A Break is Almost Here!

Last week we began an in class project that will continue through the rest of the quarter. Students are researching either an alternative energy source, electric or hybrid car, or different types of waste and recycling.

We began the research process and students will be finishing up their research when we return from Thanksgiving Break. From this research they will be writing an informative paragraph in Language Arts class followed by a persuasive paragraph in Writer's Workshop. They will be publishing their work and creating a short Public Service Announcement.

This week we will be completing the Unit 4 Vocabulary and Spelling Quiz. Also, the students had their first assignment from their Newbery Award Project due; a bookmark displaying the title, author, and important object from the book. I have been laminating the bookmarks that have already been turned in and am impressed!

As we conclude school before Thanksgiving break, I have been making my rounds with students to discuss their topic, gauging their knowledge of their topic without their notes vs. with their research notes. I have also been discussing with them the benefits and drawbacks of their topic and have played devil's advocate in our conversations to see if they are able to defend what they are saying. While meeting with them one-on-one I've also been going through their notebook and discussing the comments I have made to them through the grading cycles. I've also mentioned any missing assignments I have from them as there are many and lots of no names piling up.

After Thanksgiving the students will continue working on their Recycling and Energy project. There should be little homework from this project unless the students do not use their class time wisely. In that case, they may have a few things to finish up in order to be at a certain starting point the following class period. We will begin Unit 5 in our Vocabulary Workshop and the students should continue to work on their Newbery Award book outside of class.

The Week of 11/11-11/15

This week we began the last chapter in our first Vocabulary Unit. We also utilized an IPad App to write creative stories. The students were able to click on different areas of the IPad that gave them a character, object, situation, and setting. The students then had to write their own story based on the items. 

In reading, we discussed Making Predictions. As a class we read a story about an ancient Egyptian mystery, entitled The Curse of the Mummy's Daddy. We stopped along the way to make predictions and then discussed why good readers make predictions. At the end we assessed whether or not our predictions were right, and what clues in the story could have helped us make a correct prediction. Then, students read another story on their own and make predictions about the story. We read the ending of the story the next day in class to see if our predictions were correct. 

We ended our unit on Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives by reviewing this week and taking the test.

Next week, we will begin a unit on Alternative Energy and Recycling. Students will be assigned a topic and we will complete research in class on our topics. We will be working towards creating a Public Service Announcement informing others about our topic and either persuading them that it is a better option, or persuading them that it is important to be educated on the topic in order to help sustain our future generations. This will be a mostly in class project and if the students use their class time wisely then they should not have any additional work to do at home. It will run the remainder of the quarter with their Newbery Project being their main homework priority. 

I am constantly reminded how wonderful my students are both inside and outside of class. They are driven and dedicated. They have kind hearts, curious minds, and positive attitudes. After attending the Strings Concert last night I was reminded even more that my students have so many other things going on in their lives and as young as they are, are doing a great job at managing it all. 

Grammar Test this Week

To study, look over the notes on Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives. Make sure you know the difference between the different types of nouns, verbs, and adjectives so that you can identify the meaning and type on the test. There are many resources on Moodle with practice and answer keys. There will be 10 matching, two response questions, one short answer, and several sentences where you will be asked to identify nouns, verbs, or adjectives and the type. 

The last week of October 10/28-11/1

This week we focused on verbs. After discussing the different types of verbs, we discussed the importance of using "vivid verbs" in our writing (vivid is also a vocabulary word from this week!). Students were asked to write about their trip to the Henry Ford Museum using vivid verbs.

In addition, we also practiced identifying verbs in a fun way using a few different interactive activities on the SmartBoard. On Halloween, we took a break from focusing on just verbs and instead practiced all different parts of speech by completing Halloween Mad Lib stories with partners. At the end of class we shared our favorite Mad Libs with the class. They were very funny!

Finally, we took a visit to the library to choose our Newbery Award books for our Quarter 2 Book Talk. We did a "speed dating" of sorts with the different book options before choosing a book. The students have one week to change their book if they find they are not interested in the book they initially chose.

Next week we will move into Adjectives, complete Vocab Unit 3 Quiz, and practice some creative writing!

Short week- Oct. 15-18

Although it was a short week, we jumped right into the second quarter! This week I asked the students to combine three skills we had worked on into one cohesive writing. We combined identifying the parts of plot, summarizing, and making personal connections into one writing sample where we could identify the parts of the story, summarize a story, and then make a personal connection to the characters.

Following this, we began our grammar unit with nouns. We are working to identify common or proper nouns and abstract or concrete nouns. We worked on choosing more precise nouns than "thing" to improve our writing. We then moved into plural nouns and the rules for plural endings with the hope that the more familiar we become with noun endings, the more we can consciously improve our spelling.

In addition we also began our next Vocab unit. Next week we are looking to finish up our noun lessons, and begin talking about our next independent reading project before leaving for The Henry Ford Museum!

The Last Week of Quarter 1!

I can't believe it is already the final day of the first quarter! Believe it or not we are a fourth of the way through 5th grade! I was so impressed with the book talks presented this week. Every night I left school wishing I had more time to read because the students introduced their classmates to some really exciting books. By a show of hands after the last presentation, students pretty unanimously agreed that:
- they enjoyed listening to others present their books
- they enjoyed the assignment
- they would be willing to do another book talk
- there were presentations on books they had never heard of before
- there were books presented that they are now interested in reading
- they felt they had enough time to prepare for the presentation (even though some of them opted to wait until the last minute, they felt I assigned it with enough time)
- they still like Language Arts!

My goal for the assignment was that students demonstrate their understanding of the plot of a book, author's purpose, and to organize this information in a way that is relatable to an audience. In addition, there are many avid readers and this was a great way for students to share books they enjoyed with other students so that others could gain ideas for new books to read. While I try my best to make recommendations for students when they come to me looking for book ideas, other students are great resources too!

In addition to the book talk presentations, we finished off the year with our Unit 2 Vocabulary Quiz and practicing finding the main idea in nonfiction and summarizing a fictional story.

For your information, here is a brief preview of what we have coming up in the second quarter!
- Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives
- Vocabulary
-- Newberry Award Book Talk

- Predicting
- Visualizing
- Making Connections in our Summaries

- Recycling Project

The week of 9/30-10/4

This week we continued to review requirements for the Book Talk presentations and worked on our writing skills. Students were given some time during class to work on their plot diagrams, summaries, and presentations as well as ask questions regarding the presentation.

We reviewed the 5 elements of plot that the students were first reintroduced to in Writer's Workshop. We practiced finding each of the different parts of the plot using a book called You'll Grow Soon Alex. We then looked at how to briefly summarize fiction using the 5 parts of the plot. Students had their first "pop quiz" over the 5 parts of plot and the plot diagram.

Finally at the end of the week we moved on to author's purpose and the reasons why author's write books. Students created a 4 window organizer in their notebook to expose "P.I.E" or the three purposes for an author: to Persuade, to Inform, or to Entertain.

The rubric for the Book Talk was discussed and at the end of the week we finally reviewed for their vocab Unit 2 quiz!

Section One had their first round of presentations starting Friday. I was thoroughly impressed!