Writing
"If there's a book you really want to read, but is hasn't been written, then you must write it." - Toni Morrison
In fifth grade we focus on the development of a writer, providing authentic experiences for students to write and practice the stages of the writing process (prewrite, draft, edit, revise, publish).
Our primary focus in fifth grade includes the expository format. Students work on choosing three broad distinct ideas for their topic, forming 3-4 details for each main idea, creating an introduction that grabs the reader's attention with a lead and thesis, and organizing their thoughts into a well-elaborated 5-paragraph essay. Students practice a variety of detail techniques to assist in the elaboration of their writing, including golden bricks (statistics, anecdotes, descriptive segments, and amazing facts), the show don't tell method, good word choices, similes, and specific versus general details. As we discuss what it means to be a writer, students are provided with multiple opportunities to revise and edit their work through independent editing/revising with checklists, peer editing, and teacher/student conferencing.
Other Components of our Writing Block in Room W-2:- Writer's Notebook
- Grammar
- Editing and Revising
- Written Responses to Reading
- Research within the classroom, library, and computer lab/internet
Journey Project:
As part of our year-long study on character development in reading, the fifth graders at Hubbard read and discuss the book Journey by Patricia MacLaghlan. Students collect photographs of important people, places, and things that have influenced who they are today. Students will then reflect on each photograph and its influence on their development through written essays. This will be combined into their own scrapbook of their personal journey.
In fifth grade we focus on the development of a writer, providing authentic experiences for students to write and practice the stages of the writing process (prewrite, draft, edit, revise, publish).
Our primary focus in fifth grade includes the expository format. Students work on choosing three broad distinct ideas for their topic, forming 3-4 details for each main idea, creating an introduction that grabs the reader's attention with a lead and thesis, and organizing their thoughts into a well-elaborated 5-paragraph essay. Students practice a variety of detail techniques to assist in the elaboration of their writing, including golden bricks (statistics, anecdotes, descriptive segments, and amazing facts), the show don't tell method, good word choices, similes, and specific versus general details. As we discuss what it means to be a writer, students are provided with multiple opportunities to revise and edit their work through independent editing/revising with checklists, peer editing, and teacher/student conferencing.
Other Components of our Writing Block in Room W-2:- Writer's Notebook
- Grammar
- Editing and Revising
- Written Responses to Reading
- Research within the classroom, library, and computer lab/internet
Journey Project:
As part of our year-long study on character development in reading, the fifth graders at Hubbard read and discuss the book Journey by Patricia MacLaghlan. Students collect photographs of important people, places, and things that have influenced who they are today. Students will then reflect on each photograph and its influence on their development through written essays. This will be combined into their own scrapbook of their personal journey.
The Writing Process
In fifth grade we spend a lot of time discussing the life of an author and the importance of each stage of the writing process when composing a written piece. Therefore every day each student moves his/pencil clip to represent what stage of the writing process he/she is working on.
Words Words Words
The reading / writing connection is so important to learning. Therefore, we choose sophisticated vocabulary words that we find in our read aloud books. We study these words each week and try to use them to enrich our writing. Words are then moved to our larger word wall and new words then take their place on our chart each week.
