Classroom News

Thank you for attending our Back-To-School Night.  The fifth grade team is committed to making this a great year for your child. Communication between us is a key to the success for your child. The most efficient manner to contact us is through e-mail at or dcatalan@iusd.org.  We use e-mail for all of our classroom newsletters and updates.  If you have changed your email address since last fall, please go on to your MYIUSD account and update it. You may visit our class website at http://iusd.org/nw/  Click on staff contact list, then, when you see our names, click on the “website.”

The following is an outline of the fifth grade curriculum and some basic tips to help your child have a successful year. Throughout the year, we will follow the state and district-adopted curriculum standards for fifth grade.  These standards are quite high, yet we see that year after year, our students experience academic and personal growth.  We do need your support at home.  Please consistently communicate with your child that their education is a top priority for your family.  Monitor their progress to make sure that homework is done on time and is done to the best of their ability. 

Reading Language Arts:  We use the Houghton-Mifflin textbooks that integrate reading, writing, listening, spelling, vocabulary development, and speaking.  We will also use the Language Arts Today to teach grammar and will use the Step Up to Writing program to teach writing. Our Writer’s Workshop focuses on the expository, narrative, descriptive and persuasive styles of writing. We participate in three district level benchmark writing tests. Furthermore, our spelling program will be on a two-week cycle. The first week, we will use the lessons from the current literature story we are studying. All students will take a spelling pretest and use the first fifteen words they missed on their list.  Each week there will also be a root word and an extra word for all students to memorize.  So all together, the spelling lists will have 16 words plus one root word/definition to memorize.  Students who do not miss any of the words on the pretest will have fifteen words from a bonus list to study. The pretest is given on Friday with the final test the next Thursday. The second week, all students will be studying the Wordly Wise vocabulary words and will need to know the definitions, synonyms, antonyms and usage for those words. By completing the weekly work and studying these words carefully, students experience success and increase their vocabulary. The lessons are assigned on Friday so the student may take the book home and work ahead.  The test is on the following Thursday.

At-Home Reading: Each student is required to read on his or her own for a total of one hundred minutes a week.  Your child may choose to divide this reading time any way that fits into his/her schedule.  A weekly calendar, indicating both the time spent reading and the pages read, will be due each Friday.  This counts as 10% of your child’s reading grade. To receive credit for the weekly reading requirement, both the parent and the child must sign the weekly calendar.  Please note: the Reading Olympics medals are also based on the total minutes a student reads each month, as well as earning ten points each month in the Scholastic Reading Counts program.  To earn points each child will be expected to read a book(s) at his or her lexile level and pass a quiz on this book(s) to earn their ten points per month. 

There will be a book report due every other month.  The schedule of book report projects is posted on our website and a copy will be sent home as well.  

Children often want to read books that they choose, so monthly Scholastic Arrow and Tab Book Club order forms will be sent home.  Thank you for your support as our class earns free books, depending on the size of our order.  We do have a class library of these “free” books for our students to borrow.

Math:  All fifth grade math students are using the same state and district mathematics curriculum.  Homework in math will be assigned on a daily basis.  Much of the work we do at this level is based on the assumption that students have already mastered their multiplication facts through twelve. A number of students are not proficient on these facts, and therefore, students will be taking timed multiplication quizzes periodically. All students who have passed three multiplication quizzes will no longer need to take the test.  If your child has not mastered the multiplication tables, we strongly suggest that you work with them at home.  Use flashcards and mental quizzing at every opportune moment to help them commit the facts to memory.  Students must pass with 100% in order to move onto the next level test. 

Social Science:  Fifth grade social science curriculum is all about the history of the United States from the native North Americans, through the exploration, colonization, Revolutionary period and Westward Expansion.  We will also learn about the Constitution, and will memorize the names of the fifty states and capitals. Students will learn how to research through three different research projects. The first one is an in-class group project on the Native American Indians.  Next is an independent project on an explorer. And finally all students will complete a State Report.  In June, we will also participate in the “Walk-Through the American Revolution.”

 Science: Ms. Lund, our science specialist, will teach two one-hour science laboratories a week.  In the regular classroom, we will have a weekly lesson from the science text. We also will have eight units of health from “The Great Body” series. All fifth grade students will take the California Standards Test in Science, which includes the curriculum taught in fourth and fifth grade.

Physical Education: In the spring, all fifth grade students are required to take a state test measuring their fitness levels.  Throughout the year our students will work on developing their upper body strength, flexibility, and running. Every week, the students will be tested on the mile run.  Our emphasis will be on showing some improvement every time they are tested. Any help that you can give this effort at home will be appreciated.  Please make sure that your child comes prepared for PE on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays with proper clothing and shoes.  Students will not be excused from PE unless we have a parent notification.  If the excuses are frequent, we will require a note from a physician. 

Visual and Performing Arts:  Students receive music and art lessons through the district art and music specialists.  The program is designed to expose children to the arts in a variety of mediums.  The students receive two weekly music periods and six art lessons a year.

Grading Policy: Grades are made up of homework, class work, tests and quizzes, and projects.  Homework is graded on effort.  Therefore, a child who truly makes an effort, but does not score well on a homework assignment, still can earn full points based on the effort that was made.  These scores will be averaged into the other categories of tests, quizzes, and class work, and projects.  Report cards are sent out three times a year.  You will also receive a progress report indicating performance midway through each trimester.  Our first conference will be in the fall.  Please have your child in attendance at all conferences.

The grading scale is as follows:

90%-100% = A                                   70% - 79% = C                       0% -59% = F

80%-89% = B                                     60% - 69% = D

Time Management: Major goals of fifth grade are to instill effective time management practices, to develop organizational skills, to teach responsibility, and to encourage self-reliance.  Your involvement is necessary and valued to help your child become independently responsible and to make the transition to sixth grade easier.  Organization is challenge for many fifth grade students.  Try to familiarize yourself with your child’s organization in her or his binder, check it routinely to see that it is in order.  Take unhurried time to review each section in their three ring binders.  It should be very organized and neat.  Catch warning signs early.

Student absences: When your child is absent for two days, the teacher will prepare an absent assignment sheet for the office if it is requested by lunchtime.  It will be available for pick up at dismissal time in the office.  The student will have as many days as they were absent to make up the work.

Homework:  Fifth grade is a time to learn that homework involves studying and reviewing material as well as completing assignments.  Attention in class and listening to directions is crucial for success.  Students each have a student planner to record their nightly homework assignments and they are given time at the end of the day to record their assignments in these student planners.  Please check to make sure that your child is recording their homework.  This is a good way for you to keep tabs on what they are doing at school. If your child is not writing down their assignments, please encourage them to do so.  If this is a problem, please contact us.  Homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday and should take approximately 60 – 90 minutes each night (except on Fridays.)  Some students take longer; some do not take the entire time.   All homework is due on a daily basis.  If a child does not complete an assignment, they can attend the Late Work Lunch Club on Fridays for Mrs. Mroch and on Mondays for Mrs. Catalano.   During lunchtime, the student comes into the classroom with his or her lunch and the completed assignment.  When their name is called, they bring up the missing assignment and can receive up to 50 percent credit for it.

Each Thursday we send home graded papers and school communication in our Northwood Communication Folder.  Please review this packet with your child, sign the Communication Folder, and return it on Friday.

Homework Guidelines and some tips for success for Parents: Homework should be done in a well-lit, quiet location.  The student planner should make it clear what the assignments are for the day.  Avoid asking, “Do you have any homework?”   Check the student planner daily.  If it is consistently used, you should not hear the phrase, "But I don’t have any homework!!!” They will always have something to do.  Math and language arts are assigned daily, with a third assignment of science or social science.  Reading for twenty minutes is always an option.  To avoid getting involved in a power play, we suggest you merely enforce the homework time and place.  It is best if you can be close by if your child needs assistance; otherwise tell your child in advance that you will check their planner and homework at a designated time.  

Long Term Projects: Long-term projects teach time management.  For students not prepared on a project due date, there will be a ten percent reduction of the project score for each additional day needed to complete the project.  Taking a zero is not an option.

Parent’s Help: Communicating with your child concerning their schoolwork is important.  Try to ask questions that cannot be answered with “yes” or “no”.  Begin with “Show me…” For example, “Show me what you are doing in math now” or “Show me your spelling words or vocabulary words for the week.” Let your child know that you are available if he or she needs assistance.  In the area of writing, you are most helpful in the first step called brainstorming, which they often want to skip, and also in the editing process. One way to bypass frustration in to write down the child’s ideas for him or her, then refer back to this paper when they have run out of things to say.   It is enlightening for children to learn that writing is another way of talking.  If your child tires easily while reading, whether social studies or literature, take turns reading aloud.  

Again, we thank you for your attendance this evening.  Northwood Elementary is a great place to be, and we are looking forward to a successful year with your fifth grader.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We will be happy to talk with you. Working together as a team, we can make great things happen.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Mroch                                          Mrs. Catalano 

                                                            dcatalan@iusd.org                  

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