Literacy

What does literacy mean? At our school, literacy refers to our focus on reading and writing as well as responding to our reading. During Literacy time we will be doing some independent reading, along with a variety of other activities. These may include reading groups, read alouds, book studies, novel studies, poetry, plays, information texts, text sets, jigsaw activities, current events news research and/or news broadcasts, and various written responses. I have been reading many books from our class library over the summer and am eager to share book recommendations as well. We are going to have a terrific year as we all grow as readers and writers!

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 * First Day of School Message**

Back to School Parent Video

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 * 20 Things We Should Say More Often**

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 * Awesome Looks Like You**

BOOK IT 5th graders, you have the chance to earn FREE PIZZAS just by reading a little each day! Book It Calendars go home every month from October through March. Turn yours in and get Pizza Hut certificates for free individual pizzas! Many of you are already doing this, so you might as well get an extra treat!

To kick off the Book It program, here is a new book called [|__SPLAT__ by Jeff Kinney], author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

GRAMMAR Subject and Verb Agreement (fun)

=Book Response Choices after completing a Book=

[|Four-Door Book (how to video)]

[|Pyramid Foldable ( How-to Video)]

[|3 Tab Book (How to Video)]



[|Story Map]

[|Travel Brochure]

[|Read Write Think Story Map](Character Map, Setting Map, Resolution Map, Conflict Map)

Four Door [|Be Unstoppable] READ ALOUDS We've already read aloud the book, __//The Iron Giant//__ by Ted Hughes.

__//THE MISSING MANATEE//__ One of my favorite books for fifth graders is called, __//The Missing Manatee//__, by Cynthia DeFelice. This book takes place in Florida, where they are near the ocean. Since we don't have an ocean in South Dakota let's take a look at some information about manatees from [|National Geographic]. Another important part of the book is about tarpon fishing. It really helps to see what that looks like as we don't have any fish this big in western South Dakota! Check out this video of [|TARPON FISHING ON THE FLY]

__//DEWEY THE LIBRARY CAT//__ Since we have been reading from Dewey the Library Cat, I thought this video may be of interest. Check it out! =[|Dewey the Library Cat Video Clip from CBS]= This little cat lived from 1987-2006.

A LION CALLED CHRISTIAN Another true story that is now available in book form is about some young men living in London who came upon a lion cub for sale in a department store! They bought him and brought him home to their apartment. What do you think might happen having a pet lion in the city??? =[|Christian the Lion]= [|Debate Practice]

[|Harry Potter Fans: Pottermore Website] [|Dramatic Reading of Dr. Seuss' Book, The Lorax] [|Over in the Meadow Book (sung)] [|Pete the Cat] =[|Story Board Intro Video]=

=[|Poetry for Kids by Writer's Digest]=

[|Adding Text to Windows Movie Maker] =[|Into the Book]= =[|Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco]= We will begin our literacy time with a true story written by Patricia Polacco about her school experiences with reading.

[|Roald Dahl Website] This site contains an interview with Roald Dahl which is helpful for budding writers!

[|Parts of Speech Flip Book] =Fantastic Foldables= media type="custom" key="20717592"

=COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES=

[|Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) from San Juan Unified School District Site]
Here is an array of graphic organizers regarding in the book and in your head types of questions.

=BOOK TALK PROJECTS=

[|NURSERY RHYME SITES]
=[|Christian the Lion]= Here is the story about Christian the Lion. This is a video link that features a news story that came out when the book, Christian the Lion, was published. I think you'll enjoy it! (We have the book in our class library!)

Reading Standards In Depth "Cheat Sheet"
== =[|Discovery Education--Language Arts Activities]=

=[|Story Bird]= This creative site allows students to create 21st Century Book reports! Students choose artwork from an artist to apply their skills in telling their story. They can use music to create mood, photos to share highlights and demonstrate their comprehension skills!

=[|Story Online]= This website features celebrities reading popular books that show both the illustrations and the words as the person reads. There are a variety of books to choose from, so be sure to scroll through the pages! =[|Literature and Reading Activities--Assorted Links]=

=[|Biography Maker]= Check out this site to help you create great biographies! =[|Story Starters]=

=POETRY ACTIVITIES=

=[|PicLits Example Poem]=

=CLASSICS= =[|The Elephant's Child by Rudyard Kipling]= Enjoy this audio book of a classic by the same author who wrote Jungle Book! =Current Events News Broadcasts= During some of our Literacy time, we are integrating social studies, as students focus on Current Events News Broadcasts. Students have learned the difference between the terms international, national, and local. Using the links on our "In The New" page, students research the events of today (that will be history tomorrow). While they learn what is happening around the globe, the children are finding appropriate articles of interest, taking notes, and summarizing those articles in their own words. (We know that plagiarism is against the law!). Then, students will create some type of relevant map indicating where the story took place, and present the findings to the class via an oral presentation. Students receive Current Events News Broadcast Rubrics to know what the expectations are. Once this format becomes known, different groups will take turns reporting the weekly news to their classmates, with each person being responsible for a news story of interest. Time will be given during class to get this done, but some may choose to do further work at home. See our IN THE NEWS page for more information!

=GENRE STUDIES= We will be focusing on the various genres of fiction and non fiction throughout the year. Students will be exposed to folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, and myths, realistic fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, biography, and autobiography. Sometimes these will be shared as a read aloud, sometimes they will be read in book clubs, and sometimes they will be done as text set group activities.

=NOVEL STUDY: NUMBER THE STARS= We will do an in depth novel study in the genre of historical fiction using the book, //Number the Stars// by Lois Lowry. This suspenseful book is about the Nazi occupation of Denmark and how the Danish people worked together to help their Jewish friends at a critical time. Students will be learning a wealth of information on literary elements, author's craft, literary devices, and history as they read this story full of cliffhangers!

[|Hear how Albanian Muslims Saved Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust]

[|Tunnel Books for Poetry]