Sydney's School Stories

"Can I borrow a "frindle" please?" In the Andrew Clements book, Frindle , a group of smart and creative 5th graders make up a new word for the boring term "pen". We have been reading Frindle  as a whole class and I recently found a petition to change the word "math" to "Olisity". When I told my class to get out their "Olisity" notebooks during our math time- they looked shocked!  

One literacy strategy that my class & I did this year is an "Informational Text Walk & Notes" activity. For this unit I wanted to address the following standards: (1) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. (2) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1.A Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer's purpose. (3) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1.B Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details, and (4) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1.D Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented. Introducing the lesson: Use the TIME FOR KIDS website for polls ( http://www.timeforkids.com/news-archive/polls ) to discuss different issues that have "pro" and "con" sides of an argument. As a class discuss different issues that TFK has on their poll webs...