Flint Chapter 8

One thing that I really liked about this chapter were the independent and productive reading and writing tables on pages 220-221. They give examples of the standards that the students would be practicing and how teachers can help them master these standards in addition to things that teachers can use in their classrooms to promote those learning experiences. Word study is a big part of the fifth grade curriculum and they have extensive worksheets that have students looking up various word parts and this and that… stuff that these students don’t care much about and it means nothing to them. I would love to have really great word study program because I think that it’s really important for them to have that knowledge but I think they need to obtain it in a way that is relatable to them and is something they can actually complete because a lot of the students end up not even finishing the worksheets for each word and turning them in incomplete. The roots and branches activity is really great for the very visual learners and would be a fun break for them from what they’re used to. Homographs are another great thing for my case study to work on and other students in the class. The most common ones that I see when writing back to the students in their reading journals are the to/too/two and the there/their/they’re and it drives me up the wall!! There are so many incorrectly spelled words that are incorrect simply because they chose the wrong word spelling! The right word… just the wrong right word… weird right? Anyways… even creating a word wall with these on there so that the students can see them every day and refer to them when writing would be great! However, if there is limited classroom space then I can see how the dictionary would be the more practical way to go but I think the students (and the teacher’s sanity) would benefit from these!