Oreo Turkeys :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Persuasive Writing

This week we have been working on our Persuasive Writing unit. We started our unit reading books with persuasion in them. We read I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff. We talked about the reasons Alex used to persuade his mom to let him have the iguana. Then we discussed whether or not those were valid reasons. Next, we learned that in order to write a powerful, effective persuasive letter, it is important to write about something you really care about. So then we brainstormed ideas we were passionate about through a heart map. Students came up with some great ideas! They then created a T-chart about what they wanted to persuade someone to do and gave reasons why they should agree with them. Finally, we used a planning sheet to organize our writing. We will continue to work on our Persuasive Letters and  then turn them into powerful persuasive essays. Stay tuned for our published work!

Author's Purpose

We have been working on the reading concept: Author's Purpose. Writers always have a purpose, or a reason, for writing. This week we learned how to pay close attention to clues in what we are reading to figure out the author's purpose. It was as easy as P.I.E.E :).

Literary Pumpkin

One of our favorite traditions here at Chets Creek is the Litarty Pumpkin. Each class choses a book and then decorates a pumpkin to represent that book in some way. This year our class chose Frindle by Andrew Clements. Frindle was our first chapter book read aloud this year. It is a story about a boy named Nick whose creative troublemaking causes an uproar in his school and then throughout the nation. Frindle is a word Nick makes up just to bug his fifth-grade teacher who is a dictionary expert. Nick is determined to get everyone to use his new word as Mrs. Granger is to stop it. This prank spirals out of control as the word catches on all over the town. Our class gives this book 3 stars! Ask your child what the word Frindle means :).

Multiple Meaning Words

We learned that Multiple Meaning Words are words that are written the same and sound the same, but have different meanings. Check out all the fun, learning activities we did this week using Multiple Meaning (M & M) Words!

Peer Editing

This week in Writers' Workshop our students learned about the value of peer editing. Students got to sit with a partner and read and evaulate each other's Response to Literature pieces. They helped each other strengthen their writing by giving feedback about their peer's writing. Each student had a check list of what to look for in their peer's writing. The conversation heard around the room was wonderful!

Synonym Rolls

This week our class has been learning about SYNONYMS. We learned that synonyms are two words that have the same meaning. We are encouraging students to use "juicy" words in their writing so we did a fun activity to get rid of using the same old words all the time. Students were asked to pick a worn-out word and then find synonyms for that word. Students used the thesaurus as well as the computer to find synonyms for their word. We enjoyed some Cinnabon cereal as we worked :). Synonym Rolls 1. Pre-heat brain to 100% 2. Add 1 "worn-out" word 3. Stir in a pinch of juicy words that mean the same as your "worn-out" word 4. Mix in a dash of words from the thesaurus 5. Serve with your daily writing and enjoy!