Hello everyone!
Things seem to be falling into place in our new/temporary home at Mattie Lively! The students have been working hard to become familiar with the new surroundings, new teachers, and new classmates!
In Language Arts this week, we'll be focusing on several different skills and concepts: In Reading Workshop, we'll look at themes in stories, as well as review what types of information we find in dictionaries and glossaries. Our guided reading story is "Island of the Blue Dolphins", a story that forces the reader to think about survival.
During our Writing Workshop, we'll begin our week by finishing our Tall Tale stories and pictures. Then we'll use our imaginations to create a story called "Nothing Ever Happens at Mattie Lively"! Using picture books, I'll be teaching the 6 + 1 Writing Traits throughout the year. This week, our picture book is "Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street", by Roni Schotter. We'll review and focus on "Ideas" and how to get our thoughts on paper while asking ourselves "What if?" while we write. That one question can open up a number of fabulous ideas to help us develop interesting, attention-grabbing stories! My hope is that the students will use their writing notebooks continuously throughout the year to write down new ideas from which they can build original stories!
We will continue daily grammar lessons, as we explore Independent and Dependent clauses in writing.
We are busy in 5th grade, that's for sure! Here are a few reminders:
- Scholastic Book Orders are due by Wednesday, September 1st.
- Spelling packets are due on Friday, September 3rd. There are 5 assignments, which the students have had 2 weeks to complete. Each activity is worth 20 points. Not turning in the assignment results in a zero spelling grade.
- There is no school on Monday, September 6th. Happy Labor Day!
Enjoy your week! Fall is right around the corner! :)
