ELA

March 1, 2020

Last week students wrote an essay that compared the factors of their MVP (student-chosen leader of social change) to the factors that led to Jackie Robinson's success.

This week, students will reflect on the personal qualities that help leaders to effect social change. Students will choose a personal quality and then in groups create a poster for a display titled “Be an Effective Leader of Change” to help students in our school understand the personal qualities they need to effectively lead change, and to inspire students in our school to become leaders of change. Posters will include examples of how athletes who have been effective leaders of change have shown evidence of this personal quality.

February 24, 2020

Students are now researching their own athlete or other leader of social change. They'll use online resources as well as books to find information. The final product will be in the form of a poster. (You can look forward to seeing these at our Student-Led conferences.)

February 10, 2020

Assessments from last week are coming home today. The kids' summarizing skills are improving, though many are still struggling to differentiate supporting details from the main idea. I've included examples of student responses so that students can see their misunderstandings.

This week we'll be listening to and reading an essay written by Jackie Robinson, "This I Believe: Free Minds and Hearts at Work." We'll be determining his point of view, as well as summarizing the points he makes. We'll also watch a clip from a documentary by Ken Burns about Jackie Robinson. We will determine what factor the filmmaker thought had the most impact on Jackie's success, and then we compare/contrast viewpoints.

February 3, 2020

Last week we learned more about Jackie's marriage and how important his wife was to his success. We also learned about many people who influenced and supported Jackie as he entered the Major Leagues. We will continue read the book this week as we wrap up the first unit of this module.

January 27, 2020

Students have been working hard to read, learn, and write about the many factors that led to Jackie Robinson's success in breaking the color barrier in baseball.

This week we'll also be celebrating World Read Aloud Day (Friday). We currently do a read aloud every day, as we're working to finish Wonder. This week, though, students will be reading/recording a favorite children's book to share with first grade students in Senegal, Africa! I am so excited to collaborate via Flipgrid with a dear friend and former WLE teacher. They'll also have the opportunity to read aloud to classes around WLE. Ask your fifth grader what they're reading/recording and if they'll be reading to other WLE classes...

January 22, 2020

Last week students worked hard to identify main ideas/key details and summarize texts. Based on the latest assessment, all students are able to "quote accurately" with ease! However, some are quoting accurately so well, they're not using many of their own thoughts/words. We'll continue to work on finding this balance between using the text to support your own words (paraphrasing) and choosing appropriate quotes to support your thinking. We also still have work to do with summarizing a text's main idea/key details versus simply retelling the various details from the text. This assessment will come home today.

This week we're begin to identify factors that contributed to Jackie Robinson's success.

January 13, 2020

Due to Case 21 testing last week, we didn't get very fair in ELA. This week, however, we'll pick right up where we left off, as we identify main ideas and key details from excerpts of our anchor text and then use these to summarize parts of the text.

December 2, 2019

This week we'll be working to finish writing, revising, and publishing our final performance task for the quarter! We're publishing these via Google Slides and even creating audiobook versions via Screencastify. We hope you'll join us as we premiere these on Friday morning!

November 18, 2019

Last week we finished Unit 2 and started our final ELA unit of the quarter. The kids are analyzing what makes effective narratives and are writing first person narratives based on an excerpt from our anchor text, The Most Beautiful Roof in the World. I'm working to finish grading their informative essays (from last week). These will be coming home soon!

Last week we also read about the Lost Colony in our latest Storyworks magazine. Students then collected some research about what life was like in the Americas before European settlers arrived. Ask your fifth grader what he learned and how he's sharing this!

November 12, 2019

This week we'll finish up our Literary Analysis essays, as we edit/revise and publish these.

November 4, 2019

The Mid Unit 2 assessment is coming home today. These scores are not reflected on the interim. Please let me know if you or your fifth grader has any questions. This was a doozy! The concept of figurative language and point of view is very abstract and challenging for many fifth graders.

This week the kids will writing a Literary Analysis essay. With a partner, they'll work to identify sensory and concrete language in a given text. Then they'll write an introductory paragraph with a focus statement and two proof paragraph supporting that focus statement with evidence from the text. (Shew!) Then, they'll will write the concluding paragraph.

October 28, 2019

Last week we focused on figurative language (i.e. idioms, similes, metaphors) and point-of-view to analyze author's craft. This week we'll continue this work as we examine examples of sensory details and concrete words/phrases in a text. These elements help readers to imagine they are there, thus better understanding the text.

Last week students also researched a rainforest animal of their choosing. Today they'll present what they learned to the class!

October 22, 2019

Last week the kids participated in a Science Talk and did amazing! This discussion focused on using text evidence to infer why scientists study the rainforest. I was so impressed with how the students were able to communicate with each other, as they shared their own thoughts and added on to others' thoughts...all without any direction from me!

This week we'll begin to focus on figurative language (i.e. idioms, similes, metaphors) and point-of-view to analyze author's craft. We'll examine examples of sensory details and concrete words/phrases in a text. These elements help readers to imagine they are there, thus better understanding the text.

October 14, 2019

We took our Mid-Unit 1 assessment last Friday. Today we're preparing for an upcoming Science Talk, in which we'll discuss what we've learned about the rainforest with others.

October 1, 2019

We're beginning our second module of learning as we learn more about biodiversity in the rainforest! This week we'll be describing and comparing nonfiction text structures, as well as summarizing a text about the rainforest. Any additional opportunities for students to read and learn more about the rainforest will only improve students' ability to read and comprehend the complex texts we'll be working with this quarter!

September 3, 2019

Today the kids' literary essays will come home. They worked really hard to (1) write these with the support of a partner, (2) provide feedback to others, and in turn, consider feedback of others, (3) revise their own first draft, and (4) publish their final draft via Google Docs. The kids did really great with these! After reading everyone's essay, it's clear that we'll need to focus on what it truly means to revise a first draft. As is typical with this age, most students adopt the "one and done" attitude towards writing. I hope to help them begin to see writing as a process this year!

Last week we also wrote monologues from the point of views of the characters from Esperanza Rising. The kids performed these for the class on Friday. They did great!

This week

August 26, 2019

Last week's assessment (see below) is coming home today! Last week we also started writing literary essays. We spent some time analyzing a model literary essay and wrote our four paragraph essays, as we contrast two characters' reactions to the same event in Esperanza Rising.

The kiddos finished reading Long Walk to Water and watched a documentary by the main character about bringing clean water to Sudan. This week they'll complete a One-Pager assignment that displays their understanding of the Big Ideas in the novel. I'm excited to see how these turn out!

August 19, 2019

Last week we finished reading Esperanza Rising, but our work with this novel continues! On Friday the kids completed an assessment that demonstrated their ability to analyze and compare the reaction of two characters to the same event/situation, as well as their ability to interpret metaphors and identify themes within the story.

This week we'll be reading and writing two-voice poems to analyze character reactions.

Students should also be finishing the novel Long Walk to Water this week. Students will be completing a webquest to learn about about Salva's part in The Lost Boys of Sudan (documentary).

August 12, 2019

Last week we continued reading Esperanza Rising, as we determined how the various chapters fit into the overall structure of the story (i.e. rising action), made connections between the story and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and we started looking more closely at character's reactions to various events in the story. We worked together and independently to write paragraphs about these reactions. We also began to look more closely at metaphors in Esperanza Rising.

This week we'll continue reading the novel and understanding how character reactions show us more about the characters.

Last week students also participated in Book Clubs to discuss their reading in Long Walk to Water. They did great with these!

August 5, 2019

The kids did great in their text-based discussions last week. Per Discussion Norms, they listened while others were talking and didn't interrupt. Also, everyone was prepared for the discussion. Although as we reflected, we realized we can improve these discussions by asking more questions to deepen our understanding of others' responses. Some still need to find their voices and be sure to speak up and participate. We also worked to be able to articulate where the current chapter of Esperanza Rising fits into the overall structure of the story. Today students are bringing home their latest assessment (with exemplars) of this skill and answers that require quoting accurately from the text. As always, please let me know if you have questions!

This week we're starting a new focus in ELA. We're looking more closely at character's reactions/responses to certain events. This allows us to better understand a story's characters, which then leads to a better understanding of the overall story.

July 29, 2019

Last week students were assessed on the standards noted below. These assessments are coming home today. Prior to the assessment, students practiced these skills with various articles of the UDHR and were given feedback on their work. They were also encouraged to use available resources to complete their summary of the article. I'm sending home an exemplar of the summary so that students and parents can see the expectation for this assignment. Please let me know if you have any questions.

This week students will participate in text-based discussions in groups, as they make connections between Esperanza Rising and the UDHR.

July 22, 2019

This week students will be answering questions about an article of the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) by referring to the text. We're working to quote accurately from the text. This means students' answers should include the answer in their own words AND page numbers, direct quotations, and appropriate punctuation that supports their answers. They'll also be determining the main ideas and summarizing an article of the UDHR. We'll continue reading Esperanza Rising and analyze how the chapters fit into the overall structure of the story. (i.e. rising action)

During their independent reading time, students are reading Long Walk to Water. This book exemplifies many of the human rights violations that we're learning about about during our ELA lessons. They'll be reading approximately 2-3 chapters per week, and answering questions via Google Classroom.

July 15, 2019

This week we'll continue to orient ourselves to this quarter's ELA module. Last week we began reading "Esperanza Rising." Our work with reading skills will center around our study of human rights. This week we'll be determining the gist (main idea) and the meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases in Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We'll also make connections between Esperanza Rising and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

July 9, 2019

This week we're learning routines and procedures that will be utilized during our ELA block. This quarter we'll be using the novel "Esperanza Rising" to learn more about human rights.