Halstead Elementary School Welcome to 5th Grade Halstead Elementary School Parent Orientation September 3, 2013

Thank you for allowing us to be child’s teachers Thank you for allowing us to be child’s teachers. Let me introduce ourselves. Mrs. Dickson-Math Ms. Brown—ELAR Mrs. Green-Science Social Studies is taught by your child’s homeroom teacher.

Our Classroom Rules The Ways To Be: *Be Safe *Be Kind *Be Responsible *Be Respectful Communication regarding your child’s behavior will be through your child’s Take Home folder, phone call, or email.

Daily Class Schedule Your child will have 90 minute rotations for Math, Science, and ELAR. There is also a 1 hour intervention block scheduled each day. *Class Lunch times: Dickson: 12:09-12:39 Brown: 12:12-12-42 Green: 12:15-12:45 *Recess—recess is scheduled after lunch

Behavior Management / Consequences We give lots of praise and rewards for good behavior. The following is a list of steps that are taken when a student chooses not to follow the rules. *Verbal/Visual Warning *Loss of privileges/recess *Sent to a buddy room to work *Written essay (Respect, Talking, etc) *Phone call home *Parent conference for persistent misbehavior. *Office referral *Major Infractions will result in an immediate office referral.

ELAR *Students are asked to read nightly for 20 minutes minimum from a book of their choice, log their reading selection and time read onto their reading log, then have the reading log signed by the parent or guardian *Projects will be assigned individually and within a group throughout the year *Balanced Literacy-Daily 5, C.A.F.E, and Literature Circles *Reading/Writing Journals and Workshops

Math *I will use a variety of hands-on activities. ? *I will use a variety of hands-on activities. *Students will be required to maintain an interactive student notebook. This is where all the student’s notes will be about what they are learning in Math. They will primarily be kept at school. This is something that will be used almost daily. *Homework-Students will have a weekly homework Assignment due at the end of each week. **Any classwork not finished will be due the following day***

Classroom Economy *Students will have jobs in the classroom and earn classroom money for their job. *Students will have to pay for their expenses and any fines they receive. *Extra money can be used to purchase rewards and items from our class store. *Students will be paid weekly and will change jobs about every six weeks.

Science *Lab Contracts/Lab Safety * Ole *Science Fair– Due sometime before Thanksgiving. Dates have not been finalized yet. *Individual Projects *Counts as 2 grades

Social Studies 5th Grade Social Studies covers United States History from European Exploration and Colonization through today. We will use USA Studies Weekly, BrainPop, and the Social Studies textbook.

Special Classes Students Attend Students will visit these special classes each week. Monday-Friday-Alternate PE and Music. Wednesday –Library (with Reading teacher) Friday – Computer Lab

Grading Policy and Posting of grades… *A minimum of 10 grades will be taken for each subject every six weeks. *Expect graded papers to come home on Friday in your child’s Take Home folder. *Home Access information for our new gradebook system will be sent home as soon as it becomes available. *Report cards go home every six weeks and progress reports go home every third week of every six weeks and should be checked for accuracy and notes from teachers. Parents may also respond with a note when returning the signed reports.

Homework Expectations or Policy *Homework is designed to be an extension of what is being done in the classroom. In Math, this may be in the form of additional practice on concepts already taught. *Although it is not for a grade, the expectation is that all homework be completed and turned in on time.

Z.A.P (Zero’s Aren’t Permitted)  *ZAP is during the student’s lunch recess time *For students choosing not to complete class work during class time *For students not turning in homework that is more than one day late, including late makeup work *Not for behavior issues

Lunch Form applications, Emergency contact sheets, transportation information, arrival time…. *Please remember to turn in the forms that went home on the first day of school, especially lunch forms. *Please remember to keep your child’s lunch account current *School begins promptly at 7:45. A student is tardy between 7:45 and 9:30. At 9:30, a student is marked absent. *5th grade dismisses in front of the school at 3:15 to those authorized to pick up students.

Parental Involvement is a vital part of your child’s educational process. Parental involvement is encouraged on a daily basis. If you would like to volunteer at Halstead Elementary, you must complete a volunteer form (sent home in packet on the first day of school) and attend Volunteer Orientation.

STAAR Testing In 5th grade, your child will take 3 STAAR tests in the Spring. In order to go to the 6th grade, your child must meet the standard on the Reading and Math tests. They will also take the Science test 2 weeks after Reading & Math. Although meeting standard on the Science test is not a requirement for promotion, it is still a very important test and students should be encouraged at home to do their very best.

Class Websites We have a teacher web page in the process of being created which you can get to through the Hettie Halstead link on the CCISD web site to stay up to date on our class calendars and projects. There will be some educational links and games on my “links” page that are great for both student and parent alike, because they have some resources available for help at home. *This presentation will be uploaded to the 5th grade Class page for future reference.

Contacting the teacher? You can contact any of your child’s teachers by email or phone. Ms. Brown – brownd@ccisd.com Mrs. Dickson -- dicksonp@ccisd.com Mrs. Green -- greenn@ccisd.com Our conference period is from 7:55 to 8:40. Please email or call (254) 547-3440 to schedule a conference. **We will do our very best to respond to any note, phone call, or email within 24 hours or less**

Thanks for coming! *Thank you for taking the time to support your child’s education. If you have any questions, please contact one of us.