Take a Peek at Our Week!

In language and literature, students were busy practicing for their IOC assessments! We used another passage from The Jacket and Flipgrid to record our second IOC discussions. Students then reflected by watching their videos, looked for key elements, and set goals for the "real deal" next week. I am SO proud of their progress....they have become very comfortable discussing and analyzing texts! I will be sending home their work from our IOC practice for your review. Monday we will also be taking our final Lexile of the year (can you believe it??). I will send home your child's updated Lexile score after the assessment is complete. The June benchmark score is 900.

In individuals and society, students completed their government research for either Canada or Mexico and began their presentations using Google slides. Students are working on collaboration (our ATL focus for this planner) by working with their research partners to develop and present their research. Students will be presenting their work to the class next week and you will receive a rubric with feedback on their performance.

In writing, we used story arcs to plan out our narratives. Last year, our visiting author Sarah Weeks described how she uses this same process to map out a story before she sits down to write. Story arcs help students to define a clear beginning, rising action, climax, falling action, and satisfying ending. After our arcs were filled out, we completed our narrative drafts and worked with them throughout the week. Students perfected their lead paragraphs by incorporating background knowledge (setting, characters, hint at a problem) and chose a hook (either starting with action, dialogue, or both) to grab the reader's attention. Next, we edited for dialogue throughout the narrative to bring VOICE to the story. Finally, we added figurative language to help our writing come to life....so much creativity! Next week, students will peer edit and participate in "Round Table Reads" to give each other feedback on their work!

Just a reminder that next Friday, June 7th, is an early dismissal day! Have a great weekend!