ReadingThis week in reading, the students will continue to work in their research teams to learn more about Texas History. They will practice taking information from the nonfiction text and creating organized notes based off of the information. They will use the text structures they have learned (chronological, problem/solution, cause/effect, and compare/contrast) to find the best way to organize their information. Please have your student share their subtopic with you! WritingIn writing this week, we are going to look at what to do when we are given a prompt! This can be tricky business so we are going to practice several strategies to “unpack” the prompt, brainstorm ideas that connect to the prompt, and begin solid plans that answer the prompt. The first step is to carefully read the prompt to figure out what the test wants students to do. Then, students will brainstorm and generate ideas by rehearsing it in their mind. Then students will transition to writing down their plan with boxes and bullets, and lastly students will draft up a storm! When students start to draft, they need to think about their beginnings first! How we get started really matters! Writers take special care with their beginnings, making sure their beginning gets them going on the right path. Challenge your child this week by giving them a new prompt to write about and have them go through these steps.
In grammar and conventions, we are going to be focusing on how to correctly form dialogue! There are a lot of specific things to remember with dialogue, such as quotation marks, punctuation, and capitalization! We will look at these things together in class, and we will practice creating our own powerful dialogue in our own writing! Look at the anchor chart below with your child, and practice these skills at home with your child!
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WritingWAHOO! With about 5 school weeks until writing STAAR, we are beginning our writing boot camp unit! In this unit, we will reflect on all of the types of writing we have learned so far. We will review the structure, characteristics, and tips with each type. We will start with essay writing! We will dig in by remembering that when writers write essays about opinions, it helps to organize those opinions into boxes and bullets (or into central ideas and supports). Look at the two planning options that we have introduced in class below. Ask your child which planning option is their favorite! Challenge your child this week by giving them a prompt and having them plan the essay for you! We are going to practice this as a class with a specific prompt. Together, we will brainstorm a thesis and reasons to support our thesis. Then, we will go back and add evidence (such as mini-stories or lists) to support our opinion. Lastly, we will begin to draft our introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
We are so excited to start this powerful unit! ReadingThis week in reading we will return to the world of nonfiction. We will work in research teams to start previewing our text to activate our background knowledge and create an overview of our topic. We will be researching the Texas Revolution. In word study this week we will be learning the prefixes dis-, non-, in-, and im-. We will practice making words using these prefixes. WritingThis week will be the last week of our essay writing unit! We are so excited to show everything we know about strong essays! In order to wrap up our unit, we will begin by reviewing the writing process. The writing process consists of planning, drafting, editing, revising, and publishing! It is a circular process that keeps continuing! Next, we will take a close look at our finished essay drafts. We will go back and do even revising work to make our writing even better! Some strategies that we will utilize in class are checklists, editing with a partner, using class anchor charts, and utilizing our students that are expects in a particular area of editing.
In grammar and conventions, we are going to continue studying comma rules! Review the “comma llama” anchor chart from last week with your child! ReadingOur historical fiction book clubs end this week. We will work to connect themes between multiple books that we have read over this unit. Our readers will create book trailers to celebrate their learning! The book trailers will show our readers’ understanding of perspective, theme, and mood. We will be using the iMovie app to help us create our fabulous book trailers. In word study this week we will be exploring the prefixes re-, pre-, and fore-. We will look at the meanings of these prefixes and how to use them with multiple base words. WritingOur Pattison writers have excelled in our essay unit! As this unit comes to an end, we will continue to work on strong structure, a strong thesis statement, strong reasons and evidence, and strong craft moves. Then, we will practice editing and revising our brilliant work before we dive into publishing! After publishing is complete, we will have a writing celebration to recognize all of our hard work in this unit.
In grammar and conventions, we will look at commas in series, dates, and places. Review the anchor chart below with your child to practice commas in these instances! ReadingWe have a reading test on Monday, February 3rd over historical fiction. This week we will also work on studying primary sources to understand the time periods of our books. Primary sources will build our readers’ understandings of the setting and historical timeline. In word study we are continuing to practice dividing words into syllables and notice spelling patterns within syllables. WritingWe are going to be very busy in writing this week while preparing to draft our essays! We will begin the week by create a personal plan for our drafting. We are going to think about all that we have learned about essay writing and create a “to do list” to remind us of things to focus on. See an example of an “Essay To- Do List” below. This is important planning work to do before we dive in. Next we are ready to take the next step in writing! We will look at how to begin our pieces with well crafted introductions! Please see the anchor chart below for the thinking stems we will use to begin our essays. We will also look at how to end our masterpieces. The “Ways to End an Essay” anchor chart is a great tool for leaving our readers with something powerful to think about! Our convincing fourth graders can change the world with their powerful essay writing! We will end the week by looking back at our progress as writers and reflect on if we are meeting our goals. We will ask ourselves questions such as "Am I living up to the goals I set for myself? Am I getting better? What should I work on next?" We will use checklists, charts, and personal goals to help us reflect on our journey as essay writers.
This week in grammar and conventions we are going to focus on revising! This is a skill we use every day in writing! We will start by looking at deleting sentences that are not essential to our essays. We will also look at adding sentences to help with the main idea of our writing. One example of a sentence we might add is a topic sentence. Topic sentences express the main idea of the paragraph. Lastly, we will look at which transitions will help our writing flow most efficiently. We will look at all of these elements through our own writing and revising questions. Practice these essential skills at home with your child this week! ReadingThis week in reading- Our readers grow stronger in their critical thinking! This week we will study the minor characters in our books. Understanding a character’s perspective is critical to forming strong interpretations! Post-its with stop and jots help our readers track their thoughts through a text. Please support your reader with this important strategy. We will end the week by studying primary sources to understand the time periods of our books. Primary sources will build our readers’ understandings of the setting and historical timeline. In word study we will continue to practice dividing multi-syllabic words into syllables. WritingIn writing this week, we are going to continue our essay unit! We will look at other ways we can build up our essays besides personal stories. We will explore using lists, and we will analyze if all our reasons and examples fit with our plan. Lastly, we will explore specific essay writing techniques to boost our writing and add another tool to our writing toolbox. First, students will arrange their reasons in a logical and supportive order. Second, they use transitional words, like cement between bricks, holding one bit of material onto the next. See the anchor chart below for some great examples! Lastly, students will practice repeating key words from their thesis statement or their topic sentence.
We will have an Editing and Revising TEST on Thursday, January 30th. Please study the review with your child. In grammar and conventions this week, we are going to begin the week by reviewing capitalization rules. We will review that titles, historical periods, events, documents, stories, essays, languages, races, and nationalities all need to be capitalized. Later in the week, we will review possessive and plural nouns! ReadingThank you for your support of our readers and their reading journey! Critical thinking and interpretative reading are the goals for this week. In historical fiction book clubs, our readers will explore the themes of the books. We will work hard to find the BEST supporting details. We will practice explaining why and how our details support our ideas. What a wonderful skill to practice at home! This week in word study we will continue to work on different types of vowel phonograms. We will add phonograms for –i and –o to our toolkit of phonograms from last week. WritingThis week in writing, we are going to continue our essay writing unit! We are going to begin the week by making sure our essays are strong in both form and content! One way to do this is to have a clear plan before we begin writing. We will plan by writing a thesis and reasons to support that thesis, by planning boxes and bullets. Writers can also achieve a clear strong essay by including a variety of evidence to support their opinions as they write within the frame of an essay. We will use personal mini stories, examples, additional thoughts, and many other techniques to make sure we are supporting our opinions.
We can grow ideas based off of stories that we have lived through. For example, my dad has taught me a lot in my lifetime. I can write many mini-stories about all the things my dad has taught me. Therefore, I could write an essay about how my dad is my most important teacher. In addition, writers also compose lists to help build their essays. If the thesis statement is, “My mom works hard for our family,” they could then brainstorm a list of all the ways that their mom works hard for their family. For example: My mom works hard for our family. · She wakes up early every day to put our clothes in order. · She wakes up early every day to check my book bag to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything. · She wakes up early every day to check the temperature to see if I need a coat. · She works hard throughout the day, and she does not stop working until we go to bed. By doing this we are not storytelling, but instead giving quick examples that support the fact that their mom works hard for their family. In grammar and conventions, we will be doing some refreshers! We will look at when we use a and when we use an. We will also examine the difference between quiet and quite. ReadingThis week in reading, we will continue to be time travelers! Our book clubs will help us improve our interpretative reading skills. Our readers are forming lots of thought-provoking questions and connections about our world! In word study this week, we will be exploring different phonograms like –ought and –awn. WritingLast week in writing, we began a new unit- essay writing! We started with a creative approach to generate ideas and explore different topics that were important to us. This week in writing, we are going to focus on the structure of essay writing, and we’re going to revisit our old essay entries. When writers write essays about their opinions, they structure their essays so that they communicate their thesis statement--their idea--and their reasons for their thesis statement. We refer to this as boxes and bullets! The thesis is our box, and all of the reasons are our bullets. Please see the anchor chart below for the format we follow in class. Overall, our essays follow this general format to help our writing be clear and effective. Here is an example: Prompt: Write about a person who is special to you. Box: A person who is special to me is my dad. · He is a caring father. o He always makes sure I am taken care of. o He calls to check in on me. o He drives to Katy to have dinner with me. · He supports my dreams. o He supported my dreams when I was little. o He still supports my bigger dreams now (writing a book one day) · He can always bring a smile to my face. o He tells funny jokes o He makes me feel better when I’m sad This week in grammar and conventions, we are going to be refreshing our brains about complex sentences. We use the acronym “AAAWWUBBIS” to help us remember the subordinating conjunctions. When we begin with one of these openers, or sentence starters, we must use a comma between the dependent and independent clause. Check out the anchor chart below for how to use “AAAWWUBBIS” and more information.
Example: When the cake is done, I will take it out of the oven. (dependent clause) , (independent clause). ReadingCOURAGE. HONOR. SACRIFICE. HOPE. These words will become part of our daily vocabulary as we travel to the past with our historical fiction unit. We will read in book clubs to grow our collaborative and critical thinking skills. If you are a member of a book club, share your positive experiences with your reader. By the end of the unit, we look forward to seeing our readers transformed by the books and discussions they have shared. Reminder: Our students will have a Word Study Assignment on Friday, January 10th. We have been working on final stable syllables, homophones, r-controlled syllables, and syllable division patterns. Students are coming home with an information sheet to help them review these topics. WritingWe are beginning our new year with a new unit! We will be diving into essay writing. We will begin to warm up our brains by coming up with our writing inspiration. We will use several strategies for growing insightful ideas including thinking about important people, places, and objects. Next, we will explore and practice the characteristics of freewriting. In order to be effective free writers, authors have to let their thoughts flow from their brain to their paper, not cross stuff out, repeat the big idea, and write long to make ideas stronger. They also use comparisons, raise questions, come up with new ideas, and provide examples! Lastly, we will practice holding on to our thoughts for long stretches of time in order to build a long piece. We will practice rehearsing our thoughts before writing, keep a list of ways to push our thinking (see anchor chart), and use elaboration prompts to keep our writing going! We are so excited to dive into this new, exciting unit!
In grammar and conventions this week, we will be reviewing compound sentences! We will review the “formula” to make a compound sentence (independent sentence + , + FANBOYS + independent sentence), and we will continue to try this out in our own writing! ReadingThis week we are continuing to explore folktales! Our students are working on leveling up their reading by focusing on the big ideas within folktales. When we discuss these stories, we will focus on what reader's do to become strong folktale readers. WritingWe will wrap up our poetry unit this week in writing! We have been working really hard in class on our poetry anthologies. We have been adding several techniques into our own writing tool belt, looking at mentor poems for strategies, and using several resources to help us think outside of the box! After all of our hard work, we will be celebrating by having a poetry café! In our poetry café, we will get to share our work and take time to celebrate our immense progress in this unit.
In order to expand our thinking, we will also begin writing our own dramas! We have been studying dramas in reading, so we are excited to give it a try and write our own! Over break, we will be doing a writing BINGO challenge! Please encourage your child to complete as many of the boxes as possible! We can’t wait to see all the masterpieces students create when we return in January. |