Reading
Our goal in reading is to help students become more fluent and insightful readers, to expose them to a wide variety of high quality literature, and to inspire a love of reading. Some of the specific strategies students are developing or expanding upon at this level include the following:

• Choosing appropriate texts.
• Making predictions.
• Summarizing.
• Making inferences.
• Visualizing.
• Making connections between the literature and their own lives.
• Making connections between a novel or short story and other literature they have read.
• Making connections between a novel and the larger world.
• Responding to the characters / events in a novel, using specific examples from the text.
• Making specific recommendations about who would enjoy a book - with reasons for this recommendation.
• Identifying the author’s point of view.
• Identifying themes of a novel.
• Commenting on the author’s style.
• Understanding the use of literary devices such as foreshadowing and metaphors.
• Engaging in dialogue with peers focused around a piece of literature.
• Asking questions that deepen one’s understanding of a text.

There are a variety of forums through which students develop their reading skills and their understanding of literature. These include whole-class read alouds, during which students participate in literacy discussions and write and draw in response to the reading.
Students also read literature with the whole class and in small literature groups. They write about the books they are reading, create open-ended questions about the literature, complete graphic organizers on the works, and participate in activities to evoke discussions of characters, themes, plot, and author’s style.

Writer’s Workshop
Students participate in Writer’s Workshop three times each week. Writer’s Workshop is used for both free choice writing and writing in specific genres. During the year each student will write a memoir and a persuasive essay in addition to a feature article, a research project and a biography for the spring Biographies Project.

Once a week, whole-class or small group mini-lessons form part of our Writer’s Workshop. These are short lessons that encourage the development of a particular skill in writing. Sample topics include finding a focus for one’s writing, using similes and metaphors, and the use of flashback and irony.

During the year students publish a piece of writing every four to five weeks. This means that students take their work through the complete writing process. They conference with peers as well as a teacher to get feedback for revisions, and self-edit their work, using an editing checklist, before submitting it to a teacher for help with further editing. Students at the fifth and sixth grade level edit their work for errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, run-on sentences and appropriate use of paragraphs.

Writer’s Notebooks
Each fifth and sixth grader has a Writer’s Notebook. This is a place to gather ideas and inspiration for writing. It might include quotes, excerpts from novels, poems, sketches, and photographs. It is also a place to practice different writing styles. Students will have weekly Writer's Notebook homework assignments. While these assignments are not be formally evaluated, they will provide the students with important material to use in their work. Students will share a piece of writing with the class at least once every three weeks.

Word Study
Every other week we have a Word Study period. During this time, students participate in a variety of activities to develop their vocabulary and strengthen their language and grammar skills. These activities range from group word games such as Human Boggle, Scrabble or Fictionary, to individual word activities and puzzles. Spelling and Vocabulary Students are responsible for studying “personal spelling words” (words they have misspelled in their writing). They will sometimes need to learn vocabulary words that are drawn from different areas of the curriculum. Both the in-class work and the homework focused on spelling and vocabulary will be tailored to the needs of individual students.