Higher Level Small Group Response

Sorry for the delay, I haven't been on here in a while.  I'll update some things over the weekend.

For the past few weeks, my 5th graders have been working in books about the Civil Rights Movement and Slavery.  We've been working on theme, tone, mood, and using evidence to support your ideas. Additionally, I'm trying to get my kids to move into formal writing (thoughts) with supporting evidence.  They know how to do the talking in group; however, their writing isn't the greatest. 

We just finished our leveled books on the Civil Rights Movement and Slavery (4 groups in my room, 4 different books).  While we read the books, we used a graphic organizer to "keep tracks of their thinking", as well as post-it notes for discussion (we have been working on theme, as well as reviewing character development).  This was done on a daily basis, prior to them meeting with an adult.

Now that we are finished reading the books, we are writing formal papers on setting, character, problem/solution, theme, tone, and mood. I'm attaching the "Directions and Brainstorming Sheet" (used prior to their first draft).  Through this process, they also must provide supporting details (quoting accurately).  We went through the directions sheet, brainstorming and using our post-it notes.  I let them brainstorm with a partner, then we shared in small group, and now they are writing their formal literature papers.   I am expecting a lot of them on this one... but, they're continuing to amaze me!