Projects due next week!

Book report projects are due next week (December 18th)! Don't forget to add a one page summary to your project. Read the guidelines below if you have any questions.

Conferences

Thank you to those of you who have signed up for a conference. If you were unable to schedule one, or you would like a phone or an email conference, please don't hesitate to be in touch. We are pleased with the progress most of our students are making. Thank you for signing those reading logs and helping your student study for upcoming tests.

Upcoming Book Reports

Today we discussed different genres and upcoming due dates for book reports. Book Projects will be due on the following dates:

Project #1 due: Tuesday, December 18th
Project #2 due: Thursday, January 31st
Project #3 due: Thursday, February 28th
Project #4 due: Thursday, March 27th
Project #5 due: Thursday, May 8th

You may choose from the following lists a different genre and different project each time.

Genres:
*Biography
*Autobiography
*Informational Books/Nonfiction
*Mystery
*Science Fiction
*Historical Fiction
*Realistic Fiction
*Fantasy

All Projects must include the following:
Title, Author, Main Characters, and a one page summary.

Project Ideas:
*Character Mobile
*Draw a picture for each chapter in your book
*Collage illustrating your book
*Book Jacket for your book --- Author information, summary, front cover
*Story Cube
*Traditional Book Report: Setting, Plot, Events (5-8), Problem, and Solution, along with Title, Author, and Main Characters
*Develop a game to go along with your book. Make sure you have answers to the questions.
*Make a lapbook about your book with vocabulary, timeline, and sections about the story(setting, characters, etc.)
*Write a one sentence summary of each chapter in your book, and make a mini-book.
*Keep a diary while you are reading your book. Write in it every time you read the story, and make predictions about what you think will happen next. Also state why you think that will happen next.

I will be meeting with the students this week to see what book they have chosen for their first report.

100 Book Challenge Update:

October 30th marks the beginning of the 2nd quarter. Students in both 4th and 5th grade are required to read 2 steps nightly Monday through Thursday. I will check for these 8 steps every Monday morning. If you don't get to read one night, make it up over the weekend.

Class Calendar

Do you want to know what is coming up each week? Click on the link in the column to the right to get to our classroom calendar.

100 Book Challenge

Both 4th and 5th grade classes are doing the 100 Book Challenge this year. This program is a system for independent reading. 100 Book Challenge combines six essential components to involve the entire school community—students, parents, teachers, and administrators—to achieve measurable results in reading test scores for every child, regardless of current status.

Your child will be doing lots of reading in school and at home. The reason for this program is simple: research shows that students who read for one hour every day, from books that they can read and want to read, will succeed in school and beyond. The more books your child reads at his or her independent level, the better reader he or she will become.

Here is where the parents come into the picture. I need your help! Your child will bring books home from our school’s collection or a library book to read every night. For each 15 minutes your child reads, he or she will complete a Step on the reading log. Each student needs to read a minimum of 1 Step every night. I encourage them to read even more if possible. You will sign the log to show that the reading was done. The reading should be easy and fun for your child; it should not be a struggle. If your child is looking around the room or not actually reading, then the step should not be added to their Logsheet.

I have been working with each child to find their reading level. After working with me, each student is given a skill card to work on thoroughout this semester. I am challenging each student to look up the vocabulary they don't know and to study the words on the back of their card. When he/she believes he/she knows all of the vocabulary words, I will test them to see if they are ready to move on to a different color.


GUIDELINES:

• 1 Step is 15 minutes. Even if the student read 2 books in that time, only one step is signed. It doesn't matter how many or how few pages were read. What matters is that he/she read for 15 minutes without stopping.
• Each student should be reading a minimum of 15 minutes nightly. Even if we have read that day in class, and I have signed their log, he/she still should read 1 step that night.
• Every Monday, I will check their reading log. Each student should have a minimum of 10 steps a week. This will count as a homework grade for reading/ela.
• For every 20 steps your child reads, he/she will earn a "ROCK".

Click on the following link to read more about the 100 Book Challenge:

100 Book Challenge