| Homework Policy | Absences |
| Communication | Classroom Management |
| A Week's Worth of Work, Grading, and Retakes | Fifth Grade at a Glance |
| Online Grades | This Week at a Glance |
| Strategies to Help Your Child with Homework |
Reading Tips & Strategies to Help Your Child |
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Order Scholastic Books Online (our class earns a free book for each order!) Here's the activation code you'll need to create your account: HB6YG
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Fifth Grade/School Live Calendar
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Miss Cantillon's Homework Policy Homework is assigned five times per week. Students are responsible for recording their homework assignments in their homework planner. On Mondays, we write down our homework for the week, and I initial their planners once it is all copied. As each assignment is completed, they should place a mark in the box next to the assignment in their planners. I check to make sure homework has been turned in daily and that students have had their planners signed by an adult weekly. I ask that you would sign your child’s homework planner only after looking at the assignments that were completed. Parents are encouraged to discuss homework assignments with their children as this will foster a deeper understanding of the material. However, a student’s mistakes alert me that your child may need further instruction in that area. Time spent on homework will vary according to the student. I expect that students in fifth grade will spend approximately one hour per night on homework. This includes reviewing the notes from the day and studying for upcoming tests. In addition to this time, students should read for 20 minutes . Challenge homework is offered regularly. Long-range assignments are a major component of fifth grade. If a student does not have his or her homework in class on the due date, a "late homework slip" will be sent home to be signed. The work must be returned the next day. If homework is more than one day late, 10% will be subtracted from the student's assignment grade. After the fourth late homework slip, the student will be required to stay after school to get his/her supplies/binder/desk organized. Parents often ask how they can help their child(ren) with their homework. Here are some tips:
Parent & Teacher Communication Daily: I check my e-mail throughout the day. It is a great way to get feedback to your questions or comments, and I encourage you to contact me this way. My e-mail address is Jcantillon@stellamarisacademy.org. I also receive school e-mail at home. Weekly: A gold-colored newsletter is sent home with your child every Friday. This newsletter outlines upcoming tests and quizzes. Students are encouraged to post this on the fridge or another obvious location. Other: Occasionally, your child will be sent home with a project deadline sheet or test prep form to be signed by a parent. When each project/report is assigned, students are given specific deadlines, which they need to record in their planners. A good strategy may be to post these deadlines on a family calendar so that work will not be saved until the last minute. Before most major tests, he/she will receive an "Essential Concepts and Vocabulary" review sheet.
A Week's Worth of Work, Grading, and Retakes Work from the week will come home for you to look at each week on Fridays. You are encouraged to review the work with your child. EVERY student needs to bring back the signed cover sheet (gold color) on Mondays. Much of our classwork and homework will be graded using our "General Class Rubric." For class essays and projects, the specific rubrics will be sent home for review when the assignment is given. Students may correct and turn in any assignments for a new grade. Students may also make an appointment with our "test retake coordinator" to retake tests and quizzes. Before retaking a test or quiz, students must complete a "corrective assignment form." This form simply asks the student to write what he/she did to prepare for the retake. The final score will be the highest grade.
When students are absent, they are responsible for making up the work. Our class "Administrative Assistant" will record assignments. Students will have an “Absent Packet ” on their desks when they return. Students have the same number of days they were gone, to make up the work. For example, if John misses 2 days of school, he would have 2 days after he returned to school to complete the assignments. Much of our classroom activities cannot be done at home (e.g., group work, experiments, in-class games, buddy class activities), so regular attendance is encouraged.
POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES Scholar Dollars (A.K.A. Tickets) Scholar Dollars are fifth grade's classroom money. When students are following the classroom rules and/or generally behaving as they should, they can be rewarded with Scholar Dollars. Students can also receive Scholar Dollars for completing challenge work, helping a classmate or a teacher, and going "above and beyond" in fifth grade. Students can lose Scholar Dollars for breaking classroom rules. All Scholar Dollars are deposited into the Cantillon Bank. We use an online banking program; students will need to balance their accounts and pay rent as well as taxes on their income. Students may purchase privileges and end-of-year treats with their savings. Paper Clip Chain The Paper Clip Chain rewards the whole class when everyone is on-task and following classroom rules. When this happens, our "paper clip chain person" adds a paper clip to a small chain of paper clips located on the top of the white board. When the chain reaches the bottom of the white board, students earn an extra 15-minute recess. Yay! Secret Student Every day, I secretly choose a student in our class to be the "Secret Student." At the end of the day, if the student has been on-task and following all classroom rules, I announce the Secret Student and reward him or her with a Good Behavior Reward Card which is entered into our weekly drawing for 30 Scholar Dollars. Class Parties Students who maintain good behavior and follow classroom rules are eligible to participate in our class parties. If a student receives more than three Behavior Citations (see below) in a quarter, he or she is not eligible to attend the next class party. Blue Ribbon Awards Since Stella Maris Academy is a Blue Ribbon School, we like to recognize our "Blue Ribbon Students" for above and beyond behavior. Students who earn these awards are placed into a monthly drawing for school prizes. Competence The best positive consequence a student can receive for following all classroom rules and practicing good study skills is learning many new things! NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES Unfortunately, when students are having difficulty maintaining responsible behavior and do not respond to our positive consequences, negative consequences will be used. The following steps will be taken if necessary: 1) Verbal warning - using the Boys Town Complete Teaching Interaction Method (minus 2 Scholar Dollars) 2) Written warning in my records and on Teacherease behavior log (minus 5 Scholar Dollars) 3) Behavior Citation - The student will write about the events leading up to the citation and this will need to be signed by a parent (minus 10 Scholar Dollars). 4) After 3 Behavior Citations an After School Conference (ASC) will be held with student and teacher. Parents are invited to attend. 5) A referral to Mrs. Lowell will be made. *In the case of an extreme behavior infraction, students will proceed directly to step 4. All students begin each quarter with a "VG" in Responsible Behavior. Students with outstanding behavior earn an "O." For each behavior citation earned, a student's grade drops incrementally. For example, since students begin with a "VG," one citation lowers the grade to a "G," the second citation lowers the grade to a "NI."
Religion The students will build awareness about how to be more Christ-like. They will concentrate on the sacraments and learn about signs and places that embody God’s presence. Our text is Sadlier's We Believe for the fifth grade. Later in the year, the students will be learning about family life as well. During this portion of the year, we will cover God’s gifts of family, self, life, community, and sexuality. Christian living is the primary focus. Literature The students will be reading numerous chapter books of various genres and literary forms. Students will examine literary devices and become familiar with the terminology. Some of the books we will be reading include: Holes, A Year Down Yonder and selections from a class anthology relating to the American Revolution and the beginnings of the U.S.A. We’ll also be working in literature circles toward the end of the year. Students will learn many reading strategies and techniques, some of which include: using context clues to determine word meaning, cause and effect relationships, character analyses, literary terminology, participating in literature discussions and self-monitoring comprehension. Students have individual Accelerated Reader goals that they will need to work toward meeting each quarter. Writing Across the Curriculum The five-paragraph essay is a major emphasis in fifth grade. Special focus will be given to the opening and closing paragraphs. This year all grade levels will be incorporating the Step Up to Writing curriculum in our writing program. We will be entering several writing contests this year, including USD's Character Matters essay contest. Students will use brainstorming techniques and a variety of graphic organizers to become more proficient writers. Some of the writing strategies taught include: writing a thesis statement, linking a closing paragraph to the introduction, finding a focus, working with paragraphs, brightening up boring beginnings, writing satisfying endings, replacing overused verbs, comparing using similes and metaphors, and editing techniques. Grammar Students will become more familiar with parts of speech, sentence structure, transitions, and tense. We’ll be learning many songs to memorize parts of speech. Please encourage your child to sing these for you! Also, particular attention will be paid to capitalization, punctuation, and formal letter writing. We are using two grammar programs in fifth grade. The first program is like a "daily vitamin" of grammar. In "Daily Grammar Practice," students work with one sentence each week.
Our other grammar program, "Easy Grammar," is more comprehensive. In this program, concepts are introduced and reviewed throughout the school year. In addition, reviews and cumulative reviews are provided along the way to help insure mastery learning.
Spelling and Vocabulary Our spelling/word skills program called Sitton Spelling. We participate in World Spelling Day in March. The main focus in September/October is mastery of Spell-a-thon words. A new vocabulary unit is introduced every other week. The students draw sketches to represent each vocabulary word, and write and perform vocabulary scripts/skits with partners. They may also listen to pronunciation and play review games by going onto the Sadlier Vocabulary website. Social Studies By the end of fifth-grade, students will have studied the development of the nation, with an emphasis on the people who were already here, when and from where others arrived, and why they came. Students learn about colonial life and government and make connections between early forms of self-government and current government. They recognize that our nation has a constitution that derives it power from the people, that has gone through a revolution, that experienced conflict over land with the original inhabitants, and that experienced a westward movement that took its people across the continent. By studying the causes, courses, and consequences of early explorations, and the War for Independence students gain a fundamental understanding of the principles of the American republic and how they form the basis of a pluralistic society where individual rights are secured. Students are encouraged to be critical thinkers and analyze decisions made in our country’s short history. At many points during the year, our text will be used as a reference rather than a primary source. The text will be supplemented with trade books related to the current topic of study, primary sources, simulations, and student research. We will have a "State Travel Fair" and "Presidents' Breakfast" in the spring - parents are encouraged to attend. Beginning in the third quarter, much of our focus will be on the 50 states and capitals. Students will begin a major research project, which will culminate with a state fair and PowerPoint presentations. By the end of the year, your fifth grader will need to know all 50 states and capitals and their proper spellings. In our final unit, we research the U.S. Presidents and students will deliver a "campaign speech" to the class. Math Every day, we begin math with multiplication and division speed drills on our Flashmasters and a Math Minute. Student progress is charted in the front of his/her math journal. The goal is for students to solve 80 multiplication or division facts in a 2-minute time period. Home practice is necessary! We also review all California Standards each day by working on Mountain Math beginning in March; this is a program that helps to review all of the fifth grade math standards recognized by the National Council of the Teachers of Mathematics. Much emphasis is placed on mental math and using various strategies to solve problems. Predictions are used significantly in fifth grade. Students will be using the Houghton-Mifflin Math Expressions series this year. Math Expressions is a program that supports students in developing the concepts, procedures, and problem solving skills for their grade level as well as mathematical reasoning and a positive disposition towards mathematics. As a second generation National Science Foundation (NSF) program, Math Expressions combines the conceptual understandings of reform based programs with the skills focus of a more traditional math programs. The Math Expressions program implements findings from the following mathematics reports: Curriculum Focal Points (NCTM 2007), Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000), Adding It Up (National Research Council, 2001), and How Students Learn Mathematics in the Classroom (National Research Council, 2005). Math Expressions has a Parent Link that can provide you with more information about the program. The text will be supplemented with other activities and class projects (e.g., math games that reinforce concepts taught, M&M Math, fraction demonstrations, projects, etc.). We will have special math mini-units on finance and taxes in April. Students will also participate in challenges such as designing a dream bedroom, creating a geometry movie, and designing jewelry using geometric shapes. Finally, our fifth grade participates in First in Math and a weekly "Challenge 24" game and several students will be respresenting our class at the San Diego Math Field Day at the San Diego Jewish Academy. This event will be held in the spring. Students will participate in the following additional contests: Noetic Learning (fall), Math Counts (spring), and World Math Day (spring). New this year - students will be working on MARS tasks and a "Problem of the Month " to deepen understanding of math concepts. Grading Policy for Math Homework Since homework is meant to be practice, it will only account for 10% of the student grade. Students earn full credit for completing or attempting to complete the homework assignments.
Science (taught by Miss Mareschal) The science curriculum is Pearson Interactive Science. The students will conduct field and lab investigations, use the scientific method, and make decisions using critical thinking and problem solving. Life Science: Classifying Organisms, Growth and Survival, Human Body Systems, and Ecosystems Earth Science: The Water Cycle, Earth's Surface, and Earth and Space Physical Science: Matter and its Properties, Forces and Motions, and Changing Forms and Energy
Study Skills “Active” study strategies are taught in fifth grade. For example, they may teach the information to you to review, create mnemonics to help remember, or make a practice test to prepare for upcoming tests/quizzes. Occasionally, we will be using a program this year called “The Mind That’s Mine” to learn about learning. Regular binder organization and desk “quizzes” are given. We also play "Let's Make a Deal." In this game, students will earn Scholar Dollars or a treat if they are prepared with necessary materials.
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