Fifth Grade - - Where You'll Watch Your Child Grow!

                                                         

 

It is our pleasure to WELCOME your family to our Freedom Park School 5th grade team. We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with you and your child this year. This year your child will have three teachers: Mrs. Dos will teach science and social studies; Mrs. Owens will teach math; and Ms. Reed will teach English Language Arts. It is our sincere hope that your child will experience many positive, interesting, and rewarding school days this year. Our primary goal is to provide the best and safest learning environment for all students.

 

You will be amazed at just how much your child will grow this year. Most likely, your child has already had the seeds of reading, writing, and math planted, and during fifth grade, these seeds will grow and blossom, making your child an accomplished reader, writer, science, social studies, and math student ready for middle school. You will see changes in your child’s thinking, as he/she becomes more familiar with abstract concepts and symbols. The change will be dramatic – just compare a tiny seed with a full-grown sunflower! That’s the kind of growth you’ll see! You will be amazed at just how much your child will grow this year!

 

The loveliest flowers usually have the best gardener - and that's you! Staying involved in your child's education is the key to a successful year. Engage your child in conversation about his/her day, but know that children won't always give out much information or the accurate information. Students will come home with their “MOOSE” notebook every evening (further explained below). You can use this as a springboard for discussion; instead of saying “What did you do at school today?” (The answer is often “nothing!”), you can say, “Oh, I see you’re learning about…. what did you find out?”

 

Another way to stay involved is to check your child's “MOOSE” notebook EVERY evening. You'll usually find it packed with schoolwork and homework, projects, flyers, notices from the office, subject strategies and tips, as well as notes from us. As daunting as it might be, try and sort through the papers and read each one; they often contain important information and reminders. Unless the work is suppose to be submitted online, please make sure all homework is placed back in the homework folder each night to ensure it is returned to school on time. Please check and SIGN your child’s agenda each night, and make sure that it is returned in the MOOSE notebook to school the next day.

Please contact us (dosje@richmond.k12.ga.us, owenssa@boe.richmond.k12.ga.us, reedca@boe.richmond.k12.ga.us) if you have any concerns or issues. We are confident that we can work through your concerns together at team/class level. Please send notes, EMAILs, or contact us via telephone (706-796-8428). Keep in mind that we

are teaching your child during the day and will get back with you as soon as we can. Expect regular communication from us to keep you informed! Class DOJO will be our primary means of communication this school year. Please, please check your DOJO messages daily!

 

Below you will find some general information about our 5th grade team. Individual teachers may provide additional information.

 

5th Grade Course Description: Students will engage in a variety of topics in English Language Arts (ELA) related to reading, writing, grammar, and word-study. They will also discover and gain a more in-depth knowledge of math operations including place value, addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, fractions, geometry, algebra, and measurement operations. Students will discover a range of science topics including physical and chemical changes, electricity/magnetism, earth surface features, classification of organisms, plant/animal cells, and micro-organisms. Social studies lessons will include a study of our American history from the Post Civil War through our present-day history.

Student Pick-Up: To help keep things growing "weed-free", it helps to remember our procedures. If your child’s transportation procedures change, have absences or tardies, or other concerns, please send us (homeroom teacher) a signed and dated note with your child's full name on it or a DOJO message to all 3 teachers. If you are picking your child up early, please remember to go to the office and sign him/her out and the office staff will call for your child in the classroom. These procedures will truly be appreciated!

 

Instructional Philosophy: Our instruction will include a performance-based, student-led, small group environment filled with engaging differentiated activities/projects. We will participate in whole group, small group, and individual engaging activities/projects. We will use as many researched-based strategies as possible to ensure the success of students. We have very high standards and expectations for all students and encourage them to surpass their own expectations of becoming independent learners.

 

Major Course Goals: The Georgia Standards of Excellence will be used to facilitate instruction and learning in selected ELA, science/health, and social studies topics. The NEW Georgia K12 Math Standards will be used to facilitate instruction and learning for all math topics. Once skills in these topics are mastered, students should gain an ability to use reasoning and thinking skills to better learn and understand other curriculum requirements that support their academic success. We know you expect nothing less from us!

 

Major Course Projects and Instructional Activities: Students will use assigned rubrics or other directions to complete selected assignments. These assignments will require students to plan, research, write, and possibly present their assignments to the class or to others.

Course Assessment Plan: Students will receive formative and summative assessments to assess their ELA, mathematics, science/health, and social studies skills. These assessments will be either computer-made, textbook-made, or/and

teacher-made. Whole group/individual participation, conduct, homework assignments, class work, individual work, presentations, and other assigned activities will also be assessed.

 

Classroom Expectations: Students are recognized for following classroom and school rules (ritual and routines) at all times. This is part of their conduct grade. The FPS and Richmond County handbooks are filled with key information to help you and your student stay on track (dress code, electronic usage, etc). There are positive consequences for following the rules and also not so positive consequences for breaking the rules. Students have a choice! We have a responsibility to ensure that the classroom environment is conducive to teaching and to learning for all students.

 

** We request students bring in bottled water (plain) and healthy snacks to eat/drink during our daily afternoon snack time. Water fountains will be available to refill bottles.

 

** Please ensure your child is dressed in accordance with the Richmond County dress code (proper dress, skirt and shorts length-even with leggings, etc).

 

Supplies and Materials Needed: The 5th grade supply list is posted on the school webpage. The two-inch 3-ring binder listed on the supply list is students’ Management of Organization Skills (MOOSE) Notebook. This notebook is intended to help students to learn and practice organizational skills and responsibility. It will be used to store subject information as well as homework and parent communication. Your child will be responsible for bringing his/her MOOSE notebook to and from school daily. Please check MOOSE Notebooks daily for key information/homework/etc that require signatures.

 

** Please, please ensure your child comes to school with requested school supplies. Periodically ask your child if he/she needs additional paper, regular pencils, colored pencils, erasers, tissue, etc.

 

Homework Policy and Grading Scales: Students are recognized for completing nightly homework, including some weekend iReady requirements! Homework completion is part of the conduct grade. Please review and sign your child’s agenda nightly (M-Th). Homework is always written/typed in the agenda. So if your child tells you that they have no homework, something is wrong. If nothing else, 20-30 minutes of reading and computing math problems are required nightly! Students may grade some work in class. Stop your student and dojo us if homework is taking an excessive amount of time. However, please remember that all students complete work at different paces. Stronger students will complete their work quicker while students who tend to struggle may require more time.

 

** For grading purposes, English Language Arts (ELA) requirements are broken down into homework/participation for 10% and class work/assessments for 90% of the ELA grade. Math requirements are also broken down into homework/participation for 10% and class work/assessments are 90% of the math grade. For science and social

studies, 30% of grades are derived from classwork/projects/homework. Assessments make up 70% of the science and social studies grades.

 

** Students are recognized for completing all class work. This is also part of their conduct grade. If work is not completed, students must make up the work some time during the day or for homework. If students miss class, they must make up all missed work. This is a student responsibility.

 

** Graded Papers: Expect graded papers every Thursday. Parents will be notified if graded papers will not go home. Graded paper packets with separate cover sheets (Math, Science/Social Studies, and ELA) will be placed in this folder on Thursdays. Each individual subject cover sheet is expected to be signed and returned to school with the graded papers no later than Friday. Parents may check student grades in Infinite Campus. Below is the link to create an Infinite Campus account: https://campus.rcss-k12.org/campus/K12_Custom/cParent/index.jsp?appName=richmond.

 

** Students are required to complete an ELA assignment every night (comprehension, word study, grammar, or writing). Science or Social Studies homework will be given, but not nightly. Math homework will be assigned nightly and will include math problem types that students reviewed each day. See the MOOSE Notebook for example math problems/strategies and for ELA strategies.

 

Extra Help: Daily ELA and math intervention will be provided to enhance or accelerate students’ academic learning. Extra help is also provided daily within the individual ELA, math, science/social studies classrooms. Please remember that homework is also considered extra help because it allows students to review skills learned/practiced in class.

 

Time and Place to be Reached by Parent: As mentioned earlier, parents may contact us via class DOJO, email, note, or via the FPS office number. Please keep in mind that we are teaching and monitoring students during the school day and may not be able to respond until the end of the school day or later in the afternoon/evening.

 

Technology: If laptops are provided to students, laptop release forms will be sent home for signature. If your child takes the laptop home daily, it is imperative that he/she brings it back charged and ready to use for the next day. Thank you for assisting your child with this. Students are expected to use their laptops for teacher-approved activities only. If a student is using his/her laptop inappropriately, he/she may lose laptop privileges.

 

Thank you in advance for your support and open communication this school year! We’re looking forward to a successful year filled with lots of fun and rigorous instruction and learning! Students’ success today will help them to become the leaders we will want to lead our country tomorrow!

 

Mrs. Dos, Mrs. Owens, and Ms. Reed

 

Contact Information

 

School Number:  706-796-8428

Mrs. Dos’s Email Address:  Dosje@boe.richmond.k12.Ga.us

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