Exciting Things are Happening!

Exciting things are happening in 5th grade ELA! We have just finished polishing our first narrative writing as 5th grade authors. It is really neat to see the writing style and technique of each student. Students are learning how to 'hook' the reader with interesting leads/introductions, use dialogue, and add strong verbs and adjectives to spice up their writing.

Students had an opportunity to read their narratives to the class, and we applaud their bravery for doing so! We will continue to learn more about writing techniques and practice with several more short narratives during this unit. Coming up next, we will be learning about personification.

We are also working on strategies/thinking processes that readers utilize to comprehend text. We have been talking a lot about reading as a thinking process....making connections, predictions, summarizing, questioning, using context clues, etc. We are learning that good readers interact with the text in order to really understand what is happening with the characters and events. Currently, we are reading an excerpt from The Prince of Los Cocuyos called The First Real San Giving Day. This week, we will find and discuss the theme of this story.

At home, you can continue to help your child think about their reading through discussions and read alouds. Your 5th grader is not too old to hear you read to them and discuss a topic/story/passage/article, etc! Reading together is a great way to discuss confusing words or sentences, form opinions/take a stance, and continue to hear what fluent reading from an adult sounds like. Encourage your child to read out loud to you often as well. Listen for proper pacing, and expression. Encourage your child to read expressively, paying attention to the author's intended punctuation and tone. We want our students to read to learn, and also learn to LOVE to read, if they don't already!

Over the summer, I jumped on board with a nation-wide teacher driven initiative to welcome students back to school with free books. Utilizing social media, I was able to secure donations from community members, friends, family, and even CHS alumni for 88 5th grade students in our triad (slightly more than are currently enrolled in case we have students move in later this year).

It was a VERY exciting day last week when students were able to go home with our first book: Restart, by Gordon Korman. Thanks to all of the wonderful people who donated money, our 5th graders will get one book every month all school year long! These are quality, high interest books that your 5th grade scholar may keep to build their own home library! It has been so fun to watch some students read this book together and talk about it as they go.

Cadillac News came in for an interview last week, so look for our article in the Cadillac News very soon! They were not able to give us an exact date, but I anticipate it will be there this week or next.

We are also having fun utilizing our audio equipment that allows our students to read out loud, present, or speak in front of the group for all to hear. This pop solo mic is a favorite! our classrooms are big, so this really helps boost our voices!

We love to utilize outdoor space to work whenever the weather allows! Mrs. Powell is working to build an outdoor classroom space, and we are in need of picnic tables. If you are cleaning up for the winter and have a picnic table that you do not need, we would love to have it! We will also work throughout the school year to find ways to purchase picnic tables for outdoor workspace! Let Mrs. Powell know if you have any leads on outdoor tables!

Housekeeping Items:

-Spirit week dress up days are this week!

-Homecoming/early dismissal on Friday!

-Conference times will be mailed this week. Please look for your conference time. I am looking forward to meeting with all of my homeroom students and their families on Oct 10-11!