Take a Peek at Our Week!

In lang & lit, we worked on our next STOP, notice, & note strategy; words of the wiser! Words of the wiser is when a wiser, often older character gives advice to the main character. This advice affects the character in some way which changes the course of the story. This also connects to theme, or the overall message of the story. We practiced using a variety of texts and short videos to identify the words of the wiser. We will continue with words of the wiser next week! Students were also given the MAP test for ELA. This test assesses their reading level. Once we receive and analyze the data, I will send out information about your child's Lexile (reading) level. Finally, we learned how to use Freckle on our Chromebooks! Freckle is a great way to practice and extend our lang & lit skills!

We are learning lots of new buzz words in class! Each day, we begin our lang & lit workshop with a buzz word warm up. Buzz words are vocabulary words that go above and beyond....and make us sound sophisticated. :-)  We start each warm up by reviewing the word from the day before. Then we read a story with a blank word that is the buzz word. We think of words that will fit in the blank to help us understand the meaning of the buzz word before it's even revealed! Next, we go through the Frayer model for vocabulary to identify synonyms, antonyms, personal connections to the word, and even a visual representation. The more connections we make, the better the word sticks in our brains!! In October, we will start a competition among the tables in which students will earn points each time they accurately use a buzz word in their speaking. The table with the most points at the end of the month wins a special reward! Healthy competition really motivates kiddos to use their buzz words!

In individuals & society, we finished up our work with map skills. Next week we will dive into our Early civilizations planner! We will be working on a "where to" activity in which students practice using trusted resources to research an area to theoretically move the Village of Hilton to that would satisfy all of our wants and needs. This introduces the students to the concepts of innovation and adaptation which we will learn more about as we dig deeper into the ancient civilizations of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca. We will also work on a culture wander and wonder activity to help us define culture. 

It was so wonderful seeing so many of you at Open House on Wednesday!! Students had a great time completing our scavenger hunt to show their families around! If you were not able to attend, please send me a Dojo message and I can send home any information that was given out on Wednesday. 

Finally, we had our first D.A.R.E. lesson with Deputy Rick on Friday!! We will have D.A.R.E. every Friday through January. The students were respectful learners...I was extremely proud! 

Don't forget Spirit Week starts Monday! Here is the schedule...I can't wait to see the students in their gear!

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Mrs. Carr

Take a Peek at Our Week!

We had another fantastic week! The students are getting used to using our agenda slides for each subject area. Agenda slides include a list of what we will be working on, materials they need now and later in the period, and our learning targets or "I can" statements. We begin each class by going over the slide to help students prepare themselves and understand the purpose and goals of each lesson. I keep the agenda slides up during independent work times as well allowing students to independently keep track of what they need to accomplish. 

In language & literature, we started to work with our notice & note strategies. Notice & note teaches students to STOP when they read something important and think about how it could change the text or predict what will happen next. This week, we focused on stopping, noticing, and noting when we read an "AHA moment". An AHA moment is when the character realizes or figures out something important. When this happens, we ask ourselves, "how will this change things?". We practiced by watching the video, The Present, and also used picture books and short stories throughout the week. Next week we will STOP, notice, and note when a character receives advice or learns a lesson (theme). 

In writing, we worked with the RACCE strategy to help us compose short answer responses. We carried over our work in lang & lit by writing about AHA moments that we read in different texts. This also connected to our work last week on "cheeseburger paragraphs"! The students are really enjoying using the Chromebooks for writing....we're also sneaking in lots of tech skills each time we use them! 

In individuals & society, we continued to work on map skills to prepare for our upcoming planner! 

I am looking forward to seeing all of you at open house on Wednesday, September 25th! Remember, meet with your child's homeroom teacher from 6:00-6:30 and their second teacher from 6:30-7:00. This will help control the crowd and allow us to talk to everyone! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Mrs. Carr

Take a Peek at Our Week!

We had a terrific first FULL week of school! I can't tell you enough how wonderful these two groups of kiddos are...I am one lucky teacher! Just to keep you up to speed, in fifth grade, we have different names for some of our subjects since we are part of MYP (middle years programme) for I.B.! ELA is called "Language & Literature" and social studies is "Individuals & Society".  I will send more information about I.B. over  the next few weeks (I don't want to send too much at once!).

This week, we did some work with mindfulness. Each morning, students will complete one mindfulness activity to start their day. At our daily class meetings, we will revisit each topic to help us remain grounded, positive, and keep those negative emotions away! We also practiced mindful breathing and movements when we need to calm ourselves down. Below is a list of our daily routine:

Monday: Set a personal goal for the week. 
Tuesday-"Choose-day": This will follow our monthly IB learner profile trait. September focuses on being a risk-taker. 
Wednesday: I am grateful for...
Thursday: Students will look up a positive quote on their Chromebooks and add to our chart. 
Friday: Goal check-in/my take away from the week...

In Language & Literature (ELA), we worked on picking a good fit book. I use the chart below in class as a reminder for the students. I really want students making good choices when it comes to their independent reading books. We discussed finding a book you're interested in, one that isn't too hard or too easy, and something that holds their focus. We also took a "book walk" to explore Mrs. Carr's favorite titles! This was a fun way to have some more book titles ready to go when they finish their current books!

We also practiced positive independent reading habits. We used the chart below to rate our independent reading and worked on building our STAMINA!

In writing, we started our workshop this year by responding to a prompt using Google docs. Students were given the opportunity to show me their best writing in order for me to properly assess their strengths and areas needing growth. We also spent time working on paragraphs. We used the cheeseburger strategy to compose a paragraph with a topic sentence (top bun), 2-3 supporting details or pieces of evidence (meat and fixings), and a wrap-up sentence (bottom bun). You can view your child's work on our Informational Writing Google Classroom! Next week, we will practice writing RACCE responses as a way to answer questions about texts!

In Individuals and Society (social studies), we focused on learning about the I.B. learner profile traits and A.T.L.'s (approaches to learning). A.T.L.'s are skills we need in order to learn. Each of our planners has an "A.T.L. focus" which allows us to practice specific skills that help to develop the A.T.L.  Next week, we will review map skills as an introduction to our first planner, Early Civilizations!

You should have received your child's first Weekly News on Friday! Students complete these reflections on Friday mornings and rate their respect, responsibility, and readiness to learn. They also set goals for the following week. We ask that you review each Weekly News with your child, sign,  and return to school on Mondays. This helps to keep our lines of communication between school and home open.

A reminder that we started reading homework this week! Your child should have returned their signed reading log on Friday unless they needed extra time to read over the weekend. Check Dojo for messages regarding if your child turned in their homework!

Finally, we are in need of book fair volunteers! The signup link is below if you are interested.
Book Fair Volunteers

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Mrs. Carr