Some new and exciting information!

• The class earned an APEX free homework pass for their fundraising – so, no homework tonight!
• Tomorrow at 10:00 am is our APEX Fun Run.  You’re invited to come and join the fun by marking t-shirts, running or waking, or just cheering from the sidelines.
• Marsh Madness field trip slips went home today!  Please sign and return the field trip permission slip form and the Liability Waiver.
• Music class is beginning on Wednesday, September 5^th and will continue through December on most Wednesday mornings.  Your child will bring home a “Recorder Rental Sheet” for you to sign so that they may “rent” a recorder to play.  THANK YOU PFO!!

Happy Friday! Progress reports and deficiency notices went home today.  Again, the 1^st trimester progress report does not accurately reflect your child’s quality of work produced in 5^th grade because it is based on only a few assignments.

Mr. Fujitsubo visited our class this afternoon and facilitated some cooperation and concentration games. Please ask your child about their experience.

Our APEX run is next Thursday morning. Thank you for the contributions.

Look out for Social Studies homework next week. Another fluency/prosody practice page will be assigned to practice.  The students will be taking the Chapter 1 test in Social Studies next Wednesday or Thursday.  The test will follow the review questions on page 45 of the Social Studies book.

In math, we will be reviewing dividing with 2-digit divisors modeling; therefore, the students will revisit previous homework pages and practice with the even problems.  The Math Chapter 2 test will occur on Friday, September 7^th.

Our first field trip has been scheduled for October 30^th to Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge – Blue Heron Trails Site. There the students will be analyzing soil and water samples and scouting for wildlife. Permission slips will be sent home on October 10^th, when we track back on.

The APEX Kick-off rally was this morning and your children were sent home with their pledge envelopes and asked to register their t-shirt sizes tonight.

An updated copy of the 5^th Grade Score Weights has been completed.  I will e-mail it for those interested parties.

School pictures went home last Friday, August 17th, everyone looked adorable.

Progress reports go home on Friday.  Please note that the first trimester Progress Report is always a difficult one for teachers.  We have only been in school for five weeks and two of those weeks were filled with teaching the class procedures, getting to know each other, and assessing students.  Giving you a real idea of where your student is at this point is a challenge.  I will be sending out another Progress Report before we track off that will be a little closer to reality considering the class will have had more opportunities to show me what they can do.

Just because I posted yesterday that Social Studies and Science homework was rare, tonight there is Social Studies homework. It is actually a class assignment from Friday that was completed by some, but not by others.  Therefore, it was assigned as homework tonight.  The back-side of the page is to practice reading with prosody (patterns of rhythm and intonation) using “chunking” with phrases.  Reading with prosody contributes to meaning.  We practiced in class, so please ask your child to “show off” their fluent, expressive reading.  🙂

We are off to a great start to a new school year! This class is so kind and respectful to one another.

A few grades have already been entered into Synergy ParentVUE. The grades are “weighted”.  Ten percent of the grades are attributed to homework, and test scores are weighted more heavily than classwork.  Accelerated Reader (AR) does attribute 10% towards the Reading Grade.  The AR Target for the first trimester is 20 points.

Fifth Grade is updating the current “Score Weights” for each subject to align with the new report cards, and I will send out an electronic copy once it is finalized.

Homework:  each night the students will have Reading, Math, and Spelling homework.  The students are expected to read 25 minutes each night.  Two pages of math, odd problems only, are assigned that match the day’s corresponding lesson.  Some evenings it will be review.  Spelling is usually assigned each night.   Science and Social Studies may be assigned when necessary.

In fifth grade, the students are expected to take more responsibility in writing down and knowing their homework. This habit will help them become more successful in middle and high school.  As parents and teachers, we can help them by checking their agendas and help them schedule a consistent time and place to complete their homework with minimal distractions.

Upcoming dates:

August:

Week of 08/13:  Our class leads the pledge each morning!

Friday, 08/17: Math chapter 1 Test, Place Value, Multiplication, and Expressions

Minimum Day: 12:35 pm Dismissal; moving “How to Train Your Dragon 2”

Character Awards @ 9:30 am for 5^th Grade for Responsibility

PFO Rick’s Creamery will be at school

Week of 08/20:

Tuesday, 08/21: APEX Fundraiser Kick-Off

Friday, 08/24: Deficiency Notices sent home

Week of 08/27:

Thursday, 08/30: APEX Fun Run

    Mary Poppins Musical Audition Workshop 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Week of 09/03:  Monday is Labor Day ~ no school

Wednesday, 09/05: Mary Poppins Applications due @ the audition; Audition 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Thursday, 09/06: PFO Shaved Ice in quad

Mary Poppins call backs 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Friday, 09/14: Minimum Day: 12:35 pm Dismissal; Track Off

Character Awards @ 9:30 am for 5^th Grade for Respect

Return back to school: Monday, October 8

October 12^th:  “Hands Across Anatolia” walking field trip to join hands – an event with McGarvey and Sunrise families and say out loud that no matter one’s background, we all belong, diversity is our beautiful strength and we all have the right to call this neighborhood and our schools “home.”