Language Arts
Classroom Activities
Writing exercise, from brainstorm to final draft, of student generated “constitution” of our rights and responsibilities.
Summer postcard writing and drawing
Review of ABC order using dictionaries and thesauruses
They are using “spelling binders” for independent, quick (ABC order) access for spelling.
For reading comprehension, we are going over Story Elements (plot, key events, characters, setting, problem, solution) and are studying this concept in the familiar story Bony Legs
For reading comprehension, students are maintaining a weekly “Reading Response Log” for their independent reading time.
Synonym studies. The students have played games, worked independently and in partnerships, read and written poetry, created “word banks” as a reference in their journal, written paragraphs, and more, all as ways to practice and apply the concept of synonyms.
At Home
Keep your child reading, this includes to and with you
If your child needs support with commonly read and written words-Play High Frequency Word games (bingo, flash cards)
Synonym Challenge-if you or your child respond with the word “good” see if you can come up with a more descriptive or interesting word. For example:
”How was school today?” “Good.”
Challenge your child to use a synonym for good instead.
This game can be applied to many words such as “nice”, “pretty”, “bad” etc
Using thesauruses
Having fun building letters
Using a thesaurus to play a synonym “wrap-up” in partnership
Playing synonym “around the world”
Sharing their finds to create a word bank of synonyms for the world “friend”
Group work
Narrowing the brainstorm of each child’s pick for their rights and responsibilities
Synonym poetry to analyze, and a crossword
Student created synonym poetry
Synonym practice and word bank for “good”
Reading Response for an independent read of Winnie the Pooh
Final constitution , the students voted for the values in our class constitution
beginning of the year Book Hunt
Book Hunt with recommendation
Analysis of the U.S. constitution’s vocabulary, and an individual student’s choices for a class constitution
Graphic organizer for to organize our constitution brainstorm. This step is prior to creating a final draft
HFW List-please excuse the pink highlights, this was my copy at home. Over time, these words should be automatically read and spelled. This list has gone home over the years. The students have made flash cards and played games over the years.