SMALLER GROUPS FOR L.A.!

This year the grade 5 classes are fairly large. As a result, Mr. Niemetz, will be taking a few students from our class, on a two week rotational basis. This is being done to create smaller groups for Guided Reading and Writing. This will only benefit the students with their Literacy skills. While Mr. Niemetz may not be doing the exact same lessons as our class, he will be covering the mandated curriculum and our District's Scope and Sequence for lessons.

READING

As part of our continued school-wide focus on Literacy this year, the students will build on their reading levels through the "Cafe Model" (comprehension, accuracy, fluency, expand vocabulary). This will involve short lessons on specific reading skills and strategies, guided reading to reinforce those skills, and small group or individual reading time to further practice the skills. Parents often ask how they can help their child at home with this. There are many suggestions found for each of the CAFE components, on the "Parent Pipeline" documents that parents can request from me.

LITERATURE

By the middle of March, we will be completing our Novel Study. The novel is "Bridge To Terabithia" by Katherine Patterson. It is a Newberry Medal Winner. It is a story about friendship, self-acceptance, and dealing with tragedy.

WRITING

In the Middle of March we will get back to our work on Narrative Writing. We will look at Poetic Devices to add more description and pizzaz to our writing. We will then look at some different Styles of Poems, where the students will write and share their own poetry.