Greek Mythology made us better readers.
While studying ancient history, we loved reading Greeks myths. We became friends with every god on Mt Olympus and met blood-thirsty creatures, such as a gorgon, cyclop, harpie, cerberus and chimera. We enjoyed reading these myths through historical fictional novels, such as “It’s all Greek to Me”. We made connections to many of the modern stories, movies and comics that still use characters and themes from Greek mythology. We also enjoyed Greek myths through Readers’ Theatre. We practiced reading fluently, with vocal expression, facial expression, gesture and pacing. Each group performed a different myth, including Theseus & the Minotaur, King Midas and Medusa. As a class, we also explored the vocabulary and themes of Pandora’s Box. We each played a part and shared our video at assembly. Grade 4 presents Pandora’s Box! Add comments about any modern books, movies or comics you know that contain characters or themes from Greek...
Read MoreCongratulations to our Creative Classmates!
Congratulations to Hyun Seo and Sang Won! They have received Honorable Mentions in an Art & Writing Competition (judged by City Weekend Kids & Parents Magazine). Their writing and drawings will be displayed at a hotel. They will also be invited to receive their awards at a public ceremony. Congratulations on your creative success! We are very proud of you! Have another look at their beautiful images of the future below: See this previous post for more great writing & artwork from our class: http://blogs.biss.com.cn/sodwyer/2012/10/23/describe-the-future-in-100-words/#more-446...
Read MoreDescribe the future in 100 words.
As we study ancient history, we have taken the opportunity to review concepts of past, present and future. While we research the lives of ancient people, we’ve also had fun imagining the lives of future generations. Our creative writing prompt this week came from the City Kids & Parents Magazine. What will the world be like in 100 years? Here are a few of our 100-word descriptions: 100 Years in the Future Now, let’s narrow our thinking to the next decade: What do you hope your life will be like in 10 years? What do you think the environment will be like in 10 years? What will you do to make the world a better place over the next decade?...
Read MorePoetry & Parts of Speech
This month, we are focusing on poetry. It is helping us learn rich vocabulary and understand parts of speech. Today we wrote diamante poems which require nouns, adjectives and verbs. Here are our class constructions: We are now working on individual poems about ourselves and poems which contrast two different personalities. Stay tuned to read more student writing! UPDATE! Here are two individual poems. Kota and Sajid read them aloud at assembly: Blue Blue looks like A boring, rainy day Juicy berries hanging from a bush And my favorite baseball team Blue sounds like Gentle, ocean music Water dripping in the sink And a ghost approaching Blue feels like Bright, sunny weather The perfect day to paint a house And an extra hour of playtime. Blue tastes like A cup of wobbly jello A warm berry pie And an icy cold glass of water. Blue By Kota If I If I Were In Charge of the World If I Were In Charge of the World I’d ban wars among all nations I’d ban starvation among children And I’m make every day a holiday. If I were in charge of the world There’d be giant swimming pools in every home There’d be smaller soccer stadiums so more goals are scored And better technology for all. If I were in charge of the world You wouldn’t find traffic, rubbish or pollution. You wouldn’t find rules, bedtimes or homework. You wouldn’t find any sadness or loneliness. If I were in charge of the world. By Sajid ...
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