The second quarter will consist of reading the book Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. Below are some of the objectives and assignments the 5th grade students can expect to accomplish during this quarter.
Reading: Pre-reading: Grade 5: Apply pre-reading strategies to aid comprehension: a.) access prior knowledge, b.) preview, c.) predict with evidence.
Students will use inferring fans to access prior knowledge, preview, and predict with evidence in their Island of the Blue Dolphins reading journals. The inferring fans have three questions: 1. Looking at the cover of the text and reading the title, what can you infer the text will be about? 2. Predict what will happen next in your reading. What has happened that makes you think this? 3. What are two emotions the main character has felt? What do you think happened to make the character feel that way? Support using clues from the text with page numbers. After the students finish the first question, we will then read chapters 1-2 aloud. After we complete those chapters the students will answer the other two questions in their Island of the Blue Dolphins reading journals.
Writing: Writing Process: Grade 5: Follow a writing process to: a.) use a prewriting strategy b.)generate a draft.
After reading chapter 12-13, students will create a journal entry from Karana’s point of view with this prompt: The last few weeks have certainly proved most difficult for Karana. Briefly review the events of the last few chapters with a friend, and then create a diagram to help gather thoughts. Compose an entry as Karana might have written it. Be sure to describe not only the events, but also the emotions which Karana is feeling at this time. Students will go through the writing process before the final draft. The final draft will be written on the dye paper.After the students are finished with their journal entry they will place them in their Island of the Blue Dolphins journal.
Speaking: Discussion and Presentation: Grade 5: In discussions and presentations: give organized presentations that demonstrate a clear viewpoint, select and use appropriate public speaking techniques such as rate, pace and enunciation.
After reading chapters 24-25, students will get into groups of four to participate in a television talk show featuring characters from the novel. A rubric for the Talk Show will be given to the students and we will go over it in class. We will also view a talk show on YouTube to make sure all students understand the premise of a talk show. Then, each group choose who will be the talk show host, and the rest will choose which character they will be. The whole group will prepare about five questions to ask and possible answers. After the groups are finished writing their
questions they will hand it into the teacher to check. Once they get the go ahead, the students will begin to record their talk show on an iPads.