Language+Arts

We will be starting our year off by looking at the Mysteries genre of stories. We will look at the elements that make a mystery, read some short mysteries to see those elements at work, then do a reading contract on a selected Mystery novel. Here is a link to a website the students may use to learn about and solve some short mysteries: [|Mystery Net]

Our next unit is completing a Reading Contract on the novel "Frindle" by Andrew Clements. With our school-wide focus on Academic Vocabulary, This is a fun story about words and what they can mean, and how new words can come into being. Here is the contract the students will be completing:

Just before Christmas we will be completing a Dinner Menu activity on the novel "The Best Christmas Pageant" by Barbara Robinson. The activity sheet is enclosed:

After Christmas we will be embarking on a novel study. The first part is a closer look at the parts of a novel, and identifying them in the novels we have read. The keys to the activity sheets are enclosed for review purposes:

The novel we will be studying in detail is "Jacob's Little Giant" by Canadian author Barbara Smucker. The students will be completing a Response Journal. The details about this journal are enclosed. As are the booklets the students will be completing for each chapter. Ask your child if they are doing the "A" or "B" Booklet:

For the first part of the year we will also be looking at Expository Writing. This should take us until February. We will be breaking it down into small portions to better help the students with each facet of writing a strong expository piece. Here are the newsletters that have information for parents about the concepts we will be covering and some ways to support your child at home:

The cumulative activity for Expository Writing will be to complete a five paragraph report on an endangered animal in Canada. Here is the booklet the students will use to complete the research and the outline of their essay, as well as the rubric I will use to assess the final typed copy.

During the second half of the year we will be looking closely at Narrative Writing. We will be investigating at all the elements of successful story writing. Here are the newsletters for parents that provide information and ways to assist your child:

Here is a website of interactive Language Arts activities for fifth graders: [|Interactive L.A. Skills]