ALL ABOUT 5TH GRADE ELA

Spelling/Word Study

Students will not have traditional spelling lists and tests this year.  Instruction in spelling will focus more on instructing students at their spelling ability level and providing activities and lessons for them to practice and improve their spelling abilities.  I will start off by giving each student a spelling inventory to identify what stage of spelling development they are at. Each student will be given words at their level of spelling development every other week focusing on certain spelling patterns.  Students will engage in activities such as word sorts, writing activities, and online games to help them to master the spelling skill. Spelling or Word analysis grades will be given based on unassisted word sorts, spelling tests, and other activities after they have had adequate study time at school and home. There will not be one spelling list given to everyone and brought home every Monday and test on every Friday.  Lists will be sent home with dates of study so that they can practice at home in addition to study and practice during the school day.  Students will also have access to an account on Kids A to Z and information on how to login at home will be sent out through email and a note with your child.  They will have their own accounts and can log in, select a list, and play many fun games to practice their word focus for the week. If you have any questions about spelling/word study, please do not hesitate to contact me.  

  

Writing

This year, students will compose pieces focusing on three main genres of writing: narrative, expository, and opinion.  Students will write shorter pieces of writing that span a few days up to larger pieces written over a couple of weeks.  Throughout the year we will focus on different traits of writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.  All writing will be scored with a rubric.  Students will be allowed to redo all major writing assignments up until a week after a graded assignment is returned to them.  I will regrade it and students will receive the higher score.  My goal with letting students redo their writing is if a student is willing to improve their writing and learn from their mistakes, then I am willing to change their grade. Just redoing it will not guarantee a higher grade.  The student must fix what was wrong with the writing and improve it with their best effort and skills covered in class.


Grammar

Over the course of the year we will focus on a wide range of grammar skills.  Below is a list of skills students will learn in addition to any needs that arise throughout the year.

  1. Subjects and predicates
  2. sentence fragments and run-ons
  3. Compound sentences
  4. Common and proper nouns
  5. Singular and plural nouns
  6. Singular and plural possessive nouns
  7. Writing titles
  8. Verb tenses
  9. Irregular verbs
  10. Adjectives and adverbs
  11. Complex sentences 
  12. Conjunctions
  13. Quotations and interjections
  14. Commas and semicolons
  15. tricky homophones

Cursive

While most writing takes place electronically in this day and age, it is still important to be able to read cursive, sign our names, and write in cursive should the need arise.  We will review cursive throughout the year.  You can help at home by having your child practice their spelling/word study words in cursive.