Week of May 20 - May 23

The last week of school has arrived! We will finish up with our final DoJo auction, awards, and other fun activities. Have a great summer :) 

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Week of May 13 - May 17

Literature circles are wrapping up. The students will be presenting their literature circle novels to the class in any presentation style they choose. They are limited only to their imagination. These presentations will take place on Thursday. Then on Friday, all three required independent reading book tasks are due on Google Classroom.

 

Week of May 6 - May 10

Literature circles are back in full swing this week. At this point, the students are at the halfway point in their novel. The students have also begun to think about their final book presentation. Each small group will present their book to the class in any presentation style they choose. They are limited only to their imagination. These presentations will take place on May 16.

 

Week of April 29 - May 3

This week the 5th-grade students will participate in TIDE week (Teach-Inspire-Discover-Explore). Each day the students will travel with their homeroom class to hear speakers share experiences and/or careers. We will also have special assemblies from a magician, the Columbus Children's Theater, and the Columbus Zoo. TIDE week will end on Friday with a day filled with awesome art activities planned by our fantastic art teacher, Mrs. Haer. Be sure to ask your students about all the fun!

 

Week of April 22 - April 26

This week the students were broken into small groups to begin historical fiction literature circles. Each group will read a given number of pages from their novel and then each member will complete a designated job for the day's reading. The following day the small group will have a discussion and then complete the process again. 

 

Week of April 15 - April 19

On Monday and Tuesday, the students fine-tuned their multi-paragraph extended response writing skills. We also completed our read-aloud of Bridge to Terabithia. Wednesday and Thursday the students took both parts of the ELA state test. 

 

Week of April 8 - April 12

This week we began to review our ELA skills with fun activities to be sure we are fully prepared for state testing. We also spent time in the AIR practice test to familiarize ourselves with the test and tools.  The students also took their final benchmark STAR reading test. In addition, to help us relax during this sometimes stressful testing season, we began a read aloud. The students love being read to and are really enjoying Bridge to Terabithia.

 

Week of April 1 - April 5

This week after spring break the students will have an opportunity to take control of their learning with a passion paper. The students may choose any topic they like to write a five paragraph research paper on. They will write their passion paper onto a colorful template that will then be printed out to be used in a gallery walk on Friday. Along with the passion paper, the students must have a physical representation of their topic to display. 

 

Week of March 18 - March 22

This week we are celebrating literacy with a week dedicated to being "Word Collectors". The students will be hearing from two "word gurus". Mr. Butler, former BWI principal, will speak to the students about lost words in our culture. Our very own Mr. Evener, also a published author, will tell us how word choice plays a huge role in writing a novel. The students themselves will be word collectors as they will be on the hunt to find new words through different fun activities all week. What a fun way to take us into spring break!

 

Week of March 11 - March 15

The students focused on primary and secondary sources this week. As a class, we took a look at an interview, a primary source, and then turned it into a news article, a secondary source. Then the students conducted their own interviews with another student in the class and wrote an essay about that student. On Friday, they shared their essays with the class. This was a fun way to get to know each other a little better and practice our primary and secondary source writing skills.

 

Week of March 4 - March 8

Students will continue to work with nonfiction literature this week on CommonLit. The focus will be on responding to extended response questions. We will also spend time this week learning to identify reliable sources. There will be no Flocabulary this week. Friday, March 8 is the end of Q3. We will celebrate our success with a DoJo auction that day!

 

Week of February 25 - March 1

Due to the snow day last week the students will continue to work with text structure this week. They will focus on description, compare/contrast, order/sequence, problem/solution, and cause/effect. The students will also take a look at two nonfiction articles on the same topic and write and comparing articles paragraph. To wrap up the week the students will work with a partner on nonfiction task cards. There will be no Flocabulary this week. On Friday, March 1 all three of the required independent reading book assignments will be due. Any book assignment turned in after March 1 will count for Q4.

 

Week of February 18 - February 22

During this short week, the students will focus on text features, text structures, and main idea and details. First, we will take a "field trip" to a few locations, including Disney, using guide maps as a way to use text features in the real world. We will also discuss five different types of text structures this week. In addition, the students will meet in small group as we work through all of these skills in different SCOPE magazine articles. There will be no Flocabulary this week.

 

Week of February 11 - February 15

The students are beginning a non-fiction unit this week. The focus will be on differences in literary non-fiction genres, as well as the author's purpose, and text features. In addition, the students will work with Flocab Unit 12 words and have a test on Friday, February 15.

 

Week of February 4 - February 8

Due to the three snow days last week we will be completing the Tuck Everlasting choice board projects on Monday as well as take the Flocab Unit 11 test. There will be no new Flocab for the remainder of the week. On Tuesday, the students will then begin their choice board project presentations. Those presentations will be done in small group. On Wednesday, they will take a gallery walk to check out what the entire class has created. On Thursday, the students will also complete a STAR Reading progress monitoring test. The goal is to show growth, and we can only grow as readers by reading. Please remind your student to read at level or appropriately challenging material for at least 20 minutes each evening. On Friday, we will meet in small group during station rotation to preview some non-fiction skills in Scope magazine that we will be working on next week.

 

Week of January 28 - February 1

The entire week will be dedicated to Tuck Everlasting choice board projects. On Thursday the students will practice presenting to a peer and Friday they will be presenting to the class. Students will also be studying Flocacabulary Indigo Unit 11 words. They will have their test on Friday, February 1.

 

Week of January 21 - January 25

The students had the opportunity to watch the movie Tuck Everlasting while they took notes on the differences and similarities of the book and movie. They then used those notes to write a compare and contrast paragraph. On Thursday, January 24 the students will have an open-note, open-book test over the novel. Then on Friday, the students were able to choose 2 projects from a choice board to create. They will be presenting these in class on Friday, February 1. Due to the short week, the students do not have Flocabulary words.

 

Week of January 14 - January 18

We will finish reading the novel Tuck Everlasting this week. The students will then complete some review of the novel activities. The students are also studying Indigo Unit 10 Flocabulary. They will have a test on Friday.

 

Week of January 7 - January 11

We are continuing reading and discussing Tuck Everlasting The students are having some really great conversations about living forever and a few other themes from the story. The students are also studying Indigo Unit 9 Flocabulary. They will have a test on Friday.

 

Week of January 2 - January 4

It was so great to get back and see our friends this week. We spent some time sharing our breaks speed dating style on Wednesday. We also reflected on 2018 and set new goals for 2019. Our main goal focus was on reading and we spent time getting off to a great start in the BWI library. On Friday, we began our class novel study on Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit. This is one of my personal favorites and just know the kids are going to love it too! 

 

Week of December 17 - December 19

The students will round out the quarter with Christmas themed readers theater performances and a DoJo auction to celebrate our Q2 success on Wednesday. 

 

Week of December 10 - December 14

The students dove right into poetry this week. We began by analyzing poetry in small groups. Then, the students chose a poem to read in a creative way at our Poetry Cafe`. The kids did great! We then created a piece of blackout poetry. Be sure to ask your student to share theirs with you. We ended the week by reviewing the elements of poetry with a Kahoot review and taking an open note test over the elements of poetry. On Friday we also took our Indigo unit 8 Flocabulary test. This was the last vocab test of the quarter. This was also the last day to turn in the three required independent reading assignments on Google Classroom. 

 

Week of December 3 - December 7

The students continued working with figurative language this week. We did pause on Wednesday to take the mid-year STAR reading test to measure our reading growth. We then wrapped up verb tenses by identifying it in our own writing journals and taking an open-note NoRedInk quiz. On Friday we also took our unit 7 Flocab test as well as began our poetry unit. 

 

Week of November 26 - November 30

The students are beginning a figurative language unit this week. We will begin to define and discuss six types of figurative language. We will also sing karaoke and locate figurative language along the way. We will focus this week on similies, metaphors, idioms, hyperboles, personifications, and alliterations. In addition, we will also work with verb tenses this week. The students will also continue their study in Flocabulary with Indigo Unit 6. The test will be Friday and their Flocab packet will be due at that time as well.

 

Week of November 19 - November 23

This Thanksgiving week we will continue to work on our writing with a Thanksgiving piece. The students will have a choice between writing a creative fictional Thanksgiving story or writing an essay about what they are thankful for. Due to the short week, there will be no Flocabulary.

 

Week of November 12 - November 16

This week the students are printing and creating a cover for their Personal Narrative. The students will then share in small groups near the end of the week. At the end of the week, we will also work on core reading skills with Scope magazine in small groups. We will continue to work with Flocabulary and have a test over Indigo Unit 5 on Friday, November 16.  ​

 

Week of November 5 - November 9

This week the students are revising their Personal Narrative. The focus is on a strong lead, word choice, dialogue, voice, transitions, and a strong ending. At the end of the week, we will begin to peer conference and edit. We will continue to work with Flocabulary and have a test over Indigo Unit 4 on Friday, November 9.  ​

 

Week of October 29 - November 2

The students will read a personal narrative/memoir on CommonLit this week as we will then begin to write our own personal narratives. This week we are in the brainstorming and planning phase. In small group, we will reflect on the personal narratives we read and how we can apply some of the techniques used in that piece of writing into our own. At the end of the week, we will begin to write a rough draft. We will continue to work with Flocabulary and have a test over Indigo unit 3 on Friday, November 2. 

 

Week of October 22 - October 26

This week we will review the Elements of Fiction with a fun Plicker review and a rap battle. Yes, rap battle! The students also have an open note test over the Elements of Fiction on Tuesday, October 23. The students will also be introduced to conjunctions. We will work with these types of words all week and then have an open note quiz on NoRedInk on Friday, October 26. We will also pick back up with Flocabulary this week. The test over Indigo unit 2 will also be on Friday, October 26.

 

Week of October 15 - October 19

The reading focus this week is on plot structure. We will define, discuss and plot diagram together. We will culminate by having a Pixar Film Festival and plot diagram the movie shorts. There will be no Flocabulary this week. This week also ends Q1. We will celebrate our success with our first DoJo auction of the year.

 

Week of October 8 - October 12

The reading focus for the week is theme, mood and tone, as well as story devices. The language focus will be on prepositions. We will have mini-lessons and take notes in our interactive notebook on each of these topics. We will also work with the reading skills in reading groups when we meet to discuss this week's CommonLit assignment. We will practice using and identifying prepositions in our own writing as well. Our Flocab study continues with indigo unit 1. The test will be on Friday.

 

Week of October 1 - October 5

Our focus this week is on comparing and contrasting as well as point of view. The students will write a character compare/contrast paragraph based on last weeks CommonLit story. The students will also create a comic strip based on another story of their choice they already know and love. However, this comic strip must be written from the perspective of a different character in the story. Our Flocab study continues with orange unit 14. The test will be on Friday.

 

Week of September 24 - September 28

Our focus this week is on story vocabulary and characterization. We also will practice using these skills with a team creative writing piece. Our Flocab study continues with orange unit 13. The test will be on Friday.

 

Week of September 17 - September 21

This week the students began meeting with their reading groups for the first time. The students are given a story to read independently at their level on the free online resource CommonLit and answer questions that mirror state testing. I then meet with each group to discuss the story and questions as well as focus on a reading skill. This week our focus was on using context clues. We also learned how to correctly use the comma and practiced this skill in our own journal writing.  The Flocab orange unit 12 vocab test (we skipped several units since the students were doing so well) will be on Friday this week.

 

Week of September 10 - September 14

This week the students will discuss genres and sub-genres of fiction. We will also practice identifying homographs and choosing appropriate synonyms and antonyms. At the end of the week, we will visit Mr. Stanford at our school library to learn about how we can not only check out books in the library but also how we can use the space in different ways throughout the year. The students will continue to work with Flocabulary vocabulary and be tested over Orange Unit 3 on Friday.

 

Week of September 3 - September 7

This week the students will finalize their Oreo essays that focus on descriptive explanatory writing.  The students will also begin to create their ELA interactive notebook that we will keep all of our ELA notes in. In addition, the students will continue to study their Flocabulary words with Unit 2. They will work with the words all week in a packet that will be due on Friday. The test over those words will be on Friday.

 

Week of August 27 - August 31

The students will work with their first set of vocabulary words this week. We will be using the Flocabulary program that puts each unit of words to a rap song to help engage the students and help them to use the words in context. We will have our first test over Unit 1 on Friday, August 31. This first test is only a practice and will not go into PowerSchool. The students do not need to memorize definitions but must be able to choose the correct word to place into a sentence. The students will also begin writing their first three paragraph essay this week on how they eat an Oreo cookie.

 

 

Week of August 20 - 24

The students took the STAR reading test. This district-wide universal screener allows us to progress monitor student growth. Your child's results will be sent home in the weeks to come. My classroom library will also open up for students and we will begin working toward our 25 Book Challenge for the year. Ask your student for details on this. They will be receiving a packet this week explaining how the reward based challenge works. The required reading for the quarter is three independent books and a completed task on each. I will also be sending home our first Scholastic Reading Club order forms. Throughout the week we will also take a look at and set up the online software we will be using this year. Please don't forget about Curriculum Night on Monday that begins in the gym at 6:00. Hope to see you there!

 

Week of August 13 - 17

Welcome back! We are going to take time to get to know each other this week and learn what this awesome year is going to look like.