Connect 4 Success Mrs. Belin, Mrs. Cavender, Mrs. Ketterer and Mrs. Nichols

Our Team Goal: Our goal as an educational team is not only to teach reading, math, and science but to build strong individuals. Our students should leave better citizens who take responsibility for themselves and exhibit an ability to communicate their thoughts and feelings.

What are the classroom guidelines? R aise my hand and wait my turn. Excessive noise, tapping, humming, talking, etc., is unacceptable. E veryone’s property is private. Ask permission before taking. S peak in an appropriate tone of voice and acceptable volume. Use acceptable vocabulary. P eople do not like to be hurt. Keep hands, feet, objects, and rude comments to myself. Stay in my seat. E veryone comes to class prepared, in appropriate dress. C lean up after myself. No gum, drinks, or candy in class. T ake responsibility in the hall. Walk in a quiet straight line.

Classroom Consequences Each nine week period, the students will be supplied with an conduct card. Conduct marks will be recorded on this card by each teacher initialing in the appropriate box. Cards are sent home on Thursday for parent initials and are to be returned to class on Friday morning

Positive Reinforcement (Conduct Cards) At the end of the nine weeks, students with all Es will be eligible to attend an all E luncheon.

Following guidelines will result in: A stress free learning environment for students and their peers A pleasant and orderly classroom Greater opportunity for fun, engaging activities

Not following guidelines will result in: CONSEQUENCES: 3 Conduct Marks – Respect Statement 4 Conduct Marks – Parent Call 5 Conduct Marks – Teacher Detention/ Parent Phone Call 6 Conduct Marks – Office Referral

Severe Clause Any student who uses profanity, fights, damages school property (this includes the property of the teacher and other students), or is disrespectful (as defined by the teacher) will be sent to the office IMMEDIATELY.

Communication Thursday – Team folder (red) goes home with your student. Graded papers, important handouts, and weekly conduct card will be placed in this folder. Parents sign the conduct card acknowledging receipt of the conduct card and the papers sent home; the folder and conduct card will need to be returned to the teacher. You will keep papers and handouts. Students should be filling in their agendas every day. You can use the agenda as a guide for your students’ class work and to keep track of homework assignments..

Communication (continued) Student and parent conferences will be scheduled as the teacher deems necessary, or as the parent requests. As we spend most of our time in instruction and cannot always get to a phone, the best form of communication is . We would greatly appreciate addresses from all of our parents.

Make-up Work Policy If your child is absent from school, they will need an absence note which will be turned in to the attendance clerk. They will have three days to complete any work missed while they were absent. It is their responsibility to ask for work and turn it in within the given time. If work is not received, a zero will be given for the assignment.

Corrections Any paper on which your child makes below a 70 may be corrected and brought back to school by the following Monday. Include a parent signature. The maximum grade for corrections is 70%

How to Make Corrections Make corrections on a separate sheet of paper. Staple the corrections to the top of the original paper. Then, turn in the paper no later than the Monday after the paper was returned to you. Please make sure it is signed by a parent/guardian.

Late Work If your student does not have their work on its’ scheduled due date, they will need to complete it and bring it back the following day. Point deductions for late papers are as follows: One Day Late= Eleven point deduction Two Days Late= Twenty point deduction Three or more Days late = Teacher discretion

What will we be doing this year? Language Arts GrammarWriting: VocabularyJournal SpellingPoetry Persuasive Narrative

What will we be doing this year? Social Studies

What will we be doing this year? Science Collaboration with group Scientific investigation and reasoning Matter and Energy Force, Motion, and Energy Earth and Space Organisms and Environment

What will we be doing this year? Math Whole Numbers/ Decimals Factoring Problem Solving Patterns Relationships Multiplying/ Dividing Fractions Estimation Probability/ Statistics Graphing Measurement Geometry

What will we be doing this year? Reading Literacy Circles Book Reviews Reading Strategies Novel Sets Cultivating a love of Reading

Questions?

STAAR Science Test 5 th graders take the STAAR Science test at the end of April.

STEMScopes Online curriculum from RICE UNIVERSITY. Link can be found on my website. Your student has their login information.

Homework Weekly vocabulary homework. Monday-definitions are given in class, students are to draw pictures. Tuesday-cloze passage (fill in the blank with word bank) Wednesday-vocabulary application Friday-vocab test (major grade in SKYWARD)

Grading Policy Many assignments are graded in class with the students to allow for discussion of concepts. Tests and projects are graded by me and returned in the Thursday folder.

Interactive Student Notebook The ISN contains notes, vocabulary, lab journal pages, and student reflections. Students will bring their ISN to class every day and they should also be bringing it home to review and assist with homework.

5 th Grade Science Topics Exploring Matter and Energy Organisms and Environments Earth Cycles and Systems Earth and Its Resources