Carl Stuart Middle School
Welcome to a new school year at CSMS!
The 5th grade literacy teachers are excited about the great reading and writing your child will do this year. This year, we will continue integrating the new Common Core State Standards with the Arkansas Frameworks in literacy. You will be hearing more about Common Core State Standards as the year progresses.
Curriculum Overview
UNIT | DESCRIPTION AND SKILLS | |
1 | This four week unit encourages students to play with language and to explore their personal writing style. Topics include rhymed and patterned poetry, figurative language, authors, nouns, pronouns, sentence purposes, and homonyms. The students will read Crash as a class. | |
2 | INVENTIVE THINKING This six-week unit introduces the research process, as well as the creative and critical thinking used by writers, inventors, and famous people from the Renaissance and beyond. Topics include fiction vs. non-fiction, text features, main ideas and details, verbs, simple and compound sentences, and root words. Reading Module Test: Wednesday, October 31 Writing Module Test: Thursday, November 1 | |
3 | CLUES TO A CULTURE This six-week unit focuses on clues to Native American nations/cultures as revealed through pairings of literature and informational text. Topics include trickster tales, skimming and scanning, determining perspective, adjectives, adverbs, and persuasive writing. The students will read Sign of the Beaver as a class. Reading Module Test: Tuesday, December 18 | |
4 | AMERICA IN CONFLICT This six-week unit focuses on the causes and consequences of the American Civil War, as revealed through literature and informational text. Topics include point of view, fictional vs. non-fictional accounts, prepositions, commas, and narratives writing. Students will read Assassin and Chasing Lincoln’s Killer as a class. Writing Module Test: Thursday, January 31 | |
5 | EXPLORATION – REAL AND IMAGINED This five-week unit builds upon the study of character development begun in unit 4 by having students articulate how we learn from real and fictional characters’ experiences. Topics include comparing different versions of the same story, figurative language, and complex sentences. Students will read excerpts from Alice in Wonderland and The Little Prince as a class. Reading Module Test: Tuesday, March 12 Writing Module Test: Wednesday, March 13 | |
March 25 – April 5: Benchmark Preparation BENCHMARK TESTING: WEEK OF APRIL 8 | ||
6 | COMING OF AGE This final unit focuses on the genre of the novel, and uses “coming of age” as a unifying theme. Topics include character development, overcoming obstacles, and career options. The students will read Bud, Not Buddy and The Trial as a class. |
Grades
For both reading and language arts, grades may be taken on any of the following:
· for homework completion
· on participation in activities in class, including discussion, presentation, and listening
· various assignments with grades based on a rubric or checklist
· on quizzes and tests from notes and activities in class
· on module tests
· on evidence of independent reading – Students will be expected to complete This evidence will be based on assignment such as a book talk, book jacket, or brief report. Your child will be expected to present the evidence of having read a book approximately every three weeks. Dates and details about the assignments will be presented well in advance. Your child is expected to read at least 25 minutes daily outside of class, and time will be given in literacy class to read independently. Your child will have a wide range of books to choose from, both from the school library and the classroom libraries. Please be aware of your child’s choices. Have conversations with your child about the book he or she is reading, the characters’ problems, and how the problems are solved. If your child has chosen an appropriate book for his/her level, is reading habitually at home, and is using time well in class, these book assignments should not prove difficult to complete.
· on work done throughout the writing process and on completed stories and essays - These grades may be based on rubrics specific for a particular assignment or on the State of Arkansas Writing Rubric, grades 5-8. The great majority of writing will be done in class.
Open and frequent communication between the parent and the teacher
is vital to a child’s success in school.
Please contact us anytime you have questions or concerns.
Cheryl Morris morrisc@conwayschools.net
Kathy Powers powersk@conwayschools.net
Megan Swann swannm@conwayschools.net
Cher Masters mastersc@conwayschools.net
CSMS phone- 501-329-2782
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We have read and understand the requirements for 5th Grade Literacy.
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