Miss Rens Visits

We have begun a unit on How We Express Ourselves. In particular, we want to see how The Arts connect people. Grade 4M were very lucky to have Miss Rens from Grade 1 come to talk to them about drawing what you see and having fun with it. She is an artist who loves to draw nearly every day of her life. She carries a sketching journal where ever she goes.

Here is Miss Rens showing her own sketch notebook. She takes it everywhere she goes to document her life in sketches and writing. Of course, she's very good at it!

Write your name "in lights". Consider the lines and spaces when you draw.

We watched a video about drawing cartoon faces and tried it for oursleves.

One table is busy at work with their sketching. - Keaton, Marcelo, Marc and Juan.

Using a copy of the video to add more detail.

Hunderwasse is a great inspiration with his colourful painting and his architecture.

Marc and Juan watch and draw.

Miss Rens inspires the group with her own drawings. Hendry is most attentive. He gave a very nice formal thank you to Miss Rens when she finished.

Paying attention and asking questions - Intan, Shereen, Regina and Arneta.

This is how colour can be added. Not all of it needs to be coloured fully. Leave some patches of white.

Angela is getting ready to colour.

The whole class is very involved in "The Arts."

Three wise men?

Watching the cartooning video.

What is Poetry?

Miss Marion tries to lead by example.

We've begun to use our Arts Journals which is a lot of fun. Today we were posed the question, "What is poetry?" First of all, we looked in some poetry books before starting our own mind maps. It's definitely a work in progress...but here some beginnings.

Keaton begins his mind map with a great heading to inspire.

Marcelo's "What is Poetry?" mind map.

One of the poetry books that we are reading.

We all agree that we love funny poems.

Putting it all together.

When we got to the end, we reviewed in many ways. One quick way is to just lay it all out! Put all the 2D maps and 3D models and explanations and experiments in one big floor display. It gives you a really good snapshot of beginnings, middles and endings.

                              The respiratory system made a poster of information and resources.

                                                   Cleazza adds her piece to the "Felt Man".

                     Here's the heart and where it goes. But wait...it that a human heart?

                                              Keaton is confident that he knows what to do.

                        Mr Lindsay was our resident expert when it came to cutting up organs.

                                     The muscular system did a great job with their body map.

 Oh what is this? How does a brain feel? There are surprises inside because it is not quite like it looks on the outside.

                                   Here is a heart from an animal. It is smaller than a human heart.

                                               Sorting out the questions into body systems.

                         Using a stethoscope to listen for our heart beats. This was a maths inquiry.

What did we know?

At the start of the unit on body systems the students thought they knew all about organs. But even though they could name the heart, brains and lungs, when it came to identifying the part and placing it where it should go on a model.....
Watch Hendry's sample video to see how he went.

Understanding Body Systems

For our current unit of inquiry, we have been exploring body systems. You would have thought that is was not an exciting inquiry but we've got right into it and we are finding out many interesting facts; as well as making 3D models and 2D maps. The grade is divided up into body system teams.

Respiratory System

Digestive System

Circulatory System

Skeletal System

Muscular System

Nervous System

The groups have signed a group contract where they have agreed to work well together and to use a range of resources including websites, books and videos.