Get Ready For A Great Week!!

I am excited for another exciting week in the "Kourt Room!"  Below is an overview of what to expect this week in 5th grade:

School Wide Book Groups:
All classrooms in grades 1-5 are taking part in school wide book groups.  We had our first meeting this past Thursday.  The children chose a book topic, genre, or author and were grouped with children from different classrooms depending on their book choice.  They then met in small groups to discuss reading strategies and eventually their books.  A teacher or staff member led each book group.  These book groups were a great success.  We look forward to this Thursday afternoon's book group meeting!  This is just another way to motivate children to love reading at Glenmont School!!

Reading:

Our classroom literature circle book groups are off to a great start.  Each child was put into a literature circle book group with peers from our classroom.  These groups each chose a book and are currently off reading.  Literature circle books are only read in the classroom during reading workshop.  The children should only bring these books home if they are absent or missed reading class.  Each child will continue to have an independent book.  The children should bring this independent book home each night to read at home.  They will also have a chance to read this book if they finish their independnt book before their scheduled meeting.  Last week we also started our non-fiction reading unit.  We discussed strategies on how to be a good non-fiction reader.  The children also chose a couple non-fiction books that they will be working on throughout this unit.  We will spend a couple days reviewing non-fiction features.  We will eventually study text features and then analyze non-fiction texts.

Writing:

This past week the children revised argumentative essay on whether or not chocolate milk should be served in schools.  We spent a lot of time talking and studying how to best use quotes from research to support your claim.  I also noticed that the children's essay were full of great research and facts but they were missing voice an personal explanation and support.  The children spent a lot of time adding voice and explanation between their facts.  These writing techniques really fine tuned the children's essays and made them more complex and better written.  We will finally edit the letters this week and send them off to Mrs. Heffernan for a response!

Social Studies:

We are having great conversations in social studies.  We have been studying the major events in United States history.  We began with native American and are currently discussing building America after the Revolutionary War.  We are currently discussing the United States Constitution.  This week we will study our governmental system focusing on the branches of our federal government.  Please encourage your child to share everything they have learned with you!  Their eagerness and involvement in these conversations have been quite impressive!

We will have spelling this and vocabulary this week.  There will be a spelling and vocab quiz on Friday.

Reminder:  Report cards will be available on BC @ Home on January 31st.  Look for mid year conference information coming home this week.  We do not meet with every parent for these second conferences (we only get 2 half days, which would make it impossible to meet with everyone).  You will be notified if I request a parent teacher conference with you.  Feel free to request a conference - there will be a place to request a conference on the slip I send home.  Look for this note within the next couple days.

Have a great week and thank you for your support!

Andrew