WE ARE FOURTH-GRADE

 .         .      

As parents and teachers, we understand the critical role that positive relationships and emotional connections play in a child's development. It's those relationships and connections that offer the support necessary for children to develop empathy, a sense of belonging, and a responsibility to themselves and others. This foundation creates a pathway for developing essential life skills (self-regulation, social awareness, and responsible decision-making, to name a few) and to function well in a classroom, the broader community, and in life beyond school. What has become apparent to all of us is that children's limited ability to nurture and develop these relationships and connections during the last two years has, in some way, had an impact on their social and emotional well-being, and in turn, their academic success. 

Despite the challenges of the last couple of years, we now find ourselves with an opportunity to redesign how we can best support our students socially and emotionally and help them establish and/or re-establish positive, fulfilling relationships and connect/reconnect with one another. We've identified a need to address this as a grade level, providing opportunities for students to comingle with other classes and engage with one another in much-needed fun and interactive community-building experiences.

This week's guest bloggers reflect on these adventures and the hope of what lies ahead. Enjoy!

Our community-building experiences are important because the Coronavirus broke up a lot of friendships and we need to reconnect with each other. Some people were able to keep their friends, but some lost their friends or are not allowed to have play dates because of the pandemic. Giving kids a chance to reconnect with each other is really important.   - @Koala333

A positive experience that I had during our last community-building experience was playing the game THIS or THAT. It helped me figure out what other people were like so that I could better connect with them. I made some new friends because of that.   - @WowWriter

These community-building experiences are important because lately, the fourth-grade has been kind of shaky since Covid-19 struck. In first-grade, I had a bunch of friends, but these past two years we haven't seen each other as much as we used to. It will be really great to reconnect with each other.    - @Pickle03

Community-building experiences are important because some people have forgotten that other people have feelings. We can get to know each other better and make some new friends.   - @Kiwi222

There are a couple of things that I hope come out of these community-building experiences. One is for the friendships that have been fractured, due to the pandemic, to be repaired. I know some people who have lost a couple of friends because of Coronavirus and I really hope that those friendships can be repaired. Another thing is for the fourth-grade community to be whole again. For the last two years, each classroom has been sort of isolated, as if they were on their own little planets. We need to bring everyone back together.   - @M&M

These types of community-building experiences are important because since the pandemic started, it has been really hard to create friendships. Group activities can help with this and it's even better since we're mixing up the classes.    - @NonCat

I haven't made new friends since Covid and I would like to. I'm sure the kids who are new to this school would like to as well. Doing these community-building activities will help with that and maybe we can all become friends with everyone.    - @recycle

Our community-building experiences are important because we get the chance to meet new people since it's been hard to see friends out of school or in school during Covid-19. We also get to hang out with new people and with friends you haven't seen in a while.    - @Wolverine12

These community-building experiences are important because there has been a lot of friction between some kids and that friction could turn into bullying, which would be really bad. It's important to put this all to an end and bring people closer together.   - @Moon_Drop

One positive experience from these activities has been meeting new people and getting to know how they think. I hope that this will bring out more kindness and feeling open to others. Our community-building experiences are important because the pandemic has been dragging kids apart and instead we should be bringing them closer together. Friendships should be made instead of broken.    - @Lightning24

Sources: https://edulastic.com/blog/social-emotional-learning/ (Edulastic logo)

Connecting the Present With the Past

As we embark on our learning journey through the early civilizations of North America, we'll explore how Native Americans lived and worked together in families and communities.  Concern and respect for others, particularly elders in the family and community, was central to their daily life. Elders in ancient Native American communities played an important role in sharing knowledge, wisdom, and an understanding of people and the world around them through strong oral tradition and storytelling. To help make this topic relevant, we explored how we might connect the past with the present. Learners paid tribute to the elders in our own community, gaining new respect and empathy for the wisdom these elders can share with us as we navigate through life. 

As an entry event to a much-anticipated project-based learning experience, we invited some familiar elders into our classroom to share their own wisdom and life lessons with us. Grandpa, Grandma, Grandad, Nana, and Pepèré were gracious enough to share with us stories of their journeys through life and important lessons they've learned along the way. We were all ears.

This week's guest bloggers share their takeaways with us. Enjoy!

One thing I learned from Will's grandparents' visit is that many years ago when they took a bath, they only had a little bit of water. We don't have to worry about that today. I think that is kind of crazy!    - @GoatLover

I learned from Grandad that anything is possible and if you believe in yourself, you can expect success. Another thing, don't tease, mock, brag, or be cocky - winning doesn't mean you are better than everyone else.   - @TheBeeGuy101

I enjoyed hearing how Grandad grew up in Ireland and how different his life was back in the day.     - @WaterBottle1

Something I remember Will's grandad said is "different is good". I think that is such a good saying because it's so true and just because you may be different does not mean that's bad.    - @Strawberry

The highlight was when Will's grandad did a little Irish step dance for us, especially because his leg hurt. I would have politely said 'no', but he did it anyway. It looked fun and complicated at the same time.     - @Ham

I thought it was really cool that Nathan's grandfather got to learn so much about making things from maple syrup. He even brought in maple syrup candies for us so that we could share his experience with us.    - @EarthySmurf

I learned from Pépère that no matter what gets in your way, you can achieve your goals as long as you believe in yourself.    - @TheBeeGuy101

A highlight for me was hearing Nathan's grandfather's memories he made as a kid. I enjoyed hearing about his French Canadian customs and traditions, like making maple taffy! He taught us that if you heat maple syrup to 235 degrees Fahrenheit and then pour it over snow, it makes maple taffy!    - @M&M

I liked hearing about Nathan's grandfather's family history and traditions and that each second he spends with his family is something special.    - @Venom

I think something important to highlight is that Isla's grandfather talked about how it took such a long time to come to America and how much work it took to get here. Perhaps they did that so their family could be happier.    - @Pineapple

I thought it was really cool that Isla's grandfather brought in a homemade map that explained how they got to America.    - @Koala333

It was nice to learn that Isla was named after an island in Scotland where her Nana's family is from.    - @G-Money