Reading/LA/SS Updates
October 17-21, 2016
5th Grade Reading
Please remember to use last year's pacing guide for this 2nd Marking Period. This means we should be starting with Theme & Genre this week and next, moving onto Poetry for the following two weeks, then Drama for two weeks, and finishing up with Literary Nonfiction for the final two weeks of the marking period. Of course, we must remember to teach vocabulary and the Figure 19 TEKS throughout each of these genres.
In addition to the district pacing guide, remember to use our Close Reading Guide to plan for our Reading Homeruns for this marking period. Keep in mind, there are lessons from Reading Nonfiction on this guide, even though we will be working in other genre areas. We just don't want to forget about expository while we work through these genres with supporting standards, especially with our first DCA coming up in December.
Reading Homeruns (10/17-10/21)
Reading Closely - Reading Nonfiction - Numbers & Stats
Vocabulary Development - 5.2A (Greek & Latin roots and affixes)
Small Group Instruction - Every day, well-planned, documented :).
40 Book Challenge
How are your students coming along with the 40 Book Challenge? Hopefully they've completed about 7 or 8 books by now. How are you keeping up with this? Do your students have time to share about books they've read? Are you sharing books you're reading with your students? Remember, independent, self-selected reading is one of the best ways to help students become better readers! As educators, we have to be sure to facilitate and help build a love of reading in our students.
5th Grade Language Arts
5.16A - TLW write imaginative short stories that include:
- a clearly defined focus, plot, and point of view;
- a specific, believable setting created through the use of sensory details; and
- dialogue that develops the story
5.16B - TLW write poems using:
- poetic techniques (e.g., alliteration, onomatopoeia);
- figurative language (e.g., similes, metaphors); and
- graphic elements (e.g., capital letters, line length).
5th Grade Social Studies
Have you come up with a plan for teaching about the election process? Remember, you don't have to reinvent the wheel here or come up with your own plans. The district has provided us with 2016 Election Day resources and a Voting DBQ that has everything planned out for you! Be sure to be looking at the Grade 5 - Social Studies Schoology group (access code: C6CXH-3XBDP) to find these resources. Information should be out to you in the next couple of weeks about Alief's mock election, too.
Finally, I just put up an interactive bulletin board about the Founding Fathers and Patriot Heroes of the American Revolution in the 5th grade hallway across from blue academy. Try to find time to take your students out to utilize this resource.