Subordinating and Coordinating Conjunctions - Complex and Compound Sentences

 

You may have heard your child talking about WABUBS and FANYBOYS.... well this is what we're talking about! The big take away is we are finding ways to distinguish COMPLEX and COMPOUND sentences, as well as how to use conjunctions well.

COMPOUND SENTENCES: Two independent clauses (sentences with a subject and predicate) are connected with a conjunction.

Example: Mrs. Robinson like to go shopping, and she likes to go get coffee.

COMPLEX SENTENCES: Needs a subordinating conjunction (or relative pronoun) to connect a dependent clause and an independent clause. The dependent clause NEEDS the independent clause to make sense. Easy to pinpoint, the first sentence makes NO SENSE alone, it needs the independent clause.

Example: After going to school, I learned that Mrs. Robinson is the best teacher ever.

Simple sentences: So simple. They just have a subject and a predicate.

Example: Mrs. Robinson always has the best jokes.

I hope that helps you understand this a bit better, and to practice you can have your child create compound sentence, complex sentences, and simple sentences FOR FUN! :)

Writing

 We have been working since the first week of school on how to write our thoughts down concisely onto paper. This is easier said than done! I have been working them up to our process of writing using the format RACES. This stands for:

Restate

Answer

Cite evidence

Explain

Sum it up

When students write this year I am looking for ALL of this! We have been writing opinion pieces so far, and it did bring up the question of how you don't need the "c" for cite evidence for something about yourself. However, if your evidence comes from something else, like a story, you must cite it. 

Example using RACES for the question, "How did Alice Coachman persevere?"

Restate: Restate the question in your sentence. "Alice Coachman persevered in many ways."

Answer: Answer the question. "Alice didn't stop running even when her father wanted her to stop, Alice didn't quit when people treated her differently because of her race, and Alice worked hard even when her teammates lost."

Cite Evidence: "According to page 33, it states that Alice's father wanted her to quit running. The text says, "...."

Explain: "When Alice decided not to quit, she won a gold medal. It proves that persevering pays off."

Sum it up: "That is how Alice Coachman persevered during the hardships she endured trying to do what she loved."

This is a really thorough example, but I am working up to them being able to do this. I want them to write down the information that they read and synthesize, then cite their sources from the text. It is a delicate balance! Some children want to only pull out quotes from the text, and others only want to write down what they read and comprehended, with no direct text evidence.

Why RACES? Why does it matter? When students take the ACAP at the end of the year this is what is expected. We want them to be successful. This also prepares them for middle school and beyond!

EXTRA RACES WRITING PRACTICE:

Vocabulary Help

 While your child is reading we want them to comprehend and think deeply about what is read. Vocabulary is a huge part of this process! This year I will be working hard on getting students to pause on unknown words. You can help your child with this at home by talking about complex words you notice with them. This can be while you are watching a show, listening to a song on the radio, or reading. "Hey, did you hear them say 'expeditious'? What do you think that means? What clues did you use to come to that conclusion?" Together you can talk about the roots, prefixes, suffixes, and context. Modeling our thought process on how we pause on tricky words will help them think deeply about the vocabulary in their books and the world around them. We want them to be curious!

Here is a vocabulary word map you can use to help your child work through and dig deeper into the meaning of words. If your child is struggling to figure out what words mean in context or through breaking the word apart independently, this helps walk them through that process. It is a guide that will help them externally until they internalize the process of looking at all the parts of a word to determine the meaning. 

Online Storybook

 To access your child's online storybook, they can do so through their CLEVER which can be accessed via the MCS bookmarks on the Chromebook. 

1. Click "Clever"

2. Click "McGraw Hill"

3. Find our story! :)

Here are the stories we're reading this week from our book:

The Inventor’s Secret: What Thomas Edison Edison Told Henry Ford

The Marble Champ:

The Track Queen

One Small Step

The Great Serum Race

Hatchet Pt. 1

Hatchet Pt. 2

Monsoon From Myth to Modern Science

Making Waves

Critter Crossing

Salmon Creek

A Year on Bowie Farm

A Handful of Dirt

Island Treasure

Check back next week to see a new story!

Helping Your Child Read

This year my goal is to help your child enjoy reading! We will read many short stories and books while we explore various genres! 

We are going to work on vocabulary, writing sentences with correct grammar, and digging deep into words to determine their meaning. If your child is struggling with syllable patterns, syntax, or morphology, just remember that repetition is key! We will be working all year!

One thing you can do at home is point out instances where you hear or read an idiom, metaphor, or simile and tell them that's what it is! See if they can figure out what it means on their own, because sometimes their responses are pretty funny. :) Ask your child after they have finished reading a book what the main idea was, who were the characters, or what the climax was. We want them to start thinking deeply about what they read. Reading news articles and comparing information together seems like something they're too young to do, but I promise they benefit from it. Pointing out glossaries, indexes, and other text features then modeling how to use them is also helpful. 

Remember: they can never read too much!

Games

 Here are links to games that will help improve many 5th grade literacy and language skills! If you are asked to pay, please don't feel like you have to! There are plenty of free games available.

IXL 5th Grade

Splashlearn

Education.com

Starfall

READING GAMES:

Sir-Read-A-Lot (context clues)

Slime Lab (main idea and supporting details)

Cell Shock (figurative language)

Cannonball Cats (figurative language)

Rough Riders (vowels, compound words, syllables, digraphs)

Reading Raiders (cause and effect)

Vocab Vik (vocabulary)

Wiz Kid (homophones)

Splash the Sub (inferences)

Fact or Opinion

Prefix Popper (prefixes)

Jumpin' Jack (author's purpose and figurative language)

Author's Purpose (comprehension and author's purpose)

Analogies (spelling and word forming)

Cause and Effect

The Reading Ninja (lots of skills)

Kid Heroes Theme (theme and comprehension)

ANTonyms

GRAMMAR GAMES:

Beach Jeep 

Grammar Police

Kid Heroes Verbs

Say What?

Grammar Gladiator

Base Word Blaster

Word War

Word Ninja

Bounce

Wordyloo

In Other Words

Bango

Spelling Bee

Bad Apples

Fool's Gold

Falling Stars

Egg Heads

Guessing Game

More will be added as I collect more resources. Thank you so much for helping your child succeed!

Welcome

 Welcome to the class blog! Check in regularly to see what we are doing in class and how you can support your child at home. I will upload content regularly that follows the skills we are learning. Sometimes the material is complex, so I will break it down here so you know how to assist your child. This is also a safe space for your child to find learning games that I approve and upload. I can't control where they go from there, so it is always recommended that you monitor your child anytime they are on a device. This is NOT a place for social media, questions for me, or finding friends. This is just an extension of the classroom from me to you. I always welcome questions and comments, but please email those to jennyrobinson212@gmail.com where I can assist you further. Thank you for checking out the blog! Together we are a team!