Mrs. Carr's Classroom News: Take a Peek at Our Week!

It's been awhile since my last post, but we have been very busy!! In Lang & Lit, we have been preparing for our I.O.C. (Individual Oral Commentary) assessment coming up in a few weeks! This assessment involves students rereading and annotating a passage from a text and preparing a discussion to have with the teacher. Discussions cover a brief summary, context, conflict/solution, figurative language examples with explanations, and theme. Basically...everything we have been working on all year rolled into one! This is far from a traditional paper and pencil assessment and in my experience, the students SHINE! This week, we practiced using the text from picture books such as In November, Fireflies, All the Places to Love, and The Seashore Book.

Additionally in Lang & Lit, we are reading The Jacket by Andrew Clements and discussing each chapter on Fridays with literature partners! Students are responsible for reading and annotating the text, completing a specific job (character commander, connector, summarizer, author applauder, or visualizer), and recording notice and note sign posts to use during their partner discussions.

Narrative writing is in full speed! Students have been SO creative with this genre. This week, we focused on lead strategies to hook the reader's attention. Students practiced writing beginnings with background knowledge, dialogue, and action. Next week, we will work on stretching out a moment, adding figurative language, and how to end a narrative.

Finally, we had an amazing field trip to the Country Clerk's Office (including a mock debate) and the Fish Hatchery at Powder Mills Park. Take a look below at all of the fun! Thank you to all of our parent chaperones...we appreciate it!!