Monthly Archives: February 2016

TAG Reading 5 Update

Dear families,

this post relates to my first block TAG Reading 5th grade class.

We are diving in to short nonfiction reading! Students are practicing some important skills as we read shorter articles in preparation for research reading coming up:

  • identifying text features
  • finding main ideas and details
  • identifying and analyzing text structures
  • distinguishing between fact and opinion
  • starting to pick out bias
  • identifying author’s tone
  • summarizing and paraphrasing

Please encourage your child to continue reading a meal book every day on his or her own at home all month, as we do not have assigned books right now.

February has all but ended – please discuss with your child whether or not he/she met his/her reading goal and why! We will be making new reading goals for the month of March in the coming week in class.

Students just took the test on Wordly Wise Unit 7 on Friday, February 26, and that is coming home to be signed. Some students need to re-take the test this coming Friday, March 4 as they scored below 70%. If this is your child, please encourage him/her to study throughout the week as we will not spend class time on the words from that lesson. This week we have just begun lesson 8, on which we will have our test on Friday, March 11.

Writing 5 Update

Dear families,

This post relates to my 5th grade only writing class (4th block of the day).

NEW UNIT OF STUDY

We have finished persuasive essays! Scored essays will be coming home for you to sign later this week. Please be on the lookout!

We are beginning a new unit in research. This unit will take us until about spring break. Please ask your child about his or her chosen research topic and sub-topics. On Tuesday in class students will be introduced to a new tool called Google Keep that they will be using to organize their research notes. Please encourage them to show you Google Keep on their Google accounts!

WORD STUDY

We are deep into our new word study routines! This two weeks (February 22-March 4) we have a packet with the list and all assignments included (attached at the bottom of this post).

This week, we have word study homework today (illustrated words for section 3) and Wednesday (practice test). The test will be on Friday, March 4. Please encourage your child to study!

As you can see when you open the document below, we have three sections in our word study practice with each new bi-weekly list:

  • commonly misspelled words (this week is their/there/they’re)
  • strong vocabulary words (this week we have luxurious/anxious/ridiculous/ambitious)
  • Greek and Latin roots (this week is frac/struct/fac/rupt)

GRAMMAR

We are practicing identifying spelling and capitalization errors in practice sentences as warm-up, and we will work on identifying those same mistakes in our own writing.

TYPING

Two to three days a week, students are working for about 10 minutes on typing.com to become more efficient. They can always practice at home as well! Everyone’s typing skills are quickly improving as the year progresses. You can find out their progress at any time at home by logging in to their typing.com account.

WordStudyList6

TAG Writing 4/5 Update

Dear families,

This post relates to the mixed 4th/5th grade TAG writing class.

We have been busy in our TAG writing class! Students are…

  • working on their creative writing projects, which are now due on March 14. Our rubric is attached (here: WritingIndependentProjectsRubric). Please discuss the rubric with your child.
  • beginning the process of research for a research-based article. They have just been exposed to Google Keep as a way to organize the information they are gathering.  Please have them show you the features of Google Keep!
  • learning how to identify the parts of sentences and parts of speech
  • receiving their persuasive writing back scored this week – please ask your child to show you when they receive their scored essay.

In the past 3 weeks or so on Mondays students have been working with Ms. Brannigan, our visiting TAG teacher, to learn how to identify subject and predicate and the basic parts of speech. We have investigated a few parts of speech in more depth, including nouns, verbs (action vs. linking), and prepositions.

This week, for their grammar work, students are asked to complete several learning tasks:

  1. Read both of the packets given by Ms. Brannigan (one is just a reference about types of pronouns, and the other contains sentences 5-10, on which they have assignments to do).
  2. Try to memorize 2 types of pronouns: subject pronouns and object pronouns
  3. On each sentence in the packet with sentences 5-10:
    1. First line: define the bold word from the sentence
    2. Second line: write all the nouns AND pronouns. Write what type of pronoun each is.
    3. Third line: write the subject and the predicate of the sentence
    4. Fourth line: write all the verbs from the sentence

I’ll work with the students a bit in class throughout the week to clarify their assignments and re-teach the types of pronouns; but by Monday, March 7, they should have sentences 5-10 finished and ready to turn in.

 

Math 5 Update

Dear families,

we have started a new unit on fractions! Our big goals for this unit are…

  • identifying equivalent fractions
  • comparing and ordering fractions and decimals
  • adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators

We have already been working on identifying equivalent fractions. We have also begun using strategies to compare fractions. We have used models, pictures, number lines, and benchmark numbers (0, 1/2 and 1) to compare fractions. We are starting to learn how to find the Least Common Denominator to compare fractions.

Attached is the unit study guide in English and in Spanish for your perusal at home.

We are also continuing each week to do fact fluency tests. Please help your children practice their multiplication and division facts to 12 for about 10 minutes each day so they can pass all levels of the tests! They can use First In Math or even old-school notecards to practice.

Fraction Study Guide Kessinger with the Spanish version

Fraction Study Guide Kessinger