Observation Notes

9/14/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
1:00 1:20
Students are at their art resource center, so the fifth grade teachers are having a
meeting. At 1:15, we go to pick the students up from art.
1:20 Reading and Language Arts
-Reviewing the main idea of a previous expository text
-Working on finding evidence to back up statements using the article they read
-Students work in pairs and with a worksheet to discuss the text and find evidence
-They reread the article in paired readings
-Students are given a time limit to complete their work and then they go over it as
a class. The teacher allows for students to read aloud and practice reading.
-For the book they are reading, How to Steal A Dog, the teacher has five key
vocabulary words written on the board
-The teacher goes over the words to look for by getting students to give
examples and say what they think the word means
-The teacher goes over what happened in the book the last time they read
-After reading a couple of pages, the class discuss what has happened
-In order to review what was just read, students get a graphic organizer to
complete that has vocabulary, visualizing, cause & effect, and comprehension
questions that they complete on their own
-The teacher allows students to get up and do things independently, but is able to
bring the class back together when needed to go over their graphic organizer
9/19/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
-Students start working on their project for the book they finished reading
-For their project, students worked on newspapers, sequels to the book, comics,
and a map of where the book took place
-After they have time to work on that, the class goes to the computer lab to take a
comprehension quiz that prepares them for benchmark assessments and the SOLs
-Students take their comprehension quiz and are expected to score an 82 or higher
(this means theyve missed three or less on the quiz)
-After theyve gotten to the goal score, theyre allowed to play educational games
that focus on learning antonyms and synonyms.

9/21/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
-Students start with reading an article from Scholastic News
-Students get fifteen minutes to finish their projects and then they share their
projects
-If students have finished their project, they can read silently or take an AR test
-The teacher introduces the Biltmore Estate because thats where the next book
theyre reading as a class takes place
-This is to give students a picture of what the setting looks like and it gives
them prior knowledge about what the Biltmore Estate is
9/26/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
-Guidance until 1:15
-Reading at 1:20
-Students do a daily comprehension review
-The class goes over this together after a few minutes of working
on it
-Flocabulary on similes and metaphors
-The class go to the computer lab and works on IXL educational games
-These games relate to similes and metaphors
-Class reads chapters two and three of Serafina and the Black Cloak
-The class reviews what happened in chapter one
-Words to look for are listed on the board
-They look for similes and metaphors when they are reading the
book
9/28/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
-Daily Comprehension Review
-Read Serafina and the Black Cloak, chapter 4
-Teacher does a tour of the Biltmore before reading chapter four
-Reminds students to visualize as theyre reading
-Reviews similes and metaphors
-Fire Drill at 1:35

10/3/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
-Goes over the study guide on American Indians before starting Language Arts
-Does Writing Thunks
-Worksheet that goes over grammar, students work on it alone and then go
over it as a class
-Reads chapter seven of Serafina and the Black Cloak
-Reviews words to look for before reading
-When a word to look for comes up during reading, the teacher has
students try to define it using context clues
10/5/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
-Students work on a National Parks activity for the first thirty minutes
-Students do a Writing Thunks work sheet
-The class reads chapter nine of Serafina and the Black Cloak
-Students finish an assignment from the day before and then start working on a
Setting Web
10/10/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
-Students discuss who John Muir is and then continue to work on their National
Parks assignment
-Students work on reference skills during the reading part of class
-Using a dictionary they look up the unfamiliar word in the sentence and
then color the object that goes with the word
-After they finish the dictionary assignment, the class reads chapters thirteen and
fourteen of Serafina and the Black Cloak
10/14/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
-Students continue working on their National Parks essay
-Students take a 50 States Quiz
-During the reading block, more work is done with reference skills and using an
index and a table of contents
-Students read chapters 17 and 18 of Serafina and the Black Cloak
-They complete a genre web after finishing the chapters

10/17/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
-Students take a states quiz
-Students work on their National Parks essay
-The teacher does a benchmark review on what type of questions may be on the
benchmark and the format of the benchmark test
-The class reads chapters 19 and 20 of Serafina and the Black Cloak
-Students do a crossword puzzle that focuses on comprehension of Serafina
10/26/16
1 3 PM
5th Grade
-Students finish proofreading their National Parks essay
-Students watch a video on the different explorers during the Age of Exploration
-Students watch a video on the homophones theyre there and their and what
the difference of each is
-Students begin reading Bunnicula and finish early so they have independent
reading time