Mrs. Pitsoulakis' 2024-2025 Teacher Page
WELCOME TO 5TH GRADE!
Hello! My name is Dianne Pitsoulakis and I'm excited to be your child's fifth grade ELA teacher. This year I will be teaching an advanced ELA class and a general education ELA class. If your child is in my homeroom or Block 1, they are enrolled in the advance class. If your child has Miss Gabriel as their homeroom teacher, they are in my Block 2, general education class.
Let me tell you a little about fifth grade ELA. The fifth grade ELA curriculum offers our students an exceptional variety of novel studies as well as solid support and understanding of the fifth-grade literature and informational common core standards. In a typical week, students may be introduced to one or two standards. I always begin with a model lesson of the standard. Students are given handouts, either paper copies or handouts sent to them in their One Note Notebook. We practice the standards several times throughout the week before a formative is assigned. You will be aware of dates when these formatives and summatives are given. Our writing units are well designed and allow the students to write and research many different topics throughout the year. Our structured word inquiry study allows the students to explore the meanings, origins and structures of familiar and unfamiliar words. We will also study vocabulary in conjunction with SWI. Students will participate in journal writing activities throughout the year. Students are encouraged to read independent reading books that they may check out from our library or from the public library. During snack every day, students have an independent reading time. I will go over more information during my Curriculum Night presentation. Please mark your calendar to attend Chelsea Curriculum Night on Thursday, Sept. 5, from 5:30-7:00. More details will be coming.
Thank you for stopping by to check my webpage. I will keep you up to date on our daily and ongoing activities. Please look at my Week at a Glance tab for homework assignments. Also, look for my Weekly Update email each week where I review our learning activities for the week and share important dates for your calendar.
Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you have! It's going to be a great year!
If you have not received a weekly email from me, please contact me so I can add you to my email.
English/Language Arts Learning Standards
Quarter 2
Literature Standards:
RL 5.1 I can quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. I can provide text evidence to support an answer.
RL 5.2 I can determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges, or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic, summarize the text.
RL 5.3 I can use specific details to compare and contrast two or more characters, setting, or events in a story.
RL 5.9 I can compare and contrast stories in the same genre according to similar themes and topics.
L 5.2 I can demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Informational Standards:
RI 5.1 I can quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly.
RI 5.2 I can determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details.
RI 5.4 I can determine the meaning of words or phrases in a text using context clues.
RI 5.5 I can compare and contrast the overall structure of a text.
RI 5.9 I can integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write about the subject
L 5.2 I can demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Fast Bridge Testing
All students will participate in Fast Bridge Testing three times during the school year, fall, winter and spring. Students will test in Reading and Math. We will let you know what the dates are for our winter testing as soon as they become available.
Please make sure your child brings headphones to school. We will keep them in class for the entire year.
