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Everything You Need to Know about your 5th Grader’s

Literacy

We are readers! Our classroom will be filled with reading in these various formats.

It is our desire that our students will grow in their desire to read. One way to do this is to create an environment where they are surrounded by books. Each class library will be growing as we will have students with various different interests that we want to promote through the book choices we provide. Library trips will also be frequent to provide students with a larger selection of books. Though there will be many interests in my class, I will introduce and give a brief description of books often, so that students may find and become hooked on reading a new type of book outside their usual interests.

Read alouds- Teachers will read aloud daily exposing students to a variety of leveled texts, genres, and topics. Read alouds are both enjoyable and allowed for fluent reading to be modeled.

Shared reading- Students will have experiences with shared reading each week, which is collaborative as we work together on a targeted strategy as a class and read a text together.

Guided reading lessons- Small groups of students will meet with the teacher each day to dig into a particular concept or strategy that students may need further understanding and application of.

Literature circles- Will be conducted throughout the year as an opportunity for students to explore new text they find intriguing or out of their comfort zone, while being able to still collaborate and discuss with their peers in their groups.

Independent reading- Independent reading will occur throughout the day during set times as well as upon students completing their work. Independent reading also allows students to explore new texts as well as continuously be in text.

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We are writers! Our classroom environment encourages reading!

Five Components of Reading—all are important!

Throughout the year we will be focusing on the 5 components of reading. These components are traits or characteristics that proficient readers use.o    Decoding: word identification ability to correctly decipher a particular word from a group of letters

· As teachers we plan to integrate this into the content that is already being taught, 1-2 skills will be focused on at a time, will done through direct, explicit, and segmented instruction. We will provide students with extra time as needed.

o   Morphology: the study of word structures· We will be focusing on structure, morphemes and patterns within words. This will help our students when they come across unfamiliar words.

o   Fluency: reading a text with appropriate speed, accuracy, proper intonation, and proper expression.·  We will practice this through partner reading, oral readings, and by reviewing decoding and new vocabulary.

o   Vocabulary: word meanings, communicating through words or text.· A few ways that vocabulary will be addressed in our classroom is by pre-teaching words, exposing the students to the new words multiple times, and using their prior knowledge.

o   Comprehension: extracting or construction meaning from words once they have been identified.· This will be accomplished through a gradual release, graphic organizers for recording information and through the teachers monitoring and keeping track of students comprehension.

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Motivation

The Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRRM Model)The instructional model that we, the 5th grade teachers have chosen to focus on and use through

our teaching this year is the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model. The idea is that the thinking process in learning should shift slowly and intentionally from the teacher as a model, to joint responsibility of teacher and student, to independent practice by student, and last, application by the learner. The responsibility transfers from the teacher to the student, gradually. Another way to think about this is “I do,” “we do,” “you do together,” and “you do alone.”

Within this model, what we really want to focus on is the guided instruction and collaborative learning aspect. Guided instruction is often done in small groups with the intent of grouping students based on needs and being able to offer a good deal of support as the teacher. Collaborative learning is basically learning by working together often, while making sure all group members are accountable for their work. If you have any questions about this instruction model please let Ms. Bromaghim, Ms. Fawcett, Ms. Lutes, Mrs. Scott, or Ms. Wesdorf know! We would be happy to answer questions!

Transaction and Reading ProcessIn our classrooms, we will be focusing on is the different types of texts/books:

Chapter books for this age group often have pictures within them to make the transition between picture and chapter books easier. Text should be printed slightly bigger than adult books, so your child's eyes follow the lines easily.

Transactions Understanding transactions requires documenting observable behaviors and understanding each

individual’s rationale for engaging in them. Why it’s important to know:

o The ways in which teachers understand and view students can impact their transactions with struggling readers in connection to the reading tasks they require.

One of our fifth grade teaching team’s main goals for this year is to inspire our students to be readers. what students do during reading represents their experience with reading they use the experience to construct an understanding of why we read

Motivation is key. reading is important to students when they achieve a goal important to them readers are motivated when reading empowers or enriches them

As teachers we: must do tasks and activities that demonstrate the power of reading provide a literate environment demonstrate our own passion for reading give students a choice of what to read

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Transaction and Reading Process Continued

This figure to the left shows the connections of all the components of comprehension:

-The middle shows the transaction s of comprehension come together. On way that your child can lead all these connections into a mental representation, is by your child making inferences (asking themselves questions about the text and making comments).

-Or asking them to summarize, or visualize, or predict what will happen.

Assessment Performance Assessments engage students in authentic, high-level work that is aligned to curricular

standards so that we can more carefully plan for instruction that meets students where they are and truly moves them forward.

Students will be studying nonfiction research methods in reading workshop and research-based argument essay writing in writing workshop. The assessments here are designed to gauge students’ work in reading nonfiction texts and determining the main ideas and supporting details within those texts, as well as students’ ability to plan, draft and revise an essay in which they take a stance on a complex issue and support that stance with information derived from readings of printed text and/or viewings of relevant video clips.

What can YOU do? How can you promote literacy in the home?-Read yourself! Be a role model! -Ask your child about what they have been reading -Ask to see what students have been writing in class-Read out loud to your child; they are never too old! -Encourage your child to write thank you letters, greeting cards, birthday cards

-Plan family trips to the library