Narrative Endings- The Play and Intonation!

We have been working hard on our narratives! The end is in sight and so we are working on how to end them. We don't want just any ending! We want an ending that will match our story. If the story is sad, we should have a sad ending, if the story is funny, we should have a funny ending, etc. Here is a chart that can help us choose an ending that will fit our narrative:

Next on the agenda- THE PLAY! We have been practicing for the play quite a bit for it to be perfect for all our friends and family that come to see it on June 3rd @ 6PM. Please make sure that you are practicing your lines (and maybe even memorizing them!) with INTONATION! Intonation is the rise and fall of voice pitch according to what you are reading. If you are reading a question, your pitch would go up at the end of the sentence. If you are reading a sentence with an exclamation point at the end, use excitement in your voice! Practice, practice, practice! June 3rd will be here before you know it! :) It's going to be be great!

New Reading Homework Format

We will be having a new reading homework format for the rest of the school year. Your child will be reading every night for 20 minutes, logging in the title, author, time they read, number of pages read and having their guardian sign this.

Reading nightly is so important! Please read the following to truly understand it's importance:

Did you know one of the most prominent indicators of a successful reader is the amount of time spent actually reading? Let's figure it out -- mathematically!

Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week
Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all!

Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week.
Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 mins./week
Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes

Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.
Student A reads 400 minutes a month.
Student B reads 80 minutes a month.

Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year
Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year.
Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.

Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year.
Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

By the end of 6th grade if Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits, Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days.Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days.

One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?

Some questions to ponder:
Which student would you expect to read better?
Which student would you expect to know more?
Which student would you expect to write better?
Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary?
Which student would you expect to be more successful in school....and in life?