Welcome to Mrs. Drake's Language Arts Class!

 

“Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...” Lawrence Clark

 

 

Flocabulary

http://www.flocabulary.com/fivethings/

 

 

 

 

 

Pay it Forward

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn06FQbIRGU

 

 

 

 

Here are some great websites to get you excited to read this year!!!

 

 

          Bridgeside Books- visit your local bookstore

               http://www.bridgesidebooks.com/

 

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award Book List

                 http://www.dcfaward.org

 

 

 

 

Language Arts Units of Study                                 

 

The following link will take you to a description of many of the tools and areas of study in Language Arts.  Although the reading throughout the year changes based on student interests, new literature and curriculum, there will be a book list of a titles we will be reading as a class and in small groups.

Language Arts Units of Study

 

Nightly Reading

All students should be reading 20-25 minutes every night. This time can be spent listening to a book on tape, being read to, reading to others (siblings, etc.)  In addition to this nightly reading, students will also read independently at the beginning of each class for about 20 minutes.  This reading is from a book of their choice.  Students are expected to come to class everyday with a book for this purpose.  I have been truly amazed in the past as to how the students acclimate to this and discover that they can finish more books than they thought was possible.  It is also a great opportunity for book shares, recommendation and discussion. 

 

 

 

To view pages click on any of the underlined titles below:

 

• Reading Journal Assignments
• Paragraph of the Week Guidelines
• Paragraph of the Week Assignments
• Weekly Assignments

 

 

 

• Online Collaboration Sites:

 

Google Docs

 

Wizard's Book Recommendations

         

 

Google Presentation Image Links:

 

http://www.picsearch.com/

 

http://www.pics4learning.com/

 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

 

 

 

 

 

 

Google Doc Presentation - Mystery Stories

 

 

Online writing tools:

 

Five Card Flickr

 

Creating stories using images from the website Flickr.  This is a strategy we use in class to create some story prompts visual stories.

 

Mad Libs

 

Working with parts of speech, students use this tool to create fun stories reinforcing their knowledge of different parts of speech.

 

Grammar Gorillas

More parts of speech games.

 

Character Trait Lists

 

Lists of character traits to help with writing short stories and identifying characters in books.

 

Read Write Think

 

 

 

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.  ~Mark Twain