1. Welcome to Back To School Night
2002
Welcome to Back To School Night
Please find your child’s desk and read the letter that your child wrote to you. When you are done, you may write a letter back to your child and put it in their desk.
Mrs. Tommasina Biase

2. A Little About Mrs. Haberkern
Masters of Education
Graduate of Penn State University! ROAR!
18 years teaching
Mother of Gregory, 10, and Ryan, 2 1/2!

3. Our Expectations of Students
To develop organizational, listening and notetaking skills
To enhance appropriate study habits
To inspire independence in thinking and behavior
To expand time management skills
To inspire appropriate questioning for help when needed
To provide firm, fair yet friendly atmosphere which is conducive to learning experience
To prepare fifth graders for middle school

4. Teaming- A Collaborative Effort
We believe that teaming will:
increase your child’s educational experience.
better prepare students for the middle school.
allow teachers to further enhance teaching practices.
help students become more responsible and organized.

5. Morning Procedures Mrs. Haberkern
During homeroom the students engage in the following activities:
Read “Morning Message” on PowerPoint presentation for daily reminders and morning work
Unpack book bag and copy homework from whiteboard
Place all important notes for the office or teacher in homeroom bin
Organize homework papers for the day

6. Classroom Practices Notebook checks for neatness and organization
Cubbies checked for neatness and organization
Computer use throughout day
Healthy snack can be brought in daily
Birthday celebrations are welcome

7. Afternoon Procedures/Homeroom Period
At the end of each day…
Students are provided with an opportunity to work on class assignments as well as homework.
Additionally, it is a time for teachers to meet with students for a variety of needs.
Assignments are reviewed and copied into agenda books
Children stay in seats until they are dismissed

8. Fifth Grade Highlights
Projects:
Science Festival
Poetry Portfolio
Social Studies mini-projects
Field Trips:
Readington Museum
Readington Middle School Orientation
Liberty Science Center

9. Homework Assignments Are…
Due upon student arrival to classroom
- Students need to come to school with homework completed
Required to have proper heading.
Checked for accuracy, completion, & effort
Given nightly; occasionally on weekends
Genesis- parental portal
Website- for additional information
*Homework Room is mandatory if assignments are not satisfactorily completed.

10. The United States: Making a New Nation
Social Studies
Program: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt:
The United States: Making a New Nation
Units of Study:
Native Americans
Exploration/Relations with Native Americans
Colonization
American Revolution

11. Homework Room
1. When a student does not have an assignment completed on time,
he/she will sign his/her homework log page.
2. Parental contact will be made when a third assignment is not
completed on time within one marking period.
3. The student will serve a morning or an afternoon detention
(teacher discretion) upon not completing a fourth assignment during
one marking period.
*The students are assigned to the Homework Room for an entire
recess period.

12. Behavior Policy
Be respectful of their peers and teachers as well as property.
Listen attentively and wait for appropriate time to speak (usually by raising hand).
Cooperate and work together.
When a student repeats misbehaviors or commits a serious infraction, the principal will be notified.
Behavior detentions will be given at the discretion of the teacher. These detentions will be held before school or during lunchtime.

13. Report Card/Grading Report Cards will be computerize
New grading system
A –
B – 80-89
C – 70-79
D – 60-69
F – less than 59
Effort Grades:
O-Outstanding
S-Satisfactory
I-Inconsistent
U-Unsatisfactory

14. Consistency and Communication are the keys to success!
The Winning Formula
Consistency and Communication are the keys to success!

15. It is important that we keep an open line of communication!
Ext. 2028
Assignment books

16. Social Studies Special Features
Biographies
Leveled Readers by unit
Primary Sources
Time Links
Internet resources such as:
Meet ECO!!!
Readers’ Theater: Every Student Is a Star

17. What are Primary Sources?
They are additional sources to gather information to enliven past people and events such as maps, historical documents, paintings and drawings, speeches, letters and newspaper articles, political cartoons, photographs, and posters.

18. Reading Workshop Approach
Reading Workshop follows a very similar format to writing workshop. First the teacher models a reading strategy during a mini-lesson. Next students engage in a large block of time where they apply their reading strategies. Lastly, the students meet to share what they learned as readers.
Supplemental Materials:
Harcourt Trophies
Picture Books
Authentic Literature
Word Study
Spelling/Vocabulary

19. Back To School Night
2002
Strategic Thinking
“True comprehension goes beyond literal understanding and involves the reader’s interaction with text. If students are to become thoughtful, insightful readers, they must extend their thinking beyond a superficial understanding of the text.”
Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
This means moving beyond answering questions at the end of a story.
Mrs. Tommasina Biase

20. Back To School Night
2002
Why teach
reading strategies?
“Once thought of as the natural result of decoding plus oral language, comprehension is now viewed as a much more complex process involving knowledge, experience, thinking and teaching.”
(Linda Fielding and P. David Pearson, 1994)
Students may be able to decode or read the words in a book but if they don’t have the knowledge of the subject or some experience to connect to what they read, they won’t understand the text.
Mrs. Tommasina Biase

21. Top 10 Reading Strategies Connect to the Text Ask Questions
Back To School Night
2002
Top 10 Reading
Strategies
Connect to the Text
Ask Questions
Expand Vocabulary
Predict & Prove
Sense It
Decide What’s Important
Make Inferences Then Draw Conclusions
Summarize and Synthesize
Check Your Understanding
Build Fluency
Here they are --- If you’ve attended any seminars or read any research --- they should look familiar.
Mrs. Tommasina Biase

22. CAUTION! Reading Strategies
Back To School Night
2002
Reading
Strategies
CAUTION!
“Although these strategies tend to be introduced independently, readers rarely use these in isolation when reading. These thoughts interact and intersect to help readers make meaning and often occur simultaneously during reading.”
Harvey and Goudvis
These strategies are not something that can be taught on Monday and tested on Friday. They must be interwoven throughout ALL curricular areas. The strategies are introduced, modeled, and supported - Kindergarten through 12th grade.
Mrs. Tommasina Biase

23. Decide What’s Important
Back To School Night
Check Understanding
2002
Build Fluency
Sense It
Ask Questions
Reading is Thinking
Connect To Text
Making Inferences/ Draw Conclusions
Decide What’s Important
Throughout this school year ( ) we will continue to focus on reading and these reading strategies. We will feature a reading strategy each month. Buildings will receive a new Power point presentation for that strategy. They will be designed to share at staff meetings, department meetings, or grade level meetings.
Expand Vocabulary
Summarize/ Synthesize
Predict and Prove
Mrs. Tommasina Biase

24. CAFE C- Comprehension A- Accuracy F- Fluency E- Expanding Vocabulary
C- Comprehension
A- Accuracy
F- Fluency
E- Expanding Vocabulary

27. Program: FOSS and Delta
Science
Program: FOSS and Delta
- Hands-on activities
Modules/Themes
Environments
Mixtures & Solutions
Oceans