Connections, Punctuation, and More!

Students made their own punctuation marks to show where periods go as we went through a paragraph together. Our students are continuing to work on finding out where an idea needs to end, in order to identify proper punctuation points.  We will continue to revise paragraphs to strengthen their understanding of editing.

We have continued our work in making connections through our NELSON LITERACY BOOKS. Students split up into their grade groups, and have been led by ME (Miss Eisen) or Ms. Xuereb in some in-depth discussion around making connections and inferences, as well as using text features to better understand a text.

Please ask your son/daughter more about what we have been learning with our Nelson books!

We will continue to work in grade groups on these books in the new year!

Stay tuned in the new year for information on our literature circles!

MAKING CONNECTIONS!

Reading:

1) Iqbal - We are almost done! We are only a few pages away from the end of the novel. We've learned a lot of new vocabulary in the process, and have really begun to understand why SOCIAL JUSTICE is important. 

2) Making Connections - Students are learning a new READING COMPREHENSION strategy. When students are able to make connections to what they are reading, they are able to understanding what they are reading at a deeper level. By comparing their own stories or stories they have read to what they are currently reading, students can better understand characters, plot, and theme of a text. This promotes critical thinking, allowing students to create and analyze. 

Our first connection is based on our SHARED READING of IGNIS.

Please ask your son/daughter to show you the connection we came up with as a class/our modelled connection, which can be found on GOOGLE CLASSROOM.

3) READ TO A PARTNER - In order to improve fluency, comprehension, and decoding (being able to sound out new words), students have begun reading out loud to a partner. Reading out loud with someone else following along, is a great way to improve these skills. I have encouraged all students to do this at home with a family member!

Writing: 

Figurative Language - Students have completed their figurative language writing piece and will be receiving feedback within the next week. So far, they are looking great!

Editing - Students are continuing to work on their editing process. Currently, students are working through a piece shared with them on GOOGLE CLASSROOM. They are carefully editing, looking for proper formatting, punctuation, spelling, paragraphing, quotations, organization, and tenses. 

Iqbal and MORE!

We are reading the book, Iqbal, as a class. The novel is a fictional account of a very true story. With an underlying theme of SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, it is important that we learn about the issues which currently exist, and how people are working together to make our world a better place.

Iqbal teaches students about child slavery in Pakistan, and how a very brave boy named Iqbal worked to change the status quo - what was currently accepted by most.

I encourage you to ask your son/daughter about what they have learned from the novel so far.

Along with learning about rug factories and the political climate which existed during this time, we are learning how to use a variety of skills to help us UNDERSTAND what we are reading as well as LITERARY DEVICES which authors use to help readers better understand their writing as well as make their writing more interesting.

We have completed the following activities:

Illustrator - Students drew a scene they visualized while the book was read aloud. Students were asked to include a few sentences to explain their picture.

Word Wizard - Students found new vocabulary and practised using this vocabulary in new sentences. Students were also asked to find examples of figurative language after completing an interactive activity in the classroom!

Questioner/Discussion Director - Students learned about open-ended questions, and worked on creating questions which evoke deep and detailed answers.

Predicting - Students have used predicting to review what they know about the novel and create a skit around what they think will happen next. Predicting is an important skill for reading comprehension. Predicting can help us better understand characters and themes as we read.

Summarizer - Students have learned that summarizing is an important tool to better understand what we read as it helps us review the key points. Students completed a summary of a non-fictional article in Health class, and of a chapter in Iqbal. 

In WRITING - 

1) Students have learned the 5 MAIN LOOK FORS when writing a PARAGRAPH!

2) Students have reviewed EDITING PROCEDURES and understand that they are expected to review their work at least SIX times, one time for each editing criteria! Students even re-wrote their version of Little Red Riding Hood, and worked hard to create a well-edited piece!

3) Nature Sit and Write - Students went outside and found a quiet place to themselves. Students then took notes on what they saw and are learning to use DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE along with LITERARY DEVICES to create interesting works of writing based on their nature walk.