Reading

Accelerated Reader (AR)

We have gotten our AR program up and running.  Students are to read books at their reading level.  (I gave them their levels based off their STAR tests scores.)  They will read their books and take quizzes based on the content of the books.  They will earn points that they will use to receive prizes and special rewards.  5th graders are required to earn 20 points that will also be calculated into their reading grade.  

Novel Study and Amplify

In 5th Grade, students will be exposed to new books and stories as well as a lot of new vocabulary.  Novels, like Frindle, will be read aloud in class and students will use details from the text to answer questions and dive more deeply into the structure of what makes stories to help them become better communicators.

We will also be using the Amplify Series to read shorter stories and more informational text, which comes with its own structure and vocabulary!

Reading Groups

Students will participate in reading groups this year with grades 3rd-8th.  Students will be placed into their groups based on their STAR Reading test results, but also with their daily work taken into consideration.

Students will be given an article to read (usually on Friday) and they will have questions to answer for each day of the week, ending with a quiz on Friday.  Students are to use the article to find text evidence to support their answers and highlight where they find their answers in the text.  This focuses on many of the needed skills students need not only in reading comprehension, but in problem solving skills as well.

Twenty and Ten

This story is based during WWII France.  A Catholic Nun is in charge of 19 5th graders and 1 young sibling.  They are presented with the opportunity to hide 10 Jewish Children.

We will continue discussing the Works of Mercy through this Novel.

In addition, we will be discussing The Flight into Egypt after Jesus was born.

Vocabulary

• ration cards 

• refugee 

• dogged 

• crestfallen 

• census 

• slogan 

• vehemently 

• frantic 

• reproach 

• fortnight 

• placidly 

• ruthlessly 

• thrash 

• imprudent 

• venture 

Hatchet

Brian is on his way to Canada to visit his estranged father when the pilot of his small prop plane suffers a heart attack. Brian is forced to crash-land the plane in a lake--and finds himself stranded in the remote Canadian wilderness with only his clothing and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present before his departure. 

My Side of the Mountain

Every kid thinks about running away at one point or another; few get farther than the end of the block. Young Sam Gribley gets to the end of the block and keeps going--all the way to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There he sets up house in a huge hollowed-out tree, with a falcon and a weasel for companions and his wits as his tool for survival.  

Will Wilder and the Relic of Perilous Falls

Will Wilder is a mischievous, headstrong twelve-year-old with an otherworldly gift—he alone can see the nefarious creatures encroaching on Perilous Falls. For nearly a century, a sacred relic has protected his hometown from the raging waters surrounding it. But when Will “borrows” the relic for his own purposes, he accidentally unleashes an ancient evil.

 As boats sink and hideous creatures crawl from the rising waters, Will must set things right before it is too late. With the help of his sweet (if lethal) Great Aunt Lucille, the curator of a museum of powerful artifacts, Will proves that the actions of one twelve-year-old boy can change the world.