update 4-3

Here's hoping Spring Break was great!  In class today, the kids had a chance to share about it with their peers.  I heard about some fun things that took place.

Today, we finished up our Arbor Day posters for the Arbor Day poster contest sent out by Mrs. Will.  We will use those as a springboard to writing a story related to the theme.  Either:  Captain Planet saves our forests!

or

Sarah Rainmaker saves our forests!

We will type those in class tomorrow and into Wednesday. Before writing, we will review good leads for narratives and making sure to include a problem, rising action, and resolution. The kids already designed their main characters, settings, and problem/solutions. Some were so excited and going to start it tonight!

Independent reading this week is informational in class and relates to the topic of Space. Today, kids were able to shop for a space related book and had to record 2 questions with 2 answers based from their books. Ask your child about it! Next week, we will start our planet projects (this involves researching and making something at home).

The rest of the week will involve more reading and some researching, which will keep us busy. In your child's planner, we started a goal setting paper for number of pages read daily. The average goal for a fifth grader should be 20-30 pages a week. Students are setting a goal and keeping track daily in school which allows them to reflect on their goals. Please check that if you haven't seen it yet.

Reading Counts goals are due by the end of the year- May 19th.

update 3-21

Last week before Spring Break!  This week, I met with all kids about their Reading Counts goals from 3rd quarter and they set new goals for the last quarter.  Kids enjoyed a reward today for working hard to earn all of their points.  4th quarter reading counts goals are due the last week of school in May.

There has not been a reading log the last few weeks due to testing.  Instead, students have a slip of paper that is glued into their planners to record pages read each day.  In class, we update those daily as we read around 30 minutes in class each day.  Students had to write goals for a daily number of pages being read between class and at home.  Each day, students should read at least 20 minutes at home in addition to school.  The more we read, the better readers we become!

This week, we have read a mix of informational and fictional texts.  Yesterday, we finished an article about monster goldfish and wild pigs being invasive species.  Today, we read a story about a boy whose Uncle lost his hat and chased around town to try to find it.  We also talked about the words tone and mood.

Our week will end reading some informational texts together about Arbor Day and the importance of trees.  Students will be creating posters and writing stories related to this topic.  We will develop and design our main characters to write a story about saving the rainforests.

update 3-9

This is our last week before AIR testing for Language Arts starts next week.  Our quarter also ends next Wednesday, March 15.  Reading Counts points are due by then.  We are taking a summative today and tomorrow that is broken into 2 chunks.

Yesterday and Monday, we practiced on the computers using the state website for testing to play with the tools and to share the discoveries we made.  The main point was to make kids comfortable going into testing next week.  It was a success!  ELA testing dates are next Tuesday and Friday.  One day is just reading multiple passages and answering questions while the other day is reading a few passages and typing an essay.  These are all things we have been doing the entire school year.

For some more fun, on Monday we wrote essays on the importance of sound and posted them on the Science Kidblog.  Yesterday, we had our Battle of the Essays.  Winners are below:  Michael, Kaitlin & Emma, and Bella.

         

There will be no reading homework from me other than to read for this week and next week.  Remember to make sure your child gets plenty of sleep, eats a healthy breakfast, and give them some extra hugs and positive encouragement next week.  Today in class, we took time to create some inspirational posters and tips to hang up for testing day.

update 3-1

Welcome to March!  This week in class, students have had independent reading time to read a free choice book.  Last week, we read informational books and learned some very interesting facts!  All kids received reading counts goal reports today.  They had the chance to ask questions if need be.   Goals are due in two weeks on March 15.

This week, we have focused on reading traditional literature.  We started the week with folktales and will end the week with tall tales.  Please ask your child what they read!  As fifth graders, their job is to be able to analyze character, setting, theme, and/or plot in a story.  We wrote responses discussing similarities and differences between our folktales in these areas.  In writing, we have also looked at samples and discussed what we noticed.  Our latest discussions have included compliments and suggestions for authors.    Then, students are creating writing goals that they reflect on while finishing or revising their responses.  Some samples are below.Overall, the reading and writing skills are growing!

                                       

Next week, we will be taking a practice AIR test on the computer so the kids can become comfortable with the computer settings and features.  Also, at the end of next week will be a reading summative covering fiction and informational text.  Happy reading and writing!

update 2-14

Happy Valentine's Day!  This week, we worked on the reading standards of reasons and evidence.  We have been reading opinions related to a topic and identifying reasons the author used to support their ideas before deciding to write their own.  We have read about whether school music programs are important, having robotic pets versus real pets, year round schooling, and lastly chocolate milk versus white milk.

Currently, we are reading about whether or not schools should be serving chocolate milk in cafeterias.   Each class was split about evenly on the first day before reading.  They had to decide how they thought.  We will see how the thinking shifts...

Kids are finishing an Explorer Project that is integrated with Social Studies.  That is due this Thursday and kids will share those in class.  All kids had time last Friday, Monday, and today to work on the projects.  See some samples below.

The AIR test for ELA is coming up in March...we are working hard to prepare for it!  Reading Counts is due by March 15.

February Book Projects

The book projects were a success!  Such creativity!

update 2-1

Happy February!  Hopefully everyone enjoyed their snow day at home yesterday.

Currently, we are reading our book club books in school and you should see those come home too.  There were many choices to pick from and students chose their top 3 favorites to read.  We have been working in class on stopping and jotting down our thoughts as we read.  The message, "Reading is Thinking" has been focused on too.   Today, we had a book club meeting for 5 minutes and then reflected afterwards on how we thought it went.  Each class set expectations for these meetings and did a great job!

There are two assignments for students to complete for homework this week.  One is the Digital Readworks article and the other is the Google Classroom log writing a paragraph.  Next week, a book project will be assigned for the book club book.

Today, we also took the computerized SRI test to show our reading growth from the beginning of the year to now.  This will be computed as a number and that information with results will go home soon.

In writing, we just finished our final version of the Changes During WW2 essay.  The focus was on giving clear, specific evidence to support our thinking.  Giving topic sentences that tell the reader what they will read about was another focus.

Reading Counts Goals are due by March 15.