Our holidays seem to be very different. We have so many holidays and our recent one that just passed was Halloween. We do trick or treating very different. The students here walk door to door in neighborhoods with their parents and are given treats. We can’t decide which one of ours sounds better.
Most of our community is centered on religion. There are many churches here where we live and most of our school attends. We are very faith driven people as well. We believe that we should do unto others as they would do to us. Some of our greatest tourist’s spots are also historic. Little Rock Central High School is very well known because of the slavery and segregation
that took place in history. Here locally, we have a bridge that was built a few years back and it lite up at night with 100’s of people walking and riding bikes. Well that is a lot of information to soak up in one writing so please do some research and see what you can find out. I will definitely be writing “ya’ll” soon.
Sincerely,
Ms. Short and her 4 th grade class
Top Students
Maryam and Natavan. Both for continual effort in class.
Vocabulary
One of the parents had this idea. The students will write down words during class that they can take home to learn
with them. I will get them to write down sentence examples for each word. It is not possible to improve language by
memorising individual words. They need to be learnt connected and in context. Sentences do this.
Monday
Homework Given
Number fraction worksheets and decimal multiplication with grammar.
Maths
Fractions by numberline. Shown a number line and asked place the fractions on the number line. Started to go into
equivalent fractions a little.
Language Arts
Homophone and contraction worksheet.
Unit of Inquiry
Wrote a letter to a school that we will be working with in America. The letters need work so I will correct them and then
have the students write them again tomorrow. A lot are writing in disjointed sentences and not paragraphs. Also, we
started the new Unit of Inquiry of Who We Are. First, I want to give the students some philosophical tools that they can
use for their analysis later in the unit.
Tuesday
Homework Given
Fractions and a present perfect grammar exercise.
Maths
Marked homework as a class, concentrating on multiplication of decimals. The actual unit is fractions but I am using
multiplication of decimals to extend the stronger. However, the weaker are also doing ok with multiplication of
decimals. Additionally, I worked only with the weaker today while the stronger students worked by themselves. I will
work with only stronger on Wednesday. At the start the weaker need more help because they need to understand the
concepts in order to practise by themselves. Near the end of the week the stronger need more help in order to extend
themselves.
Language Arts
Completed a reading / interpretation exercise based on a fable. It worked really well because the major weakness of
all the students in their writing is their ability to pull out details. They read a text, which is followed by intellectual
questions that are really good for making them think. It improves their language, critical thinking and writing. If they
can pull details from a text and think about them then they will be able to put details into their writing.
Unit of Inquiry
Yesterday, wrote letters to the American class but the quality wasn’t good enough. Today, we brainstormed as a class
the things that make Azerbaijan interesting. Then we wrote as a class on the projector an introduction to the American
school.
Wednesday
Homework Given
Number patterns, subtracting fractions, present perfect and present perfect continuous.
Maths
Continued work on fractions. The weaker group worked with Miss Parvana and I with the stronger group. After this we
also reviewed the test from last Friday.
Unit of Inquiry
I had hoped to write the letter of personal introduction but we did not get enough time for that today.
Thursday
Homework Given
Equivalent fractions and multi step fraction word problems.
Maths
Continued work on fractions. Students have completed addition, subtraction and multiplication of fractions. If I get 5
minutes spare then we do some word problems on fractions.
Unit of Inquiry
Wrote letters to the class in America. The structure is opening paragraph followed by supporting details and closing
paragraph. Each supporting detail paragraph needs to have a statement, example and explanation. It sounds simple
but only about 50% of the students really understand and apply this concept. Also, things to look for are tidiness of
handwriting, capital letters, full stops sentences and paragraph separation.
Friday
Homework Given
Fraction word problems and fraction calculation. Enough for the weekend and Monday.
Quiz
3 quizzes. One, Unit of Inquiry. Two, Language Arts. Three, Maths.
Maths
Most of the students did not finish the student book on fractions this week. Normally, in a week, they finish both the student book and workbook. Also there are a lot of gaps in their understand of fractions
Students Should Know:
Unit of Inquiry: The reason for opening and closing paragraphs and the parts of a supporting paragraph.
Maths: add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions, and complete fraction word problems.
Language arts: present perfect, present perfect continuous, idiomatic meaning and pull details from text.
Letter from America
Now there are two classes from America that we are writing to as part of the Unit of Inquiry, Who We Are. We have
written letters as a class and as individuals. However, the letters as individuals need a lot of work. This is their letter as
a class. They in the process of writing letters as individuals.
Dear 4 th graders,
Have ever heard about the “south” United States? That is us. We are southern in many ways. We live in a small community outside Little Rock,Arkansas. We also have accent when we speak. The South has a story behind it if you haven’t researched it. The story is told closely to this. Once upon a time, there were 2 divided sets of states and believed in different ways of treating people, the North and South! The Yankees up north thought we southerners were not smart. Yankees up north felt strong and thought they could defeat us. Two leaders battled and battled with many lives lost. Probably more lives were lost in the fight than what it started over. Well, this lasted for a period of time and it finally came to an end. Unfortunately, the south gave in. The saying still goes today, “The South will rise again.” That’s a little about our history but you need to know us now. We are very big on family and we stand up for them. We are bullheaded most of the time too. We eat very simple foods most of the time like roast and potatoes, spaghetti, turkey, mashed potatoes and of course yes, we love sweets. The men and women don’t differ much around here. A woman can do most things a man can and she will. During the winter, we hunt a lot with guns and bows. Women will hunt as well or do as I do and work all the time. Yes as a teacher I work 7 days usually.
Summertime is very nice here! We have lots of lakes and lots of fishing that we do. It really is a sport where men and women compete. Money is usually a prize along with boats and vehicles. Our holidays seem to be very different. We have so many holidays and our recent one that just passed was Halloween. We do trick or treating very different. The students here walk door to door in neighborhoods with their parents and are given treats. We can’t decide which one of ours sounds better.
Most of our community is centered on religion. There are many churches here where we live and most of our school attends. We are very faith driven people as well. We believe that we should do unto others as they would do to us. Some of our greatest tourist’s spots are also historic. Little Rock Central High School is very well known because of the slavery and segregation
that took place in history. Here locally, we have a bridge that was built a few years back and it lite up at night with 100’s of people walking and riding bikes. Well that is a lot of information to soak up in one writing so please do some research and see what you can find out. I will definitely be writing “ya’ll” soon.
Sincerely,
Ms. Short and her 4 th grade class
Top Students
Maryam and Natavan. Both for continual effort in class.
Vocabulary
One of the parents had this idea. The students will write down words during class that they can take home to learn
with them. I will get them to write down sentence examples for each word. It is not possible to improve language by
memorising individual words. They need to be learnt connected and in context. Sentences do this.
Monday
Homework Given
Number fraction worksheets and decimal multiplication with grammar.
Maths
Fractions by numberline. Shown a number line and asked place the fractions on the number line. Started to go into
equivalent fractions a little.
Language Arts
Homophone and contraction worksheet.
Unit of Inquiry
Wrote a letter to a school that we will be working with in America. The letters need work so I will correct them and then
have the students write them again tomorrow. A lot are writing in disjointed sentences and not paragraphs. Also, we
started the new Unit of Inquiry of Who We Are. First, I want to give the students some philosophical tools that they can
use for their analysis later in the unit.
Tuesday
Homework Given
Fractions and a present perfect grammar exercise.
Maths
Marked homework as a class, concentrating on multiplication of decimals. The actual unit is fractions but I am using
multiplication of decimals to extend the stronger. However, the weaker are also doing ok with multiplication of
decimals. Additionally, I worked only with the weaker today while the stronger students worked by themselves. I will
work with only stronger on Wednesday. At the start the weaker need more help because they need to understand the
concepts in order to practise by themselves. Near the end of the week the stronger need more help in order to extend
themselves.
Language Arts
Completed a reading / interpretation exercise based on a fable. It worked really well because the major weakness of
all the students in their writing is their ability to pull out details. They read a text, which is followed by intellectual
questions that are really good for making them think. It improves their language, critical thinking and writing. If they
can pull details from a text and think about them then they will be able to put details into their writing.
Unit of Inquiry
Yesterday, wrote letters to the American class but the quality wasn’t good enough. Today, we brainstormed as a class
the things that make Azerbaijan interesting. Then we wrote as a class on the projector an introduction to the American
school.
Wednesday
Homework Given
Number patterns, subtracting fractions, present perfect and present perfect continuous.
Maths
Continued work on fractions. The weaker group worked with Miss Parvana and I with the stronger group. After this we
also reviewed the test from last Friday.
Unit of Inquiry
I had hoped to write the letter of personal introduction but we did not get enough time for that today.
Thursday
Homework Given
Equivalent fractions and multi step fraction word problems.
Maths
Continued work on fractions. Students have completed addition, subtraction and multiplication of fractions. If I get 5
minutes spare then we do some word problems on fractions.
Unit of Inquiry
Wrote letters to the class in America. The structure is opening paragraph followed by supporting details and closing
paragraph. Each supporting detail paragraph needs to have a statement, example and explanation. It sounds simple
but only about 50% of the students really understand and apply this concept. Also, things to look for are tidiness of
handwriting, capital letters, full stops sentences and paragraph separation.
Friday
Homework Given
Fraction word problems and fraction calculation. Enough for the weekend and Monday.
Quiz
3 quizzes. One, Unit of Inquiry. Two, Language Arts. Three, Maths.
Maths
Most of the students did not finish the student book on fractions this week. Normally, in a week, they finish both the student book and workbook. Also there are a lot of gaps in their understand of fractions
October 24 - 28
Top Students
Huseyn: excellent quality work and a mature attitude.
Fariz: a transformation this week. For some reason, he really decided to start working and produced really good
quality.
Monday
Math
This week, is a review week for maths. The class understands two digit by multi digit multiplication and one digit by
multi digit division. Last week, they did some work on word problems in order to apply this understanding. This week,
in order to apply their understanding, the focus is on word problems.
Language Arts
The students continued their work from the bullying text. They had topic sentences that they needed to write about
such as, ‘why do people become bullies?’. They had to think for themselves and pull the answers from the text.
Unit of Inquiry
I had hoped to get more done for this today. I am still working on getting the students to move from writing sentences
to paragraphs. First, the students took a personality test about themselves, which they graded themselves. Second, I
taught them more solidly, opening and closing sentences for writing, giving them some ideas for how they can start
and finish a paragraph. Students, gave examples to the class and wrote for themselves opening and closing
sentences. All this took longer than expected so on Tuesday, we continue this work.
Tuesday
Math
The class continued working on word problems, applying the mathematics that they have learnt practically. They did
multi step problems that involved subtraction, addition, multiplication and division.
Language Arts
Students started a unit from a set text on How We Express Ourselves.
Unit of Inquiry
First, a short activity on writing headlines. I showed the students 10 short film beginnings and they had to say a
headline. Next, for the main activity, I explained to students the writing format of statement (first sentence), example
then explanation (because). When students put these together with their opening and closing sentences, they will start
to be able to create more professional paragraphs. At the moment their writing is quite disjointed. After I explained to
the students these parts of a paragraph, we wrote as a class, a character description for ‘Dan’, an imaginary
character. Tomorrow, they will write a character description of themselves.
Wednesday
Homework
For the first time, we reviewed homework as a class. We will continue doing this from now on.
Math
For the tomorrow, we reviewed word problems from the textbook.
Language Arts
Students brainstormed their paragraph and wrote opening sentences for their self introduction, which will be used in
their presentation on Friday.
Unit of Inquiry
Students wrote their self introduction.
Thursday
Math
This week is supposed to be review week but the students have a strong understanding of the multiplication and
division that we have learnt so far so I introduced them to multiplication of 3 digit by 3 digit numbers and multiplication
of decimals. Additionally, they were given three worksheets of word problems. Most of the students finished one or two
sheets and were given the rest as homework.
Language Arts
Unit of Inquiry
For Language Arts the students wrote their news story which is to be presented on Friday. They then put this into a
poster with some photos and the introduction that they wrote on Wednesday. There was a big divide between the
students that put in a lot of effort and the ones who put in no effort at all.
Friday
Language Arts
Sat a reading comprehension quiz.
Unit of Inquiry
Presented their work that they had conducted throughout the week. Each student had to stand up and talk about their
news story to the class. First, we did a trial run so that they could practice and then they did the real thing.
Math
Practiced word problems.
Top Students
Huseyn: excellent quality work and a mature attitude.
Fariz: a transformation this week. For some reason, he really decided to start working and produced really good
quality.
Monday
Math
This week, is a review week for maths. The class understands two digit by multi digit multiplication and one digit by
multi digit division. Last week, they did some work on word problems in order to apply this understanding. This week,
in order to apply their understanding, the focus is on word problems.
Language Arts
The students continued their work from the bullying text. They had topic sentences that they needed to write about
such as, ‘why do people become bullies?’. They had to think for themselves and pull the answers from the text.
Unit of Inquiry
I had hoped to get more done for this today. I am still working on getting the students to move from writing sentences
to paragraphs. First, the students took a personality test about themselves, which they graded themselves. Second, I
taught them more solidly, opening and closing sentences for writing, giving them some ideas for how they can start
and finish a paragraph. Students, gave examples to the class and wrote for themselves opening and closing
sentences. All this took longer than expected so on Tuesday, we continue this work.
Tuesday
Math
The class continued working on word problems, applying the mathematics that they have learnt practically. They did
multi step problems that involved subtraction, addition, multiplication and division.
Language Arts
Students started a unit from a set text on How We Express Ourselves.
Unit of Inquiry
First, a short activity on writing headlines. I showed the students 10 short film beginnings and they had to say a
headline. Next, for the main activity, I explained to students the writing format of statement (first sentence), example
then explanation (because). When students put these together with their opening and closing sentences, they will start
to be able to create more professional paragraphs. At the moment their writing is quite disjointed. After I explained to
the students these parts of a paragraph, we wrote as a class, a character description for ‘Dan’, an imaginary
character. Tomorrow, they will write a character description of themselves.
Wednesday
Homework
For the first time, we reviewed homework as a class. We will continue doing this from now on.
Math
For the tomorrow, we reviewed word problems from the textbook.
Language Arts
Students brainstormed their paragraph and wrote opening sentences for their self introduction, which will be used in
their presentation on Friday.
Unit of Inquiry
Students wrote their self introduction.
Thursday
Math
This week is supposed to be review week but the students have a strong understanding of the multiplication and
division that we have learnt so far so I introduced them to multiplication of 3 digit by 3 digit numbers and multiplication
of decimals. Additionally, they were given three worksheets of word problems. Most of the students finished one or two
sheets and were given the rest as homework.
Language Arts
Unit of Inquiry
For Language Arts the students wrote their news story which is to be presented on Friday. They then put this into a
poster with some photos and the introduction that they wrote on Wednesday. There was a big divide between the
students that put in a lot of effort and the ones who put in no effort at all.
Friday
Language Arts
Sat a reading comprehension quiz.
Unit of Inquiry
Presented their work that they had conducted throughout the week. Each student had to stand up and talk about their
news story to the class. First, we did a trial run so that they could practice and then they did the real thing.
Math
Practiced word problems.
October 17 - 21
Overall
● Demonstrate a better understand of descriptive writing in full paragraphs.
● Demonstrate a better understanding of bullying.
● Use multiplication and division in real world problems.
● Apply some basic grammar rules such as capital letters to their writing.
● Write tidier.
Top Students
Said: for consistent effort throughout the week and a solid contribution in class.
Kabir: for putting in more than what is being asked from him even when he finds things difficult. Also for his
contribution in class.
Monday
● Math, today was the first day where the class was split into two groups. It worked really well. Today, I spent
more time with the weaker group but next time, I will spend more time with the stronger group. Grouping as
follows: Strong: Nazrin, Tariyel, Maryam, Sitara, Huseyn, Aliya, Galib, Javad, Mirsaid and Said.
Weak: Kabir, Cavid, Cavidan, Natavan, Hikmat, Fariz and Farid.
● Language Arts, we continued the unit which focuses on media. The focus today was on present perfect
continuous, which is quite a difficult area of grammar. The students have not actually got an understanding
properly of present perfect yet but the activity was simple so it was OK for an introduction. Basically, they simply
had to apply the formula had, plus been plus -ing.
● Unit of Inquiry: The students are going to have to write their own newspaper but they cannot write a proper
paragraph with details so that is the focus this week. This first lesson ask them to create lists in order to think
closely about the details of things.
● Handwriting, the students completed about 20 minutes of handwriting practice.
Tuesday
● Math, the strong group learnt division with grouping and I spent the bulk of the lesson with them. The weak
group practiced two digit by two digit multiplication.
● Language Arts, we continued the unit which focuses on media.
● Unit of Inquiry: the focus was on teaching the children to write in detail. Rather than simply saying, ‘he shot
the ball into the hoop’, to add more description such as, ‘his hands still and breathing slow he pushed the ball
into the air, it hit first the back of the hoop and then the front before finally going in. The crowd cheered.’
Slowing down time and visualising what they are writing.
● Additionally, students also had PE and ICT classes.
Wednesday
● Math, the weak group moved on to division and all of them are ready for it. They can all do two digit by multi
digit multiplication. The strong group practiced division grouping individually as it was taught to them on
Tuesday.
● Language Arts, we started a new unit with a focus on bullying. Today they had to read a text about bullying and
say how it related to them and then the wider world.
● Unit of Inquiry, another focus on writing. The students are getting a good idea about being able to describe
things in detail. Once they get this then we will be able to move on to the structure of a paragraph. They had to
write an imaginary detailed history for my bag.
● Grammar, students completed a worksheet on capital letters. A lot of them are making mistakes with this in
their writing.
Thursday
● Math, yesterday I found out that the class will be divided into three groups at some point. Today, we continued
working on division. The students in the weak group have a good understanding of division but not a lot of
practice. The strong group has done a lot of practice and are ready to move onto more practical word
problems.
● Language Arts, we continued working through the reading passage on bullying. Students identified details
relevant as text to self, text to text and text to world.
● Unit of Inquiry, we completed some worksheets on error correction. Secondly, we wrote a story as a class on
the whiteboard then individually. The story was about Miss Parvana’s handbag. The idea is to get the students
writing in detail. The first step to this being seeing all the details in the world around us.
Friday
● Quizs including, reading comprehension, maths and language arts to be marked.
● Language arts, students completed the unit on bullying.
● Unit of Inquiry, student completed a descriptive writing task. At the start of the week, they tried to write
paragraphs by first creating lists then they moved to writing about characters and then to objects. This final
task is designed for them to use these skills themselves in their own writing. Also, writing is a practical way to
improve their grammar.
Overall
● Demonstrate a better understand of descriptive writing in full paragraphs.
● Demonstrate a better understanding of bullying.
● Use multiplication and division in real world problems.
● Apply some basic grammar rules such as capital letters to their writing.
● Write tidier.
Top Students
Said: for consistent effort throughout the week and a solid contribution in class.
Kabir: for putting in more than what is being asked from him even when he finds things difficult. Also for his
contribution in class.
Monday
● Math, today was the first day where the class was split into two groups. It worked really well. Today, I spent
more time with the weaker group but next time, I will spend more time with the stronger group. Grouping as
follows: Strong: Nazrin, Tariyel, Maryam, Sitara, Huseyn, Aliya, Galib, Javad, Mirsaid and Said.
Weak: Kabir, Cavid, Cavidan, Natavan, Hikmat, Fariz and Farid.
● Language Arts, we continued the unit which focuses on media. The focus today was on present perfect
continuous, which is quite a difficult area of grammar. The students have not actually got an understanding
properly of present perfect yet but the activity was simple so it was OK for an introduction. Basically, they simply
had to apply the formula had, plus been plus -ing.
● Unit of Inquiry: The students are going to have to write their own newspaper but they cannot write a proper
paragraph with details so that is the focus this week. This first lesson ask them to create lists in order to think
closely about the details of things.
● Handwriting, the students completed about 20 minutes of handwriting practice.
Tuesday
● Math, the strong group learnt division with grouping and I spent the bulk of the lesson with them. The weak
group practiced two digit by two digit multiplication.
● Language Arts, we continued the unit which focuses on media.
● Unit of Inquiry: the focus was on teaching the children to write in detail. Rather than simply saying, ‘he shot
the ball into the hoop’, to add more description such as, ‘his hands still and breathing slow he pushed the ball
into the air, it hit first the back of the hoop and then the front before finally going in. The crowd cheered.’
Slowing down time and visualising what they are writing.
● Additionally, students also had PE and ICT classes.
Wednesday
● Math, the weak group moved on to division and all of them are ready for it. They can all do two digit by multi
digit multiplication. The strong group practiced division grouping individually as it was taught to them on
Tuesday.
● Language Arts, we started a new unit with a focus on bullying. Today they had to read a text about bullying and
say how it related to them and then the wider world.
● Unit of Inquiry, another focus on writing. The students are getting a good idea about being able to describe
things in detail. Once they get this then we will be able to move on to the structure of a paragraph. They had to
write an imaginary detailed history for my bag.
● Grammar, students completed a worksheet on capital letters. A lot of them are making mistakes with this in
their writing.
Thursday
● Math, yesterday I found out that the class will be divided into three groups at some point. Today, we continued
working on division. The students in the weak group have a good understanding of division but not a lot of
practice. The strong group has done a lot of practice and are ready to move onto more practical word
problems.
● Language Arts, we continued working through the reading passage on bullying. Students identified details
relevant as text to self, text to text and text to world.
● Unit of Inquiry, we completed some worksheets on error correction. Secondly, we wrote a story as a class on
the whiteboard then individually. The story was about Miss Parvana’s handbag. The idea is to get the students
writing in detail. The first step to this being seeing all the details in the world around us.
Friday
● Quizs including, reading comprehension, maths and language arts to be marked.
● Language arts, students completed the unit on bullying.
● Unit of Inquiry, student completed a descriptive writing task. At the start of the week, they tried to write
paragraphs by first creating lists then they moved to writing about characters and then to objects. This final
task is designed for them to use these skills themselves in their own writing. Also, writing is a practical way to
improve their grammar.
October 10-14
Overall
● Know multi digit by two digit multiplication.
● Starting to understand present perfect tense but still not fully because it is complex.
● Improving their paragraph structure in writing. .
● Have knowledge of the parts of a newspaper article and have some understanding of how to write one
themselves.
Top Students
Javidan: for kindness and for keeping going and working hard even when it is difficult.
Galib: again for kindness. None will have faith until they do for another what they would do for themselves.
Monday
● Math, last week we did multiplication and almost all students had a fairly good understanding. Continuing from
this, we practised as a class then individually multiplication with some new scenarios including rounding to the
greatest value and then multiplying and a focus on estimation with multiplication. Last week, the focus was
more on grouping and place values.
● Language Arts, working from the set material, the students completed activities as a class surrounding the idea
of masks.
● Unit of Inquiry, students investigated writing with emotion, writing comedy and writing descriptively. Secondly,
we completed work on newspaper writing. Specifically, the different techniques used to write a newspaper and
the different jobs that are in a newspaper office.
Tuesday
● Math, again we continued practise with multiplication individually. 100% of the students have a solid
understanding of multiplication now including large numbers by two digit numbers and all the smaller points
attached to multiplication. They are readied to move to the next topic of division. A lot of students already have
an understanding of division from outside school or from previous years of schooling. However, the way that
we will be learning will also present it so that they will need to understand it from different perspectives.
● Language Arts, we continued work from Monday on masks. The work then moved into students needing to
identify in a text internal and external conflict within a character.
● Unit of Inquiry: continuing the theme of newspaper writing, students first looked at a transcript and then looked
at the key points from two short videos. The videos were from a news presenters who were talking about what
is involved in making a newspaper. I wanted to get more finished but we did not get there.
● Additionally, students also had PE and ICT classes.
Wednesday
● Math, 100% individual practise on multiplication. Students know how to multiply two digit numbers by two digit
numbers but they were presented with more difficult examples to solidify their understanding. Some students
are really far ahead in maths and some have some difficulty. This individual practise gave Miss Parvana and
myself some time to help the students that have some difficulty.
● Language Arts, completed activities based around the words: schedule, consistently, decay, spectacular,
withers, tempestuous, eternity and transition. Focusing on the parts of speech that they belong to.
● Grammar, a sentence correction activity on present perfect including present perfect with because and already.
● Unit of Inquiry, as a class we went over the different parts of a newspaper article and then students wrote
another newspaper article themselves. However, they did not apply the parts of a newspaper article to their
own writing properly so there will be a need to do that on Thursday.
Thursday
● Math, students worked well and finished their individual practice of multiplication and are ready to start division.
The students help each other sometimes. The stronger ones helping the ones with gaps in their understanding.
Also, about five students have already started practice with division. They have already learnt it and are able to
move forward by themselves.
● Language Arts, we continued our work on internal versus external conflict. From there, we completed a simple
activity on present perfect continuous. Normally, present perfect continuous would be too difficult for the
students but it was a really simple activity so it was ok.
● Unit of Inquiry, an activity on sources of information then an activity on writing headlines, bylines and place
lines in order to prepare the students to be able to write their own newspaper articles.
● Grammar, completed an activity on present perfect with a focus on past participles.
Friday
● Quizs, to be marked.
● Language arts
● Unit of Inquiry, students reviewed parts of a newspaper article.
● No Language Arts or Maths Friday because of the meeting.
Overall
● Know multi digit by two digit multiplication.
● Starting to understand present perfect tense but still not fully because it is complex.
● Improving their paragraph structure in writing. .
● Have knowledge of the parts of a newspaper article and have some understanding of how to write one
themselves.
Top Students
Javidan: for kindness and for keeping going and working hard even when it is difficult.
Galib: again for kindness. None will have faith until they do for another what they would do for themselves.
Monday
● Math, last week we did multiplication and almost all students had a fairly good understanding. Continuing from
this, we practised as a class then individually multiplication with some new scenarios including rounding to the
greatest value and then multiplying and a focus on estimation with multiplication. Last week, the focus was
more on grouping and place values.
● Language Arts, working from the set material, the students completed activities as a class surrounding the idea
of masks.
● Unit of Inquiry, students investigated writing with emotion, writing comedy and writing descriptively. Secondly,
we completed work on newspaper writing. Specifically, the different techniques used to write a newspaper and
the different jobs that are in a newspaper office.
Tuesday
● Math, again we continued practise with multiplication individually. 100% of the students have a solid
understanding of multiplication now including large numbers by two digit numbers and all the smaller points
attached to multiplication. They are readied to move to the next topic of division. A lot of students already have
an understanding of division from outside school or from previous years of schooling. However, the way that
we will be learning will also present it so that they will need to understand it from different perspectives.
● Language Arts, we continued work from Monday on masks. The work then moved into students needing to
identify in a text internal and external conflict within a character.
● Unit of Inquiry: continuing the theme of newspaper writing, students first looked at a transcript and then looked
at the key points from two short videos. The videos were from a news presenters who were talking about what
is involved in making a newspaper. I wanted to get more finished but we did not get there.
● Additionally, students also had PE and ICT classes.
Wednesday
● Math, 100% individual practise on multiplication. Students know how to multiply two digit numbers by two digit
numbers but they were presented with more difficult examples to solidify their understanding. Some students
are really far ahead in maths and some have some difficulty. This individual practise gave Miss Parvana and
myself some time to help the students that have some difficulty.
● Language Arts, completed activities based around the words: schedule, consistently, decay, spectacular,
withers, tempestuous, eternity and transition. Focusing on the parts of speech that they belong to.
● Grammar, a sentence correction activity on present perfect including present perfect with because and already.
● Unit of Inquiry, as a class we went over the different parts of a newspaper article and then students wrote
another newspaper article themselves. However, they did not apply the parts of a newspaper article to their
own writing properly so there will be a need to do that on Thursday.
Thursday
● Math, students worked well and finished their individual practice of multiplication and are ready to start division.
The students help each other sometimes. The stronger ones helping the ones with gaps in their understanding.
Also, about five students have already started practice with division. They have already learnt it and are able to
move forward by themselves.
● Language Arts, we continued our work on internal versus external conflict. From there, we completed a simple
activity on present perfect continuous. Normally, present perfect continuous would be too difficult for the
students but it was a really simple activity so it was ok.
● Unit of Inquiry, an activity on sources of information then an activity on writing headlines, bylines and place
lines in order to prepare the students to be able to write their own newspaper articles.
● Grammar, completed an activity on present perfect with a focus on past participles.
Friday
● Quizs, to be marked.
● Language arts
● Unit of Inquiry, students reviewed parts of a newspaper article.
● No Language Arts or Maths Friday because of the meeting.
Overview the week of 3, October 3-7
Overall
All these students really impress me. This week they showed an amazing work ethic and got a lot done while rarely complaining, having fun and being friendly to each other. Also, during Unit of Inquiry they showed good critical analysis skills and they all got involved. Not all children at this age would do that.
Homework
There was a mistake with the homework and some of an answer sheet was included with one of the activities. When they come to class on Monday, I will replace it. Also, I apologize for the rough printing. There was a problem with the photocopier at school and I broke my printer. However, now I have replaced my printer so the printing will be quality in the future.
Note on Reading
Next week there will be a change to the student’s reading. However, as of next week, each student will read at least two books a week. They have a journal in which they will write about their stories after which, they will retell the books to either Miss Parvana or myself. Approximately, five students will retell their stories at the end of each day.
Top Students
Every week I am choosing two top students and the prize is a small game.
Said: for consistently participating, paying attention, listening and being a positive influence on everyone around him.
Nazrin: for always putting in 100% effort even when she finds things difficult. Also, tidy work and asking for help when she does not understand and then applying that knowledge.
Students Should Know
● Math, multiplying a double digit number by a double digit number (2x2). For example, 32 x 66. There are two main mistakes that I see. One, they forget to take down the zero when they move to the tens place. Two, they carry across and then multiply the carry.
● Unit of Inquiry we studied basic logic. Your child should be able to read a number of facts and draw these to a logical conclusion. We also studied six fallacies and how they relate to media including the following: ○ Ad hominem: attacking the person rather than the argument.
In Grammar we learnt must, pronouns and present perfect with the focus being on present perfect because last week I noticed that the children had a weakness in this area. There is still a lot that they need to learn about present perfect.
Miss Parvana
We got a new teaching assistant. She has a Masters degree from Azerbaijan Language University which I know is not an easy thing to get. She also already has experience in the classroom and would be capable of teaching the class herself. She is excellent at controlling the children and is a really hard worker. She makes my job a lot easier and I am really grateful to have her.
Monday
Math, we revised grouping of numbers including turning tens into hundreds and hundreds into thousands from last week. After this we learnt multiplication of two digit numbers by two digit numbers. Some students have already learnt this type of multiplication but the whole class needs to move through everything step by step. Unit of Inquiry, students learnt the basic components of logic. We applied this to a text by steps. First, pulling details from a text on an argument between two parties. Second, drawing a conclusion from these details. Third, debating the argument as a class.
Language Arts: On Monday, the lesson was focused on some vocabulary concerning media including, broadcast, printing press, smart phone, advertising, blog, publisher and magazine. Grammar: ‘must’ and the students grasped this easily. Handwriting: if I get time during the day then I will give students some handwriting practise. Handwriting should be tidy because it creates a mindset of pride in their work.
Tuesday
Math, continued practise of multiplication of two digit numbers by two digit numbers, working step by step through, mostly working as a class. Unit of Inquiry, did another exercise the same as Monday but with a different text. Next, students were introduced to the 6 fallacies so these were explained to them and then they played a game that reinforced their understanding. Language Arts, The topic focused on different jobs in newspaper publishing. Grammar, present perfect. They started a worksheet that has an explanation and some activities.
Wednesday
Math, continued practise of multiplication of two digit numbers by two digit numbers and also pushed a little into division. Unit of Inquiry, discussion and questions based on how much we are surrounded by advertisements in the media with some writing on this in their copy books. Following from this we discussed, how much we are hypnotized by advertising and how much we are in control of our own lives. We reviewed the 6 fallacies again and students wrote examples for each one in their copy books. They like the idea of tricking someone. Language Arts, together we worked through another worksheet on present perfect.
Thursday
Math, on Wednesday we did a lot of work on multiplication as a class but on Thursday we did more individual based practise. So students were working at their desks practising their own problems. It gave Miss Parvana and myself a chance to work individually with students who were having difficulty with understanding. Quite a few students had difficulty. A student may understand something one day but forget the next. Unit of Inquiry, students were presented with media advertisements and they had to identify the fallacies present in each one. They also needed to finish writing on the fallacy examples from Wednesday. Language Arts, Grammar, students completed a worksheet on present perfect individually.
Friday
Included quizs. One math, one grammar, one comprehension and I also gave them a reading level quiz so that I would know what level of reading books to give them. Math, there is no lesson set for math on Friday, however, we had the math quiz, which was marked by Miss Parvana but which I have not seen yet. Also, they completed a math practise sheet and we played a game. In the game, I write four math problems on the board and four students have to complete them while the rest of the class check to make sure that their answers are correct. Unit of Inquiry, students were presented with more fallacious advertisements that they needed to dissect. They then chose one to write about in their copy books. Language Arts, none for Friday. Grammar, none for Friday.
Overall
All these students really impress me. This week they showed an amazing work ethic and got a lot done while rarely complaining, having fun and being friendly to each other. Also, during Unit of Inquiry they showed good critical analysis skills and they all got involved. Not all children at this age would do that.
Homework
There was a mistake with the homework and some of an answer sheet was included with one of the activities. When they come to class on Monday, I will replace it. Also, I apologize for the rough printing. There was a problem with the photocopier at school and I broke my printer. However, now I have replaced my printer so the printing will be quality in the future.
Note on Reading
Next week there will be a change to the student’s reading. However, as of next week, each student will read at least two books a week. They have a journal in which they will write about their stories after which, they will retell the books to either Miss Parvana or myself. Approximately, five students will retell their stories at the end of each day.
Top Students
Every week I am choosing two top students and the prize is a small game.
Said: for consistently participating, paying attention, listening and being a positive influence on everyone around him.
Nazrin: for always putting in 100% effort even when she finds things difficult. Also, tidy work and asking for help when she does not understand and then applying that knowledge.
Students Should Know
● Math, multiplying a double digit number by a double digit number (2x2). For example, 32 x 66. There are two main mistakes that I see. One, they forget to take down the zero when they move to the tens place. Two, they carry across and then multiply the carry.
● Unit of Inquiry we studied basic logic. Your child should be able to read a number of facts and draw these to a logical conclusion. We also studied six fallacies and how they relate to media including the following: ○ Ad hominem: attacking the person rather than the argument.
- Authority: making a claim based on the position or power of someone else.
- Quantum physics: using complicated statistics or numbers to make an argument seem strong.
- All natural: claiming that it comes from plants or trees so it must be good.
- Antiquity: it is old and therefore must be good.
- Bandwagon: everyone else is doing it so you should too.
In Grammar we learnt must, pronouns and present perfect with the focus being on present perfect because last week I noticed that the children had a weakness in this area. There is still a lot that they need to learn about present perfect.
Miss Parvana
We got a new teaching assistant. She has a Masters degree from Azerbaijan Language University which I know is not an easy thing to get. She also already has experience in the classroom and would be capable of teaching the class herself. She is excellent at controlling the children and is a really hard worker. She makes my job a lot easier and I am really grateful to have her.
Monday
Math, we revised grouping of numbers including turning tens into hundreds and hundreds into thousands from last week. After this we learnt multiplication of two digit numbers by two digit numbers. Some students have already learnt this type of multiplication but the whole class needs to move through everything step by step. Unit of Inquiry, students learnt the basic components of logic. We applied this to a text by steps. First, pulling details from a text on an argument between two parties. Second, drawing a conclusion from these details. Third, debating the argument as a class.
Language Arts: On Monday, the lesson was focused on some vocabulary concerning media including, broadcast, printing press, smart phone, advertising, blog, publisher and magazine. Grammar: ‘must’ and the students grasped this easily. Handwriting: if I get time during the day then I will give students some handwriting practise. Handwriting should be tidy because it creates a mindset of pride in their work.
Tuesday
Math, continued practise of multiplication of two digit numbers by two digit numbers, working step by step through, mostly working as a class. Unit of Inquiry, did another exercise the same as Monday but with a different text. Next, students were introduced to the 6 fallacies so these were explained to them and then they played a game that reinforced their understanding. Language Arts, The topic focused on different jobs in newspaper publishing. Grammar, present perfect. They started a worksheet that has an explanation and some activities.
Wednesday
Math, continued practise of multiplication of two digit numbers by two digit numbers and also pushed a little into division. Unit of Inquiry, discussion and questions based on how much we are surrounded by advertisements in the media with some writing on this in their copy books. Following from this we discussed, how much we are hypnotized by advertising and how much we are in control of our own lives. We reviewed the 6 fallacies again and students wrote examples for each one in their copy books. They like the idea of tricking someone. Language Arts, together we worked through another worksheet on present perfect.
Thursday
Math, on Wednesday we did a lot of work on multiplication as a class but on Thursday we did more individual based practise. So students were working at their desks practising their own problems. It gave Miss Parvana and myself a chance to work individually with students who were having difficulty with understanding. Quite a few students had difficulty. A student may understand something one day but forget the next. Unit of Inquiry, students were presented with media advertisements and they had to identify the fallacies present in each one. They also needed to finish writing on the fallacy examples from Wednesday. Language Arts, Grammar, students completed a worksheet on present perfect individually.
Friday
Included quizs. One math, one grammar, one comprehension and I also gave them a reading level quiz so that I would know what level of reading books to give them. Math, there is no lesson set for math on Friday, however, we had the math quiz, which was marked by Miss Parvana but which I have not seen yet. Also, they completed a math practise sheet and we played a game. In the game, I write four math problems on the board and four students have to complete them while the rest of the class check to make sure that their answers are correct. Unit of Inquiry, students were presented with more fallacious advertisements that they needed to dissect. They then chose one to write about in their copy books. Language Arts, none for Friday. Grammar, none for Friday.