1,000 Minute Challenge

On October 1, I challenged every 5th grader to read 1,000 minutes by Halloween.  I've promised a 1,000 Minute Challenge Party to every student who reaches that goal.  So far, we only have two people who have read 1,000 minutes, but we have several who are getting close!

Right now, here are our top 10 readers this month (according to BiblioNasium):

1. Elise (1242 minutes)
2. Zach (1082 minutes)
3. Nolan (843 minutes)
4. William B. (744 minutes)
5. Shawn (684 minutes)
6. Sydney (645 minutes)
7. Alex (603 minutes)
8. Noah (601 minutes)
9. Adyson (595 minutes)
10. Jonah (560 minutes)

As an entire 5th grade group, students have read:

14,290 minutes

27,686 pages

and completed 109 books

Wow!  Way to go, 5th grade!!!! Keep up the hard work!

Remember to keep reading and working on the 40 Book Challenge.  If every student completes the 40 book challenge, we will need to have 1,880 books.  We still have quite a ways to go, but I know we can do it!

Hatchet

We've been reading Hatchet by Gary Paulsen for the past few weeks.  Each day, students are asked to respond to their reading in their Read Aloud Log.  These will be kept in a folder until we are finished with the book, then they will be stapled and turned in.

So far, the majority of students are enjoying this book, and whine when we have to stop reading each day!  It is a great book to get kids interested in read, since it starts with a bang, quite literally.  Ask your child about the book, and I'm sure you'll get a lengthy retelling!

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon!

Today, we read Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell.  This is a great book to read when getting kids to start looking for themes! As we read, we discussed themes that we were starting to see, and created a list of these.  These ranged from "Be proud of who you are," to "Don't judge a book by its cover," to "Being a bully makes you look foolish."  Both classes did a great job reading and thinking about themes!

We also came up with a class definition of theme: Theme is the lesson the author is trying to teach you.  By using this definition, we are really stressing that theme and main idea are two very different things, which is a tough concept to understand.

Soon, we will be focusing on not just finding the theme, but also finding evidence from the book to PROVE that we are correct.

Sign Language Spelling

This week, we have started our spelling program, Words Their Way.  This program was used sporadically last year, and this year, we are using it as our prominent spelling program.  At the end of 4th grade, students were given a spelling inventory.  The results of this placed them into different groups for spelling and word work in 5th grade.  Mr. Graves, Mr. Martin, and I have separated students into three groups: Derivational Relations, Syllables and Affixes, and Within Word Pattern.  Each of us takes a group daily, and focuses on specific spelling patterns. 

We will be in a 7 day cycle in Words Their Way, which I have outlined below:

Day 1: Introduce new words, focus on spelling pattern, cut words, practice sort

Day 2: Review spelling pattern, Blind Buddy Sorts

Day 3: Activity Choice

Day 4: Speed Sorts

Day 5: Word Hunts, Speed Sort

Day 6: Worksheet from WTW book, Sort and Glue

Day 7: Spelling Check

Today was Day 3, and I introduced Sign Language Spelling as their first activity.  Each student had a copy of the sign language alphabet, and they worked with their partner to spell words using sign language.  They loved this and were so focused on spelling!  I wish had gotten pictures of them signing to their buddy!

Today we went to Art Feeds. We made posters of a theme we picked out of a jar the themes where. Learning and Growing, Heath and Safety, Friendship and unity, Dreams and perseverance. We all voted after we made the posters. The posters each team made was of there ideas. After we pesented our posters we voted and Dreams and Perseverance won.

-Noah

Theme Unit

We have started working on our theme unit in reading.  On Monday, students took a pre-assessment over theme.  A lot of them were upset with their low score, but we talked about how we can improve by the post-assessment.  I am working with each student to set a personal goal for the post-assessment, which will be recorded on a scoreboard that will be put into their reading binders.  Everyone has room for improvement!

Today, we created a class KWL chart.  This chart has students focus on what they already know about a topic, what they want to know about a topic, and what they have learned about that topic.  This is a great way to get their brains thinking about things they may have learned in previous years.  It's also a great way to clear up any misconceptions!

Each student recorded what they knew (or thought they knew!) about theme on a sticky note, then added it to our chart.  I then went over some of the responses, and acknowledged kiddos who were on the right path with their thinking.  The next task was to write down questions they had about theme.  This group of 5th graders really came up with some good questions!  After going over questions and answering a few of them, some students decided to put up stickies in the "learned" column!  We will keep adding to that as the unit goes on. 

Art Feeds

Today we went to Art Feeds. We talked about our community what a community is and how they do things together. We played a game. The game was telling a story as a community. We each got a turn we would have to take the yarn in our hands. We would have to pinch the yarn than tell our part of the story. We would get to add a sentence to the story. It could be any thing you wanted but it had to go along with the story. than pass it to any one you want to. We went on and on till we had no more time.

                                        Sincerely, Noah