Students have been doing a lot of writing lately, and I have seen huge improvements in their work. We finished a 5 paragraph writing on their goals for the future.  When they turned it in, I signed their planner.  I have also written in their planner if they did not turn it in.  This is as big project and is worth a lot of points. 

This week, Jan. 28- Feb. 1, we will be doing review for unit 3. Before we start another story we will review and then take the Unit 3 Post Assessment on Monday, Feb. 4.

January 2013
In Communication Arts, we will be reviewing verbs and helping verbs for grammar.  The comprehension strategies will be evaluating fact and opinion while reading a nonfiction article.  This is a skill we have explored before, but is very important when examining nonfiction.  Students will need to look for facts/certainties, and opinions/disputable information. Students have already learned signal words when evaluating passages, and are pretty good at it.  Please reinforce this skill with them throughout your conversations.  

The next section will be making inferences and analyzing while using the strategy of compare and contrast.  We will be using a fictional story while doing our classwork.  

Please remember that students are not to do the “Practice” and “Grammar” pages in the packet as homework.  These are guided practice pages for the week.  We rarely do them according to the directions and therefore, I quite often make them erase their work.  We do not grade those pages, so it is more important for them to do each page in class.  If they are absent on the day we did the pages, they may do them as the instruction states.  Spelling and Vocabulary pages may be done at any time.  These pages are for a grade and are important to have completed.  If you would like to help your child with these, I would greatly appreciate it.

Spelling Bee - We have a few students from our team that will move forward with the District Spelling Bee on January 23 at the High School.  Congratulations to Jaden G., Emily P., Morgan W., Maggie T., Wyatt P., Bethany L.,  and Jayden R. Good luck on January 23.

This is the final stretch of the first semester.  We will begin Unit three of our Treasures textbook. I have seen such growth in the students during our Communication Arts classes and have watched them learn how to think through stories by making inferences and connections to the story.  This helps tremendously with comprehension.   Please encourage your child to read, whether it is a book, magazine, or other forms of written text.  The more students see words, the more their vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency will grow.  

Students will also be writing their memory book throughout the rest of the year.  In the journals, we have started the rough drafts for a few of the chapters.  You will find that they have written 10 questions to ask a relative during the holidays.  It is best if they ask these questions of a grandparent or a great grandparent.  The idea is to find someone that is a distance from their age.  This way, they will learn new things about the life of fifth graders many years ago.  They may interview parents, neighbors, friends, aunts or uncles, but no siblings. Many students have begun their interview and the stories they have shared with me are priceless.  Please remind them to do this during the holidays.  We will be typing these up so we can put them in their book at the end of the year.  If your child would like to start typing, please have them do it in google docs.

I sure hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.  Students were amazingly attentive today in class and I was really enjoying it. 

We do not have any major projects to do in Communication Arts this week.  It is business-as-usual.  Please check out the page at the top for class activities if your child is missing school.  They could get caught up and back on track, even with missing a day.

We have begun our memory book that we will finish up at the end of the year.  Students have rough drafts in their journals.  The current assignment is that they are to interview an older adult.  Instructions have been given to interview a grandparent or great grandparent, if at all possible.  They have known about this before Thanksgiving break, so they should do this now  through the winter break while they are more likely to see them.  It will only take a few minutes.  I also told them that the older ones would be much more interesting and they would really enjoy helping out.  Students should not interview a sibling or anyone that is close to their age. In the journal, they wrote 10 questions.  These should not be "yes" or "no" questions, but open-ended. It is not due immediately, but would be best to do this now and get it out of the way.

Check out the classwork and homework page at the top right corner of this blog, if you would like to see daily class activities.  This is the information that is placed in the planner each day, in case you cannot read what your child wrote.

This week we will be doing the lessons in one week.  We will not extend activities of the packet longer than a week. 

We began writing the booklet we will be creating at the end of the year.  Please make sure your child's journal is back in the binder before they leave the house.  Students will be working on this from time to time throughout the rest of the year.  The booklet will be created as we have a few moments here and there.  Final creations are very interesting and fun to look over. Next week, we will be taking time to write more on the booklet in their journal.

Students did a great job while I was away and have been busy-as-usual.  They were given another packet on Monday that the 5B Communication Arts teacher made up. On Tuesday, each class went through the packet and marked the days we were doing the pages. 

• Students will be working on this packet for bell work on Tuesday and Wednesday.  
• Packet will be turned in on Thursday of this week. 
• Grammar pages will be completed in class on Wednesday.  Students are not to work on grammar from home.

Students will have a sub for the remainder of the week.  I have to make a quick trip to WV due to a death in the family. 

The packet will be in a different order this week.  We did the grammar on Monday so that students will have that knowledge before the quiz on Friday.  The substitute teachers will do the stories and 2 pages in the packet.  Students are not to do the page with the graphic organizer and the last page of  the packet.  The rest may be completed as homework.