Happy New Year

Happy New Year and welcome back!!  We begin third quarter this week.
As far as scheduling and policies things will not change, however expectations, especially for 5th grade, will
ramp up a bit.
For instance - 5th graders will be expected to get to class on time.  If the bell rings and I begin teaching students will be counted tardy and need to pull and sign their card.
The same procedure will be followed if they come to class without the necessary materials.

Worked turned in, especially 6th grade, must be typed or written neatly in pencil and show their best work.  Work that does not meet those standards will not be accepted.  All late work will receive a grade deduction.

Events in third quarter:
5th grade will be working on fantasy and fiction literature.  We will read stories from our Treasures book and complete a unit on Picture books by Chris Van Allsburg. Our class novel will be Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe.
We will immerse ourselves in Colonial times and have hands on experience with what life was like.  We  will study the Patriots and Loyalists and hold a character debate (complete with costumes).

6th grade will do an awesome unit on Historical fiction.  Our class novel is Number the Stars.  We will make a connection with a local Jewish school.
As part of this study we will participate in a Project-based learning unit.
We will write our own personal narrative.

Both 5th and 6th grade will have a third quarter book report.  I will go over in depth the second quarter reports this week and then next week give out directions for third quarter.
5th grade will be reading fiction, fantasy, science fiction (no non fiction).
6th grade will be reading Biographies, autobiographies or historical fiction.  I have a list of excellent books in this genre.

This week...

A few students are missing all or pieces of their book report.  Tuesday is the last chance to turn that in for partial credit.

5th Grade language arts:  Spelling will continue unchanged.  We work on pages 98-101 this week and take the pretest on Monday.
Grammar - we will do a verb review and then move on to pronouns.  We will begin working hard on connecting our lessons to our writing.  There were numerous grammar mistakes in the book reports!

Reading - We will introduce fantasy, science fiction and fairytales.  Beginning Tuesday we will read the story "Zathura" from our book.  Make sure your child reads it and can answer questions about the story.  From there we will begin a great unit on picture books all by Chris Van Allsburg.

Social studies:  On Monday we will take time to go over the chapter 7 test.  Even though we took class notes on the chapter and students used notes and their book on the test, overall grades were not where I would like them.  So we will go over the test, and I will teach them how to look up the information from their notes or book.  I will regrade the tests Monday night and adjust the grades.
Tuesday we will begin chapter 8 on Slavery.  It is a difficult chapter to teach.  We will be studying the chapter using a simulation method, trying to put ourselves in the places of people in history.  I will let you know if there is a chapter test or quiz.


6th Grade Literature:  We will take some time to go over last quarter's tests and book reports.  We will discuss "final project form" and expectations.  Overall, 6th grade reports were well done!

We will begin an awesome unit on biographies, autobiographies and historical fiction.  We will begin with reading several stories from our Literature text book.  Students will have assignments on Google classroom for each of these stories.  Make sure to keep up with Cornerstone and check that assignments are completed on time.  This is a great unit with many different components, including research in group form, and a personal writing, as well as a partnership with another school.