Open House has happened, the sun moved into the Southern Hemisphere, and this weekend I finally got my summer hair pruned back. I suppose it is time to share plans for the year. Because it may make most sense to you, I'll do it subject-by-subject over a series of blogs, then tack on odds and ends. Today: ELA
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS ELA is a marriage of Reading and Writing, which I treat separately below. In the PPS plan, which I will follow, units of study between the two are coordinated, and ideally taught at the same time. I do NOT plan to teach reading and writing units concurrently, however - the time just isn't there, and time spent with both in a day is exhausting for teacher and students! However, we will be reading and writing every day. What will vary is the big, whole-class instructional focus: reading or writing. I will be drawing from the most recent literacy adoption (The Columbia Reading and Writing Project's Units of Study in Reading and Writing,) but will supplement with lessons and materials from other favorite sources, and make some of my own, too! Units of study will include narrative literature (analyzing themes, crafting personal narratives), informational reading and writing, literary analysis, analysis of argument in informational and opinion writing, and writing research-based argumentative essay. (Oh boy. It is actually more interested than all that sounds!) I do hope to divert into poetry again, too.
READING Reading IS most important. The ability to read (and here I especially include the deep thinking readers must do) underlies all learning. It is one reason I keep homework light: To keep home-time open for a great quantity (and variety) of reading! In the classroom, I'll work with these fifth graders to deepen their understandings of how fiction and nonfiction work. Units of study will include In fiction, we introduce theme/multiple themes and show how setting can play a vital role in plot, and even reflect character. In nonfiction, we'll look at how authors develop and support ideas. Fifth graders must begin to examine supports (especially sources) closely, and consider their reliability. To that end, I'll include "texts" from multiple media sources, including articles from Time for Kids, Newsela, and The New York Times, current events video from CNN10, as well as articles from periodicals from the Cricket Magazine family that our librarians have added to the library this year. Sometimes our readings (in fiction and nonfiction) will complement class studies or follow current events; sometimes they will follow students' interests or my own. In every unit of study (and every whimsical diversion between or within units) I will do my best to foster growth in students' ability to express and defend their ideas about their reading orally and in writing, and to respond to others' spoken and written thinking, as well. Lofty, I know. Loftier still, I hope to meet with kids in differentiated groups to better meet their needs (and just make reading cozier and less lonely!). This is a DIVERSE class, and some need help with foundational skills (learning sound spellings to decode easier, building fluency), and many with quite advanced skills need enrichment (deeper vocabulary development, experience with a greater variety of genres, learning to read more deeply).
WRITING A lot of what I've said above goes for writing, too: Teaching students to support their ideas, broadening their writing experiences, meeting with them in smaller groups to better support them. Writing is my favorite subject, and one often neglected. I plan to have kids write in all subject areas this year, by hand (with a pen) and writing with help of a computer. I will encourage students to bring their classroom writing life home, too, so that their writing becomes a richer, life-long habit. Your interest will support this! Students may bring their writing notebooks back and forth from home and school each day, as well as their class folders with ongoing drafts. Writing in students' Google Drives can be accessed at home, too. Please be careful not to take over your child's writing! When you teach to much, correct too much, you improve the writing and destroy the writer. Learners must experience a struggle to grow. For some, the struggle may include a tear or a scream; from others, the struggle will make them silent and remote, and you may find YOURSELF struggling to enforce a bedtime for a fifth grader who won't turn the lamp off and sleep!
SPEAKING Also part of ELA, Speaking is developed in the class every day. I encourage student voices with regular opportunities to respond in whole class, table group, and partner situations. Students often come up to the front of the room to demonstrate. Even in read aloud, volunteers weigh in on the story. Speaking is more formally developed in drama, and (by the way) we begin drama TOMORROW! Formal speeches will be given by each student in the Spring as part of a cool unit called Argument and Advocacy. (We may tie guest speakers and a field trip to inspire this work.) As with last year, students may prepare presentations at home and share at school. Allegra did this last year, sharing about the holocaust; Abigail and her mother co-presented her mother's humanitarian work in Haiti. I love this stuff!
Lots of information. Sorry. More on other subjects later...