WEEK 5: 10/1-10/5

Happy October!

This week in fourth grade we worked on nonfiction text features. Students identified them in nonfiction texts, discussed them in small group, and are working to create their very own nonfiction text after choosing a topic and doing some research. Ask them to tell you about text features at home. For a review, check out this video!

In VA studies we continued learning about Virginia’s regions, rivers, and native peoples. Students will have a quiz on WEDNESDAY of next week (OCT 10). Study guides came home today!

In fifth grade we focused on Main Idea! We discussed which strategies students could use the determine the main idea. For example, looking at headings and pictures, ask yourself “what is the text mostly about?”, looking at the first or last sentence, and seeing what words are used repeatedly. We really focused on the difference between TOPIC and MAIN IDEA. The topic is one word that would describe the text while the main idea explains what it is mostly about. Next week we will continue our study of story elements by looking at characterization and we will introduce text features. To review main idea– check out this review game. In history, students continued to study the history of Henrico County and we also discussed surrounding counties and which regions our county falls into.

In writing with fourth and fifth grade writing we continued with mentor sentence. I wanted to take a moment and explain this! This is a system I use in my classroom to look at different texts and use it to influence our own writing. On Monday’s we look at a sentence I have pulled from a book. This lets us analyze authentic text that we are reading. Next week I will pull sentences from our individual class read alouds. On Mondays students notice what makes this sentence unique or special– maybe it is compound, maybe it has a lot of adjectives, maybe it has an interjection or dialogue. On Tuesday we label the parts of speech. This works as a quick review to spiral those language skills! We have been focusing on the basics (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs), but as the year progresses we will add others that we learn like prepositions or conjunctions. On Wednesday we revise the authors sentence to make it “better”. We do this by adding more adjectives to make it detailed or using synonyms to make words more juicy. On Thursday, students imitate the authors sentence with their own writing. We focus on what they noticed about the sentence on Monday and try to imitate it on their own. Students are so proud to share and they really have become great at taking on the writer’s style. Each day as we wrap up mentor sentence, we discuss how to apply these strategies to our writing and wrap these ideas into each grade’s writing lesson/objective for the week. All in all this process takes less than 10 minutes each day but I have seen amazing results from using it! Here is an example of another teacher doing this with her class.  We will use the skills we worked on during mentor sentence this week and next week as we continue writing our personal narratives.

NEXT WEEK IN FOURTH:
READING: Annotating the text as we read and showing our evidence! This is an important skill that students will use FOREVER!
WRITING/ENGLISH: Personal narratives with a focus on capitalization and writing a good topic sentence.
VA STUDIES: Quiz Wednesday on Virginia’s native peoples. Study guide should be in grey folder! Here is a copy! 

NEXT WEEK IN FIFTH:
READING: Character traits/characterization/how a character changes throughout a text and nonfiction text features!
WRITING/ENGLISH: We will look at authors purpose as we continue to focus on our personal narratives.
SS: Continue our study of Henrico County by talking about water features of Henrico and the climate in different seasons.

*IMPORTANT INFORMATION/UPCOMING DATES*

  • Jamestown Field Trip Permission slips and money are due by 10/12*****
  • The Jamestown Field Trip will be on Friday, October 19th. Students will report to school their normal way in the morning and leave from Trevvett Elementary School. We will tour Jamestown and Yorktown and return back to school around 5:30 PM that evening. More details will be coming out soon.
  • Tuesday October 9: PTO Bingo Night!
  • Please make sure that your child is bringing home their grey Trevvett folders. This is one way for important papers to be sent home! Please sign and return the weekly work habits sheet on Monday!
  • We are still collecting money for StoryWorks! Please consider donating $5! Many of you have already donated, and we really appreciate that!!
  • After School enrichment classes will be offered beginning from Oct 3-Nov 7. Registration Information is located on the Trevvett blog. http://trevvett.henricoschools.us/
  • Girls in Medicine Camp-In: Click here to learn about this wonderful opportunity for our girls!

HAPPY LONG WEEKEND! SEE YOU TUESDAY!

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