Dear Families, 
We have begun the New Year with a lot of energy and activity! These past few weeks have been spent introducing some new skills, reviewing some others, and getting to know some new members of our class. Read on to hear more. 
Our reading and writing focus this nine weeks is all about non-fiction reading and informational writing. We have spent many lessons looking at magazines, biographies and informational books. The students have learned to recognize the many features of these texts like captions, bold words, headings, glossaries, etc...and the purpose of these features. We've talked about the author's purpose for non-fiction versus fiction and how the author organizes the text. We discussed how we read non-fiction in comparison to fiction. All the while, we looked at various texts and looked for all the things we talked about.  
These reading lessons were great exercises in preparation for writing their own informational pieces. Students began by brainstorming a list of anything they would like to learn more about. From this list, they selected one topic. Then we began the writing process by asking questions about the topic. These questions will drive the research. As we research more, the questions will change, more questions will be asked, and some questions will be dropped. Our informational writing is going on in conjunction with the S.P.I.E.S. project we are doing with Miss Cairns. Ask your child what the acronym stands for. Through this project, they become an "expert" in the topic they are covering and then present an oral report on their research. Mr. Hitchens is also joining us in the project providing lessons on effective internet research.  
We are hoping each student will have a variety of resources for their report. The range of topics being researched is representative of this wonderfully unique group. Please ask your child if they have found a book on their topic. If not, it may be necessary to take a trip to the downtown library. If you have a library card, you can actually search and reserve books on-line. Over the next several weeks, we will see these research reports take shape. All writing will be done at school, but you can certainly help with the process of finding books, magazines, internet articles, etc on your child's topic. Next week, we will focus on note taking, putting text in one's own words, and citing resources.  
Spelling words this past week focused on words with endings, and the part of speech reviewed was adverb. Students also continued to work on their independent reading, letter writing, and vocabulary work. 
We want to welcome some new members to our classes. Hannah Stowe is our student teacher from Covenant College. Ms. Stowe has jumped right in planning and delivering lessons. She has a warm, fun personality, and we are all enjoying having her with us. We also want to welcome two new students to the fifth grade. Zach joins Mrs. Persinger's homeroom, and Cameron is in Dr. Yonts' class. Everyone is doing a great job teaching these boys our class routines and rules. 
Finally, we will be going to the Hunter Museum next Thursday, January 31, on a field trip. It will be fun to look at American Art focusing on the periods of history we study in fifth grade. 
Thanks again for all your efforts at home. The kids do a great job keeping up with their home reading. It is always gratifying to take a breath, look back, and take notice of all their growth!  
Thanks for reading this blog. Let me know if you find it helpful! 
 
Until next time, 
 
Karen Persinger