Language Arts
Reading and Writing will be integrated across all areas of the curriculum!
Reading
Over the past few months we have been working on Making Inferences when reading (our books, scenarios, poems). The students are learning to read between the lines by using clues from the text as well as their schema (background information). We are also doing a read aloud of the book, "The Pants Project." This is a story about 11 year old Liv, who is trying to change his school's dress code and change his whole life to become the person he is meant to be. This has led to a lot of wonderful conversations about acceptance, empathy, and gender identity.
Writing
We have been working on creating responses to questions and activities through various apps and forms of technology. The students have been using Google Slides, Docs, and Forms to submit their written work electronically. We have also been focusing a lot on word work (spelling, verbs, nouns, syllables, etc). This month (April) we are starting our unit on poetry and the students will be writing a variety of forms of poetry. We will also focus on how figurative language really enhances our writing.
November
Reading - We are finishing up our class novel, "City of Ember" this month. This book has led to a lot of wonderful discussions and students have been hard at work trying to decipher the torn up instructions. We have also been working on answering questions and summarizing text that we have read or that has been read to us.
Writing - The students have been working on a technology-based vocabulary study for our Social Studies unit. They have been expanding their vocabulary with words such as ancestry, generations, ancient, etc. We have also started an activity on letter writing. The students are really working on breaking their letters into clear paragraphs for each topic of interest. We will peer edit these letters later on this month.
September
Reading - Throughout the month of September, students worked on choosing their just right reads and on sustaining their reading for extended periods.
Writing - We have completed brainstorms for ideas for our writing topics for the year. Students have also started to share their personal stories (narratives) through their digital portfolio and journal writes.
October
Reading - We have continued to work on sustaining our independent reading this month. We are now doing a class read-aloud of "The City of Ember" and students are answering questions to demonstrate their understanding of the story. This is a great book for making predictions and inferences!
Writing - We continue to add to our digital portfolio each month. Throughout the portfolio the students will share information about themselves, their goals, and what they are learning in class. We have also worked on a creative writing piece using picture prompts found on "Once Upon a Picture". These are either fall or Halloween stories and the students are now typing their stories on Google Classroom.