Reading:

Students will continue reading their book, either Hatchet or Esperanza Rising. The students will pick a new Literature Circle Role and be expected to complete their role to be reading for discussion on Friday.  There will also be comprehension questions, that the students will need to use text evidence to support their answers. 

 

Writing:

Students will choose a topic for their Opinion Writing piece.  They will continue to use the writing process, brainstorming, rough draft, editing and final copy.  

Welcome back and Happy New Year!

 

In Language Arts this week we will start a new unit on Opinion writing and reading. We will continue to run Literature Circles where students are placed in a small group and go through 15-to-20-minute rotations working on Reading, Writing, Typing club and Teacher time. 

 

Reading:  Two groups will be reading Hatchet by Gary Paulson and the other two groups will read Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz.  The students will pick their literature circle role and while reading the set number of pages, they will be responsible for completing their role.  The roles are Discussion Director, Word Wizard, Connector, Illustrator, or Summarizer.  Ask your child what book and role that they are responsible for. 

 

Writing:   We will begin working on Opinion writing where we will discuss the meaning of an opinion, look at some examples and write a short opinion using a graphic organizer.  We are laying the foundation for the Opinion paper that the students will work on the following week. 

Language Arts this week, the students will finish writing their final copy of their research paper, continue free reading, typing club and I will meet with each student to help guide them through the research final writing process. 

 

On Wednesday, we will take the CMAS practice test to use the data as to analyze what 5th grade skills still need to be addressed. 

The week the students will be showing Reading skills growth by taking the MAP test on Monday from 9:15 to 10:45.   I see the success with all the kids on a day-to-day basis, and I am excited to see their growth. 

 

The students will continue working on the research for their nonfiction topic.  After the research is complete the students, will using the hamburger graphic organizer to create the body of the research paper using a topic sentence, three supporting details sentences, and then finish with a conclusion sentence.

The goal is to have the research paper's complete by December 13.   

 

The students will continue working on typing club and free reading a book of their choice. 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Back!

 

We will continue with the Language Arts rotations:

Teacher time - guiding them on their research and helping the students through the process.

Reading time - reading and researching their topic.

Writing - writing down research, siting sources, and organizing their research. 

Typing Club - continue at the level that they are currently at. 

 

Writing:

On Monday the students will begin working on their Informational Research papers by picking three topic and then picking their top choice. The next step will be to write everything that they know about the topic, and then write three questions that they would like to learn more about the topic.  Three different colors will be used for each question, and they will research using the internet and nonfiction books which will take them through the week.  The students will learn how to site sources.  

 

Reading:

On Monday, there will be review of the text structures using task cards. Then throughout the rest of the week the students will be reading research using text and the internet to research their topic for their research paper. 

 

 

This week we will begin our Informational Text Unit. 

Our literature circle groups have changed.  The students will be in one of four groups and following four rotations.  

 

Reading:

  The students will be learning text structure strategies and build on their background knowledge using nonfiction text to practice better understanding.  The text structures that we are focusing on are compare/contrast, description, cause and effect, chronological order, and problem and solution.  Each day we will focus on a different structure and the students will practice using these structures. 

 

Writing:

  The students will write an informational text common assessment on a person that they admire. The students will have all week to work on this common assessment.  When the students finish, they we start working on brainstorming ideas for their nonfiction research paper. 

This week we will finish reading Wonder and have our final Literature Discussion group.  The students have done an amazing job of reading and sharing their specific job with the small groups. 

 

For writing the students will finish writing their "How to" and share with their peers to check if they wrote enough details for anyone to complete their "How to"

 

We will be watching the "Wonder" movie on Wednesday and Thursday to compare and contrast the book to the movie. If you haven't filled out the permission form that I sent via email, please do so as soon as possible.  If you didn't receive the form through email, please let me know so that I can send it to you on Monday!

 

Reminder there is no school on Friday in observance of our Veterans. 

Reading this week:   Students are doing amazing with the Literature Circle Jobs and the discussions.  We had our second round last Thursday.  We are on the 6th part of Wonder and the students in each group have chosen a new job and started the reading. This week the students will finish the book Wonder. and chose their last literature circle job.  All the students have improved in their ability to join the discussion and show higher level thinking skills. 

 

Writing this week:  On Tuesday students will share their final draft of their Halloween stories If the students would like to bring in a flashlight to share their stories for a little Halloween fun, they are free to do so. 

  Our next unit will be learning how to Informational Text.  We will kick this off on Wednesday by learning how to write a "How to" piece being aware of including all steps and specific details. 

Last week was incredible!

We started our Language Arts rotations, and the students did a fantastic job of going through each rotation every day!

 

This week the students will be responsible for completing the following:

 

Word Work: new words from Wonder with a different activity each day to learn and reinforce the words and definitions. 

 

Reading:  Read Part 6 in Wonder from August's perceptive once again and choose a new literature circle job and complete the task. The jobs are Discussion Director, Connector, Word Wizard, Illustrator, Passage Picker, and Summarizer.  I am impressed how wonderful the students did with their job and shared their understanding of their reading. 

 

Writing:  Continue writing their Halloween story and use the Narrative editing checklist sheet to then create a final copy of their story. 

 

Typing Club:  I have been observing student's typing skills improving by becoming more aware of where the keys are all located.  

 

 

Welcome back from Fall Break!

 

This week we are going to dive into our small group rotations. 

Each student will be in a small group and will have tasks to complete daily.  The task will be Word Work, Writing, Reading and Typing Club.  

 

One of the rotations will be Teacher time where the students are going to learn how to run Literature Circles with different roles and these roles will rotate.   

 

Reading: We will continue reading Wonder and practicing comprehension through our Literature Circles. 

 

Writing: The students are going to choose a Halloween writing prompt and using the student rubric they will practice all the steps of writing a Narrative story. 

We are going to practice reading/writing rotations this week. 

There will be four rotations:

- Technology - learning to type

- Word work - vocabulary words from the book Wonder with a different activity every day. 

- Writing time - reflecting on situations from the book Wonder 

- Teacher Time - small group instruction to work on reading comprehension skills and reading.

 

I am looking forward to teaching the students how rotations will work, and I believe that this will help to address specific reading and writing skills. 

We will only have class on Wednesday and Friday. 

Monday and Tuesday will be Outdoor Education and Thursday will be our Washington Street cleanup. 

 

We will continue reading Wonder, spending time on Vocabulary words from Wonder and completed comprehension questions and Quick Writes based on the book for better understanding. 

Warmups - focus is on adjectives. 

 

Reading - The students are about a quarter finished reading the book Wonder  Ask your student who the main characters are, and retell what are the main events so far. We will continue reading, answering comprehension questions, and learning vocabulary words.

 

Writing 

  Most students have finished their Personal Narrative and the improvements that I have seen so far this year are pretty amazing. For writing this week, we will writing quick writes using prompts that pertain to the book Wonder. 

 

Language Arts' focus

 

Warmup: We will start looking at verbs and practice using both action and linking verbs

 

Reading:  We will continue reading Wonder and completing Reading Comprehension activities focusing on using the Story Plot Mountain. 

 

Writing:  The students will continue working on their Personal Narrative and following the writing process.  The final draft will be completed by Friday. 

Focus for

 

Writing:

  Students will be work on creating a five-paragraph personal narrative of their choice.  They will begin with brainstorming, write a rough draft, edit and then create a final copy. 

 

Reading:

  We will review the Elements of Fiction and then begin reading the book Wonder.  The format for reading Wonder will be prereading work, vocabulary, reading the book together, with partner and on silently on their own, comprehension questions, filling out the story plot mountain graphic organizer.