Mrs. Jill Kalich's<br> <img src=ss7_bfly2.gif>Fabulous Fifth Graders<img src=ss7

Language Arts subjects taught by Mrs. Kalich include:

Reading English Writing

Textbook Series and Curriculum

Reading, Reading, and More Reading!!!

Read for at least 30 minutes a day!!!

To help students find books of interest check out these two sites:

Book Adventure - Help Me Find A Book

This site helps students find a book that's right for them by having them pick areas of interest.

BookHive

Your guide to children's literature and books. Find a book by category.

Students should ask themselves questions as they read. Here are some examples:

Who are the main characters?
What is the main idea? (What is the “BIG” idea? Sum up the story in one to three sentences.)
What is the setting? Where does the story take place?
What is the problem? How is it resolved?
Are there any words that you did not understand? Use context clues to find word meaning. Use a dictionary.
Ask yourself cause & effect questions. What caused this to happen?
Think about the story occurring in five steps. What happened 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, & 5^th. (Sequence of events)
Did you like the ending? How could you change it to make it better?
Why do characters have certain feelings (i.e. sad, mad, happy, jealous, surprised. . .) Think of other words for mad—angry, furious, enraged.)
Did you like the story? Why did you like the story or why not?

Supplemental Reading Activities:

Six Flags Six Hour Reading Club

Every student who reads at least 6 hours (360 minutes) will receive a one-day pass to Six Flags. The goal of this program is to encourage children to read for fun and to develop a lifelong appreciation for reading. As part of this program, the Six Flags Six Hour Reading Club inspires kids in kindergarten through sixth grade to read on their own for fun. We are giving kids a goal to achieve by asking them to read independently for at least six hour. The reading must not be school or homework related. Every child who accomplishes this goal will be rewarded with a free admission coupon valid at participating Six Flags theme parks.

Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Reading Program

The BOOK IT! Program starts October 1 and ends March 31 of each school year and is available to grades K-6. The teacher sets a monthly reading goal for each child in the class. As soon as the monthly reading goal has been met, the teacher presents the child with a Pizza Award Certificate.

Scholastic Book Clubs

Periodically during the school year, the teacher will send home Scholastic Book flyers so that students may choose to order books and read on their own. See Scholastic.com for more information.

Interactive Practice for Students

Click on the ducks!

Author's Purpose

Understanding Setting, Plot, and Theme

Main Idea

Drawing Conclusions

Sequence of Events

Summarizing

Cause and Effect

Analogies

Word In Context

Homonyms

Prefixes, Root/Base Words, and Suffixes

5th Grade Reading Passages with Questions

Grammar Blast

Parts of Speech

Power Proofreading

Language Arts Skills

In 5^th Grade English Language Arts and Reading students learn through:

♥ previously learned knowledge and skills

♥ complex presentations

♥ reading selections

♥ written compositions.

♥ identifying a speaker's persuasive technique

♥ classic and contemporary selections

♥ informational text.

♥ judging the internal consistency or logic of stories and texts

♥ recognizing the way an author organizes information

♥ engaging in more sophisticated analysis of characters, plots, and settings

♥ selecting and using different forms of writing

♥ finding purposes such as to inform, persuade, or entertain

♥ varying sentence structure

♥ using conjunctions to connect ideas

♥ using literary devices such as suspense, dialogue, and figurative language

♥ editing writing based on their knowledge of grammar and usage, spelling, punctuation, and other conventions of written language

♥ producing final, error-free pieces of written composition

♥ searching out multiple texts to complete research reports or projects

♥ using visuals to support their research projects.

♥ listening

♥ critical thinking

♥ determining fact/opinion

♥ fluency

♥ learning about cultures

♥ identifying audience

♥ finding purpose

♥ using word identification

♥ reading a variety of texts

♥ developing vocabulary

♥ comprehension

♥ literature response

♥ determining genres

♥ inquiry skills

♥ research techniques

♥ finding cause and effect

♥ chronology

♥ finding main ideas

♥ identifying supporting details

♥ paraphrasing

♥ summarizing

♥ making inferences

♥ generalizations

♥ finding similarities and differences

♥ questions such as open-ended, literal, and interpretative as well as test-like questions such as multiple choice, true-false, and short-answer

♥ using outlines, timelines, or graphic organizers

What is fluency?

Reading regularly in instructional-level materials that are challenging but manageable (texts in which no more than approximately 1 in 10 words is difficult for the reader; a "typical" 5th grader reads approximately 100 words per minute (wpm).

Language Arts Links for Teachers

Ideas for English Lessons

Novel Ideas

Said Is Dead

English To Go

(click on the FREE Monthly Lesson)

Literature Circles

(click on the link)