1. Welcome to Open House!
October 17, 2016

2. Dates to Remember October 17 - 19 – MAP Testing October 25 - Book Fair
October 28 – Fall Homeroom Celebration
November 8 – Election Day/ NO SCHOOL
November 10 – Ridgefield Playhouse
November 23 – Half Day
November – NO SCHOOL
December 1- Mark Twain House
December 6-9 – Parent/Teacher Conferences (Half Days)
December 23 – Half Day
December 24 – January 2 – NO SCHOOL
January -8- Ridgefield Playhouse
April -24- Ridgefield Playhouse

3. Field Trips November 10, 2016, Ridgefield Playhouse
December 1, 2016, Mark Twain House
February 8, 2017, Ridgefield Playhouse
April 24, 2017, Ridgefield Playhouse

4. Typical Day Students gather in the cafeteria in the mornings
Students unpack their backpacks
During period 3 we have snack.
Students follow their schedule which is different for each student.
Period 9 includes math lab, LA workshop, Digital Citizenship, and Ensemble.

5. Language Arts
Our goals for the Language Arts curriculum are to balance reading and writing instruction. We will look at texts as readers and as writers.

6. Classroom Community
Our classroom is a community. In our community, we have rules to help us get along and respect each other.

7. Parent Involvement
Field Trips
Crafts
Special Ideas/Projects

8. Specials Health – 3rd trimester on B and C days Science – 5x/week
P.E. – 2x/week
Art – 2x/week
Music – 1x/week
Ensemble – 1x/week
Chorus
Band
Orchestra

9. Homework Assigned Daily Mrs. Dobransky Reading Writing Ms. Lanna Math
Social Studies
Total amount of homework shouldn’t exceed 1.5 hours. If this is not the case, please contact me.
Projects are not part of homework time.
Neatness counts
Homework should be turned in on time.

10. Language Arts
Our goals for the Language Arts curriculum are to balance reading and writing instruction. The four skill areas listed below are used to promote best practices.
Process
Genre
Strategy
Conventions

11. Language Arts Process - Building reading and writing stamina
Genre – Narrative, Informational, Opinion, Traditional Literature, Poetry
Strategy – Activating background knowledge, visualization, determining importance, inferring, interpretation, monitoring for meaning, Using “fix up” strategies, summarizing
Conventions – Word attack/word solving skills, reading punctuation, fluency, vocabulary, and phrasing

12. Reading
Works of literature are taught using metacognition reading strategies. Students read books at the appropriate reading level, participate in book clubs, and participate in Reading Workshop. Small group instruction occurs at this time.

13. The Fall Reading Writing The Reading Workshop Living in the Notebook:
Making Thinking Visible: Slice of Life Stories
Living in the Readers’ Notebook
Thinking Beyond the Text: The Expository Essay
Analyzing Theme and Symbolism (Informational, Opinion)
to Interpret Fiction

14. The Winter Reading Writing
Reading Informational Texts: Crafting Informational Texts:
Tackling Complexity About Topics of Personal Interest
(Informational)
Reading Historical Fiction Writing Historical Fiction
(Narrative, Informational, Research)

15. The Spring Reading Writing Fan Reading: Making Our Voices Heard:
Themed Book Clubs by Editorial/Op Ed Writing
Genre, Topic, or Author
Greek Mythology Waxing Poetic:
Falling in Love with Language

16. Shared Reading Experiences
Non-fiction Informational Texts
Historical Fiction
Fantasy
Poetry

17. The Writing Strand Students use a Writer’s Notebook to: discover
explore and examine ideas
build fluency
aid thinking
draw upon memory and make connections

18. Writer’s Workshop Launching the Writer’s Workshop
Living in the Notebook: Slice of Life Stories
Expository Writing
Using Nonfiction Notebooks to Craft Informational Texts
Writing Historical Fiction
Poetry
Nonfiction Editorial Writing
Writing Short Stories

19. The Skills Strand Word Study Grammar Sentence Types
Spelling strategies
Editing
Revising

20. The best way to keep informed is to check my website!

21. It’s going to be an exciting year!