ELP Mo. Valley--New School Year is Underway........
ELP (extended learning program) is off and running again. We have "tweaked" the format slightly but the big ideas are still the same: build on literacy skills, higher order thinking and small group differentiation. Below are a few of the topics we are covering so far:
2nd Grade: Using "Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs" students are practicing fluency, phrasing, reading/singing with expression and building on being flexible with vocabulary skills. We will be using a Bruce Lansky poem "What I Found in my Desk" to create our own silly dilly poems.
3rd Grade: ELP students are connecting to the "Big Idea" in Science (plants and animals depend on one another) to learn more about the Rainforest ecosystem. We created replica Rain Forest layers, practiced and shared a Reader's Theater based on "The Great Kapok Tree" and worked on vocabulary such as, deforestation, greenhouse gases and biodiversity.
4th Grade: The 4th Grade ELP students meet 3 times a week and we are also connecting to the current Science theme. Students are utilizing Trueflix in our computer lab to study more about the Solar System and outer space. We will be creating, in small groups, an ABC-type "book" about our solar system and space. Then we will share them out with the other 4th grade classrooms. In addition, they have been practicing fluency and expression with a poetry packet titled "Smelly Locker" and will be creating "What I Found in My Locker" poems using vocabulary from the poetry packets.
5th Grade: ELP students will meet 3 times a week for extension in literacy skills. Currently, 5th Grade is working on the novel "Holes" by Louis Sachar. Our focus has been vocabulary extension, connecting text to self and understanding the setting based on the descriptive language in the text. We will also be creating model replicas of Camp Green Lake (the main setting in the book). Our final activity will be to view the "Holes" movie and create a compare/contrast paper.
6th Grade: The Middle School ELP students meet each day for a 50 minute class period. "Maniac Magee" is the novel we are beginning for the school year. Students are reading with partners, independently and aloud during classtime. Our objectives are: character traits, connecting text to self and text to text and also the use of symbolism and figurative language within the novel. A favorite vocabulary activity has been vocabulary charades. Students were given a list of 12 vocabulary words. Then in small groups they needed to define and decide how to best act out the vocabulary words. It was especially interesting to see groups depict: eons, pry and clambering.....I'm not certain the classroom next to us appreciated our dramatic vocabulary study :)
7th Grade: ELP in 7th Grade continues to meet daily, also for 50 minute class periods. Currently, each student is reading his/her own novel (from a pre-selected list) with the theme of "Giftedness". Students need to define giftedness from the characters or author of the novel and defend with evidence or examples from within the text read. They will also be creating a book brochure using Microsoft Publisher and/or a power point "book talk" to share out in class. The idea is to sell the book to others students by summarizing and informing about the novel each read. We will begin the book brochures and power points later this week. A
All in all, ELP (extended learning program) is off to a great start! I look forward to a fabulous school year. As always, please contact me with questions, concerns or comments. I can be reached at cchristensen@movalleycsd.org or by leaving a comment on the blog post. Thank you for your continued support and cooperation.
Mrs. C.
ELP Instructor
2nd Grade: Using "Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs" students are practicing fluency, phrasing, reading/singing with expression and building on being flexible with vocabulary skills. We will be using a Bruce Lansky poem "What I Found in my Desk" to create our own silly dilly poems.
3rd Grade: ELP students are connecting to the "Big Idea" in Science (plants and animals depend on one another) to learn more about the Rainforest ecosystem. We created replica Rain Forest layers, practiced and shared a Reader's Theater based on "The Great Kapok Tree" and worked on vocabulary such as, deforestation, greenhouse gases and biodiversity.
4th Grade: The 4th Grade ELP students meet 3 times a week and we are also connecting to the current Science theme. Students are utilizing Trueflix in our computer lab to study more about the Solar System and outer space. We will be creating, in small groups, an ABC-type "book" about our solar system and space. Then we will share them out with the other 4th grade classrooms. In addition, they have been practicing fluency and expression with a poetry packet titled "Smelly Locker" and will be creating "What I Found in My Locker" poems using vocabulary from the poetry packets.
5th Grade: ELP students will meet 3 times a week for extension in literacy skills. Currently, 5th Grade is working on the novel "Holes" by Louis Sachar. Our focus has been vocabulary extension, connecting text to self and understanding the setting based on the descriptive language in the text. We will also be creating model replicas of Camp Green Lake (the main setting in the book). Our final activity will be to view the "Holes" movie and create a compare/contrast paper.
6th Grade: The Middle School ELP students meet each day for a 50 minute class period. "Maniac Magee" is the novel we are beginning for the school year. Students are reading with partners, independently and aloud during classtime. Our objectives are: character traits, connecting text to self and text to text and also the use of symbolism and figurative language within the novel. A favorite vocabulary activity has been vocabulary charades. Students were given a list of 12 vocabulary words. Then in small groups they needed to define and decide how to best act out the vocabulary words. It was especially interesting to see groups depict: eons, pry and clambering.....I'm not certain the classroom next to us appreciated our dramatic vocabulary study :)
7th Grade: ELP in 7th Grade continues to meet daily, also for 50 minute class periods. Currently, each student is reading his/her own novel (from a pre-selected list) with the theme of "Giftedness". Students need to define giftedness from the characters or author of the novel and defend with evidence or examples from within the text read. They will also be creating a book brochure using Microsoft Publisher and/or a power point "book talk" to share out in class. The idea is to sell the book to others students by summarizing and informing about the novel each read. We will begin the book brochures and power points later this week. A
All in all, ELP (extended learning program) is off to a great start! I look forward to a fabulous school year. As always, please contact me with questions, concerns or comments. I can be reached at cchristensen@movalleycsd.org or by leaving a comment on the blog post. Thank you for your continued support and cooperation.
Mrs. C.
ELP Instructor
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