What are we working on in Language Arts?
Speaking and Listening:
Reading and Viewing:
Conventions (Grammar):
- These skills are continuously monitored through all subjects during this term and the last.
Reading and Viewing:
- We are setting up our CAFE/Daily 5 presently. A large part of CAFE (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Enriched vocabulary) encompasses reading. However, it also incoporates writing and spelling.
- Reading groups have been made and conferencing with these groups will start next week. While students are in their conference groups, the other students will be working on various things such as Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading (via book/CD), Word work (practising their spelling words of the week) and Writing (using their writing folder and tool kit).
- CAFE/Daily 5 is scheduled for Mon-Thurs.
- Before we begin our CAFE/Daily 5, I read aloud one chapter per day of "Because of Winn-Dixie". A reading comprehension activity follows each chapter. These activities includes various reading comprehension strategies (literal questions, inferential questions and personal questions). It also practices their speaking/listening skills and enhances their vocabulary. When we have finished reading all twenty-six chapters, students will have an opportunity to work on an in-class project to demonstrate their learning throughout this novel. They will have an opportunity to present their projects. Project ideas have been given in advance so that students have the chance to reflect on how they would like to represent their thinking/learning of the book.
- Students will also be tested periodically throughout the term on a written reading comprehension at their level.
Conventions (Grammar):
- Every Mon-Tues-Wed, students receive a mini-lesson on a convention. We finished our unit on Nouns and had our quiz before the Easter weekend. We are presently working on our Verb unit.
- Students were given a pre-test on high-frequency spelling words and were given either 5-10 or 15 high frequency words to study for the week. Words from 10 to 15 are expanded vocabulary words. We had our first test this week and students did well! Once a student succeeds on the amount of words given on two to three spelling tests, they will be moved up and given 2 more words. When they are successful with that amount, they will be moved up again. The goal is to have all students working with ten words by the end of June.
- ***STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE THEIR SPELLING LIST WITH THEM AT SCHOOL. Please ensure your child has their list with them in their Homework binder as we use them for Word Work.
- Our writing genres will we cover until June include personal narratives (writing about a specific moment), procedural writing (steps on how to accomplish something) and persuasive writing (a piece trying to persuade someone of something).
- Students were given a writing folder which includes their "Tool Kit" (a duo-tang filled with information on our 6 traits: Ideas, Organization, Word Choice, Voice, Sentence Structure and Conventions), their personal dictionaries and their Writer's Notebook.
- Before each writing block, students are taught a mini-lesson on one of the writing traits.
- Students are encouraged to fill in their writing plan as a first step (on a given plan), then write the draft of their introduction, then edit their introduction using the editing wheel (a wheel that has reminders about all 6 writing traits) and their colours, then write the good copy of that paragraph. Doing it this way makes students feel as though they have accomplished something and it isn't as long as writing the draft for their whole writing piece, then having to edit their whole writing piece and finally having to re-write it all on fancy paper. I use a chart on the SmartBoard called "Where are you?" on which students can move their name to indicate where they are in their writing. It's also easy for me to see how well each student is working.
- Before each writing block is finished, we try to have a few students to share what they have worked on during their writing session. This is on a voluntary basis, of course.