November 27-Dec. 1st

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving week! Spelling words and grammar homework came home today.

Reading
We are moving on to Poetry! Love this genre. We will focus on four different kinds of poetry: humorous, lyrical, narrative, and free verse. I will model how to track our thinking with poems, name and notice figurative language, and discuss the authors message. Students received a study stack today with various poems. We will mark up the poems together and then later use them for writing in the spring time. We will make an anchor chart of figurative language we are noticing in our study stack. Students will need to know the following: metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, and hyperbole. Feel free to study these terms with your child. The students will be tested over figurative language and poetry the last week before break (preferably in the beginning of the week).

Writing
We are working on our rough drafts for our SFML. We will meet in writing groups to conference about our base story, learn how to revise and edit, and then write the final product. This will take place over the next three weeks. My goal is to slow the kids down and look at ways to improve the story. (If that means we write the final product after break, then I will just grade their base story for structure.) We are starting a craft elements chart. So far we have noticed how authors use descriptive language in their writing. I expect for students to try to apply this in their own writing.

Grammar
We are reviewing adverbs. The students did a fun activity today with adverbs. We are constantly noticing adverbs in our read aloud and how it impacts the writing. Have your child point out adverbs they are noticing in their nightly reading for homework or when you both are reading together. Next grammar test will be next Friday, including their spelling test.
Side note: I did take out the grammar grades out of spelling category and put them into the writing category. Just FYI incase you noticed your child's grade change.

Social Studies
We will focus on the Founding Fathers closely and the branches of government.