September 9, 2013 Dear Families, This week we are beginning a special language arts unit called Literary Reflections.

It is organized around the concept of change and was specifically designed by the College of William and Mary Center for Gifted Education to meet the needs of high-ability students. This unit should last for at least the next two months, and may go longer depending on student interest and outcomes. The goals of the unit are as follows: To develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature. To develop persuasive writing skills. To develop linguistic competency. To develop listening and speaking oral communication skills. To understand the concept of change.

A wide array of literature will provide the context for student exploration of the concept of change. The literature will stimulate discussion, writing, listening, vocabulary study, and research activities. In class, we will read and discuss short pieces of literature- poems, short stories, speeches, and essays. Students will keep a literature journal to clarify thinking and to help prepare for written and oral assignments. As students read the literature, they will respond to it and think critically about it by analyzing ideas, vocabulary, and structure. Specifically, they will look for insight into the concept of change. This unit includes the following activities which will require some work outside of class and may need your support at home: Independent reading that includes selected stories and books A series of written activities on two novels A self-study packet of grammar activities Written homework assignments A research project on an issue of significance Independent work will be discussed in class, and further information will be sent home as assignments are given. There will be opportunities for students to work with the teacher and classmates on each project as the unit progresses. Student progress in the unit will be assessed in several ways. First, a pre-test will assess skill level in the language arts areas of literary analysis, writing, and grammar. Second, a writing portfolio will document progress in writing. We will assess a number of writing pieces through three perspectives: self, peer, and teacher. Although this is not technically a writing class, we will be improving and enriching our ways of responding to literature. Writing is one important way that students show their thoughts and experience of a text. While we follow the Literary Reflections curriculum, we will also be curriculum-compacting the literature, skills, and themes of the Common Core aligned 5th Grade Journeys program. This means that we will be following the scope and sequence of the Journeys program, deepening and extending our work across both programs. You can expect that your child will be working in their Journeys book in class about once each week. However, strategies that we learn in Journeys such as summarizing, questioning, inferring, predicting, and monitoring for understanding will extend across both programs. In addition to our work in class, students will continue reading at least 20 minutes each night, and writing weekly responses to me on the day that they have chosen to hand in their work. Right now students

should be writing about three paragraphs. The first paragraph responds to our weekly question(s). The second paragraph summarizes their reading for the week. The third paragraph responds to 1-2 journal prompts from the list in their Reading Journal. Students may choose to write these journal entries as a letter, essay, narrative story, poem, or play, as long as their writing fulfills all parts of the assignment. Journal responses will be graded using the following rubric: 1st Paragraph Did I answer Ms. Paquin Morels questions with detail? 2nd Paragraph Did I summarize my independent reading book in 5 sentences AND include the title and author? 3rd Paragraph Did I choose 1-2 journal prompts and answer them using detail and evidence from the text? Total _____/10 _____/10 _____/10 _____/30

Finally, students will be filling in their Reading Log. The first Reading Log, which most students are currently filling in, should document ANY time that they read. Your child will hand this Reading Log in when it is complete, so that I can discern patterns and habits for each child and across the class. After handing in the first Reading Log, your child can decide whether they would like to continue tracking all of their daily reading, or only when they complete a text. Good curriculum and instructional practice should involve parents as well as teachers. The following ideas may be useful as your child experiences the unit: 1. Read the stories and books your child is reading and discuss the key ideas. 2. Hold a family debate on one of the issues discussed in the unit. 3. Play word games such as Scrabble and Boggle with your family to enhance vocabulary and language usage. 4. Encourage your child to write every day in a journal or diary. 5. Try to set up a letter-writing or e-mail arrangement with someone from another country or state in order to encourage writing on a regular basis. 6. When viewing film, television, or Internet videos together, discuss the ideas presented with your child, and encourage close attention to how ideas are handled in the media. Thank you in advance for your interest in your childs education. I welcome comments and feedback from parents on how the unit is progressing. Please do not hesitate to contact me with comments, questions, or concerns as the unit progresses. Sincerely, Ms. Diana Paquin Morel dpaquinmorel@sd735.org (847) 676-8049