So many of our young children have found their heroes among the Hollywood glitz and glam. In an effort to show our youth that fame and money are not necessarily the trademarks of a hero, we explored Americans who selflessly made contributions of their time, talents, and possessions in order to make life better for others. We delved into conversations about character and integrity to gain an understanding of what it means to be a true hero. One of our classroom heroes is Roberto Clemente, and our classroom norms are a reflection of the rules that guided his decisions and lifestyle. 1. Respect yourself and your future. 2. Respect others. 3. Respect your school’s property and community.

To encourage the students in Room 46 to make the wisest choices when confronted with situations, I will reward them at times. However, an over indulgence of rewards would give them a false sense of reality. Verbal warnings and redirection will be used, but other consequences would be the loss of special school privileges and/or phone calls home. Tallies are given for not following our classroom rules or for not doing homework. After 15 tallies in one month a recess will be taken for the student to reflect on his/her behavior. In fifth grade there are also four behavioral areas on which we focus. 1. Independence 2. Organization 3. Listening Skills 4. Self-discipline

Reading During Reading Workshop students will learn comprehension strategies for fiction and nonfiction, accuracy strategies, fluency strategies and how to expand their vocabulary. Writing During Writing Workshop students will learn how to focus on the five domains of writing and how to write an effective five paragraph essay. There are five units as follows: narrative, persuasive, expository, poetry and research. Math During Math Workshop students will be learning place value, basic operations with whole numbers and decimals, statistics, graphs, fractions, geometry, measurement, algebra, probability and ratio, percent, as well as, a variety of problem solving strategies. Science During Science Lab students will be learning how to use the Scientific Method to perform experiments. They will learn how to control variables with pendulums and catapults. We will also study landforms and ecosystems. Social Studies During Social Studies Workshop students will learn about American History from early exploration to the Revolutionary War. There will be units on the First Americans, European Explorers, Colonial America and the Revolutionary War. Spelling During Writing Workshop students will Work with Words with a focus on affixes and Greek and Latin root words. Spelling lists will consist of various spelling patterns from the Journeys Program.

Homework will be assigned every night. Students will be required to read their reading workshop book for 20 minutes each night. o Includes weekends o Quiet reading environment at home so kids can do their best thinking At times, there may be long-term assignments/projects throughout the year. Point system o 3-Completed entire assignment neatly on time o 2-Completed most of the assignment on time o 1-Completed some of the assignment and/or late o 0-Completed none of the assignment Homework assignments not completed or forgotten at home will earn a student a tally. Missed homework can be completed during a recess at school. o Student will fill out a tally report to be signed by parents and returned to school. Doing homework will improve grades. o Long-term goal: Develop a solid work ethic o Extra-curricular activities and time management

PSSA: Reading, writing and math will be tested during the weeks of April 11 th to 22 nd. Reading and writing will be combined into one test (ELA). LESSONS: Students involved in instrument and voice lessons are pulled from different subjects throughout the day. It is their responsibility to get what they miss during that minutes lesson time. WEEKLY ENVELOPE: All work throughout the week (class work and tests/quizzes) will go home in a weekly envelope every Monday. In this folder will be a Weekly Review. Please sign the Weekly Review and return it with the envelope by Friday. If you would like to keep the top portion, just cut the bottom signature portion off and return. The papers in the envelope are for you to keep. NEW REPORT CARDS: Standard Based WEB PAGE: View Homework etc.