Grade 4
Classroom newspaper
Objective: Students will create a classroom newspaper.
Materials: Exemplar
Pencils and erasers
Markers
Glue sticks
Laptops
Nine newspaper pages constructed from poster board
Four different templates consisting of photo and story elements x2 (plus front page)
Pictured at the left are some of the completed newspaper pages created by the Grade 4 students. Pictured below is the front-page template, which shows the photos and story elements that students arranged to customize their group's page.
Students were organized into eight groups and decided on the theme of their page. Because no two pages could have the same theme, some groups had to negotiate! Page themes included travelling food, music, sports, pets, gaming, movies, and coupons, Jupiter and comics. Once students selected a theme, they were given one of the four different templates. How they organized the template elements such as photo and story boxes on the page was entirely up to them. Once they "slotted" their photos and stories, the groups worked on assigning stories and photos to group members. They researched their stories on the Internet using the class laptops, printed their stories and photos, and glued them to the appropriate spots on their newspaper pages. The final product was called "MMH Scoop!"
Reflection: Next time, I'd like to spend more time on the how-to portion of story writing. Some groups had trouble making it past the story-idea stage. I found a great lesson on the 5W's (who, what, where, when and why) using the Jack & Jill nursery rhyme. It would make a great addition to this lesson.
Materials: Exemplar
Pencils and erasers
Markers
Glue sticks
Laptops
Nine newspaper pages constructed from poster board
Four different templates consisting of photo and story elements x2 (plus front page)
Pictured at the left are some of the completed newspaper pages created by the Grade 4 students. Pictured below is the front-page template, which shows the photos and story elements that students arranged to customize their group's page.
Students were organized into eight groups and decided on the theme of their page. Because no two pages could have the same theme, some groups had to negotiate! Page themes included travelling food, music, sports, pets, gaming, movies, and coupons, Jupiter and comics. Once students selected a theme, they were given one of the four different templates. How they organized the template elements such as photo and story boxes on the page was entirely up to them. Once they "slotted" their photos and stories, the groups worked on assigning stories and photos to group members. They researched their stories on the Internet using the class laptops, printed their stories and photos, and glued them to the appropriate spots on their newspaper pages. The final product was called "MMH Scoop!"
Reflection: Next time, I'd like to spend more time on the how-to portion of story writing. Some groups had trouble making it past the story-idea stage. I found a great lesson on the 5W's (who, what, where, when and why) using the Jack & Jill nursery rhyme. It would make a great addition to this lesson.
Concrete Poetry
Objective: Students will create summer-themed concrete poetry.
Materials: Exemplars
Pencils and erasers
Markers
Tracing paper
Lined paper
Pictured is one of the two exemplars I created for a Grade 4 lesson on concrete poetry and hung on the whiteboard to attract students as they came in to their classroom that morning. (It worked! They came in and excitedly asked if that was what they were doing today.)
Students were provided a choice of eight different line-art templates, including images of flip-flops, popsicles, flowers, baseballs and sailboats. Once students selected their favourite template, they wrote on lined paper a list of 20 summer-themed words. Ideally, the words were connected to their images, but it was OK if they were generic summer words. After the words were checked for correct spelling, students placed a sheet of tracing paper over their template. Students used pencil to lightly trace the template to act as a guide for when they wrote their summer words on the tracing paper. Once the tracing was done, students used a pencil to write their summer words along the shape. Students then traced over the words using coloured markers of their choice. The final step of their concrete poem was to erase any tracing lines that may be visible.
Reflection: I offered eight different line-art templates but some proved more popular than others, such as the popsicles and flowers. Eight is a lot of choice. Next time, I'd offer four templates, including two sports-themed ones, but offer more copies of those four so more than one student can use the popsicle template at a time, for example.
Materials: Exemplars
Pencils and erasers
Markers
Tracing paper
Lined paper
Pictured is one of the two exemplars I created for a Grade 4 lesson on concrete poetry and hung on the whiteboard to attract students as they came in to their classroom that morning. (It worked! They came in and excitedly asked if that was what they were doing today.)
Students were provided a choice of eight different line-art templates, including images of flip-flops, popsicles, flowers, baseballs and sailboats. Once students selected their favourite template, they wrote on lined paper a list of 20 summer-themed words. Ideally, the words were connected to their images, but it was OK if they were generic summer words. After the words were checked for correct spelling, students placed a sheet of tracing paper over their template. Students used pencil to lightly trace the template to act as a guide for when they wrote their summer words on the tracing paper. Once the tracing was done, students used a pencil to write their summer words along the shape. Students then traced over the words using coloured markers of their choice. The final step of their concrete poem was to erase any tracing lines that may be visible.
Reflection: I offered eight different line-art templates but some proved more popular than others, such as the popsicles and flowers. Eight is a lot of choice. Next time, I'd offer four templates, including two sports-themed ones, but offer more copies of those four so more than one student can use the popsicle template at a time, for example.
Other activities
I accompanied the class on three field trips:
• The Fort Museum of the NWMP and First Nations Interpretive Centre in Fort Macleod
• Community Roots Field Trip to Helen Schuler Nature Centre and Waterton Front Park
• Fun in the Sun Day at Nicholas Sheran Park (It rained. We biked over anyway and had a blast.)
• The Fort Museum of the NWMP and First Nations Interpretive Centre in Fort Macleod
• Community Roots Field Trip to Helen Schuler Nature Centre and Waterton Front Park
• Fun in the Sun Day at Nicholas Sheran Park (It rained. We biked over anyway and had a blast.)