What did we do in class this week?
Week of 9/9
This week in class we will jump right in to our first writing assignment. This first writing assignment will be based off of your summer reading. We will go over the basics of paragraph writing, revising, and editing. Also, we will be engaging in some team building activities each day to get to know each other better.
Week of 9/16
On Tuesday- Thursday of this week, students will complete MAP testing. They will have a block and a half to complete the test. Additionally, we will begin our first unit which focuses on Studying Tolerance Through History. As we read, we will discover how important it is to obtain background knowledge especially when reading books with historical references. Together as a class, we will begin reading of the book, Inside Out and Back Again. Once we finish our whole class mentor text, students will choose books of their own to practice the skills we discussed during our immersion of this unit.
Week of 9/23
This week in class we will continue with the reading of Inside Out and Back Again. We will also continue building our vocabulary by adding to our Word Wall. Lastly, we will discuss the rules for forming plurals as well as reviewing nouns and their job in speaking and writing.
Week of 9/30
This week may be a four day week, but our days will be action packed! This week we will visit the library for orientation and go to the book fair. We will also continue with our reading of Inside Out and Back Again. The Quia platform will also be introduced in class this week. Our grammar focus will be possessive nouns.
Week of 10/7
This week we will finish up the reading of Inside Out and Back Again. At the end of the week, we will have our final reading quiz on parts 3 & 4. We will then prepare for self-selecting books for the remainder of the unit. Students will view summary and trailers of book options and determine their top three choices. Books will be distributed early next week. We will also wrap up our noun study with a game of Capture the Flag in class!
Week of 10/14
This week in class, student will choose the book they would like to read as we continue the unit. Prior to making their selections, they should have previewed the trailers and summaries of each book to make a selection. This week, we will also begin an introduction to research tailored to the historical background referred to in the text of their choice. This will later become a writing piece. In regards to grammar, we will start our pronoun study and examine how and why we use pronouns in our writing.
Week of 10/21
This week in class students will continue reading their chosen books. We will be discussing and learning about plagiarism and using research in our writing. Students will begin drafting, revising, and editing their third writing piece of the year during this week as well. Our grammar focus will be verbs in coordination with how using strong verbs in our writing is powerful.
Week of 10/28
This week we are finishing up the "Studying Toleance Through History Unit." We will end the unit with a mini lesson on thematic statements. The students will then apply their understanding of thematic statements to an end of unit assessment. We will also finish up our verb study this week.
Week of 11/4
Although this is a short week for students, we are still busy in language arts class. This week, we will have our final assessment on the unit. Students will also turn in their notebook for their first notebook check for unit 1.
Week of 11/11
This week we will start our second unit which will focus on personal narrative writing. During the instruction of this unit, students will read a book of their choice both in the classroom and outside of the classroom each night for at least 30 minutes. Also during this week, we will continue adding on to our word wall to strengthen our vocabulary. Our grammar focus for this week will be run-ons and fragments.
Week of 11/18
This week we will continue our introductory work to the personal narrative unit. Students will explore skills like imagery, theme and dialogue. We will then examine these parts of a personal narrative in a mentor text to see how they are used in writing an effective piece. We will aim our grammar focus on a homophone study taking place throughout the unit. Additionally, students will be reading self-selected books while we focus on the writing process in class.
Week of 11/25
This may be a short week, but we will be finishing up all the introductory work for our personal narratives. When we return from Thanksgiving break, we will begin the drafting process.
Week of 12/2
This week in class we will be drafting our personal narratives. After drafting, students will engage in the revising and editing process. Students will finish up their independent novels, and we will begin preparing for our first Word Wall Quiz (trimester 1 words).
Week of 12/9
This week we will finish up our narrative unit and begin our non-fiction unit (unit 3) at the end of the week. Our grammar focus for this week will be an introduction to clauses and sentence types.
Week of 12/16
This week in class we are working on our second research based writing piece while preparing for our non-fiction reading unit. We will also dive into conjunctions, clauses and sentence types.
Week of 1/2 (only 2 days)
Start of MAP testing and finishing up our second research based writing piece. As far as grammar goes, we will continue to practice our understanding of conjunctions, clauses and sentence types.
Week of 1/6
Start of MAP testing and finishing up our second research based writing piece. As far as grammar goes, we will continue to practice our understanding of conjunctions, clauses and sentence types. Towards the end of the week, we will officially begin the reading portion of our non-fiction unit.
Week of 1/13
This week, we tied up any lose ends with MAP testing. Students also officially began the non-fiction unit with book choices and independent reading during class. We will continue to add words to our word wall this week. Our grammar focus will be adjectives.
Week of 1/21
This week in class, we will continue our study of adjectives. We will also continue our in class reading of self-selected non-fiction books. Students will experiment with three different strategies while reading to enhance their overall reading experience.
Week of 1/27
This week in class we are finishing up the reading days for our non-fiction unit. Students self selected books for six consecutive class blocks and applied various non-fiction reading strategies during the reading. Students also conferenced with the teacher after finishing each book to be assessed for understanding. This week, we are also finishing up our adjective study with a take home/open note quiz. Lastly, we will start our next grammar topic, correct comma usage.
Week of 2/3
This week in class we will start working on drafting our oral presentations. Students will create a writen draft before creating their Google slides. Students willl be expected to practice every night until presentation day. We will discuss what makes a good presentation and we will practice daily!!! Our grammar focus for this week will be commas.
Week of 2/10
This week are finishing up our in class practice of presentations. On Thursday, we will begin our presentations, which will span over 4 class blocks (2 A days and 2 B days). We will also continue our study of appropriate comma use.
Week of 2/17
This week, we will finish up presentations and continue our study of comma usage. We will begin our fourth unit, Argument and Debate at the end of the week.
Week of 2/24
This week we are finishing up our comma study and our word wall words for trimester 2. We will jump right into our next unit which focuses on argument writing. While learning the skills of an effective argument, students should be reading a book of their choice each night for at least 30 minutes. Notes are optional during this independent read.
Week of 3/3
This week in class we will have our Word Wall test which will cover trimester 1 & 2 vocabulary. Additionally, we will continue working on our argument unit. Students are also reading books of their choice both in class and each night for homework.
Week of 3/10
This week in class we are finishing up the argument unit with an assessment and notebook check. We are also beginning the last set of Word Wall words for trimester 3. Students will also be finishing up their independent reading books and reading logs.
Week 3/17
This week in class we will began unit five which will focus on research writing skills. Students will select a topic from a pre-formed list. These topics will connect back to our last unit, argument. We will also continue to add words to the word wall for trimester three. Our grammar focus will be adverbs.
Week of 3/24
This week in class we will continue with our research writing project. Students will also begin a whole class novel entitled Among the Hidden. The reading of this book will give every student the same reading experience as we get ready to enter the next unit (in a few weeks from now) which will concentrate on Dystopian Literature. We will also wrap up our study of adverbs and continue to advance our vocabulary with additons to our Word Wall.
