Welcome to 5th Grade!!

Welcome to 5th Grade!! Your child’s “pathway” to a quality education!! “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.” ~Nelson Mandela~

Teacher? What teacher? A (military) spouse, a mother, an educator. That’s who I am. I’m a true southern girl at heart (GO GAMECOCKS!!) who loves to watch football, drink sweet tea, and bless people’s hearts. I found my chosen path as a young child when I had the best teacher EVER in third grade! Following in her footsteps (and many family members), I graduated in 2007 with my BA degree in Elementary Education. I have taught in South Carolina (1 year), Germany (Spangdahlem AFB) (3 years), and Montana (3rd year now). I have experienced many different cultures, school districts, and schools. I LOVE what I do!!! My husband (Jeff) and I have one son, Jayden, who is the absolute center of our entire world! You will see, and hear about, both of them on a regular basis! To learn more about the mysterious “Teacher,” visit our website right away!!

Mrs. Waters’ Philosophy Our classroom is “fair.” Every child will get what he/she needs to be successful in school, with friends, and in life. I believe and support an equality education for all. We give it our all, all the time, in all that we do. “It’s ok to not know, but it’s not ok to not try.”

Classroom Blog - Yeah! http://kellywaters.weebly.com weekly updates from the classroom (by students) weekly newsletter uploaded to website current pictures / projects / learning goals ongoing wish list :) links to helpful websites for parents and students question and answer section LEARN!!!!

Classroom “Management” A.R.F.F. (achievement, respect, freedom, fun), a HIGH TRUST philosophy + Classroom Economy In our economy, students receive a “Salary” bi-weekly for performing his/her job. Students can receive credits (awesome, spontaneous, helpful choices) or debits (no homework or poor choices) that can affect your child’s ending balance. We will have a monthly store where students can buy items with their current balance. Your involvement is to ask your child daily about his/her choices, resulting in a positive conversation either way. With extreme cases, I will call or email you to conference about the incident. If our ARFF is fulfilled (an ongoing process), I do not foresee any debits. :)

The Standards Assessed Montana recently adopted the National Common Core State Standards. Last year was our first year implementing the math standards under the Common Core umbrella, and this year is our first year implementing the ELA (english language arts) common core standards. To our benefit, I have taught the Common Core standards in full, previously, in other districts. “I can” statements allows for kid-friendly understanding Data driven instruction provides differentiated instruction at all levels Special education inclusion allows for equal content delivery Thorough standards allows for a larger “span” of knowledge, while digging deeper too Smarter Balance is the new assessment - implemented this year explain, prove, explain, prove, why, why, why????????????? see handout

Homework ????? Expected: read 2o minutes EVERY night and be prepared to update literature showcase! math, rare - practice only, if anything projects - students may be asked to bring in a completed project and/or material to make a project at school spelling - tests are on Wednesday each week (research) - homework will be consistent throughout the week district minutes - 30-50 minutes homework 4-5 days per week for 5th graders homework MAY be excused - only 2 times per quarter - only IF a hand- written note from parents comes in place of the homework with the reason why homework could not be completed (extracurricular activities) no homework binder - students WILL be asked to sign the no homework binder EVERY time - always visible for parents and teacher

Wednesday Envelopes every week signature must be present district, school, and vendor information (PTA, soccer, clubs, etc) graded papers/journals - this may not be every week, but it may be every week….. PowerSchool is updated as often as possible thoroughness - please be thorough with Wednesday envelopes as there is often materials to be signed and returned

Communication !!! I expect the same communication that you expect. If you would like a conference (2 scheduled throughout the year), I will conference at any time. I usually try to email and/or text or call (please indicate your preferred method). Effective communication is one of my STRENGTHS, and I believe it contributes to my students’ high success rates! All I ask is that we both communicate effectively to achieve the best instruction for each student!

Read,, Read,, READ!!!!!! Loy Elementary has a Loyalty to Reading program that mandates each student to read at home. 5th graders are to read 20 minutes, each night of the week. I like to take it a step further and ask students to read 20 minutes a night, 7 nights a week. Students will complete an entry slip each week of the quarter if the minutes are completed and accounted for in the planner each night. Students have the opportunity to win a prize each quarter and attend a special lunch with the principal. More importantly, students learn BETTER and VOCABULARY INCREASES with each reading!!! The reading minutes also divide into the homework grade students receive on their report card. SO, reading IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!! **literature showcase

Schedule and Instrumental Specials: Monday - HE (tennis shoes) Tuesday - Library (books due) Wednesday - HE (tennis shoes) Thursday - Counseling Friday - Music ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Instrumental: *Wednesday AND Friday, 45 minute sessions (90 TOTAL minutes/week) *Instrumental OR Orchestra *Research-based for left and right brain development *more info to follow later - students must either rent or purchase equipment

PTA I HIGHLY encourage each family to join the PTA (My family joins every year)! This is the support for your child’s education and fundraising to help our school earn more modern playground equipment. We have several parents (in this room) that are on the PTA board. I am VERY competitive. I will send email reminders about PTA fundraisers and BOX TOP reminders. BOX TOPS are due the last Friday of every month! Please send them in with your child’s name, teacher’s name, and room # written on the bag. This will help in decreasing a loss of instruction time in the mornings.

OLWEUS This is a BULLY-FREE classroom and school. We adopted the Olweus bully prevention program, a research-based program that provides schools with a curriculum. We will have weekly class “meetings” that address bully -prevention actions and vocabulary that surrounds bullying. PLEASE communicate with me if there is EVER a problem, question, concern surrounding bullying, victim or other. I WILL promptly get you to the right person to handle the situation. This includes bus transportation, bus stops, and walking to and from school. We encourage students to problem-solve and take the appropriate measures to handle problems between themselves. The definition of bullying is an act that happens over and over to deliberately hurt another human being. Bullying is not when your child is picked on one time for something. We encourage those cases to be resolved between the students and/or with minimal support. This is a life skill.

Procedures and Rules We will spend the first week learning classroom and school procedures. These include, but not limited to: 6 P’s restroom expectations attention signals pencil sharpening lining up fire drills lock downs shelter in place lunch room where/when/how to turn work in student desk cleanliness visitors substitute specials economy discussions recess and playground unfinished work lost items confidentiality

Supplies Students should have: 1 pack of colored pencils 1 box of crayons (24 pack) 8 dry-erase markers 2 glue sticks 3 yellow highlighters 2 2-pocket folders 1 pack of wide-ruled notebook paper ear buds 2 packs of sharpened number 2 pencils 1 ruler 1 pair of scissors 2 5 subject spiral bound notebooks **if your family needs help with supplies, please let me know privately ** we use supplies class-wide (most of them)

Math and ELA Math - notebook - based. Students will have “tickets” to guide instruction. Show example. Tickets will be labeled “P” or “G” to indicate practice or graded material. Students will be graded on a rubric and keep the 8 mathematical practices in mind when solving math problems related to real-world problems. Please see rubric and practices in example. Journals will go home periodically and are expected back the NEXT day as homework so instruction can continue uninterrupted. 5th Graders will not be allowed to call home if they “forget” their journals. Textbook. ELA - Literature Circles and Socratic Seminars. We will study a LARGE VARIETY of genres and texts to meet the needs of every student. We may have a novel study going on or various novels within the classroom. Please see WEEKLY newsletter for updated information on current studies. I do not keep the same “learning” each year because my students change every year :)

Data-Driven Instruction I make every classroom decision based on data. I collect data on students daily. This may be formal data collecting or simple anecdotal notes, BUT every decision has a reason behind it. With this being said, my students will collect data too! We have data binders that students will track their growth in. All math standards are pre-assessed and post-assessed to help guide my instruction. Students will jot and graph each assessment in their binder. Successmaker scores will also be recorded daily in this binder. Other pertinent information will be kept in this binder (book reports, reading records, etc….)

EXTRAS….. limited time planners - show Pandora technology times - 8:10 campus, 8:25 bell, 3:20 bell, 2:40 Wed bell HANDS lunch costs and time - 11:45 - 12:25 RTI information weekly newsletter Spelling City Attendance (expectations and school calling) Snacks Cell phones of students *Yearbook Club Student handbook *Weather Computer and internet policy parent volunteers classroom visitors body awareness Friday journals holidays and religion Free and Reduced lunch form Growth and Maturation YOUR homework

Welcome to 5th Grade!!