Dear Parents-Welcome to Digital Learning (I miss your kiddos already)!!
Over the next few weeks, we will be moving teaching and learning online. During this time, students are expected to complete 90 minutes of school work each day. In 5th grade, students will have 35 minutes for ELA, 35 minutes for Math, and 20 minutes of Specials. For students who finish work quicker than others or for those who you’d like to do extra work at home, they could do one of the following each day: read their monthly book at home (write/type their review), do I-Ready, select a Coach Digital lesson to print/complete, explore Science/Social Studies activities sent out by their math teachers, or even visit the attached Scholastic link for some current leveled articles to explore (their online magazine is free right now-I think they’ll like some of the current articles under grades 3-5 and 6-8 when I previewed them this weekend). Free Scholastic Magazine articles: Scroll down to grade levels. https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html For the first 5 days, we will be using county provided digital learning lessons. Please note that these lessons are remediation and do not align with our current units we are working on in class. These lessons consist mainly of worksheets. Students can print them out and complete, write their answers on a piece of paper, or type their answers in Google. Answer keys will be uploaded on Google Classroom the following day to help them check their work. Here is the link to access the lessons for week one. Lessons can be found at https://dolvindigitallearningday.weebly.com/fifth-grade1.html I will be available online during normal school hours to help students or answer any questions you might have. I am here to help! Your child knows how to use these online tools. Each day we will be leaving a message for the kids in Google Classroom to stay in touch with the kids and convey that we expect them to complete the daily lesson in reading/math, check their work using answer keys, and give additional activities in case they’d like to do more. Next week, we’ll be posting all lessons/activities for Week 2 in Google Classroom. To help you and your child, I recommend you create a daily schedule similar to the one they have at school. You can check out an example below :). Please e-mail me with questions and know that I cannot wait to see your children again soon! [email protected] Sample Home School Schedule: 7:00 – 8:00 Breakfast, get ready, chores 8:00-9:30 Reading/Math Lessons (Be sure their cell phone is not in room/area they are doing work…just from experience this will turn a 30 minute lesson into 60 minutes with group chats.) 9:30 Specials 10:00 Snack 10:00-11:00 Outside Time/Recess-Take a walk outside, walk the dog, or simply just play a game in the yard 11:00-12:00 Chores 12:00 Lunch 12:30 Quiet Time / Reading (no devices…except for reading on a device 😊) 1:00-2:00 Creative Time-Let them play with Legos, play a board game, draw/do art, origami, crafts, bake something, do puzzles, design their future house on grid paper, etc. No devices! 2:00-2:30 Handwriting / Typing (use a typing program, have them type a letter to friend/family, write a play/story, type a song/rap, type a diary entry for day, design a Google Slideshow on topic of interest, etc.) 2:30 Free Time/After School From: Ms. Huber
Important Dates: Friday, February 28 –February Book Log Due Wednesday, March 4 – AMMS Field Trip Thursday, March 5 – Verb Tenses Test Friday, March 6 – Vocabulary Quiz List #9 Tuesday, March 10 – Poetry Test Wednesday-Friday, March 11-13-Jekyll Island Field Trip Puberty/Health Permission Form Coming Home Today A permission form to sign if you are NOT interested in having your child hear the puberty/health speaker on March 19, 2020, is coming home today!! Please be sure you ask your child to see the form and to read it carefully since we are only returning if they DON’T have permission. Meaning if your child doesn’t give you things or loses them easily, TODAY you’ll need to ask for it and possibly dig it out of their binder. I just want to make sure everyone sees it! Thanks! AMMS Field Trip For the AMMS Field Trip on Wednesday, March 4, we are asking the kids to wear their 5th Grade T-Shirt (the white one with all their names on it) for safety purposes. If they’ve already lost it or it is MIA 😊, please have them wear another Dolvin t-shirt! Thank you! Very exciting! Coach Digital (Milestones Test Prep) Now that we are in the 2nd semester of school, many of you have asked about how you can help your child prepare for the upcoming the Georgia Milestones Assessment. Our AMAZING Dolvin Foundation purchased the rights to the Coach Digital electronic platform for all our students to access from home and school in order to prepare for the assessment. To access the platform, please go to www.coachdigital.com. Once there, select Georgia for the first drop down, Fulton County for the second drop down, and Dolvin Elementary for the third drop down. Your child's username is their 10-digit lunch number (which they know) and the password is 123456. I’ve added lessons to 5th Reading/Language Arts and will continue to update every week or so. Jekyll Reminder: Don’t forget that if your child has food allergies or special food needs, you’ll need to contact Jekyll yourself in advance (if you haven’t done this yet, please do this week if possible because we are in our final few weeks of preparation). Contact information was in the packet sent home (if you e-mail them, please include my name on e-mail, too). Thanks! Grammar: This week we’ll conclude our biggest 5th grade grammar unit on Verb Tense. Over the past few weeks, we reviewed action verbs (direct objects and singular/plural spellings), linking verbs, helping verbs, verb phrases, subject-verb agreement, participles, and the simple verb tense (past, present, and future tense). A couple of weeks ago we started learning about the perfect tense (past-perfect, present-perfect, and future-perfect) and continue to practice this tense last week. The 6th graders will also be learning about transitive/intransitive phrases, infinitives, and gerunds. There will be a unit test this Thursday, March 5. Vocabulary/Spelling: List 9 was added to your child’s binder. We will have the quiz this Friday, March 6. Remember, their quizzes have changed slightly to focus even more on the prefix/root/suffix meanings. If you feel your child needs more practice, all their lists have been uploaded into the website spellingcity.com under Huber. Writing: Last week we concluded our opinion writing unit with a final assessment and a class contest on a practice opinion writing we had finished. This week we are going to start reviewing for Milestones. We’ll start back with the narrative genre and review all the techniques and ingredients an engaging narrative contains. Then we’ll have a quiz on narratives (after Jekyll). Next, we’ll spend a week or two reviewing informational and finally review opinion for a week or two right before Milestones. Reading: A few weeks ago, we started a unit on poetry (to analyze poems for structure, figurative language, tone, and theme) and began our next class Book Club book (either Out of the Dust or Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry). This week we will continue to analyze poems for the elements above as well as compare and contrast two poems. Sixth graders will be learning about symbolism, iambic pentameter, sonnets, odes, ballads, and epics. Their unit poetry test will be next Tuesday (day before Jekyll) and will have a novel test after Jekyll (once we finish the book) March Book Logs were passed out today and are due at the end of the month. If you aren’t signing your child’s Book Log, please make sure you see them reading their book at home. Remember the whole point is to encourage them to be avid readers (whether it is their favorite subject or not) and to always be reading something both at home and at school. Thanks!! From: Ms. Huber
Important Dates: Friday, February 21 – Jekyll Final Payment Due Wednesday, February 26 –Spring Class & Individual Pictures Friday, February 28 –February Book Log Due Wednesday, March 4 – AMMS Field Trip AMMS Field Trip (for my homeroom only-PM Parents-if interested e-mail your child's homeroom teacher) For the AMMS Field Trip on Wednesday, March 4, we’ll need two chaperones to go along with us. This isn’t a time for parents to ask questions of AMMS (there is usually a separate meeting for parents), but a time for the kids to see it, ease some anxiety, and get excited! Parent chaperones (and myself) will simply be along for the ride and escort a group of about 8-10 around AMMS as an AMMS student guide leads a tour and answers the kids’ questions. We’ll be leaving the school around 8:30ish and be back around 11:30-12:00 (right before lunch). Please let me know if you are interested! I’ll take the first two parents who respond. Thank you!!! Very exciting! Fifth Grade Behavior It is that time of year where the 5th grade teachers start seeing some of the students starting to try and act like a middle schooler (we usually have to send this e-mail as a team in January-at least we made it to the end of February-this is actually very impressive). They think it is “cool” to not follow the rules, focus on drama/friends vs. their work/themselves (if your child has a phone-you might want to check in on their group texts/social media), or be disrespectful to teachers or peers (they think they are being funny but some have started to cross that thin line between humor and disrespect). If you see your child’s grades starting to slip (I’d check in Infinite Classroom once a week) or notes in their agenda, please have a conversation with them about staying focused and being respectful (and how this doesn’t change for middle school either….same, if not higher, expectations). We want to make sure all keep their current placements next year (have to keep an 80% average in both reading and language arts) as well as end their time at Dolvin on a positive note having lots of fun! Thank you so much for the support at home! Coach Digital (Milestones Test Prep) Now that we are in the 2nd semester of school, many of you have asked about how you can help your child prepare for the upcoming the Georgia Milestones Assessment. Our AMAZING Dolvin Foundation purchased the rights to the Coach Digital electronic platform for all our students to access from home and school in order to prepare for the assessment. To access the platform, please go to www.coachdigital.com. Once there, select Georgia for the first drop down, Fulton County for the second drop down, and Dolvin Elementary for the third drop down. Your child's username is their 10-digit lunch number (which they know) and the password is 123456. I’ve added lessons to 5th Reading/Language Arts and will continue to update every week or two. Jekyll Reminder Don’t forget that if your child has food allergies or special food needs, you’ll need to contact Jekyll yourself in advance (if you haven’t done this yet, please do this week if possible because we are in our final few weeks of preparation). Contact information was in the packet sent home (if you e-mail them, please include my name on e-mail, too). Thanks! Grammar: This week we’ll continue our biggest 5th grade grammar unit on Verb Tense. Over the past few weeks, we reviewed action verbs (direct objects and singular/plural spellings), linking verbs, helping verbs, verb phrases, subject-verb agreement, participles, and the simple verb tense (past, present, and future tense). Last week we started learning about the perfect tense (past-perfect, present-perfect, and future-perfect) and will continue to practice this tense this week. The 6th graders will also be learning about transitive/intransitive phrases, predicate nominatives, infinitives, and gerunds. There will be a unit test at the beginning of March. Vocabulary/Spelling: List 9 was added to your child’s binder last week. We will have the quiz next week. Remember, their quizzes have changed slightly to focus even more on the prefix/root/suffix meanings. If you feel your child needs more practice, all their lists have been uploaded into the website spellingcity.com under Huber. Writing: Last week we continued our opinion writing unit and started the writing process for our final practice writing. For their final writing, students will be introduced to the career of public relations and become a PR firm for a vacation destination of their choice and will write to convince others to choose their spot for vacation. As they are writing this final writing, I’ll be meeting one-on-one or in small groups for writing conferences to discuss areas to improve upon. This final writing will conclude with a class contest (and a writing test) this week. Reading: A couple of weeks ago, we started a unit on poetry (to analyze poems for structure, figurative language, tone, and theme) and began our next class Book Club book (either Out of the Dust or Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry). This week we will continue to analyze poems for the elements above as well as start to compare and contrast two poems. Sixth graders will be learning about symbolism, iambic pentameter, sonnets, odes, ballads, and epics. For their February Book Logs, all students will need to read one chapter book of their choice besides the class novel. This will be due this Friday, February 28. From: Ms. Huber
Dear Parents-Thank you SO much for all the wonderful treats, flowers, presents, and my favorite…the homemade cards! I was truly spoiled and pampered last week during Teacher Appreciation Week! I hope you all also enjoyed a relaxing long weekend and were able to spend time with your Important Dates: Monday, February 17 – Student/Teacher Holiday Wednesday, February 19 – International Day Friday, February 21 – Jekyll Final Payment Due Wednesday, February 26 – Spring Class & Individual Pictures Friday, February 28 – February Book Log Due Wednesday, March 4 – AMMS Field Trip Coach Digital (Milestones Test Prep) Now that we are in the 2nd semester of school, many of you have asked about how you can help your child prepare for the upcoming the Georgia Milestones Assessment. Our AMAZING Dolvin Foundation purchased the rights to the Coach Digital electronic platform for all our students to access from home and school in order to prepare for the assessment. To access the platform, please go to www.coachdigital.com Once there, select Georgia for the first drop down, Fulton County for the second drop down, and Dolvin Elementary for the third drop down. Your child's username is their 10-digit lunch number (which they know) and the password is 123456. I’ll be adding Language Arts items by the end of the week. Jekyll Reminder Don’t forget that if your child has food allergies or special food needs, you’ll need to contact Jekyll yourself in advance (if you haven’t done this yet, please do this week if possible because we are in our final few weeks of preparation). Contact information was in the packet sent home (if you e-mail them, please include my name on e-mail, too). Thanks! Grammar: We have started our biggest 5th grade grammar unit on Verb Tense. Over the past few weeks, we reviewed action verbs (direct objects and singular/plural spellings), linking verbs, helping verbs, verb phrases, and subject-verb agreement. Last week, we learned about participles and verb tense. This week we’ll start learning about the perfect tense (past-perfect, present-perfect, and future-perfect). The 6th graders will also be learning about transitive/intransitive phrases, predicate nominatives, infinitives, and gerunds. There will be a unit test toward the end of February. Vocabulary/Spelling-List 9 was added to your child’s binder today. We will have the quiz in about two weeks. Remember, their quizzes have changed slightly to focus even more on the prefix/root/suffix meanings. If you feel your child needs more practice, all their lists have been uploaded into the website spellingcity.com under Huber. Writing: Last week we continued our opinion writing unit and started the writing process for our final practice writing. For their final writing, students will be introduced to the career of public relations and become a PR firm for a vacation destination of their choice and will write to convince others to choose their spot for vacation. As they are writing this final writing, I’ll be meeting one-on-one or in small groups for writing conferences to discuss areas to improve upon. This final writing will conclude with a class contest (and a writing test). Reading: Last week we started a unit on poetry (analyze poems for structure, figurative language, tone, and theme) and began our next class Book Club book (either Out of the Dust or Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry). This week we will continue to analyze poems for the elements above as well as start to compare and contrast two poems. Sixth graders will be learning about symbolism, iambic pentameter, sonnets, odes, ballads, and epics. For their February Book Logs, all students will need to read one chapter book of their choice besides the class novel. This will be due at the end of February. From: Ms. Huber
Important Dates: Wednesday, February 12 – Vocab/Spelling Quiz #8 Thursday, February 13 – Wear red/pink-Relay for Life Fundraiser for Cancer Research Thursday, February 13 – Homeroom Valentine Exchange Friday, February 14 – Student Holiday Monday, February 17 – Student/Teacher Holiday Wednesday, February 19 – International Day Friday, February 21 – Jekyll Final Payment Due Middle School Connections and Foreign Language Forms: Students are coming home today with a YELLOW form for them to choose their middle school connections classes and their foreign language or reading options. The first connections option is general connections and the second option is the Performing Music Connection which allows students to choose between Band, Chorus, or Orchestra (please select one before sending back...I cannot choose this for you). Students also have the option to take Spanish, French, or Latin as a foreign language. Their other option is to take an additional reading course (all students will still have reading as part of their language arts class-this is for an additional reading class for extra help). If your child scored below grade level on their 4th grade Milestones (2- or 1), they will be required to take reading next year. If your child scored a 3 or 4 on Reading Milestones, then they could take the foreign language (I checked off my homeroom students). Valentine Exchange: Each homeroom class will be having a Valentine Exchange on Thursday, February 13. Your child does not have to participate, but if they do choose to participate, they need to bring a Valentine for each student in the class (Huber’s homeroom=28 students). I will send home a list of names tomorrow with the kids. Please be mindful that we are a peanut/tree nut (any nut) free classroom when attaching treats. I hope you have a LOVEly day that day, too! Thanks! Grammar: We have started our biggest 5th grade grammar unit on Verb Tense. Two weeks ago, we reviewed action verbs (direct objects and singular/plural spellings) and linking verbs. Last week we learned about helping verbs, verb phrases, and subject-verb agreement. This week, we’ll study participles, verb tense, and learn about perfect tense (past-perfect, present-perfect, and future-perfect). The 6th graders will also be learning about transitive/intransitive phrases, predicate nominatives, infinitives, and gerunds. There will be a unit test toward the end of February. Vocabulary/Spelling-List 8 was added to your child’s binder last week. We will have the quiz this Wednesday. Remember, their quizzes have changed slightly to focus even more on the prefix/root/suffix meanings. If you feel your child needs more practice, all their lists have been uploaded into the website spellingcity.com under Huber. Writing: Last week we continued our opinion writing unit and started the writing process for our final practice writing. For their final writing, students will be introduced to the career of public relations and become a PR firm for a vacation destination of their choice and will write to convince others to choose their spot for vacation. As they are writing this final writing, I’ll be meeting one-on-one or in small groups for writing conferences to discuss areas to improve upon. This final writing will conclude with a class contest (and a writing test). Reading: Last week we finished our unit in reading that included Dramatic Literature & Folklore (structural elements, story elements, tone/mood, and compare/contrast two characters within). This week, we’ll start a unit on poetry (analyze poems for structure, figurative language, tone, and theme) and begin our next class Book Club book (either Out of the Dust or Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry). Sixth graders will be learning about symbolism, iambic pentameter, sonnets, odes, ballads, and epics. For their February Book Logs, all students will need to read one chapter book of their choice besides the class novel. This will be due at the end of February. From: Ms. Huber
Important Dates: Friday, January 31 – 1st Jekyll Payment Due Tuesday, February 4 – Dramas & Folklore Reading Test Thursday, February 6 – Jekyll Permission Slip/Insurance Form Due Friday, February 13 – Homeroom Valentine Exchange Friday, February 14 – Student Holiday Monday, February 17 – Student/Teacher Holiday Wednesday, February 19 – International Day Valentine Exchange: Each homeroom class will be having a Valentine Exchange on Thursday, February 13. Your child does not have to participate, but if they do choose to participate, they need to bring a Valentine for each student in the class (Huber’s homeroom=28 students). Please be mindful that we are a peanut/tree nut (any nut) free classroom when attaching treats. I hope you have a LOVEly day that day, too! Thanks! International Day Coming Soon! If you are interested in helping with International Day, please see information attached. Grammar: Last week we started our biggest 5th grade grammar unit on Verb Tense. Last week, we reviewed action verbs (direct objects and singular/plural spellings) and linking verbs. This week we are learning about helping verbs, verb phrases, and subject-verb agreement. Next week, we’ll study participles, verb tense, and learn about perfect tense (past-perfect, present-perfect, and future-perfect). The 6th graders will also be learning about transitive/intransitive phrases, predicate nominatives, infinitives, and gerunds. There will be a unit test toward the end of February. Vocabulary/Spelling-List 8 will be added to your child’s binder this week. We will have the quiz toward the end of next week. Remember, their quizzes have changed slightly to focus even more on the prefix/root/suffix meanings. If you feel your child needs more practice, all of their lists have been uploaded into the website spellingcity.com under Huber. Writing: This week we are continuing our opinion writing unit and will start the writing process for our final practice writing. For their final writing, students will be introduced to the career of public relations and become a PR firm for a vacation destination of their choice and will write to convince others to choose their spot for vacation. As they are writing this final writing, I’ll be meeting one-on-one or in small groups for writing conferences to discuss areas to improve upon. This final writing will conclude with a class contest (and a writing test). Reading: This week we’ll finish our unit in reading that includes Dramatic Literature & Folklore. Since Winter Break, we’ve learned the structural elements and how to identify the story elements in dramatic literature (a play), learned about tone/mood, and started exploring all the types, characteristics, and story elements found in folklore (including folktales and myths). This week we’ll continue analyzing myths and review comparing and contrasting two characters within (6th graders are continuing to review the plot diagram while comparing/contrasting two different versions of the same story/myth). Our unit test on Folk Lore will be tomorrow, Tuesday, February 4. Later this week, we’ll start a unit on poetry and begin our next class Book Club book. For their February Book Logs, all students will need to read one chapter book of their choice besides the class novel. These will be due at the end of February. From: Ms. Huber Important Dates: Tuesday, January 28 – Grammar Test (Synonyms, Antonyms, Analogies, Homophones, and Homographs) Wednesday, January 29 – Vocab/Spelling Quiz List 7 Wednesday, January 29 – GeoBee Test (for those students who are interested in participating) Friday, January 31 – 1st Jekyll Payment Due Friday, January 31 – Monthly Book Log Due Tuesday, February 4 – Dramas and Folklore Reading Test (tentative date) Wednesday, March 4 - Autry Mill Middle School Field Trip (students tour the middle school) International Day: Please see attached flyer for Dolvin's upcoming International Day. Grammar: This week we are concluding a unit on Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homonyms (homographs and homophones). Students have learned and stretched their vocabulary as they used synonyms, antonyms, analogies, homophones, and homographs as context clues to figure out the meanings of new words. Our unit test will be this Tuesday, January 28. Wednesday, we’ll start a major unit on Verb Tense where students will learn about verb phrases, the six tenses (past, present, future, past perfect, present perfect, and future perfect), as well as participles. This is a harder unit for the students. They’ll have notes in their Grammar Notebooks, homework to practice (most have not heard these skills before so practice might be needed), and extra resources available on my website. This unit will take about 3 weeks to teach before having a unit test. Vocabulary/Spelling: List 7 is in your child’s binder. The quiz for List 7 will be this Wednesday, January 29. Remember, from now on, the focus of the quiz will be more on vocabulary. They’ll still need to spell the words correctly (part will still be like the previous spelling quizzes), but then it will focus more on do they know the meanings of the prefixes/roots/suffixes for that list, and can they define their words using the prefix/root/suffix meanings (and even other words with same prefix/suffix). If you feel your child needs more practice, all their lists have been uploaded into the website spellingcity.com under Huber. Writing: We have started our next unit on opinion writing. Last week, we finished our first practice essay where the students were trying to convince me that kids deserve more/extra recess (throughout we learned structure of an opinion essay, discussed counterarguments/pro/con charts, reviewed transitions/vivid verbs, and practiced citing sources for given evidence. We ended this practice with a debate, and they successfully convinced me to give them extra recess 😊. This week we’ll start a second practice on a choice topic, and we’ll start the writing process again. As they write this week, we’ll focus again on having a clear counter argument (using them effectively) in each paragraph, using a variety of transitions (not repetitive), citing evidence, and explaining evidence (most are good at finding evidence and writing it, but they skip explaining the point of using that evidence/quote). After we finish this second run-through, next week we’ll start a final practice for a class contest. Reading: Last week we continued our current unit on Dramatic Literature & Folk Lore (test is tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday, February 4). So far, we’ve learned how to read/identify the structural elements and the story elements (conflict, resolution, theme, tone, and point of view) in dramatic literature (a play), folktales, and myths. This week we’ll practice comparing and contrasting two characters, events, or themes in a folktale and myth. Sixth graders are currently learning about the plot diagram and how to organize a folktale or myth’s plot upon one (they are also comparing and contrasting two versions of the same story) . There will not be a class novel for this unit, so for their January Book Logs, all students will need to read two chapter books of their choice and complete two book reviews. These will be due on Friday, January 31. For sixth graders, one of these two books needs to be chosen from a selection of 6th grade texts in my classroom or pre-approved by me (I’ll initial their Book Log once approved).
From: Ms. Huber
Important Dates: Friday, January 24 – 5th Grade Picture Monday, January 27 - 100th Day of School Celebration (kids can dress to look 100 years old) Friday, January 31 – 1st Jekyll Payment Due Friday, January 31 – Monthly Book Log Due 5th Grade Picture-THIS FRIDAY For the 5th grade picture on Friday, January 24, students will wear their 5th grade t-shirts (they will be given these right before the picture to keep clean….so they’ll wear another shirt to school) and blue jeans. If your child does not have blue jeans for the picture, please have them wear pants/leggings that are close in color (like navy blue or black), but we need most students in jeans (if they have jeans and are arguing with you…you have my permission to blame me 😊. Tell them, “Ms. Huber said!”). Young GA Authors’ Contest & GeoBee Last week we sent home information/attachments on these two upcoming contests. If you missed this information, please see my Weekly Blast posted on my website from last week (huber5.weebly.com). Grammar: We have started a unit on Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homonyms (homographs and homophones). The students have learned these skills in their past, but this unit will focus on reviewing them but with harder vocabulary so to expand their vocabulary. This week we will continue to practice editing for misused homophones as well as start reviewing for our unit test which will be next Tuesday. January 28. Vocabular/Spelling-List 7 is in your child’s binder. Starting with our first vocabulary/spelling quiz this semester, which will be this Thursday, Jan. 23, the focus of the quiz will be more on vocabulary. They’ll still need to spell the words correctly (part will still be like the previous spelling quizzes), but then it will focus more on do they know the meanings of the prefixes/roots/suffixes for that list, and can they define their words using the prefix/root/suffix meanings. If you feel your child needs more practice, all their lists have been uploaded into the website spellingcity.com under Huber. The vocab quiz will be this Thursday. Writing: We have started our next unit on opinion writing. Last week, we learned the structure of the detail paragraphs and an opinion conclusion as the kids worked on a practice essay trying to convince me to give them more recess (the debate is tomorrow). We also reviewed/practiced the importance of using transitions and strong verbs in an opinion writing. This week we’ll start a second practice on a choice topic, and we’ll start the writing process again. As they write this week, we’ll focus again on having a clear counter argument (using them effectively) in each paragraph, citing evidence, and explaining evidence (most are good at finding evidence and writing it, but they skip explaining the point of using that evidence/quote). Reading: Last week we started a new unit in reading that includes Dramatic Literature & Folk Lore. So far, we’ve learned how to read/identify the structural elements, the story elements (conflict, resolution, theme, and point of view), and tone in dramatic literature (a play) and folktales. This week we are going to focus on identifying the previously listed skills in myths, and we’ll also start comparing and contrasting two characters, events, and/or themes in a folktale/myth. Sixth graders are currently learning about the plot diagram and how to organize a folktale/myth’s plot upon one. There will not be a class novel for this unit, so for their January Book Logs, all students will need to read two chapter books of their choice and complete two book reviews. These will be due on Friday, January 31. For sixth graders, one of these two books needs to be chosen from a selection of 6th grade texts in my classroom or pre-approved by me (I’ll initial their Book Log once approved). Dear Parents-There are a couple of opportunities for students to participate in if they are interested. First, there is the Young Georgia Author's Contest (see attached flyer at bottom). Also, there is the Geographic GeoBee. For the GeoBee (open to 4th and 5th grade), the first step is for your child to get a study packet from their teacher and start to study. The Preliminaries will be on Jan. 29 when students interested will take a written test. The top 10 will then go to the school GeoBee on Feb. 5 at 8 a.m. in the Commons and will compete answering oral and written questions. The school champion will then complete an online qualifying test on Feb. 6. The top 100 ranked students in the state will proceed to the state GeoBee on March 27, 2020. For questions, please e-mail Mrs. Halron, our CST, at [email protected]. For extra study materials, go to https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/student-experiences/geobee/study
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August 2021
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