Welcome to Third Grade



Welcome to Fifth Grade!

We welcome you and your child to Fifth Grade. This is an exciting and challenging time. With the support of parents and teachers, your children will have the opportunity to experience a very successful Fifth Grade school year!

One of our main goals is to help the students fine tune their independent work habits and self-discipline, both in conduct and academics. These qualities continue to be vital to being a good student. Our hope is that all of the students will assume responsibility for their actions and work, both in completion and quality. The most important element of learning is to develop good work habits.

Grading Scale:

Fifth Grade is the stepping stone to Middle School. The students are receiving letter grades in achievement in Math, Social Studies, and Science. These grades are the result of daily work assignments, tests, formal assessments, and informal assessments. The grades are based on the percentages below.

A 100-96 C 76-73

A- 95-90 C- 72-70

B+ 89-87 D+ 69-67

B 86-83 D 66-63

B- 82-80 D- 62-60 C+ 79-77 F 59 and below

Parental Support:

Here are some helpful guidelines for work that comes home:

1. Papers marked with a D or lower should be looked over carefully with your child to determine the area of difficulty. Talk over the problem and redo the assignment together. Please return the corrected paper to school for a higher grade (C).

2. Papers that are not graded are practice assignments designed to develop and strengthen skills. This work is very important to student understanding of the learning material.

If incomplete classroom assignments are brought home, it tells you that your child is not completing their work in the time allowed in class. Graded school assignments should be coming home regularly. Please help your student empty his/her Take-Home Folder each night, and go over these worksheets with them. This is a good way to keep you informed of your child’s progress in school and to make you aware of strengths and areas in need of extra support and practice. Now is the time to instill a regular pattern of good study habits and to promote a sense of responsibility to ensure successful learning experiences for your child. Please check Power School regularly to track your student’s progress.

Homework and Fun Friday:

Your child may receive homework on Monday through Thursday. In addition, the work that is not completed in class should be taken home for homework and returned the next day to receive full credit. Students who complete their weekly work will participate in Fun Friday activities. Those students who have missing or incomplete assignments will work during Fun Friday to complete assignments.

Class Rules:

Our positive behavior system at Ottawa asks students to be leaders, AKA: “Ottawa Chiefs L.E.A.D. to Succeed.” We have had a class discussion about what this means to our Ottawa community, and the students have come up with meanings and examples of each of the expectations. These rules are posted in the classroom and throughout the school and are expected to be followed by everyone. L.E.A.D. tickets are given out to the students for following the rules. L.E.A.D. tickets may be redeemed for incentives!

Helpful School Supplies for Successful Fifth Graders:

In order to help organize your child, it would be appreciated if they could bring in the items on the following list. Thank you for your cooperation! Please remember that supplies may have to be replenished throughout the year.

❑ 3 spiral bound notebooks

❑ 1 red pocket folder

❑ 1 blue pocket folder

❑ 1 green pocket folder

❑ 1 yellow pocket folder

❑ 2 packages of #2 yellow pencils

❑ 2 large erasers

❑ 4 red checking pens

❑ 4 yellow highlighters

❑ 2 glue sticks, 1 bottle Elmer’s white glue

❑ colored pencils and markers (optional)

❑ 1 pair of scissors

❑ 1 box of 24 crayons

❑ 1 deck of playing cards (dollar store variety)

❑ 2 large boxes of Kleenex

1 container of baby wipes

1 container Clorox wipes

1 box Ziploc bags gallon size

clear instant hand sanitizer

1 squirt bottle of hand soap

Cooperative Learning:

We will be encouraging the children to work successfully together in small groups. This stresses good listening skills, respect for other’s ideas, and problem solving. Group activities will enhance the skills taught in all subjects. Cooperative learning groups are an important part of the Michigan Standards. This work may be “hands-on” or a worksheet depending upon the activity. Please encourage your student to work collaboratively at school.

Agenda:

Each day your child will copy the tasks, assignments, and reminders from the board into their agenda. This is to keep you informed of your child’s school day. At the end of the day, they will indicate work that has been completed by placing a check in the DONE box. If there is not a check, and your child has written HW in red pen please have your child complete that task. Please sign your child’s agenda each night after you have read it and checked for homework. We consider your child’s agenda a daily communication opportunity with parents. The parent and teacher message boxes at the bottom of the page can be used for daily notes and responses that do not warrant immediate attention.

Fifth Grade Curriculum:

Reading:

In Fifth Grade, students should be independent, fluent readers with good comprehension skills. The Daily Five and Café are the main sources of reading instruction. However, I am piloting two new reading series this year containing: genre units, leveled books, weekly reading assignments, magazines, informational texts, and supplemental books which will all be used to help achieve this goal. Students should also read daily at home.

Spelling:

Our spelling program correlates with our reading, the Dolch words, word wall words, genre units, and unit words. The spelling program that we use also has a vocabulary component. Spelling will be completed each day during our Daily Five activities and working with these words may be a part of daily homework.

Handwriting:

The students are asked to use either printing or cursive to perform neat and accurate written work. Fifth graders are expected to turn in quality work both in appearance and content. The program for cursive that we use in the district is called Handwriting without Tears. Your student was introduced to this program in 4th grade.

Math:

The Michigan Standards in math include Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base Ten, Number and Operations – Fractions, Measurement and Data, and Geometry. The program that we use in the district is called Bridges. Your students should be familiar with this program since it was introduced to them in 3rd grade and taught in 4th grade as well. To ensure proficiency and accuracy in everyday math, memorization of basic math facts is essential. Therefore, 5-10 minutes each day should be spent on studying these facts through flashcards, written drills, computer games or any other method of study. Daily homework includes math fact drills.

Language/ Writing:

Our writing program includes: writing paragraphs, letters, reports, stories, research papers, poetry, essays, journals, etc. The students will be involved with writing daily during the Daily Five using the 6+1 traits of writing along with the two new writing programs I will be piloting this year. All writing assignments are graded based on our Fifth Grade Writing Rubric.

Social Studies & Science:

In Social Studies we will be learning about American History from the time of Native Americans to the American Revolution.

Our areas of study in Science are: Science Processes, Force and Motion, Organization of Living Things, Heredity, Evolution, Earth Systems, Seasons, Earth in Space and Time, and the Solar System.

Technology

Students will experience technology opportunities in many different ways. This year in Fifth Grade, students will learn keyboarding, experience Distance Learning, use SMARTBoards, Document Cameras, iPads, computers, etc. Students are expected to learn procedures and techniques in our 21 Century Classroom.

We are looking forward to a happy and productive year. Please do not hesitate to offer suggestions and ask questions. Let’s keep the lines of communication open and work hard this year to make Fifth Grade a successful experience for your student. Please remember, we are partners in your child’s education!

Thank you for your support!

Respectfully,

Mrs. Meeusen [pic]

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