Classroom Expectations Specialist Schedule for Room 506 School Calendar (includes upcoming classroom events) Fifth Grader Book Reviews Spelling Words	Welcome to Room 506 I am very excited that the school year has begun! We are going to learn new things, constantly challenge ourselves, and have fun! Reading News: In reading we have been working on writing great summaries, finding the main idea and supporting that main idea with details from the story. We will be working a lot on identifying text features and explaining how they help us understand the story. My goal is for students to master these skills so they become a part of their everyday reading. Being able to use these skills automatically will help your student become a great reader. Here are the stories that we are starting with: To practice finding the main idea, fourth graders will be reading, How to Babysit an Organutan, and fifth graders will be reading, Oceans. We will be working on main idea, text features, identifying cause and effect and determining and analyzing the author’s purpose for a few weeks using many different stories and genres. Fourth grade will be reading, Fly Traps, The Case of Pablo’s Nose, In My Family, Saguaro Cactus, and The Kids Invention Book. Fifth graders will be reading, Woodsong, The Case of the Flying Saucer People, Black Frontiers, What’s the Big Idea, Benjamin Franklin?, and Evelyn Cisneros. Be sure to ask your student about those stories!
	Math News: Fourth graders have been extremely hard to master their multiplication skills using Lattice and other strategies. This, and long division, will be much of the focus for the year. Students will be starting to learn long division and fractions very soon. Fifth grade has started working on fractions. We have learned how to find equivalent fractions, how to change an improper fraction into a mixed number, and how to order fractions. They will learn to add, subtract, multiply and divide all types of fractions. They will also learn to find common denominators. Keep checking in to this section to learn exactly what we are doing each month and be sure to check in your student’s homework packet to see what kind of math they are working on. Writing News: So far, fourth graders have been writing a lot of narrative stories and are doing a great job on it. Soon, we will be working on expository writing. Students will focus their writing and work on perfecting their organization. Since fifth graders already know a great deal about these two genres of writing. They will work to perfect these skills in these types of essays. Fifth graders have started working on persuasive writing. They just completed a persuasive letter, regarding whether or not homework is appropriate and if we should keep it or not. Students will be starting a new letter that will be mailed out into the community. Each student will be developing a writing portfolio throughout the whole year. They will add to it every month. This portfolio is a great way for students to see how they are progressing in their writing, and it is something that they will be able to share with you. Right now we are focusing on poetry. We just completed our “I Am” poem and will be writing many different kinds. We searched through poetry books, identified many that we really liked, and found common elements among them. We will be writing limericks, diamantes, and much more. Be sure to keep your eye out for the book that they will be creating with all of their poems! Clipart provided by: www.school.discovery.com