We've noticed that student writing needs a bit more help when it comes to sharing evidence for their claims. We started with a story we all read as a class ("Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes), then wrote in response to a prompt - as a class again. We then read another story in partners ("The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry), and wrote in response to a prompt - with partners again. We had a focus with these two stories - "again and again" and "contradictions." These helped us figure out the themes and the reasons behind the characters' actions.
We had a tiny break in the week this past Wednesday, as it was the "Global School Day of Play." We played a quick round of "Game of Quotes" after we read independently (they liked this one; we'll bring it back another day), and threw in some Scattergories at the end of class.
PLEASE - talk to your child about this article - “Social Media’s Impact on Students’ Mental Health Comes Into Focus” - and then ask them what they wrote about or talked about for our fishbowl discussion. Our question was: Should schools address the effects social media has on mental health? I believe that your children WANT to talk about this, as they were very invested in the discussions today!!
Of course, we're reading our independent books every day, sharing books we like, and writing bits and pieces about ourselves or in response to our reading. As state testing looms in the near future, know that we do not specifically "teach to the test," yet we are always preparing for the tests in our lessons and word choice. We will not have a study guide prior to the test (we're even encouraged not to), yet we do ask students often to do what state tests ask - figure out theme, find and provide text evidence, and explain thoughts. We also look at vocabulary when it appears in our reading, always cognizant of stems, roots, and context that can help us understand what we're reading.
We had a tiny break in the week this past Wednesday, as it was the "Global School Day of Play." We played a quick round of "Game of Quotes" after we read independently (they liked this one; we'll bring it back another day), and threw in some Scattergories at the end of class.
PLEASE - talk to your child about this article - “Social Media’s Impact on Students’ Mental Health Comes Into Focus” - and then ask them what they wrote about or talked about for our fishbowl discussion. Our question was: Should schools address the effects social media has on mental health? I believe that your children WANT to talk about this, as they were very invested in the discussions today!!
Of course, we're reading our independent books every day, sharing books we like, and writing bits and pieces about ourselves or in response to our reading. As state testing looms in the near future, know that we do not specifically "teach to the test," yet we are always preparing for the tests in our lessons and word choice. We will not have a study guide prior to the test (we're even encouraged not to), yet we do ask students often to do what state tests ask - figure out theme, find and provide text evidence, and explain thoughts. We also look at vocabulary when it appears in our reading, always cognizant of stems, roots, and context that can help us understand what we're reading.