We had a great week last week and have hit the ground running. We will work hard over this week and next, to make sure all students are organized, using their notebooks and Google classroom correctly and completing assignments.
It is a bit of a learning curve this year, especially in Language Arts with the new curriculum and addition of Reader's and Writer's Notebooks.
We will be specifying on our planners if the assignment is in the Notebook (N) or Classroom (C). Hopefully that will help with some confusion.
**I hope to see as many parents as possible Tuesday evening for Taste of Middle School. I am anxious to go over the new curriculum with you and explain some of the wonderful things about Middle school. If you are unable to attend, please let me know and I will send home a copy of the materials that we go over that evening.
This week's assignments:
5th Grade Language Arts: English - Writing/Spelling: We did begin Spelling last week. Together as a class we chose 14 words. Each student then added 6 of their own words to make 20. Your child's complete list is on Google classroom under English. The first 14 words that everyone is learning are posted on this blog, under the English/Spelling tab. The students have worked with their words on Moby Max and will be bringing home Spelling homework on Tuesday.
They will be taking a Spelling test on Thursday on their 20 words. Please look over these words with them this week.
Spelling will run on a two week cycle. We will choose new words next week Tuesday, work on them through various assignments and then be tested on them again Thursday, Sept. 21st.
Writer's workshop is going well. Thank you for reading through your child's notebook and making a comment last week. Look for this notebook to come home about once each week with an assignment. It may be completing a story or other writing work. Again, we will note in the planner that this is Notebook homework. After one more week or so of lessons on Narrative writing, we will begin a story draft that we will work through publication. I am confident your children have written more with this curriculum than years past.
Literature: We are through part one in Wonder and have begun part two. Last week we began vocabulary to go along with the story. This will be done for this class book completely together. Each student needed a 3 prong folder for vocabulary. Check with your child - a few needed to find one. This week we will focus on Characters by analyzing them and finding proof of our theories. We will work on a word puzzle about each character. Coming most likely at the end of this week will be a quiz on Wonder chapters we have read so far. It will be on Google classroom.
5th Grade Social Studies: Tuesday, September 5th is the second half of the Geography quiz. We went over the study guide on Friday, and it should have returned home to go over. This half will have multiple choice and some fill in the blanks - no maps to label. I will be speaking to a few students about studying again for the first map labeling quiz and taking it over. Most students did well.
**We hope to finish our 3D maps of the US Tuesday or Wednesday. We will be going on to the next chapter on Native Americans.
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6th Grade Literature:
We are splitting our class time now into two parts. The first part of each class is spent in Independent reading. Each student has a reading partner and they meet often with them to discuss the book they are reading or go over questions I have posed. I am keeping tabs on the reading through the reading log and conferencing as they read. This is what the Reader's notebook is used for. It will most likely come home once a week with a reading assignment.
The second half of our class is reading together as a class. We are in the beginning chapters of True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. We have taken some literary notes about characters and will use those this week to develop theories about the major characters and proof of our theories from the story.
We will use this book to go over many literary elements that we will use all year.
On Thursday and Friday of this week the first quiz on Charlotte Doyle will be assigned. It will be on google classroom and due the following class period.
Thanks for being patient as we dig into this new curriculum. I have so enjoyed seeing the reading and writing and thinking your children have done already.
Blessings on your week,
Hope to see you Tuesday night.
Mrs. Brown
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