Mrs. Shedd's Fabulous Fifth Grade Classroom: Week of Sept. 21, 2018

It was great to see so many of you at Parent Information Night last week. I know that there is never a night that is good for everyone. If you were unable to attend, I handed out a survey about student led Open House. I also asked parents to give me some feedback on their thoughts about homework. I have included a copy of this survey in this week’s Friday folder for those parents that have not already given feedback. Any comments on homework will help. For example, how do you feel about larger projects vs. nightly homework? How much nightly homework do you feel is appropriate at the 4^th/5^th grade level? Grades 4 – 6 are currently discussing homework and I would greatly appreciate any feedback from families.

This week most students finished taking the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA2). This district assessment has 3 sections to assess student reading achievement. The first section measures the student's degree of reading engagement. Questions and prompts cover their range of reading, self-assessment and goal setting.

The second part of this assessment is oral reading fluency. Expression, phrasing, rate, and accuracy are all part of this. The final portion of this assessment covers comprehension. The DRA2 is given to students in grades 4-6 at three different times throughout the year. I will be sharing results with you during the November conferences.

In writing, we continue our work on personal narratives. Lessons this week have focused on creating a powerful lead. We have also worked on creating “List” poems. Next week our focus with narratives will be on elaboration. Beginning in fourth grade, students are asked to use a blend of description through dialogue, thoughts, feelings, and action.

We continue our learning about scientific method through work with bubbles. Students have been asked to question, predict, make observations, and record. Next week our work will focus on drawing conclusions.