Welcome to Curriculum Night 5th Grade Santan Elementary 2017 - 2018

ELA – English Language Arts Instruction ELA(English Language Arts) Common Core - This year, we will be focusing on Common Core Language Arts Standards. We will be focusing on various skills in four major categories: Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language. These components will also be incorporated in science and social studies. Journeys Reading Series Skills taught in isolation or in conjunction with other academic skills Literature Groups/Circles Independent and Partner Reading On-going assessments for comprehension and fluency Vocabulary, comprehension, & fluency development

ELA – English Language Arts Skills Narrative Elements Prefixes and Suffixes Cause and Effect Drawing Conclusions Sequencing Locating Information Elements of Non-Fiction Text Structure Word Relationships Main Idea and Details Summarizing Literature Fact and Opinion Author’s Purpose Compare/Contrast Inferencing

Spelling / Grammar Spelling Grammar Santan 5th grade No Excuse Spelling List Spelling specific to fifth grade standards Content related words Spelling in conjunction with our Journeys reading program Grammar Modeling through mini-lessons via Journeys and other resources Daily grammar review Application in every day writing

Writing 6+1 Traits Writing Process / Write From the Beginning (focusing on thinking maps) Genres of writing Opinion Essays Informative/Explanatory Essays Narrative Essays Research Essays

What is an Interactive Notebook? These personal, creative notebooks become a record of each student’s growth in writing, thinking, recording, and organization skills. You may see these notebooks created in Math, ELA, Social Studies and Science.

Math Some concepts covered in math this year: The overall goal within the curricular area of mathematics is for students to have a not just a basic knowledge of each concept that they learn, but for them to apply it with a certain depth of knowledge. Due to this, students will be required to solve more detailed questions and problems. Some concepts covered in math this year: Multiplication & Division Fractions Addition & Subtraction Converting Word Problems Decimals Measurement Geometry Volume Graphing on a coordinate plane Order of Operations For more information, visit the Arizona Department of Education or Chandler Unified School District website to see more about standards changes. Arizona Department of Education www.ade.state.az.us Chandler Unified School District www,cusd80.com

Building Mathematical Foundations Across K-12

Social Studies Geography The 50 States Explorers American Colonization and the Thirteen Colonies American Revolution Westward Expansion Foundations of Government Civil War Economics

Some science topics we will be covering this year are: States of Matter Forces and Motion Science & Technology in Society The Human Body The Inquiry Process Solar System Science as a Human Endeavor Environmental Impact of Natural Disasters Science Fair: We will begin work on the science fair in December and will wrap up at the beginning of the 3rd quarter. Science fair topics must be based on a 5th grade science concept.

Daily Binders Students have received a daily binder that they will use to organize all of their work throughout the year. Binders include agendas, STORM reports, goals and homework. STORM reports are filled out on Friday to be signed and returned on Monday.

Communication Frequent E-Mails Students will fill out their agendas each day. This will serve as the way parents and students will know the evening’s homework and activities that the students are working on. As we have upcoming projects and important activities, I will email to ensure parents and students are kept in the loop. Storm Report / VISA Each Friday, students will be filling out a “Storm Report”. This Storm Report is in their binder and after filling out the behavior section, the students will bring it home to be signed. Storm Reports should returned with a parent signature every Monday. In addition, the students have a VISA chart on their Storm Report. If students are misbehaving, forgetting their homework or having any other issues that would require issuing a consequence, students will be required to circle a letter. This will be in their agenda every night so that you can always be aware of their behavior.

Graded Work Binder Students will be utilizing a binder to track all of their graded work that is returned to them. This will be useful for students to help keep their graded work organized. Graded work will be passed out to the students on Friday. Students will place their graded work in the correct section of their binder Graded work binders will then be sent home every Friday. Parents will go through the graded work with their child to keep updated on your child’s progress. All graded work will remain in the graded work binder each quarter and the binder will be returned to school every Monday. Keep in mind, not all graded work will be placed in the graded work binder as some will be displayed on the walls, some will be informal observations or assessments and some will be within journals or other forms of assessments that cannot be placed in a binder.

Homework Students will be given a math practice sheet every evening Monday – Thursday. The math paper will be reviewed in class the following day, so it is imperative that students complete this as assigned. Students will also be expected to read nightly. Students may also have additional homework or projects assigned from time to time to practice a specific skill, however majority of your child’s homework will come from anything that is not finished in class. If you feel your child is coming home with an excessive amount of homework, it could be due to lack of effort and focus in class. In addition, if your child has very little homework, that could be the result of lots of hard work and on task behavior in class. Students will be graded on the following grading scale: 100% - 90% = A 89% - 80% = B 79% - 70% = C 69% - 60% = D 59% - 50% = F

They can accomplish this by: 5th Grade Success It is my hope that this year your child will not only learn a variety of academic skills, but will learn invaluable organization and study habit skills that will serve them well in their future academic success. One of the important skills that we will talk about this year is the importance of students putting in their best effort. For me as their teacher and for you as their parent, we want to see them succeed and will do a great deal to help them in this endeavor. We cannot do it all for them, and one of the important ideals that we will discuss throughout the year is the importance of students helping themselves in their own academic success. They can accomplish this by: Being focused and on task during instruction Completing homework and classwork when assigned and putting in their best effort. Asking questions!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrSUe_m19FY

Additional Information Classroom Management Positive Rewards Intrinsic Motivation Class Compliments School-wide ICU’s VISA ticket drawing/treasure box Consequences VISA Possible loss of privileges (ie: Fun Friday, field trips etc.)

Miscellaneous 5th Grade Information Field Trips BizTown Arrowhead Pool Childsplay Theater ASU 3-D Science Theatre Skateland for a STEM Lesson Traveling Ben Franklin Exhibit Fundraisers Gold Canyon Candles

Infinite Campus Infinite Campus is our district wide grade book system. Again this year, Chandler Unified School District is going paperless in terms of progress reports and report cards. These will no longer be distributed to the students in the classroom, they will be viewed on Infinite Campus. Due to this, it is imperative that you have access to your child’s Infinite Campus account. In addition to progress reports and report cards, all extracurricular fees will be paid through Infinite Campus. These are the tax credit fees that are paid in order to participate in field trips and additional activities such as band or student council.

Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your child’s life!! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us: Tisha Edwards edwards.tisha@cusd80.com Kelli Ems ems.kelli@cusd80.com Lisa Roberts roberts.lisa@cusd80.com Hannah Ross ross.hannah@cusd80.com Angelica Cole cole.angelica@cusd80.com