Students in 5th grade are expected to read 180 minutes in a given week, including the times we have a holiday or time off from school. That equals out to be about 30 minutes each on the weekdays and 30 minutes over the two day weekend. If students can meet 80% of our goal each month, they get to go to the Passport Party that is put on by our wonderful PTA. The best way to do that is to have your child read and record the amount of time they read in their planner and sign the calendar for the days they read.
5th grade reading levels range from a T to a W throughout the year. I really want our reading skills and abilities to improve as we go throughout the rest of the year. In order for that to happen, I am asking my parents to be active participants in their child's reading at home. Here are some ideas of what you could do. A reading journal at home can be quite effective with what they read.
Ask questions about what they are reading.
Have your child write down unknown words and figure out the meanings using clues in the text. (If still unclear, only then resort to using a dictionary)
Have your child relate to their main characters: Would they make the same choices? Why or Why not?
Have student summarize what was read (main idea & key details)
Have students ask questions about what they read (ex: I wonder if Sampson is going to go to the mall with Jim Gardner, knowing that he isn't a good kid. Why did George not show up to school?) and then see if they can find an answer to their question in the text they have read.
If students are confused about a part, have them re-read it for clarification
Each student has been given an email that can follow them all the way through high school! Sweet! Students email and password goes as follows: [email protected] password: lunch # with 3 0's afterward Example: username: [email protected] password: 12345000
Reading Plus Site Code: rpdisco Username: (7 digit student number) Password: Pass123
Writing
In our school we have 3 week (or 14 school days) themes that we teach in our guided reading lessons. At the end of each theme, we have a writing test. We grade your child's ability to read/understand the main idea of a text as well as their ability to write using details from a text.
Trimester 2 Worksheets Nov 14 - Feb 24 Maps & Globes CR Topic Sentences Nautical Tools CR Relevant Details Inferences 5-8 Inferences 13-16 Boston Tea Party
Trimester 3 Worksheets Feb 27 - May 26
Words Their Way
As a 5th grade team, each week we teach our students a different sort based on their needs. Between the 4 teachers, we have about 8-9 different sorts going on at the same time--each teacher has about 2 sorts. This program will not only help them be better spellers, but also be better readers as they learn to recognize patterns within the English language.
We expect our 5th graders to know how to spell these words and use them correctly in their everyday writing. We hope our students can master these words by the end of school year. 5th Grade No Excuse Words 1-150 (page 8)