Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a terrific holiday break and you are all rested and ready for the next year!
We have some exciting units coming up and, of course, the pre-EOG practice test. Doing reading homework from here on out is extremely important. Practice makes perfect and I have seen much improvement in comprehension and fluency in students that have been diligent with their homework. Please make sure your child is reading for 30 minutes (AT LEAST!!!) a day. After the break, we will finish up Out of the Dust, which was interrupted by the snow break. 6th grade will begin reading Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli in small groups and 5th grade will read and listen to a variety of novels on tape and work in small group literature circles. After the novel study both groups will learn about bias, propaganda, stereotypes and write a persuasive essay to a person or institution of choice. In February, we will have an in-depth study of Black History to include slave quilts and stories, the Harlem Renaissance, blues music and African-American poetry.


Theme Project and Essay #2: Due Jan. 3
Students should come armed with both their 2nd essay and project on Monday. We will have presentations for about 30 minutes daily until everyone has given theirs, students should be prepared to go on Monday, even though they may not present until later in the week. Points will be docked from students who are not prepared. Also, I will have students assessing their peers and part of their input will be used in grading. One of the curricular goals for 5th and 6th grade is to develop critical thinking skills and to understand when something is well-done and to develop the stance of a critic. Students will be given a rubric to score their peers which explains what they (and I) should look for in a good project.


The 2nd essay will be a little different because you really can't give much of an opinion about a non-fiction book! I think the easiest approach would be write about the three-five most interesting facts that he learned and why they think they are interesting and then finish with a few sentences of book review, was it appropriate for his/her age level? did it hold his/her interest? would he/she recommend it to others? etc... 1-2 typed pages, 12 point Times New Roman font, black ink. If you can't print it at home, bring it in on a flash drive and I'll print it at school.

Students still must make up the spelling test from the week before break, so we will just use the same words this week. Vocab test on Friday for all students.

See you all soon!

Dec. 20

The Spelling/Vocab for week of Dec. 20. Our test will be on Thursday of this week!!!!!
We will finish "Out of the Dust" this week.
Spelling/Vocabulary (all classes) Berner
Week of Dec. 12 Words from “Out of the Dust” p.149 to end of book
SPELLING TEST ON THURSDAY !!!!!!!! (1/2 day of Friday: Holiday Party!!!!)
fierceness
warped
scorched
migrants
sparse
sulking
horizon
frantic
descended
swarmed
desperation
yield
hoarding
sustain
scowled
mottled
flinch
nourish
confident
intentions

Week of December 5

It snowed over the weekend! Winter is just around the corner and, as usual, I am shocked at how quickly the school year rolls by. We are midway through the second quarter already. I guess it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun and working hard!
All classes will continue with "Through the Dust" by Karen Hesse this week. Spelling/Vocab words will all be from the reading. Students seem to be enjoying the book. We will have a short quiz about every 50 pages.
Social Studies will continue reading and working from the book this week, moving through the American Revolution and the Constitution.

Vocabulary/Spelling (all classes)
Week of Dec. 6 Words from “Out of the Dust” to page 150
excavating
clinging
deformed
exhibit
benefit
suffocating
forsaken
cloaked
thrived
agony
bleary
withered
parched
chaos
pouted
prospects
desperate
straddled
smothered
reassuring

I hope everyone had a relaxing and satisfying Thanksgiving! Mine was great and so now I feel ready to work off the stuffing and pumpkin pie with some solid learning. Let's finish this year off right with some brain building reading and writing!
We will continue to read Out of the Dust aloud in each class.(5B will begin reading this week) If you can get a copy of the book, please do. We are currently sharing in class. If your student has a copy, it will make studying for tests and reviewing much easier for them. 5A and 6A will have a quiz Tuesday on the book to page 51.
5B will finish their work on the Paul Revere essay by Tuesday, as it its due to the DAR on Wednesday. I would love for them to be typed and would allow students to type and edit their essay at home in lieu of reading homework. Parents must review the essay.
Neuse Charter will participate in the Spelling Bee again this year. I will firm up the format this week.

Vocab for all classes this week:

Spelling/Vocabulary 5A
Week of Nov. 29 Words from “Tuck Everlasting” and “Out of the Dust”
retorted
meager
accommodations
rapid
ought
toppled
dismay
passage
skeptical
loomed
pitiless
strewn
aimlessly
mirage
festered
withered
tufts

Spelling/Vocabulary 6A
Week of Nov. 29 Words from “Tuck Everlasting” and “Out of the Dust”
perilous
retorted
meager
accommodations
dismay
passage
skeptical
peculiar
loomed
solemnly
aimlessly
festered
boughs
grumble
withered
tufts
ought

Spelling/Vocabulary 5B
Week of Nov. 29 Words from “Tuck Everlasting” and “Out of the Dust”
perilous
retorted
meager
apprehension
dismay
skeptical
vigorous
reservoir
loomed
solemnly
indomitable
aimlessly
festered
boughs
tallow
withered
tufts

Next week, all classes will begin working in a new format. We will kick off centers and small group literature circles. Classes will read two book. The first, in which I will lead a guided reading group, is titled “Out of the Dust” by Karen Hesse. It is about the Oklahoma dust storms in the 1930s. It is a novel written in blank verse and is an extension of our poetry unit. The other novel is “Tuck Everlasting” by Natalie Babbitt. Students will listen to Tuck on tape and read along in small student-led literature circles. I selected this novel because many students have read it already and will be able to read and discuss the novel with little supervision. Literature circles should be student led. Please send in headphone or earbuds with your student, if they have them. I will also institute a writing center and an art center, where students will create artistic representations of their work. In addition, we will enjoy a “game” center. Students will quiz each others vocabulary words, literary terms, and other language arts knowledge. I expect a few bugs and will adjust groups and timing as we proceed, but I think this will enhance most student's learning experience exponentially. Please e-mail any questions.

Bookmobile comes on Tuesday! If your student does not have his or her theme book yet, this is a great opportunity.

Social Studies: we are moving into the colonial era and will begin the Revolutionary War this week. Students will be writing an essay about Paul Revere for a Daughter's of the American Revolution contest. The essay is due Dec. 1, so we need to get cracking!

This weeks spelling/vocabulary words:
Spelling /Vocab Week of Nov. 15
From Tuck Everlasting and Out of the Dust
5A
prologue
connection
smeared
everlasting
tangent
tranquil
contemplation
dissolved
oppressive
accessible
isolation
melancholy
bounty
pestering
ratcheted
riled
spindly
pledged
dazzled
wisp

Spelling /Vocab Week of Nov. 15
From Tuck Everlasting and Out of the Dust
5B
arduous
everlasting
prologue
tangent
contemplation
tolerantly
fringe
forlorn
accessible
isolation
tarnished
intrusion
grimace
slant
riled
distraction
whittled
ratcheted
fidgeting
bounty
smeared

Spelling /Vocab Week of Nov. 15
From Tuck Everlasting and Out of the Dust
6A
prologue
connection
smeared
everlasting
tangent
tranquil
contemplation
dissolved
oppressive
accessible
isolation
melancholy
bounty
pestering
ratcheted
riled
spindly
pledged
dazzled
wisp

Reminder!!! Tomorrow is the poetry terms test. Students should also know the graphic organizer with the terms: Introduction, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and Denouement. Students must understand what happens in each of those categories of a storyline for a fiction story.

Social Studies:
Know these terms:
navigation
expedition
what eradicated (wiped out) Native Americans: guns, germs and horses (plusses and minuses)
Christopher Columbus
missionaries
Verrazano
Cartier
Northwest Passage (what is is and why is was important)
Conquistadors: Ponce de Leon, Hernando deSoto, Cortes (where from, what they did?)
Henry Hudson

Terms for the Poetry Test on Nov. 10:
alliteration
antagonist
ballad
climax
conflict
couplet
denouement
elegy
epic
falling action
foreshadowing
free verse
hyperbole
limerick
metaphor
narrative poem
ode
onomatopoeia
point of view
protagonist
quatrain
resolution
rhyme
rising action
setting
simile
sonnet
stanza
style
theme
tone
Students in all grades will need to know the DEFINITION of these words. I will give the word and students will fill in definition. No spelling next week. These terms are important enough to revisit until they are mastered.