Today we’re going to begin with some silent reading. Before we do I want to review the different types of connections you can make. As you read, be aware of trying to make a connection and you will record this on your connections sheet before moving on to today’s lesson.

First, you will make sure your 5Ws sheet is done. Then Miss Newhall is going to talk to you this period about the elements of the news paper article. You will brainstorm everything you remember about a newspaper articles, and identify which features that a newspaper article ALWAYS has, and the ones it USUALLY has.

 You are going to be making an anchor chart which you can add to your foldable.

Today you will get to start with silly sentences.

Then you are going to get an introduction to the elements of a newspaper article. You will fill out a graphic organizer on the 5 Ws which is something that you should be able to fill out on your own for any news article we read.

Today you will be working in room 208 to finish your Fakebook profiles. Once your profile is finished. Please come get an exit card to fill out and reflect on making inferences. Make sure you have posted your finished profile to Edmodo. I will be marking your Canadian Hero paragraphs this weekend so if you have any final changes you want to make please make them this week.

Good news! Your Canadian Heroes Website has gotten a ton of views. Let’s check who’s in the lead.

Then we’re starting a new unit on technology and the future. Think about this statement:

The world will be a better place in the future because of technology.  

Imagine a line in your head with Strongly Agree at one end and Strongly Disagree at the other. Where would you place yourself on that line and why?

Then we will look at a couple pages on futuristic technology in your books. Miss Newhall is going to model for you how you can preview a text to make some predictions.

Then you will look at a chart in your book that gives you tips for making inferences and asking questions.

Next you will make a foldable that you can keep to help remind you of reading strategies and writing strategies.

Today we’re going to have some silent reading and then we’ll finish off our websites. Remember, Fun Friday depends on you and whether or not you all get the website done!

https://sites.google.com/site/thegreatestcanadianherosearch/

We’re going to be focusing on making connections as we read this week. So while you do your silent reading, you are going to have three sticky notes to record connections on. This time I will be giving you sentence starters that you can use to help you make connections. You will record the connections you made in a reading log.

Making connections sentence starters:
I already know about…
This reminds me of…
This compares to…
This is different from… because…
This section made me think about…
If I were in this position I would…

Then we will continue to work on our hero websites. I’d like to have these finished this week so that we can start the contest.

We’re going to start off with a word game today. How many words can you create just using the letters in the word:

THUNDERSTORM

Then we will continue to work on our hero website using the netbooks. I’d like the site to be finished by the end of the week. While you are working on the site, I will be conferncing with you about your paragraphs.

We’re starting with a free write today. Let’s see if you can top your previous score!

Then we’re going to do a portfolio conference.

1) Review the qualities of an effective paragraph. We will decide as a class if there’s anything we should add to our anchor chart.

2) Check the paragraphs in your portfolio. You should have three. Identify which paragraph you think is your strongest and which is your weakest. Make sure you have specific reasons to support your answer.

3) Write me a paragraph explaining your strengths and weaknesses in terms of writing a paragraph and make sure you refer to the work in your portfolio. Please be prepared to share this with me in a portfolio conference.

We’ll begin today with a community circle. Since this weekend was Thanksgiving I thought we could each share one thing we’re thankful for.

Then I’d like for us to discuss as a class what kinds of things we could add to our Greatest Canadian Hero website to make it engaging.

We also need to talk about criteria we use to determine whether or not a website is reliable when we’re doing research.

You will have the remainder of the period to do research using either the netbooks or the laptops. If you’ve completed your research, you can begin writing your opinion paragraph for the website.