Review strategies in chapters 4-8. Pick three specific ideas to try.

Complexity with Vocabulary. I take for granted words I assume a 5th grade student has been exposed to--I'm continuously amazed at words they have never heard or do not comprehend. It has been my goal for the last year to find ways to increase vocabulary--to simply find time to implement a plan of action to achieve this. I do not like memorize and regurgitate-that tells me they can memorize. I like the graphic organizer on pg 72 but have found one that flows better [Laura Candler's page on the web] and is continuous -this way I can use it in a center on a daily/weekly basis. This g. organizer will be kept in their reading folder to refer back to when writing so they can use these new words. Also, I plan on meeting with our literacy coach and have her help me implement/plan how to utilize this center and use it on a daily/weekly basis. I hope to have this in place when the students return from fall break. I already have a daily vocabulary center set up and the pages laminated thanks to a parent helper this week. Now I begin the planning and implementing and I'm very excited. I want to use terms from all subjects in addition to other words a 5th grade student should be familiar .

Another idea I would like to try is Complexity in Review Games. I already implement Jeopardy as a review, and I'm working on higher order thinking questions to implement into the review. In addition, I am working on incorporating our own version of Are you Smarter than a 5th grader. I hope our principal will volunteer to come in a review with us when I have this in place. I also have a parent/other teacher volunteer form I will be sending out. Also, I want the students to have ownership of their review so I am allowing them to search and compile their own questions for review. This is mentioned on pg 76 and I think the students will enjoy hearing their questions read.

Lastly, The graphic organizer for math word problems in Chapter 5, pg 83 looks like something I will try. We complete a daily word problem at the beginning of math instruction. I always have them write what they know and what they need to find out on their paper-but they still struggle. Perhaps this graphic organizer will assist them in their quest for the answer. Also, this will give them practice in writing as they are required to write a sentence explaining the solution. Orchard is set up this way and they struggled with the benchmark as they had to explain why they chose an answer or how they came up with the answer. Even if they arrived at the right answer, many could not tell me how. I think this organizer will be a great tool.