5th
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Nonfiction Research Group in Fifth Grade
Katherine Sokolowski meets with a group of fifth graders who are all researching the use of nets in fishing and the environmental effects of the process. She works to build connections among classmates as well as research skills.
Digging into Research Questions
Melanie Meehan explains how helping students deepen their questioning strategies leads to more thoughtful research projects.
#articleaday
Justin Stygles uses a daily nonfiction article activity as a way to build interest in nonfiction short texts, especially among reluctant readers in his classroom.
Tweeting a Favorite Author
Katherine Sokolowski helps one of her fifth-grade students compose a tweet to a favorite author.
Revising Weekly Reflections
Katherine Sokolowski revises the weekly reflection form her fifth graders use to ensure everyone is tracking goals, progress, and expectations.
Strategies for Elaboration in Opinion Writing
Melanie Meehan works with fifth graders who are struggling to elaborate on themes in their opinion writing.
Student Self-Assessment Strategies
Melanie Meehan works with fifth graders to help them create their own set of indicators of success in a writing unit.
Read Alouds and Standards
Maria Caplin explains how read alouds do double duty in her fifth-grade classroom, as they help build a love for story and help students master key literacy and content area standards.
What’s a Great Workshop Day?
Mary Lee Hahn considers how the success of any day has to integrate observations from conferring, lessons, and share sessions.
Planning and the Tuesday Effect
Mary Lee Hahn realizes how much a workshop approach has changed her planning process and comfort level with the unexpected.
Wonder and React
How do you scaffold students for independent work? Melanie Meehan finds Wonder and React is a great strategy to use with fifth graders during an information writing unit.
Maintaining Momentum As a Writer
Jennifer Richard Jacobson chats with a group of fifth graders about how to generate ideas for writing independently each day.
“Giving Ourselves Hard Problems”: Rethinking Math Workshop
Mary Lee Hahn rethinks her math workshop structure to more closely align with the choice and problem solving in her reading and writing workshops.
Conferring Over “Finished” Writing
Ruth Ayres challenges Grant to add paragraphs to his “finished” piece.
Teaching Inference Through Picture Books
Katherine Sokolowski explains why picture books are useful for teaching inference to intermediate students, and shares some of her favorites.
Tech Anchor Charts
A daunting task for teachers is to help students learn to use new tech tools, as well as understand community standards for each one. Katherine Sokolowski finds tech anchor charts are a great way to provide ongoing support to students as they navigate new software and apps.
Ways into Personal Narratives
Katherine Sokolowski describes some Ways into Personal Narratives that use visual tools to build the home/school connection and stronger prewriting skills.
Resources for Quick-Writes
Katherine Sokolowski shares some of her favorite resources to jumpstart student interest in writing.
Using Webcomics in Classrooms
Katherine Sokolowski explains why she uses webcomics in her literacy workshops, and shares an extensive list of her favorite online sources.
Close Reading for Comparison in Fifth Grade
Katherine Sokolowski uses a fascinating picture book to build close reading skills with her fifth graders. The key is selecting a text that holds up well through multiple readings.
From Strengths to Revision: Conferring with Connor
Karen Terlecky confers with fifth-grade Connor about his writing, demonstrating the routine of celebrating strengths first, and then making suggestions of new techniques to try.
NaNoWriMo with Students
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is coming up in November, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for sustained writing and linking students with writers across the web. Katherine Sokolowski shares how it works, as well as tips for getting started.
A Fiction Writing Field Trip
Katherine Sokolowski’s students love writing fiction, but their skills don’t match their enthusiasm. A field trip helps bridge that gap.
Using Reading Notebook Covers for Reflection and Goal Setting
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan are using reading notebook covers in ingenious ways.
What Difference Does Difference Make?
Mary Lee Hahn begins the year with honest and open discussions with her fifth-grade students about diversity.
Adding Dialogue to Writing: Conferring with Sam
Karen Terlecky confers with Sam about adding dialogue to writing in her fifth-grade classroom.
Read Alouds as “Third Things”
Katherine Sokolowski uses read alouds early in the year to help students reflect on how to be kind and thoughtful members of a classroom community.
Strategies for Using Reader’s Notebooks
Melanie Swider enhances read alouds and the entire reading workshop with creative uses for reading notebooks.
Curating a Classroom Library
Katherine Sokolowski explains why it is important to sort and weed out books carefully before the new year begins.
Crafting Characters and Scenes
In this discussion with fifth graders about her book Paper Things, author Jennifer Richard Jacobson and the students share strategies and tools for visualizing scenes and characters when they are writing stories.
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