Language Arts
Writing
Students will be engaged in a writers workshop. I will be encouraging students to write about topics that they are interested in. The goal will be for students to focus on their ideas and putting them into writing. Students will then chose pieces of writing they like to use in the writing process. As students work through all of the stages of the writing process they will develop confidence as writers.
Reading
Students will be doing a variety of reading such as silent reading, buddy reading, as well as reading in groups. There will be an emphasis on choosing books that are, "just right" for them.
We will be starting off with a novel study of Silverwing, by Kenneth Oppel. We will read the book together as a class. We will then do activities in order to look more closely at the text and the student's comprehension.
Students will also be involved in a reader's workshop. They will be put in reading groups according to their reading level. They will be able to discuss books through literature circles as well as book talks. I want students to engage with literature so that they know things, feel things, imagine things, hope for things, and become people they never could have dreamed of without the transforming power of books (Nancie Atwell). My goal it to show students how enjoyable reading is, in order to foster life long readers.
Spelling
Students will be involved in a variety of activities in order to help them with their spelling. We will be using a program called Making Words. It is an active, hands-on, manipulative activity in which students discover letter sound relationships and learn how to look for patterns in words. They also learn that changing just one letter or even just the sequence of the letters changes the whole word.
Students will also use personal spelling dictionaries. These personal spelling dictionaries will consist of words that students have encountered through their writing. As students encounter words they don't know they will make a note of them. These words will then make up their own spelling words for the week.