Dear families,

this post relates to the 2nd block 4th/5th grade TAG Writing class.

This week students are beginning to build drafts of their research essays. Due to scheduling constraints, for the weeks of April 11-15 and 18-22 our class time will be used for math review to help all students prepare for their math SOL tests. This means that we will be pausing on our research projects for those two weeks. Please encourage your child to continue writing on his/her own for those two weeks. More info and ideas will be forthcoming at the end of the week.

Ms. Brannigan came today, and she has given the students a few assignments that will be due on Tuesday, April 26, and they are described below.

1. Create 7 Wordles, one for each of the terms below.
   1. There should be a wordle for each of: subject, predicate, noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, preposition
   2. Each wordle should have:
      1. A definition for that term, with each word separated by hyphens (-)
      2. 15-20 examples of that term
2. Write 6 sentences from your reading each week.
   1. I will provide students a template that they can use to write the sentences from their reading (they don’t have it yet but I’ll give it to them tomorrow)
   2. Separate and label the subject and predicate in each sentence
   3. Identify the part of speech that each word in the sentence is (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, interjection)

She also asked the students to think about a grammar story that she’ll have them write after the 26th. Students will be writing a story using the different parts of speech as the “characters”, so she has asked the students to start brainstorming for the theme they would like to use for their stories.

Thank you for all your support! As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Dear families,

this post is for families of students in my combined 4th/5th grade TAG writing block.

We have just finished (and students have received their grades for) our long endeavor of writing essays about our beliefs. Please ask your child to show you his/her essay and grades! I will print and send home paper copies in January, but for now you can see it all online!

This week, students began planning for and embarking on extended creative writing projects, beginning by experimenting with genre, form, and topic. I hope you will talk about your child’s creative writing project with him/her, and encourage him or her to work on it over the vacation to continue flexing those creative writing muscles. Of course, I am not requiring any student to work on that project over the holiday – only if they want to!

When we return in January, we will begin our next writing unit – persuasive essays! At that point, creative projects will become work that they will pick up when they finish with their assigned class work, and at home at some points if they want. I am asking that students try to spend about an hour per week on their creative writing projects, whether in spare time at school or at home.

We have been working on typing.com and the BBC’s website Dance Mat Typing to become more efficient at typing, for 2-3 days per week as a warm-up in class. Students are beginning to really see improvements in their typing speed at this point! They may want to practice once or twice at home over break as well.

We will continue with our Greek and Latin roots vocabulary in lieu of spelling for a few weeks when we return, and later on in January or at the beginning of February we will begin diving into some more explicit grammar instruction, for students to start to develop an understanding of the parts of sentences.

For now, I hope you all have a warm and restful holiday break, full of the joy of your loved ones and your favorite foods!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!