Book Raffle

The beginning of the year always means it's book award season. In February, we were able to purchase 7 different award-winning titles for our library. Flora & Ulysses is the Newberry Award winner for 2014 and the others are Kentucky Bluegrass Nominees that we'll be voting on later this Spring. All of these books are coveted reads, so last week we held a Book Raffle to see who would have the 'first read' of these soon-to-be classics!

Every student received 1 ticket (scrap of paper) to enter into the raffle. Then, students who had no missing assignments were awarded a second ticket. I placed a plastic cup in front of each book. I set the timer on the board and students had 3ish minutes to decide which book they wanted to 'win'.

After all 3 classes have had the opportunity to enter the Book Raffle, I pulled names for each of the books (dramatically, of course) and delivered their new treasures. :) The students who 'won' each book have a week  to return the read book to me, so his/her friends have the chance to read the book, as well!

Book Raffles keep everything a little more fair and help build an excitement for reading. We're always grateful to add books to our collection and share our favorites with friends! :)

Root Words

Learning about Greek and Latin Root Words is an important word-solving skill and a 5th Grade Common Core standard. If students are knowledgeable about common roots and affixes (bi-, auto-, geo-), they can solve the meaning of unknown words as they read. 

Two weeks ago we spent several class periods reviewing and learning about Greek and Latin Roots. Here are some of the activities we spent time learning with. 

As a starting place, we make interactive flap-books to learning about common roots and affixes. 

We've also introduced a game of root word memory. Played like a traditional game of memory, students have to match a root word and examples of that root in action with the root's meaning.

As a 'working backwards' method, students also spent time sorting words by their roots. After they sorted each group of words, students inferred the meaning of the root based on their knowledge of the 5-6 in the group!

One of our favorite centers (maybe even more popular than iPads) is STACKS. A root or affix is written on the bottom of each cup and its meaning on the inside of the cup. The cups are placed in a large Ziploc bag and students works in pairs. One partner grabs a cup. He/she defines the root and then, gives an example of a word that uses the prefix. The partner checks their work (mentally or using the answer I have written on the inside of the cup). If the partner answers correctly, they can add it to their cup pyramid. If incorrect, the cup goes back into the bag. Students work together to build the tallest possible pyramid in our 12 minute work period! 

Root words are something we'll continually revisit as we encounter unknown words in texts we read, as well as, through out Flocabulary vocabulary program. As you see root words in the 'real' world quiz your child and see if they can identify the root and its meaning!

Gavin Goes to Frankfort!

The Legislative Page Program provides students the unique and educational experience of serving legislators in the House Chambers during a legislative session. Gavin represented Woodlawn Elementary and the Boyle County Schools as a student page on March 11, 2014. Thank you, Gavin! Here is what Gavin said about the day:  I served as a Legislative Page during the 2014 Legislative Session. As a page, I spent time on the Senate floor and had the honor of shadowing Senator Chris Girdler. Through the day, I was able to tour Frankfort and learned how the legislature makes new laws and changes old ones. I am so glad I was able to participate as a Student Page at the Capitol.  We are so proud of you, Gavin! Thank you for representing Woodlawn. :)

March Madness: A Tournament of Books

Our kids {love} sports and between rec teams and AAU teams, it seems they spend most of their afternoons and weekends involved in some type of athletic event. Additionally, being a Kentuckian, basketball is serious business. This makes March Madness the perfect event to merge our love of basketball and amazing books.

Over the course of the year, I have kept a tally of the books students have been reading and writing about, and chose the 16 books that were favorites. If multiple books in a series showed up on my list, I showcased the first book in the series. Below are a few of our 'chosen' books! :) The full list includes Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Dairy of a Wimpy Kid, I Funny, Football Genius, Stick Dog, The Witches, Number the Stars, Wonder, The One and Only Ivan, Stranded, I Survived, Nancy Drew Clue Crew, Bad Kitty, Bone, and Origami Yoda.

As each round of the 'real' March Madness tournament takes place, we'll vote for which books progress in our own tournament. As part of the voting, students are only allowed to participate in the vote if they've read the two books facing off. To make sure everyone has access to the books, I have put any copies of the books or their accompanying series top of our shelves. As students finish these favorites, they'll return them to the stands for others to read!

We'll vote for out Elite 8 on March 30th (as the Elite 8 Games are taking place on March 28th - 30th), then the Final 4 on April 5th, and the Championship game (vote) will be on April 9th. I'll set up a Survey Monkey so students can easily vote at the beginning of class.

In addition to voting for the best books of our school year, we'll will also fill out our own brackets predicting the winners. For every correct answer, students will receive a point. The 3 students with the most points will receive a free book from our next Scholastic order! :) We'll fill out our brackets with the start of the tournament!

So, when all these parts come together it looks a little like this... :)

Well, I am definitely excited to see the 'winner' of our tournament. I would guess that Wonder and Diary of a Wimpy Kid will be the final contenders, but honestly, it is a complete toss up! Make sure to encourage your child to finish up any book on his/her list before we start voting at the end of March. :)

Point of View

Happy Monday, families!

Last week in reading, we focused on point of view and author's perspective. Here is a video that describes what point of view is and clue words we use to determine a story's point of view. I created this video to help students review point of view, as well as, give you an idea of what our mini-lessons look like!

Throughout the week, we practiced identifying point of view and determining how a point of view influences a story's events. We began our learning watching and rapping with Flocabulary! In their reading binders, students should have a set of point of view notes that explain all 3 types of POV, an example of each, and keywords we use to determine the point of view.

We practiced identifying point of view with a hands-on game of Quiz, Quiz, Trade. 

Using our iPads, we also played Showdown. Students read a short passage and were asked to quickly identify the point of view. Students write their answer on their iPad and hold it up to their chest until I say "showdown." Then, all students show me their iPad, and we discuss the answer. This is a fast-paced game that really helps me know if students 'have' point of view.

 Using an extension activity from Flocabulary, we read a story about a mean bird trapper and a parrot. The story was told from 3rd person point of view. Students worked to change the story from 3rd person to 1st person of point, telling the story from the bird's perspective or the bird trapper's perspective.

Students also worked in groups to sort 3 stories. Each story was told from 3 different perspectives and students had to decide from which point of view each 'story' or card was told. After students correctly sorted all 3 stories (a total of nine cards), they analyzed how the stories changed when told from a different perspective. 

 To wrap the week up, students worked collaboratively to show what they knew about point of view with a short answer. Each group of students were given two different versions of the same story. Students had to identify the point of view of each story and then, explain how the change in narrator influenced events. After all students were finished, they traveled in groups to read and analyze the other group's short answers.

We definitely had a full week of learning! This coming week we will begin looking at the elements of poetry and pick poems to recite in front of the class.

My best,
Ms. Wintuska

What does On Demand Wednesday look like?

Good evening!

With our fourth On-Demand Wednesday in the books, we wanted to share what the day looks like. On these Wednesdays, we do not trade for our core classes and spend the day focusing on our writing. Today, we refined our narrative skills. All three teachers and classes agreed that this Wednesday was the best ODW yet! :) Below are some pictures from our day. Over the next dew days, we'll post writing samples for you!

We started out reviewing our knowledge of narratives, brainstorming individually and as table groups. We then played a round of quiz, quiz, trade!

After reviewing our knowledge, we had a mini-lesson on using the active voice in our writing. Rather than saying, "The boy sat in the chair and played the game." we might say, "Sitting in the chair, the boy was playing his handheld game." Using the active voice helps to engage our reader and allows them to 'jump-into' the narrative's action. We took mini-paragraphs written in the passive voice and edited them to be in the active voice. Then, we used SU, HU, PU (stand up, hand up, pair up) to share our more engaging paragraphs.

Working in small groups, we also had some fun responding to picture prompts. These picture prompts help us practice telling an imagined story {narratives can be real or imagined}.

With our narrative review, quick writes, and mini-lessons complete, it was time to show what we know about narratives. Our timers were set for 30 minutes and everyone went to work!

Mrs. Stillwell, Mrs. McNees, and I spent several hours this afternoon blind-scoring the narratives, and we'll begin to review the results in class tomorrow and Friday. These narratives will be hung in the hallway next week and will make it home the following week. :)

-Ms. Wintuska

The Winter Break Challenge!

Thursday we celebrated the 40 students who accepted the Winter Break Challenge! I am so proud that these students choose to spend time reading and engaging with books over our l-o-n-g break. Some students completed a few days of the challenge, while many students completed all 15 days – woohoo!

I loved seeing the lists of favorite words and the numbers of books students have access to each day.

My favorite part of the challenge was reading the letters that student wrote to their favorite authors. From J.K. Rowling to Jeff Kiney, it was so neat to see what questions our kids have about their favorite books. :)

Fantasitc job, friends!

-Ms. Wintuska

Celebrating Success!

Congratulations to all 3 classes for meeting their Common Assessment goals in reading! I am so proud of all you all. :) This test (over text structure and context clues) was our best yet! Mrs. Stillwell’s class chose extra recess as their celebration, Mrs. McNees’ class chose PJ day, and Ms. Wintuska’s class chose a read-in. Here are pictures of our read-in celebration!

My best,

Ms. Wintuska

Good evening!

After a very long Winter Break, today we hit the ground running.

As a class, we discussed how we've grown as readers, our favorite books, things that have surprised us about reading, and general observations. It was really neat to see how the kids' perception of a ‘reader’ has evolved. The entire conversation was so encouraging. After the whole-class discussion, students completed an individual form that shared how many books they’ve read, told about their favorite book, and explained what their reading game-plan is! :) 

We also spent time reflecting on what’s gone well this school year, what we need to do as students to succeed, what I need to do as a teacher to help every student succeed, and what our class should be every day. Students traveled around the room responding to each question and reading what their peers thought. After everyone used their post-its, we had a whole-class discussion about their ideas and what ‘works’ for them and their learning. I absolutely love that ‘our kids’ are beginning to assume responsibility for their learning!

To finish out, I wanted to share my take-aways from today:

• What should our classroom be every day?  Our classroom should be comfortable, safe, exciting, and a place to read.
• What should we do more of this spring? We should do more literacy centers and more journal writing.
• What can I {Ms. W} do to help my students be successful? Ms. W can re-teach us, work in small groups, and make more literacy centers.
• What can we {students in the 5^th grade} do to be more successful? We can read more, listen harder, have an open mind, and work with our friends.

My best,

Ms. Wintuska

Opinion On-Demand

Situation: Recent medical research reflects a sharp rise in obestu among American adults and children. Your Kentucky legislator are considering passing a law which would require all students in the state to attend an exercise class for 15 minutes of every school day.

Task: Write a letter to Representative Mike Harmon giving your opinion about whether this law is necessary or not.

Dear Mike Harmon,
     I have recently heard that the legislators of Kentucky are passing a law that makes kids have to go to an exercise class every day for 15 minutes. Think about it...kids running and being healthy for 15 minutes every day. I think this is a very good idea.
     If kids got exercise at school, they would be way more healthy. Kids often just go to school then come home and lay down. Most kids don't eat very healthy either. So if you get kids to exercise at school, you don't have to worry as much about what they eat. Kids, these days, neeed to get 60 minutes of exercise every day. I think this is a good way to start.
     Doctors predict that kids now days will be very large when they become adults because they don't eat right or exercise. If you teach them to exercise when they are younger it will be easier for them when they are older because it will be a habit. So kids need to start working out at a young age.
     It will be good to exercise at school because many kids don't know that you can become very ill in many areas, not just physically. Like mentally, emotionally, and socially. That's why it is just a good idea to exercise.
     As you can see, it is a very good idea to start exercising for 15 minutes at school. After you have heard my opinion, I hope you can make a decision.
     
                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                Emily G.


****This is a sample of recent work completed by our 5th graders.