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Fifth and Sixth Grade ELL Students:
Homework:
All students should listen and read along with the READ NATURALLY CD that has been given to them. The students should listen to at least one story a night and answer the questions in complete sentences. These are due every other day. The student exchanges the CD for a new one. Mrs. Somers will listen to the students read and determine if advancement to the next level is appropriate or more practice is needed. To build fluency and reading comprehension each story should be read by the student a minimum of three times.
Everyday in Reading/ Language Arts class students learn reading comprehension strategies.
Students are encouraged to continue to read books in their first language as well as English.
Every day in class we work to build vocabulary in a variety of ways.
Reading/L.A.:
Fourth Quarter:
The ELL students have a wonderful opportunity to share the culture of their country through an iMovie. The students learn so much about the world and to be accepting of others when they understand the culture of others. What an exciting opportunity to feel proud of ones own heritage and share that with others. This project incorportates reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
Third Quarter:
The students created a non-fiction project on wolves. Students are learning how to research and take appropriate notes. The students will share their knowledge by creating an iMovie that will be downloaded onto an iTouch. Students can check out an iTouch to share their projects with family members. The iTouch is also available to practice English skills and listen to books at home. Soon each iTouch will have a microphone so that the students can practice their oral reading (reading aloud).
Here is what we've learned lately:
- A complete sentence has a subject and a predicate
- a complete sentence is a complete thought
- an incomplete sentence is not a complete thought and is missing either the subject or the predicate
- a compound sentence combines two short sentences into one more detailed sentence
- a compound sentence combines sentences with conjunctions:and, but, or, nor
- every sentence has a predicate-this begins with a verb and describes what the subject of the sentence is doing
- every sentence has a subject-who or what the sentence is about. For example, in the following sentence the subject of the sentence is wolf.
The wolf howled at the moon.
- possessives show ownership- "the cat's paw", using an apostrophe s shows that the paw belongs to the cat.
- action verbs- add excitement in writing.
- elements of fictional stories include characters, setting, and plot.
- pronouns: this, that, these, and those.
Here is a chart to reinforce this concept at home...
- adjectives describe nouns- The students learned different ways in which to form sentences with adjectives. For example, the adjective(s) can come before the noun or the adjective can follow a verb in the sentence.
Here are two examples:
It is a tiny box.
The box is tiny.
"Tiny" is the adjective in both sentences and it describes the noun (box).
Social Studies:
We are currently studying the culture and religion of Islam
Students usually have social studies homework nightly. Homework includes completing vocabulary cards, using the student activity journal, or a graphic organizer to reinforce concepts from class.
Here is what we have learned about lately:
- early kingdoms, empires and dynasties
- early religions- some religions like that of the Egyptians worshiped many gods and religions like Judaism and Christianity worship one God.
- ancient humans during the Stone Age and Ice Age including the tools used and how humans survived harsh conditions.
- the first civilizations
- the tools and techniques that archaeologists use
- different regions in Africa: Sahara Desert, an oasis, and the Sahel. They learned the physical characteristics of each location and the adaptations that people make to survive in that area.
- different features found along the Nile River in Africa which include arid regions, irrigated farmland, Aswan Dam, and As Sudd.
- different types of maps: Physical Maps, Population Density, Climate, Vegetation, and Economic Activity. They used these different maps to learn about Africa. The students enjoyed our study of Egypt, pharaohs, and mummies.
Students should practice blue or yellow vocabulary cards several times a week. It is important to keep reviewing these vocabulary terms. Students are given new vocabulary terms to illustrate on occasion.
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