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small medium large Week of June 2... We're finishing our poetry unit this week. The students wrote a variety of examples from the various types of poems we studied. We are continuing to write in our journals and on other assignments. There will be no more spelling tests this year! Week of May 19... This week we're concentrating on our sixth-grade play, "Pinocchio." Mrs. Charland is working with the students on memorizing and delivering their lines appropriately, and practicing on the auditorium stage. Mr. Balcom is helping the stage crew create scenery and props. Three performances will take place on May 28. In addition, we're also completing our poetry unit. Week of May 12... We have learned many forms of poetry the past few weeks. Ask your child to share his/her bio-poem, clerihew, personification, onomatopoeia, and direct address poems, among others. We will continue to examine and create additional poetry forms this week. Week of May 5... This week we are continuing with our poetry unit. We are also working on our upcoming sixth-grade play, "Pinocchio." The students who have parts will need costumes, so please check with your child to see what accessories you might be able to easily come up with. If your child has a speaking part, please help him/her practice the lines at home. Week of April 28... Lots of testing!!! This week the students took the DRP Reading test to determine their current reading/ comprehension levels. The test is scored by the district, and results will be sent to us. In addition to this, we are continuing our Poetry unit, and the students are compiling their own samples of the poems we are learning about. So far we have created Bio-poems and clerihews, and we've used the figurative language techniques of onomatopoeia and personification. Week of April 21... Both classes will be taking the Language Arts district CAAP Test this week. This will consist of writing about a particular topic, and then reading some passages and answering questions. We will also continue with our poetry unit. Week of April 14... Our classes will be starting a Poetry unit this week. The students will be reading and studying a variety of poem styles, and then writing their own examples. We'll learn about sensory words and figurative language. Week of March 17... Mr. Balcom's class is busy reading their literature circle books with the theme of "fantasy." Each group is assigning the pages to be read for the next meeting, and all groups are completing accompanying assignments. week of March 10... Mrs. Charland's class is beginning their nonfiction unit this week. The focus is on oceans. The students will be learning about the ocean floor, unusual ocean creatures, and ocean depths and currents. Mr. Balcom's class is starting literature circles this week. The students will select a book to read in a small group, and they'll discuss it with their groupmates. The books will all have the theme of fantasy. Week of March 3... Mr. Balcom's class is wrapping up the Folktale unit this week. We will move on to "Fantasy," using a literature circle format later in the week. Mr. Walter is taking Mrs. Charland's students through a nonfiction unit on "Oceans." Please keep checking nightly reading log progress. This is HOMEWORK and does affect the reading grade. Several students are not handing these in on Friday, and this will result in a low reading grade. Week of February 11... Both classes are continuing with the Folktale unit. We are gathering ideas to write our own versions of folktales, tall tales, myths, and legends. Week of February 4... Both classes are involved in the "Timeless Tales" unit. We are studying folktales, tall tales, myths, and legends. The students will get firsthand knowledge of the elements of these interesting tales, and they'll have some opportunities to write some of their own. Please make sure your child is completing his/her nightly reading log. Week of January 21... The students in Mrs. Charland's class are completing their fantasy unit this week. They are wrapping up their literature circle novels and will be sharing their creative fantasy world projects. In February they will start the folktale unit. Mr. Balcom's class is continuing to read "Frozen Fire" in addition to the folktale unit they began. In writing, they are still working on the trait of "Organization." Week of January 14... Mr. Balcom's class has begun reading the adventure novel "Frozen Fire," which ties in to our Canada unit in Social Studies. We'll be reading this in class because we are sharing the books. We are also working on the writing trait of "Organization." The students are learning to choose an organizational pattern that fits with their purpose for writing. Mrs. Charland's students are continuing to read fantasy in their Literature Circle groups. They have a project due on January 25. Week of January 7... The students in Mrs. Charland's class have started a unit on "Fantasy." They are reading and discussing books in Literature Circle groups. This week they will finish the Inuit-themed Frozen Fire. Mr. Balcom's class is continuing to read and discuss Traditional Tales. We have learned that stories are often passed down through generations, and even though some elements may get changed in each retelling, the moral, or lesson to be learned from it is the same. We will be starting the Frozen Fire book when Mrs. Charland's class finishes it. Week of December 17... This week Mr. Balcom's class shared their Cereal Box Book Reports. They were VERY creative! It was fun listening to their presentations and seeing the prizes they put in their boxes. We're going to continue on with our Folktale unit this week. Mrs. Charland's class is finishing up Frozen Fire. After break we will be getting into Literature Circles, studying the genre of Fantasy. We have been working on our snowman writing and will publish after vacation. Week of December 10... In Mr. Balcom's class we have started a new genre study called "Timeless Tales." We'll be reading and sharing stories from many countries that have been told for generations. These stories often have a moral, or lesson to be learned. *Cereal Box Book Reports are Due Monday, December 17. Our writing lessons are now focused on the Trait of "Organization," and we'll be working on making our writing flow logically through a good beginning, middle, and end. This week, we'll be doing some holiday-themed writing. Week of December 4... Mr. Balcom's class has a "Cereal Box" Book Report assigned (due on Monday, Dec. 17). Each student has a guideline sheet for this, and we've been spending time in language arts reading our adventure books to complete this project on time. We are also wrapping up our writing lessons on the trait of "Ideas," and moving on to "Organization." Mrs. Charland's class is working on a whole class novel titled "Frozen Fire". This goes along with our adventure unit and our unit on Canada. Our writing has been focused on gathering ideas in our personal journals. We will soon be taking a piece of writing through the writing process. The final piece will be published in a class book. Week of November 19th... Mr. Balcom's class is wrapping up their "Adventure" unit with a book report project (Details coming home next week). The students have selected adventure books to read, so be sure to encourage your child to read it at home. Week of November 6th... It sure was a short week. We both continue to work on our adventure units. Mrs. Charland's adventure books are due November 16th. Most students are done or getting really close. Check with your child to see where they are at with their adventure story. In writing we are getting into the different traits of the six trait model. Week of October 22nd... Both classes are studying adventure in reading. Mrs. Charland's students have each picked their own adventure book and are using that to study the characteristics of adventure. This week we worked on the setting of an adventure story. Students looked for clues in their readings that described the setting and how the characters interact with the setting. Mr. Balcom's class is reading adventure stories from their anthologies. We're studying how the settings in these stories create conflicts for the characters, and how the characters change as a result of their experiences. Halloween has been the focus of our writing. Week of October 8th... We did MEAP testing all week. Week of October 1st... Mrs. Charland's class set up their Reading folders and response logs for independent reading. We also worked on writing thank you notes to Hayo-Went- Ha. Next week we will be working on the English Language Arts MEAP test. Mr. Balcom's class set up their personal notebooks this week and continued their adventure unit. Next week we will be working on the English Language Arts MEAP test Week of September 24th This week Mrs. Charland's class set up their personal writing notebooks. The students were given a single subject notebook to use as a writing notebook. This notebook will be used in a variety of ways. First, we are going to be writing personal narratives. Students will use their experiences to write stories. We will be focusing on the traits of ideas and organizing. We will also use this notebook to begin rough draft writings that will be taken through the writing process. We will also be writing poetry in this notebook. The notebooks will be kept in the classroom in a designated spot where students will be given time to write in them. They will be graded informally, giving me information on the writing components students need more practice in. Our first assignment with these notebooks was for students to personalize their cover. They used pictures and words from magazines as a way to personalize. Mr. Balcom's class began their reading unit on adventure. During this unit the students will study the components of adventure literature and will be reading short adventure stories as well as an adventure novel. Week of September 17th We are finishing up our MEAP work. Students have been introduced to an organizational tool called the four square. This may be a review for many students. We find this graphic organizer very useful for our students. Library started this week and we are encouraging students to check out both fiction and nonfiction books. Remember to be reading 20 minutes a night!!! Week of September 10th It has been all MEAP practice this week. We were working on reading two selections and answering questions about the selections. Our focus while reading these selections was learning about test taking strategies. Some of the strategies we came up with as a class were: reading the questions before reading the selections so we know what we are reading for, going back into the selections to find our answers, and highlighting important words or new words while reading. Week of Sept 4th It was a week of getting our routines down. During Language Arts this week we concentrated on learning about our classmates. The next two weeks we will be involved in activites that revolve around reviewing for the MEAP test. Reading Logs and spelling work will also begin next week.
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