Spelling Lists

Here are the spelling lists for the test on Friday.  Remember there is Halloween on Wednesday so study early!

Spelling City Link: http:Spelling City

ANGRY VERBS!

To review our verb phrases and helping verbs, the 5th graders wrote sentences on Angry Birds.  Next they underlined the verb phrase in the sentence and circled the helping verb.  After they showed me their sentence they were able to color their Angry Birds.  So our Angry Birds turned into Angry VERBS!

I also want to thank the 5th graders from my homeroom who helped create this awesome background to display our Angry Verbs.  It looks amazing!

Spelling Lists This Week

I know these lists are hard to see so please click on the link below where you are able to print or save a list as a pdf.  Hope that helps!

Spelling City: http://www.spellingcity.com/MsMcGurn/

What's In Your Bucket?

One of the main characters in the Mysterious Benedict Society is Kate Wetherall, a tenacious young girl who never goes anywhere without her trusty bucket at her side.  This fire engine red bucket carries all the items that Kate finds to be essential.  This week I asked our class "What would you put in your bucket?  What is essential for you? "  As each student presented their unique buckets to the class, it was fascinating to see what students would bring with them if they could.

Student's Bucket Worksheets:

A few students brought in real buckets filled with objects.  

Here are a couple of student's buckets:

They all did such an amazing job with these buckets, you can tell 

they were excited about the assignment.  

Spooky Stories in 5th Grade

Students were given back their spooky story rough drafts today in class.  Along with my notes on their writing, I also gave them a Suspenseful Narrative Rubric (see below) that I will be using to grade their final papers.  We went through each section of the rubric and talked about what changes they may need to make to their papers to get all the points possible.  We also focused on foreshadowing, what it means and how to add it to our writing.

Students have the next few days to revise and edit their drafts before they have to turn in their final papers on Friday, October 19th.

Spelling is Back this Week!

After a couple of short weeks in a row we are now back to a five day school week.   We took our spelling pretests today and learned our new words of the week.  They are attached here and also up on Spelling City for further practice. 

http://www.spellingcity.com/MsMcGurn/

4th Grade's Pet Monsters

For 4th grade's writing assignment they are creating a story about a pet monster.  This is not just a summary of what the monster they created looks like, but a story with a beginning, middle and end.  Tonight's homework is filling out a graphic organizer (Prewriting) about the story they will be writing.  This will allow students to generate lots of great details about what they are writing about before they sit down and begin their rough drafts.  This graphic organizer is an idea collector and will help our class stay focus on the topic they are writing about.  I can't wait to see what they come up with!

The Writing Process

This week in Language Arts we are focusing on the 5 steps of the Writing Process:

1. Prewriting

2. Drafting 

3. Revising 

4. Editing

5. Publishing

We discussed the steps in class today and began talking about what each step means and looks like.  Over the next two weeks we are going to go step by step through the writing process.

This video can help students remember the five steps to this process:

What I Am

Leaving for a long weekend I played this for my students right before we left the room today.  I think it's important to leave on a positive and upbeat note.  I hope as a class and a school we reiterate this message to our students so much that they never forget.  

Will.I.Am + super catchy tune + Sesame Street characters = instant hit! 

Ellis Island POV - 5th Grade

In Reading class this week we read a selection about a boy who is traveling to America from Romania in the early 1900's.  We learned a little bit about the struggles he went through and what it was like enter America through Ellis Island.  For their writing assignment in Language Arts I wanted them to take on the perspective of one of these immigrants and write a journal entry from their point of view.  I asked the 5th graders to imagine they were one of these people in the picture above.  Write a journal entry describing how you feel and what you see at Ellis Island.  Use vivid details and remember to SHOW me, not just tell.  I look forward to reading these papers and getting a clear sense of what it might have been like at Ellis Island.

Video we watched in class today on Ellis Island: 

Scarecrow POV - 4th Grade

 For today's writing assignment I asked the students to imagine they were a scarecrow living in a field. Describe a normal night from your point of view.  What do you see?  How do you feel?  Be specific with vivid details!  We discussed what a story written in first person sounds like an what it adds to the writing.  This assignment will be writing using first person.  I look forward to reading these fall themed stories and getting a good sense of what it's like for all those scarecrows out there!

Sentence Patterns

4th Grade received this worksheet today.  For homework they have to come up with an example for each type of sentence (Simple/Compound/Complex) then color it in.  It is a good review for all students and I will be showing my 5th Graders as well.

Spelling List - Short Week

Remember it is a short week this week so the spelling test will be on Thursday.  The lists are below and are up on Spelling City as well. 

http://www.spellingcity.com/MsMcGurn/