5th Grade

Guided Reading & ELO Syllabus

Teachers:

Miss Koller, Ms. Lang, Mrs. McClelland, Miss Wray, Miss Bumbarger, Mrs. Isenburg

Rules & Expectations

  1. Follow directions the first time they are given and thereafter
  2. Raise your hand and wait for permission to speak
  3. Stay in your seat unless you have permission to do otherwise
  4. Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself
  5. Treat others the way you would like to be treated

Strive for Success: Model appropriate behavior

Always put forth your best effort

Turn in assignments complete and on time

Come to class on time and prepared

Observe Safety:Keep your area clean

Use materials appropriately

Act with Integrity: Be honest

Take responsibility for your actions

Respect All: Show tolerance

Listen and respond to others appropriately

“Today we… Strive for success, Observe safety, Act with integrity, Respect all. Today we… SOAR!”

Goal Statement:

Fifth grade guided reading and ELO is the study of skills in reading literature, fiction, and non-fiction texts, writing, speaking, listening, letter sound relationships, phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Instructional Outcomes:

This course will foster students’ ability to read critically, write effectively, and communicate efficiently, providing the foundation for career opportunities. This course will create readers and writers who are able to comprehend, analyze, synthesize, and apply what they have read in a variety of genres through writing and speaking in a clearly developed manner. Students will explore how effective writers hold the reader captive, and how a person’s perspective and life experiences affect their choices and decision making.

Requirements:

All assignments will follow Pennsylvania State Common Core Standards. Students will read and analyze a variety of genres in class and independently, successfully apply various reading strategies for monitoring comprehension, write clear, well-developed essays, reports, etc… to enhance comprehension and scheme, and effectively prepare and present orally.

Big Ideas:

  1. Effective readers use appropriate strategies to construct meaning.
  2. Critical thinkers effectively and skillfully interpret, analyze, evaluate and synthesize information.
  3. An expanded vocabulary enhances one’s ability to express ideas and information.

Essential Questions:

  1. How do strategic readers create meaning from informational and literary text? What is this text really about? How does interaction with text provoke thinking response?
  2. How do readers know what to believe in what they read, hear, and view and how does interaction with text provoke thinking and response?
  3. How do learners develop and refine their vocabulary, what strategies and resources do they use to figure out unknown vocabulary, and why learn new words?

Scope and Sequence

Instruction will be based upon individual student ability and need, as demonstrated on pre, formative, and summative classroom assessments.

Assessments:

Pre-Assessments: Pre-assessments will be given at the beginning of each unit to gain an understanding of individual preparedness for new learning, specific learning differences amongst students, and where to begin curriculum goals. Teachers will differentiate instruction, guide whole-group instruction, plan learning activities that address varying level of readiness, determine which students have/have not achieved mastery of specific objectives, identify problems that might cause students difficulty with mastery of an objective, form flexible groups, and determine master level of individuals or small groups based on pre-assessments.

Formative Assessments: Formative assessments will be incorporated daily into classroom instructional practices, which will include quizzes, daily work, demonstrations, work samples, sketches, drawings, diagrams, logs, records, journals, drafts, graphic organizer, exit slips, preview, review, direct questions, systematic observation, and discussions. Formative assessments provide information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are occurring in order to get direct, constant feedback. Feedback will be given based on product, process, and progress. Providing feedback allows students to be a part of the learning environment and to develop self-assessment strategies that will help with their own metacognition.

Summative Assessment: Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against the pre-assessment. Summative assessments can include end of unit tests, papers, projects, or presentations.

Grading Policy:

  • Type 1 Writing
  • Type 2 Writing
  • Type 3 Writing
  • Word Study / Skills
  • Novel Studies

A+ 97-100%B+87-89%C+77-79%D+ 67-69%F0-59%

A96-96%B83-86%C73-76%D63-66%

A-90-92%B-80-82%C-70-72%D-60-62%

Make-up Work Guidelines:

Students will be given the opportunity to make up missed work and tests after being absent. It is the responsibility of the student, upon returning to school, to contact the teacher for make-up work and to complete that work. Students will have one school day for each day they were absent to make up assignments. It is the responsibility of the teacher to provide make-up work for absences. A student will be given a reasonable amount of time for make-up work. Teachers will use their discretion to further extend that time when necessary. If the student has been absent for more than one day, he or she will be given one additional day to prepare before he or she takes a test. They may be given more time if their absences were extended. If a student fails to complete a test/assignment that has been re-scheduled by a teacher due to absences, the grade automatically becomes a zero. If a student arrives late to school, he or she is responsible for contacting his or her teachers that day to take any scheduled tests or to submit due work that day. Failure of the student to contact the teacher or to make up the work within the time allotted will result in a zero for a grade. Students are to make up all work missed during a suspension or absence from school. Grades will not be lowered for disciplinary reasons. A “class participation” grade may be lowered if the student’s lack of attendance prevents him or her from making a meaningful contribution to class. Both students and parents will be informed of this circumstance, as well as the principal.

Notes:

It is the student’s responsibility to keep up with class work and ask the teacher about his or her progress. It is the teacher’s responsibility to notify the student first, prior to notification of the parents or guardians, when the student’s class average falls below a C. Progress reports will be sent home to all students midway through the marking period. They must be signed by a parent or guardian and returned within 5 days, or by the date assigned. Teachers are granted flexibility with the procedures they use for grading the students in the classroom. In order to truly measure each individual student’s understanding and mastery of the material, it may be necessary to alter grading procedures and assessment options. Authentic and informal assessments will be used, along with formal assessment procedures, to ensure that all students are given equitable opportunities to demonstrate understanding and mastery of class material, taking full advantage of all learning modalities. Curving of grades may occasionally be necessary to equalize the playing field, not in lieu of creatively assessing student understanding.