Southwestern Elementary
4th and 5th Grade
High Ability Language Arts
Curriculum Information
Teacher: Mrs. Shannon Dattilo
Website: http://www.swjcs.k12.in.us
(Click Elementary > Faculty and Staff > Shannon Dattilo’s Globe)
E-mail: sdattilo@swjcs.us
Classroom Phone: (812) 866-6200 Ext. 1170
Cell Phone: (812) 701-9125
Mrs Dattil
o
.
August 5, 2011
Dear Parents,
Hello, from room 305! My name is Mrs. Shannon Dattilo. I am so excited that I will be
your child’s high ability language arts teacher.
A little about me… MY FAMILY: I was born and raised in Jefferson County by my parents,
Dr. David Sloan, an optometrist, and Mrs. Carole Sloan, a retired Southwestern teacher. I have
two brothers, two sisters and twenty-one nieces and nephews. I am married to Mr. Dan Dattilo,
the guidance counselor for Southwestern High School. We have two amazing children, Devin (7
years old) and Adrianna (6 years old). We are expecting another son, Brycen Patrick, in
December. MY EDUCATION AND CAREER: I graduated from Madison Consolidated High School
in 1991. I received my Bachelor’s Degree from Butler University in 1996 and my Master’s Degree
from Indiana University in 2002. I had two enlightening teaching experiences before coming to
Southwestern, one… teaching reading at Lydia Middleton Elementary (in Madison), and the other…
implementing an English reading program at Gimnasio Británico (in Colombia, South America). In
the fall of 1997, I was thrilled to be hired to teach at Southwestern Elementary School. I have
taught kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade and music. This is my second year to teach language arts
to high ability 4th and 5th graders.
You can learn about our high ability program by visiting our website at:
http://www.swjcs.k12.in.us/elem/Staff%20Websites/sdattilo/mrsdattiloindex.html. The English
Language Arts Common Core State Standards will be used to guide our classroom curriculum and
are included in this packet. A complete explanation of all of these standards can be found at the
following website: http://www.corestandards.org/.
As parents you are the real experts and you know your child better than anyone. You are
also your child’s first– and most important- teacher. Together, as parents and teacher, we are
educating your child to be a lifelong learner. If you have questions or concerns, please contact
me at school by e-mail sdattilo@swjcs.us or call me at 866-6200 ext. 1170, leave a message
and I will return your call at my earliest opportunity. Also, you are welcome to call me on my cell
phone at 701-9125 in the evenings or on the weekends. I am looking forward to a terrific year.
Sincerely,
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CLASSROOM MATERIALS NEEDED
100 Index Cards (Size and lines do not matter.)
Package of Highlighters
Package of Sticky Notes
Package of Pencils
CURRICULUM
Our language arts curriculum includes six different areas:
1) Reading
2) Vocabulary
3) Grammar
4) Writing Composition
5) Spelling
6) Extra Activities
READING
Literary Genres
It is important that students are exposed to and immersed in
many kinds of print and many types of literature. A genre study
is one way to accomplish this. The students will be studying
five different literary genres throughout the year. These
genres will be 6-week units. The students will be required to
read one novel in that genre and complete a project. Students
may use books from home, the public library, the school library
or our classroom library.
5th Graders
4th Graders
Mystery
Science Fiction
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Realistic Fiction
Poetry
Drama
Biography
Informational Books
Traditional Literature
(Folktales)
Interact Simulations
These study units provide a terrific way to tap into the students’ multiple intelligences.
Problem solving, decision-making, reading, and writing all occur through role-playing.
These particular educational concepts are emphasized: differentiated instruction,
integrated curriculum, cooperative learning and authentic assessment.
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Junior Great Books
The Junior Great Books Foundation
This program uses the Shared Inquiry Method to help
students become critical thinkers and writers. It provides
a superb framework for teaching reading comprehension,
critical thinking, and writing – all in the context of students sharing ideas about
great literature. You can find the learning objectives and strategies
for this program by visiting www.greatbooks.org/junior/.
Renaissance Learning Accelerated Reader
It is essential that students work toward goals in order to experience the
satisfaction of accomplishment. Accelerated Reader (AR) is one way for your child
to set, understand and work toward a long-term goal. Students will read books and
take comprehension tests on the computer. They earn points for each test. Each
quarter they will set a goal for a specific number of points and they will celebrate
when they achieve their goal. AR will not count for a grade. Students should
plan to read at least 30 minutes per day (15 at school and 15 at home).
VOCABULARY
Caesar’s English 1 (4th grade) Caesar’s English 2 (5th grade)
Royal Fireworks Press, Michael Clay Thompson and Myriam Borges Thompson
This vocabulary word study helps students understand the history of our English
language while revealing its Roman roots. Also, it teaches students Latin stems in
English, showing their continuing presence in our modern language today. These stems
are among the most common and valuable and will provide an intellectual key for
students to dismantle larger words. Throughout the year the students will search
for these words in literature and add their findings to our Caesar Vocabulary
Sightings Bulletin Board.
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In addition to Caesar vocabulary words, 4th graders will have a vocabulary Buzzword
of the Day and 5th graders will have a vocabulary Megaword of the Week. The
Buzzwords come from the book Red Hot Root Words by Dianne Draze. After learning
10 new Buzzwords the 4th graders take a quiz. The Megawords come from a variety
of resources. Each week the 5th graders study a large word (discuss stems, write
sentences, act out skits and take a quiz).
GRAMMAR
Grammar Island (4th grade), Grammar Town (5th grade)
Royal Fireworks Press, Michael Clay Thompson
This grammar study is designed specifically for high
ability students. It provides a compact approach to
introducing more complex ideas about grammar.
Students will learn how to determine the full four-level
grammar classification of (1) parts of speech, (2)
parts of sentences, (3) phrases and (4) clauses.
Grammar and Punctuation
Evan-Moore
Students will learn 25 important grammar and punctuation rules. Each rule has 3
engaging practice pages that correlate to the Common Core State Curriculum
Standards.
Grammar Tune
Students will listen to a gTune (Grammar Tune). A gTune is a popular
song with grammatical errors. After listening to the song, the
children will read the lyrics and highlight the grammatical errors.
WRITING COMPOSITION
The Six Trait + 1 Writing Model is being used to instruct students how to write.
The traits include: ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions
and presentation.
The students are involved in a variety of writing experiences throughout the year.
The following list explains these forms of writing:
Narrative Writing: tells a personal experience or story and always includes
characters, setting, and plot (examples: short stories, journals)
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Descriptive Writing: creates a vivid image in the reader’s mind and uses precise
details to paint “word pictures” for the reader (example: menu, travel brochure,
poster)
Expository Writing: informs, explains, clarifies, or defines something (examples:
research paper, essay, report)
Persuasive Writing: informs and attempts to convince the reader to take the same
stand (examples: movie review, restaurant critique, letter to the editor, editorial)
Technical Writing: uses research to present specialized information, but just
because it is technical does not mean it has to be flat and dull (examples: a VCR
manual, driver’s manual, a legal document, a cookbook)
Business Writing: provides information in a way that is clear, well-organized,
efficient, and usually answers a question, summarizes work completed or proposes
new strategies (examples: memo, proposal, long range plan, business letter)
The students will learn to use the 5 steps in the writing process.
1. Prewriting: coming up with an idea
2. Drafting: writing about the idea
3. Revising: making writing clearer
4. Proofreading/Editing: checking for mistakes in writing
5. Publishing/Presenting: sharing your writing
The Rebel Scoop
4th and 5th graders brainstorm, research, conduct interviews, photograph, and
write articles for The Rebel Scoop, our school newspaper. The Madison Courier is
very generous in underwriting a major portion of the costs associated with printing
our newspaper on authentic newsprint. We publish two issues, one per semester.
Obviously articles cannot be as timely as we would like; however, this endeavor
provides very strong opportunity for learning and experiencing life outside of the
classroom.
SPELLING
Building Spelling Skills
Evan-Moor
The spelling words are chosen in a variety of ways… from the 600 most commonly used
words in English; words frequently misspelled; words with common phonetic elements;
words changed by adding prefixes and suffixes; compound words; and contractions.
Spelling lists include a list of 18 spelling words plus 2 additional spelling words from
their Caesar English vocabulary book. Each week students are responsible for
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completing 4 workbook pages and taking a spelling test, which will include two
sentences for dictation. Additional spelling grades will be taken on writing
assignments and projects.
EXTRA ACTIVITIES
Bell Ringer
Each day the first thing students will complete is their brief bell ringer activity.
Bell Ringers include Brain Bafflers by Chronicle Books, Stories with Holes by Nathan
Levy, and standards-based vocabulary and comprehension worksheets.
Mountain Language
Mountain Math/Language LLC
This is a language review program. The students are given a response sheet with 20
language problems to answer (verb tense, abbreviation, definitions, roots, parts of
speech, misspelled words, synonyms and antonyms, etc.). Their response sheets
remain the same throughout the year but the chart of words changes weekly.
Brain Teasers
Every other week students will receive a packet of Brain Teaser exercises to
develop critical and creative thinking. Students should try to solve these exercises
by themselves first, and then ask for help from their families. This encourages
long-term planning and completion, as well as brain aerobics!
William Arthur Ward wrote that, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher
explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
I hope to inspire each student in my classroom in some way, every day. I am
thrilled to be working with these amazing students and I want them to remember
this Chinese Proverb, “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.”
So… let’s get busy and start learning!
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