Conference Week

I look forward to meeting with many of you this week for Parent/teacher conferences.  I love to have the students come along.  After all, it is their work we are discussing.  The sign up link has been sent out, or you can come by and pop in during open times.

We continue to roll into second quarter.  All grades from last week and this week will be posted for 2nd quarter.

5th Grade Language Arts: Literature:  Book clubs have begun!  This gives students an opportunity to read a book independently, while still having others to discuss it with and work together on literary elements. It also challenges them to read out loud, which is a different skill than silent reading. I love to sit in on the book clubs both as they read out loud to each other and as they discuss the books.
Each book club has a daily calendar posted on Google Classroom. It has the assignments and chapters assigned for each day of the book club, so students know exactly what to read and what homework is due.  Check it out!

Many students have chosen to check out the remaining book club books to read on their own.  They are all great choices and I have recommended that they read several of them.

Spelling/Grammar: We will be choosing new spelling words on Tuesday.  they will go on a new document for Second quarter spelling that is on Google classroom.  We will work with these words for 2 weeks.  The final test will be on Thursday, Nov. 2.
We continue working on grammar skills, focusing on skills I have noticed are weak in their writing.
There will be grammar homework on Google classroom Wednesday and Thursday this week.

Writing:We have been editing our personal narratives.  They will receive a paper copy of their narrative edited by 3 people back on Monday.  Students will have until Thursday to make corrections on the chrome book and turn in a final copy. They will have class time to work, but may need to work at home as well.  I recommend they have a parent read their final draft for any last mistakes!!
This was a challenging unit, but I am proud of how the students have incorporated so much of what we learned into their writing. For many of them, this was their first experience with a true Writer's workshop format.

Social Studies:  Thursday and Friday were the Sunken Ship Exploration activity.  The students did an awesome job. They found 8 artifacts within the ship, sketched each one and then read to discover what the artifact was and why was it important.  On Monday I will give them the 11 question quiz that goes with the information from the ship. They will be able to use their notes to answer it.
We move on to Chapter 5 about the individual explorers.  This chapter is full of dates, countries and other information for each explorer.  We will break into groups to read about the explorers and then present the information to each other, taking notes together in our workbook.  This chapter test will also be open note (not book) so students need to follow as we take notes in class.
Towards the end of the chapter, each student will be choosing an explorer to research.  I will send out that information soon.

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6th Grade Literature:  Book clubs are here!!  After a wonderful book tasting on Monday/Tuesday, the 6th graders have been divided by A day and B day into 6 book clubs.  This is a mixture of students from Ms. Stearns' room and Mrs. Brown's room.  The assignments will be the same for all the groups.
Each book club has a daily calendar posted on Google classroom. It has all the assignments and chapter assignments for the entire unit posted for each day.  It is a great thing to look at if you are not sure what is due or what chapters should be read or if you are absent.
Groups will be reading some in class, but chapters are assigned each class time and due the next.  This will require outside reading for most students.  You should see the book club book around.  Most other literature work will be done in class.
We are excited about all 6 books.  We have encouraged students to check out the other 5 at some point this year.  We will make those available.

Check out the Book tasting pics on Twitter!

It is a pleasure working with your children.  Blessings on your week ahead.
Mrs. Brown