These past couple of weeks have been busy!  We have been working hard on grammar to sharpen our writing skills.  Last week we started descriptive writing by eating some yummy treats, such as flavored popcorn and Hershey Kisses.  In reading we focused on character point of view and wrote a letter to the Chocolate Pilot as if we were a child living in Berlin in 1948.  We will be publishing some of those writings very soon (over the next 2 weeks!).

Looking ahead to this week, in Writing we will be starting our Persuasive/Descriptive paper.  The theme: Battle of the Chocolate Bars!  Yes, we are eating some good candy, and calling it “research”!  We will have mini-lessons over persuasive words and phrases, grouping facts and finding the main idea, note taking, rewriting facts so they are in our own words, and descriptive or “juicy” words.  In reading we will be starting Literature Circles.  Students will be choosing a book they want to read on Monday, getting placed into groups on Tuesday and learning about jobs within a Literature Circle, and Wednesday – Friday they will be working on Reading Assignment 1.  Thursday I will be modeling a group discussion, and after that students will be own their own (with my help in the background) to collectively, as a group, read a chapter book and use their reading strategies to learn about the book through character analysis, literary elements, and their reading strategies.  I’m looking forward to seeing how Literature Circles go with your child!  There will be Spelling this week – Week 19 on SpellingCity.com .

Once again, thank you for taking some time to check out what we are working on in class.  If you have any questions feel free to call or email me, and I’ll get back with you as soon as I can.