Week of March 9th

This wee we will be working to plan out the writing based on students thesis statements. STudents will pick the nonfiction text structure that best fits their thesis statement. They will be the graphic organizer based on this. Additionally, students will be looking at how graphic novels can be used to publish non fiction. Students will be looking at example graphic novels and brainstorming a list of elements the nonfiction graphic novels have. For this non fiction writing, students will be publishing as nonfiction graphic novels. We will start this drafting process after spring break.

Week of March 2nd

This week, agents are going to be continue their nonfiction writing. This week we will be focusing on developing thesis statements. Students will have to come up with a narrowed focus based on the topic they picked last week. Then they will need to come up with an opinion about that topic. Next week we will be working to plan out the writing based on this thesis statements.

Week of February 24th

This week, agents are going to be starting their nonfiction writing. To start out we will be thinking about how to use nonfiction text structures can help us to organize our writing. Then we will be brainstorming expert lists to help us figure out what best to write about. Students should have a decided topic to write about by the end of the week.

Week of February 17th

This week, agents are going to be continuing working with adjectives this week. Last week agents focused on Adjectives in general, this week we will be looking at specifically Comparative and Superlative adjectives. This will be helpful next week when we start expository writing because these adjectives will help to make their nonfiction writing more interesting.

Week of February 10th

This week, students are going to be focusing in on 2 main skills. The first is going to be building their understanding and use of adjectives. Students will review what adjectives are, and use those adjectives to write their own Valentine's themed poetry.

Students will also work on some short writings to explain their understanding of language arts topics. Students will write about a book they are currently reading and a time when something disappointing happened to them. This will be a review before we move into the more focused Non-fiction writing we will be doing for Planet Tonnie Scorpian Toxify.

Week of February 3rd

This week, students are going to be finishing their final scripts. Students will type their script and attach it to #048- Script Final on Google Classroom. They rubric is can also be viewed on Google Classroom. Once students are done typing, they will be recording 5 minutes of their script using Flipgrid. These videos will be shared with their classmates. Students Final Scripts and Flipgrid Videos will be due no later than February 7th.

Week of January 26th

This week, students are going to be continue on drafting their scripts using their teacher approved plot diagrams. Students will be about how to read their drafts outloud to themselves to check to make sure their drafts make sense. Students will also be peer editing this week. Students rough drafts and peer editing will be due no later than January 31st.

Week of January 20th

This unit the ARMOR Agents have gotten some correspondence from Planet Globe. Agents have received still images from the video surveillance taken by one of our agents, Harris Burdick. However, the videos did not download before the self-destruct protocol was initiated. Agents will need to recreate these videoes beginning the audio script. Students will write the script following the plot and using the elements of drama we will be learning in reading including stage directions, and a theme. Agents will then perform these for the ARMOR files.

This week, students are going to be focused on drafting their scripts using their teacher approved plot diagrams. Students will be learning about important dramatic hooks to put in their first scenes, using stage directions, having a strong conclusion that wraps up loose ends and exploding their climax of their script. Students rough drafts and peer editing will be due no later than January 31st.

Week of January 13th

This unit the ARMOR Agents have gotten some correspondence from Planet Globe. Agents have received still images from the video surveillance taken by one of our agents, Harris Burdick. However, the videos did not download before the self-destruct protocol was initiated. Agents will need to recreate these videoes beginning the audio script. Students will write the script following the plot and using the elements of drama we will be learning in reading including stage directions, and a theme. Agents will then perform these for the ARMOR files.

This week, students are going to be focused on developing character traits for the characters in their script and planning their script out along a plot diagram. They will need to include all the elements of plot in this script.

Week of December 2nd

This week the ARMOR Agents will be starting a PBL project with the driving question "How can I use poetry to express my identity?" Students will be using all of the elements of poetry that we are learning about in writing and using them to write their own poems. Each poem they write will need to focus on a piece of the students identity. We will start the week off by discussing what makes up our identities. Students will be picking one poem they have written to perform in a class wide poetry slam.

Week of November 18th

This week the ARMOR Agents will be finishing up their personal narratives. Students will be finishing up their rough drafts, and revising and editing. These narratives are going to be finished at this step and students will not be writing a final draft.

After their narratives are completed, agents will start brainstorming about their identity to prepare for the PBL that will be starting after Thanksgiving Break.

Week of November 4th

This week the ARMOR Agents will start working on Personal Narratives, students will continue working on identifying the small moment they will be writing about, find the meaning of their moment, write out the organization of the plot of their story and then develop a theme for their writing.

Week of October 28th

Last week the ARMOR Agents didn't get to learn the new language we will be focusing on because we did a dictionary skill preassessment instead. So, we will be building flashcards over these words that students will then be able to access on quizlet on Monday. These words will be very important both in Reading and Writing. Because these words are so important, students will have a Vocabulary Quiz over these terms on Friday.

Throughout the rest of the week, we will be talking about the elements of personal narratives. A personal narrative is a short story of a single small moment in somebody's life. We will be working to write our own personal narratives this unit. This week we will be brainstorming small moments. On Thursday, for Halloween, students will be blogging creative stories about pumpkins. I encourage you to have your child share their blog with you on Thursday evening.

Week of October 20th

The first part of this week, we will be focusing more on reviewing Argumentative Writing and using our writing time to double up on reading instruction. Towards the end of the week, we will be traveling to our next planet, Lapin Vociferations Terran (LVT). We will be focusing on the language necessary to complete missions in this planet. Just like in our last unit, we will be building flashcards that students will then be able to access on quizlet. These words will be very important both in Reading and Writing.

Week of October 14th

This week, students are finishing their mission log to plan out, draft, revise, edit and publish a Argumentative Letter. This letter will be going Across Disciplines and connecting with our current Social Studies PBL. Students will be working to persuade colonists to move to their colony. They will use their research from their PBL to help develop their arguments and as evidence. Students will be writing this letter from the perspective of a colonist. The students final letters will be due October 18th.

Week of October 7th

This week, students are continuing their mission log to plan out, draft, revise, edit and publish a Argumentative Letter. This letter will be going Across Disciplines and connecting with our current Social Studies PBL. Students will be working to persuade colonists to move to their colony. They will use their research from their PBL to help develop their arguments and as evidence. Students will be writing this letter from the perspective of a colonist. The students final letters will be due October 18th.

This week, students will also be working to develop academic goals for their student-led parent conferences. We will be looking a data and the Trends for students and then picking a place for them to grow. We can't wait to share these goals with you at conferences this week.

Week of September 16

This week, we will be working on research skills to make sure students are prepared for an upcoming cross disciplinary project. We will be talking about how to take research notes that are paraphrased, and what plagiarism is. Additionally, we will start looking at argumentative texts to see the techniques that argumentative writers use. This will help us as we use them in our own writing starting next week.

Week of September 9

This week the ARMOR Agents will be completing a menu to show off all of their basic training skills. During this time, Ms. Gagliardi will be BAS testing to find each agents reading level. This menu will ask students to read aloud a picture book, write a book review, develop vocabulary, and practice their grammatical patterns.

Week of August 19th

This week, students will establish a writer’s notebook and embrace the space it creates for ideas, play, and experimentation. Establishing a strong notebook will be the foundation for the rest of the year’s writing. Additionally, fifth graders will learn and practice the routines and structures of living in a community of writers. As part of this, I have asked students to take home their notebooks to decorate them. I will also be asking students to bring in pictures of memorable moments and significant items to them to help them brainstorm ideas to write about.