HIT: 5th Grade Lessons

[Tracie Lake-Kinnaird <apple00@IBM.NET>]

I received 23 responses to my query for help with lessons for 5th grade
students!  Thank you to all who responded!  Below is a compilation of
responses:

*Read Classic Myths aloud (the story of Theseus is particularly good) to
students.  Assign roles, have students pantomime and paraphrase as you read
the story.  Make crowns with the characters names on them for the actors to
wear.

*Read several of the beginning chapters of the Adventures of Captain
Underpants by Dave Pilkey.

*Read anything by Roald Dahl (particularly the story of the Hitchhiker in
Henry Sugar and the Other Wonderful Stories and George's Marvelous
Medicine).

*Read the Magic Finger and have the kids write what they would do if they
had a magic finger (without naming any classmates names).  Make writings
into books.

*Have students act out or do choral readings of poems in Joyful Noise.

*Read Double Trouble in Walla Wall and work by short story writer Paul
Jennings (Lucky Lips, Smart Ice Cream [put final part on overhead], the
Strap Box Flyer in the collections titled Unreal and Uncanny.

*Read the Library Dragon at the beginning of the year.  Give them several
paragraphs from the book in which they have to circle all the words and puns
having to do with fire and/or dragons.

*Sideways Arithmetic from wayside school and try to do some of the problems
together.

*Math Curse by Scieszka is a good runner up.

*Something Upstairs by Avi fascinates 5th graders and so does the Dollhouse
murders which you can find a great film of as well.

*Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by Rowling -- to introduce the genre
of fantasy.  Makes a good booktalk.

*Booktalk an author and his work (i.e. Chris Van Allsburg).  Discuss his
background (biographical information), themes of his various works, the
illustrations, etc.  This generates enthusiasm.  Take students to his
website.  Design a scavenger hunt to get kids interested in the site.

*Begin with something you love.  Perhaps a sequel to a book you know that
some of the kids have read or a familiar author.

*Access www.teachertimesavers.com to get ideas on subject based study units.

*Holes by Louis Sachar -- great '99 Newbery winner!

*Genre booktalks once a month.  They love science fiction/fantasy booktalks
the most.  Once you can recommend good books, they will take you up on your
suggestions when you get to historical or real fiction and biography.

*Booktalk genre's with "boy protagonists" (like Maniac Magee by Spinelli, or
Mich Harte was Here by Park or Robin's Country by Furlong, or Midnight Fox
by Byars).  Read the first two paragraphs of the first chapters and everyone
will fight for them.  Booktalk books with "girl protagonists" (like Mama,
Let's Dance by Hermes, Jennifer Murdley's Toad by Coville, Dead Letter by
Byars, Tuck Everlasting by Babbitt).  Booktalk books with boy and girl
protagonists such as Walk in Wolf Wood by Stewart.

*During Book Week in November, read different Newbery award winners to
4th/5th graders.  Wringer by Spinelli and the Westing Game are both good.

*Books by Betsy Byars.  The realistic fiction really connects with them.
The TV Kid is good but so are The Eighteenth Emergency and Summer of the
Swans as well as the Blossom Family series.

*Cynthia Voigt's Homecoming is captivating and interesting to both sexes
although the main character is a girl.  The sequel is Dicey's Song and it is
equally good!

*Read the first chapter of the Watsons go to Birmingham--1963 to get them
hooked on fiction.

*Read the Orphan Train - A Place Called Somewhere and then introduce them to
Nixon's books on the fictional orphan train riders.  Competitions between
classes work well too!

*Talk Number the Stars, Hatchett, The view from Saturday, Mick Harte was
Here.  Take a selection of books (6-10), create an annotated book mark then
booktalk.  This gets the books out and they stay out too!

*Booktalk with the various Dewey classifications.  Hit the fairy tales of
398, the biographies of 92, etc.  This way the kids know where to find
particular books.

*Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books by Ed. Packard (?).  Share the 15-minute
video entitled, "Read It" from PBS about his books -- then his books fly off
the shelves!

*Albert Cullum's Aesop in the Afternoon (a book of fables made into plays).
Copy the plays (3 copies for a 3 character play, etc.), laminate them, pass
them out and have the children practice for 10-15 minutes.  Then, have a
Reader's Theatre.

*Assign fables, or make a list of morals, and then have students write their
own fables, using a moral from the list.

*Promote your State Reading Award program with grades 3-5.  Use this as your
main focus of literature for the entire year.  Kickoff the program in
October with a pep rally where each class "pledges" to read a certain number
of the nominated titles.  Then, do a roll call of classes and they present
their class cheer (similar to a political convention).  Very fun and
motivating!

*Mona Kerby's site, The Reading Corner at
http://www.carr.org/read/stateAwardbks.htm (there is a link to each state's
award books).

*Discuss different genre's and their elements.  This takes about 8 weeks.
Put out various books on the tables for the kids to peruse.  Give them a
booklet to record the names of books they want to read.  Keep it in the
library and hand it back when they need to record something again.

*Folklore.  The older kids get more of the inferred meanings and are mature
enough to discuss the application of the meanings onto themselves and
society.  Of course, Aesop's fables can be difficult, but an enjoyable
challenge for 5th graders to unravel.

Whew!!!  That's it!  Good luck all!

Tracie Lake-Kinnaird, Media Specialist
Jefferson & Vandenberg Elementaries
Redford, MI

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
    All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law.
To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), send email to:
 listserv@listserv.syr.edu         In the message write EITHER:
 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST
 3) SET LM_NET MAIL  * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv
 For LM_NET Help & Archives see:  http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=