AL RAJA SCHOOL

GRADE 5 English
2019-2020
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE:

Welcome to grade 5 English class! I am excited to help your child succeed in English listening,
speaking, reading and writing. I love these students so much; many of them I have known and loved
since they were in KG2. This year we are on the second year of our new English curriculum for grades
KG to 5. You can read all the details on the Parent Portal. To learn our curriculum, we will use centers,
technology, leveled reading, read alouds, library time, writing workshop, projects, field trips, and
theme-related activities. As has been the case for four years, there will be less emphasis on summative
testing and more emphasis on formative assessment and adjusting our instruction to help your child
learn English. We have excellent resources in the Storytown curriculum, which will help us meet many of
our goals.

Skills and Competencies for the Grade Level

1. Listening and Speaking: ​Students will have a chance to practice conversational English
in many informal ways. English presentations will help them practice formal English.
Please encourage your children to speak only in English in English class.
2. Reading: ​Different genres in read aloud and large and small group work:​ traditional
literature, nonfiction, biography, picture books, realistic fiction, historical fiction, reader’s
theatre, graphic novels and poetry.
3. Grammar: ​English sentence structure, parts of speech, spelling and correctly using high
frequency words--these skills will be taught during authentic writing experiences.
4. Writing: ​Procedure writing, descriptions, narratives, opinion writing, informational text,
poetry, and blog posts. We will use a writer’s workshop model for instruction and practice.

Hours per week: ​7 periods

Resources: ​Storytown stories and passages, leveled readers to match the child’s level, and computers.
We will use many resources from the English Handbook for Grade 5. The nature study book your child
brought is our writing journal. We have SRA and reading journals from grade 4, which we will continue.

The following categories will be used on the report cards this year. Parents and students will each
know in which area of English acquisition they are proficient, and in which area they need extra
support.
Listening and Speaking 25%
Reading and Language Development 30%
Writing and Other Forms of Expression 35%
Participation / Behavior / Attitude / Homework 10%
Total 100%

Classwork, projects, tests, and quizzes all fit within one of these categories of English language
learning. For instance, for a mini project worth 25 points, it might be divided like this:
5 points for the ​oral ​presentation (Listening and Speaking)
12 points for the ​written ​report and poster (Writing)
8 points for the ​reading research ​and notes taken (Reading)

The school’s grading system is as follows: 90-100 (Excellent); 80-89 (Good); 70-79 (Average); 60-69
(Below Average); and 0-59 (Failing)

Sincerely,
Mrs. Denise Krebs
Email: ​denise.krebs@alrajabahrain.org
 Please help your child share their learning using these hashtags on
Instagram.

#ARSvocab
1. Share images that illustrate your vocabulary words.
2. Take a picture when you find a vocabulary word--in an
advertisement, on a sign, in the book you are reading, etc.
3. First week of school vocab: ​now, how, know, margin,

#ARSreading
1. Share a picture of a favorite page or the cover of a great book you are reading.
2. Have someone take a picture of you reading an outstanding book.

#ARSWriting 
1. Share a picture of something you are writing.
2. Share a picture of a special place where you are writing.

Do you need a book? Go to TumbleBook Library, which is a subscription library service for Al Raja
School. Thousands of books are waiting for you to read and listen to!

Use the QR code above or you can use one of the URLs:
https://tinyurl.com/TBL4ARS
Or go to​ ​Tumblebooklibrary.com​ and login:
Username: alraja
Password: reads

We will use Quill.org, a grammar and writing website, to help us practice skills
we learn in class, plus more for advanced learners.

See page 98 of the handbook for log in information.

The Year Plan is an extensive document that is always being improved and updated. You can see the latest
version here: ​https://tinyurl.com/ARSGrade5Plan​, but here is a summary of the main points and what major
topics you can expect us to be working on throughout the year.

Month First Quarter Skills and Month Second Quarter Skills and
Themes Themes
September November

October December
/ January

Month Month Fourth Quarter Skills and

Themes
February April/May

March May

April June