May 13, 2019

On Monday and Tuesday we will have MAP testing in Language Arts. Please do your best to have your child at school each day.

Also, we will have a test on our novel, No Talking! The best way to prepare is to have your child read over the chapter summaries in their binders and to listen to a few chapters on Learning Ally each day.

On Wednesday-Friday, we will have a writing assignment that I will save for the writing folders that travel with your student to next year's Language Arts teacher.

I'll see everyone tomorrow!

May 5, 2019

Happy May everyone!

I apologize for getting so far behind on my LA blog. We continue to review all of the parts of speech on a daily basis with either an error analysis or word identification activity. We are midway through our novel study of No Talking! by Andrew Clements and the kids love it. It is about a group of 5th graders who end up having a no talking contest (boys against girls). It has stimulated a lot of interesting discussion. We have focused on writing concise chapter summaries, exploring new vocabulary, and making personal connections. We also continue to use Venn diagrams to explore similarities and differences between different story elements. We will finish the novel this week!

We will have LA map testing on May 13 and 14.

You will notice that in Thursday folders you will find a small packet labeled Monday-Thursday that has three sentences on each page. These will be coming home each week. This is an error analysis and correction activity that spirals throughout all of the 5th grade grammar standards. Currently, we do all of the work together. In another week or so these will be done independently. This will provide great information on specific areas of strengths and weaknesses.

Next week we will expand our knowledge of figurative language. This enriches writing as well as the understanding of their use in literature.

Don't forget that reading logs should be filled out 4 times a week. The log will be converted into a language test grade for report cards.

Finally, we will be going to the Galleria at Cumberland on Monday to see Doctor Kaboom and the Wheel of Science. Please send a heartier snack than usual. Should be lots of fun!!

March 1

This past week we began writing book reviews of War Horse. These paragraphs will be completed on Monday. We also covered simple/complete subjects and predicates. We worked in interactive notebooks and played some games. I will give a short quiz on Monday to check for understanding.

This week we will cover compound subjects and compound predicates. We will again work in interactive notebooks and I have some group activities that we will do as well.

Our service project on Friday was wonderful! The kids were awesome and were completely into it. You would all be so very proud!! There were some other groups there and so we were around 100 in total. The group packed over 20,000 meals. We prayed before we started and then prayed over the boxes of food before we left. It was a trip full of teamwork and compassion. I am hoping we can make this an annual activity!

We have completed our study of War Horse and watched the movie. I think the students were astounded at how much the movie departs from the novel. We had a great conversation about the benefits of reading novels instead of watching them. They know first hand that you will miss out on a lot if you only watch the movie.

During March, I will be focusing on grammar and writing. We will begin writing a paragraph each week and working on grammar daily. I will be using Daily Oral Language exercises to focus on error identification and correction.

Please remember that your student should be completing the Reading Log each night and bringing it to you to sign. These logs are used to issue one test grade at the end of the trimester. There are generally 12 weeks in a trimester which equals 48 opportunities to read. They receive their grade based on the number of nights their RL is filled out divided by 40 (we know things come up and always want to extend grace). This is a great opportunity to begin an expectation of independence. They write in their agendas each day that they need to read for 20 minutes. They should be taking the initiative to do this and to have you sign.

If you ever have any questions please let me know. :)

The Finale

On Monday we will complete the reading of War Horse. It has been a great book and very emotional. On Tuesday we will play some review games and then Wednesday we will assess the vocabulary and Thursday we will assess comprehension.

Everyone should have received a permission slip to watch War Horse after the break. Every student must have one to view the film. We will then spend some time comparing and contrasting the book and the movie.

Novel Study

We are continuing our reading of War Horse. We use the story line and literature itself to integrate many of our grammar and writing skills.

(sequencing, inferencing, point of view, parts of speech, and figurative language)

I have encouraged everyone to review the vocabulary each night. Our culminating test will include all of the vocabulary words.

Don't forget to fill out Reading Logs each night.

War Horse

We are continuing our novel study of War Horse this week. Please have your student review all of the vocabulary that we have worked on so far (each night). It will certainly make things easier when it is quiz time.

Enjoy the snow?!?!?

War Horse continues! The story is great and the vocabulary is very advanced and challenging. We have read through Chapter 6 and will read chapters 7-9 next week. Today your child drew a horse! I can't wait for you to see them.

We worked on coordinating conjunctions this week. Next week we will dig a little deeper in prepositions and begin work on Similes and Metaphors. We will also have an opportunity to write.

Enjoy your long weekend!

This week we began reading War Horse. We have read the first 3 chapters and the children will have a quiz on Monday on those chapters as well as the six vocabulary words we have learned from the novel. We are enjoying the story and are focusing particularly on comprehension, inferencing, and identifying the main idea. We also had a grammar quiz this past week over subject nouns and nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions.

Each student also wrote a 3 point paragraph telling about their Christmas Break. These were completed independently and will be graded. You should receive those in Thursdays folders.

Have a great weekend!

The Little Fir Tree

This past week I read "The Little Fir Tree" out loud in class. This very sweet Christmas story, opened up the opportunity to delve into a variety of literary concepts. We have worked on characters, setting, vocabulary, and theme. We also explored Self-to-Text connections and separating the scenes in the story. This week we will finish up with ABC order and writing a book review. The book has also lent itself to a review of the basic parts of speech and onomatopoeia. It really has been fun. The book is by Margaret Wise Brown and if you still in the shopping mood, it would be a great Christmas stocking stuffer!!

Merry Christmas to all of you and I'll see you in 2019!

December 3, 2018

Last week we had a great review of adjectives and this week we will begin a review of verbs. We will finish up the prewriting, editing and publishing of biography paragraphs. Between now and Christmas we will focus mostly on grammar and writing.

Some key concepts that we continue to attend to are:

punctuation

separating items in a series with commas

offsetting transitional words at the beginning of a sentence with commas

including adjectives and adverbs to enrich writing

correct capitalization

identifying key points and how to support those points

We never cover a concept and "leave it". We will always continue to spiral back through all skills as we move forward.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in the morning!!

This week we focused on adjectives. The goal is to define them, generate them and identify them in writing. I am looking to see the students begin to apply them more in their writing. We continue to practice morphology roots with the motions each day. I am so encouraged as everyone begins to identify them in words from all areas of the curriculum.

Yesterday, we wrote a recipe for Oreo Turkeys. We focused on the importance of sequencing and the use of transitional words.

Today we followed our recipes and enjoyed a yummy snack!!

After the break we will begin our next novel study War Horse. We will also delve into interjections and conjunctions. As always we will incorporate writing into everything we do. Our goal: complete sentences and more detailed word choice.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday.

Hello to all!

We finished many supplemental activities for our novel this week. We were able to explore a Plot Mountain and the components of a plot. Everyone also wrote a book review. We will begin focusing on adjectives next week while continuing to spiral through all of the parts of speech. We continue to review all of Wilhemina and Dr. Morphology's lesson in class too! On Monday and Tuesday we will celebrate the novel by watching the movie "The Hidingaways" which is based on the novel. We are excited to then compare and contrast the movie and the book.

Don't forget that October 31st is Book Character Day. Your child may dress up as a book character and should also bring a copy of the book to school with them. Our 5th grade teachers will be dressing up too!!

I will be absent tomorrow but I wanted you to be "in the know". Have a great weekend!

October 20, 2018

This week we finished reading The Mixed Up Files. We enjoyed a great ending reading the final chapter together as a grade level. We also focused on pronouns as well. This week we will spend Monday-Wednesday digging into the different components of the plot line of a story. We will spend a bit of time each day reviewing and on Thursday we will have a test on the novel and the vocabulary words from the novel.