5 th Grade Parent Information Night

Transcription

1 5 th Grade Parent Information Night School Year 5 th Grade Teaching Team Mrs. Benham ~ Science Mrs. Lecours ~ Math Mr. Scheidel ~ Social Studies THOUGHT I dreamed I stood in a studio And watched two sculptors there. The clay they used was a young child's mind And they fashioned it with care. One was a teacher - the tools he used Were books, music, and art. The other, a parent, worked with a guiding hand And a gentle, loving heart. Day after day, the teacher toiled with touch That was careful, deft, and sure. While the parent labored by his side And polished and smoothed it o'er. And when at last their work was done They were proud of what they had wrought. For the things they had molded into the child Could neither be sold nor bought. And each agreed they would have failed If each had worked alone. For behind the parent stood the school And behind the teacher, the home. Author Unknown - 1 -

2 5 th Grade Team Overview Integration of Curriculum Team teaching is an approach that has allowed the fifth grade teachers to teach to their fortes. Mrs. Lecours teaches math and Mrs. Benham teaches science, while Mr. Scheidel teaches social studies. Each teacher has been able to become more of an expert in one specific subject area, rather than attempting to be experts in all areas. Language arts, which includes reading, writing, speaking, listening, spelling, and research is integrated within each of the content areas, as well as taught by your child s homeroom teacher in the morning. Throughout the entire day your child is immersed in language. In all academic areas, we will incorporate team building skills and creating life long learners. We will work towards reaching all of the diverse learning potentials and styles of students. We will focus on teaching problem solving and using higher level thinking skills in all areas. Team Schedule School begins each day at 8:20 a.m. and the students are dismissed at 3:19 p.m. When the students have a half-day of school, they will then be dismissed at 11:24 a.m. The students have lunch each day from 11:24 12:10. All fifth grade students will go to music, art, and their physical education classes on Wednesday morning. In addition, they will have Spanish class for twenty minutes four times a week. Throughout the morning, your child will work in the areas of reading, writing, spelling, technology, and life skills. In the afternoon, students receive instruction in math, science, and social studies for fifty minutes, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Wednesday, the students will receive thirty-five minutes of instruction in each area due to specials in the morning. The switching between classrooms and the exposure to multiple teachers every day helps to prepare fifth graders for their middle school experience. Social Studies Learn from the past, live in the present, plan for the future. Social Studies Overview We will be studying the history of the United States this year, beginning with geography of the Americas and its first people and cultures. We ll go on to explore the first encounters with people from other continents, the growth of the American colonies, the American Revolution, the formation of the new nation s government, and much more. This is an important year for students. They will learn about the social and political issues that have shaped our country some of which still challenge our efforts to govern, protect, and provide for the many different people of this huge country. Students will begin to understand how social studies will play more of a role in their adult lives. They will realize the opportunities for greater responsibility for involvement in their nation and the world

3 Parental involvement will be key this school year. This involvement is very important to your fifth graders intellectual and personal development. There will be many opportunities throughout the year for you to support your fifth grader s learning. After all, social studies is not just about facts and dates; it s about people what they need, how they interact, how they solve their conflicts, and what they want for themselves and for others. These are issues you concern yourselves with as a family every day. History Identify major events in the early history of the United States in chronological order. -Comparisons of early Native American and colonial life in North America to our present day way of life. -Analysis of conflicting accounts of events in early United States history. -Use of Core Democratic Values to evaluate decisions made to solve problems. Geography Apply the five themes of geography (location, place, region, movement, and humanenvironment interaction) to locate the early American colonies and describe the culture of each region. -How Native American and colonists adapted to and modified the environment. -In-depth look at Native American life. Civics and Government - Describe the roles of local, state and national levels of government as well as the Judicial, Executive, and Legislative branches of government. - Interpret the meaning of rights guaranteed by the Constitution. -Declaration of Independence. -Role of the State and Federal Courts. -Elections. -United States role in international issues. Economics -Describe the goods and services provided by the state and federal governments. -Colonial trade in the early history of America. -Benefits of trade between the early colonies and Europe. Math Go down deep enough into anything and you will find mathematics. ~Dean Schlicter Go Math! Series We will be using the Go Math! series by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to develop the students' mathematical skills. This program offers a variety of resources to successfully learn the Common Core State Math Standards. The Common Core Standards focus on - 3 -

4 teaching each standard in more depth. Go Math! helps students engage with the standards through problem-based situations and then build to more abstract problems. All along the way students use multiple models, manipulatives, quick pictures, and symbols to build mathematical understandings. Go Math! has a write-in book. Throughout each critical area in Go Math!, there is a focus on the eight mathematical practices: 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. 4. Model with mathematics. 5. Use appropriate tools strategically. 6. Attend to precision. 7. Look for and make use of structure. 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. Throughout our fifth grade year, we will be focusing on three critical math areas. Within those three areas, there will be 11 chapters that will be covered. 1. Critical Area 1: Fluency with Whole Numbers and Decimals Chapter 1: Place Value, Multiplication, and Expressions Chapter 2: Divide Whole Numbers Chapter 3: Add and Subtract Decimals Chapter 4: Multiply Decimals Chapter 5: Divide Decimals 2. Critical Area 2: Operations with Fractions Chapter 6: Add and Subtract Fractions with Unlike Denominators Chapter 7: Multiply Fractions Chapter 8: Divide Fractions 3. Critical Area 3: Geometry and Measurement Chapter 9: Algebra- Patterns and Graphing Chapter 10: Convert Units of Measure Chapter 11: Geometry and Volume Multiplication Facts The students have been given a multiplication fact sheet that they need to study. They will be given two to three multiplication tests a week for the first couple months of school. These tests are given orally and the students need to write down the answers. By fifth grade, all of the multiplication facts need to be memorized. This will make math much easier for the students when they are working with multiplication and division problems, as well as fractions, decimals, and measurement. Math Assessments & Math Assignment Sheets Throughout the year students check his/her own practice work when it s time to correct it. Each student needs to record his/her score for each page on their math assignment sheet. This helps students take accountability for their own learning. This also helps me to monitor their progress immediately and to see if students need additional help in an area before they move on to another concept. Students record their scores as a - 4 -

5 fraction and a percent so that they start to see the correlation of this concept. Sheets are collected when the students take a unit test. An average grade for the daily assignments is counted along with unit quizzes, and the unit assessment for a final unit grade. Students have the opportunity to redo a math assignment to receive a higher grade within any unit before the unit review. In addition, this will help them practice the concept. Math assignment sheets will be sent home along with the unit test for the parents to review. Please refer to your child s unit practice work and math assignment sheet periodically in their math folders and journals to see their daily progress. Differentiated Math Instruction Go Math! provides a variety of differentiated math resources for each lesson. If a student shows mastery of a concept being taught, they will then be given a lesson enrichment activity that goes along with the same benchmark being taught or given a higher level thinking activity related to a math concept. Another resource that will be used to differentiate the math instruction is IXL at Each student has received their own login and password for the IXL website. This is a wonderful resource to meet the needs of all students. I encourage students to use this resource at home as much as they would like. Science Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. ~Carl Sagan Science Overview Throughout the year students will gain skills to observe closely, ask questions, wonder, use tools, collect data, use logical thinking, consider alternative explanations, record findings, share information, and build on past experiences to develop new ideas about the world and science. Critical thinking and reflection will be completed in peer, group, and/or class discussions, as well as in student science journals. Refer to your child s science journal to know what s going on in the classroom on a daily basis. Our classroom is an interactive classroom where students are directly involved in their learning and instruction. The learning is memorable, experiential, and will help impact all children with their future learning. Science is a subject that is around us every second of every day, and in our classroom, students will truly become immersed in their learning and take ownership of their accomplishments and understanding. The Van Andel Institute s QPOE model we follow in our science classroom is a framework for engaging students in scientific inquiry while conducting investigations or participating in discourse

6 Science Curriculum Overview The fifth grade science curriculum focuses on three major areas: life science, earth science, and physical science. Throughout our first unit, Systems and Survival, we will focus on living things in the world around us, such as animal classification and ecosystems. At the end of the year, we will learn about the different systems of our bodies. It is a great transition into our Reproductive Health unit that begins in May. As we focus on earth science, we will compare and contrast different rock types, and focus on weathering and erosion. We will also gather an understanding of Earth s history and future through the study of plate tectonics and major geographical events. For the final part of our earth science study, students will examine the sun as a major source of energy and explain how it affects Earth s climate. For our physical science unit, we will investigate wave energy and describe energy transfers. This learning is high level and challenging for students and involves review and application of learning inside and outside the classroom. This area in science is mainly new learning for the fifth graders, so we review the basic principles and build on prior knowledge and life experiences. Reproductive Health will be taught in May. Detailed information and permission slips will come home in April. There will be an optional parent orientation night in which the curriculum will be covered in detail and the educational movies will be previewed. This unit not only encompasses puberty and the changes the body will experience, but it is a time to talk about life: friendships, messages in the media, bullying, and the importance of a strong self-esteem. Please begin speaking with your child about the changes they will experience as they approach puberty. Many of the students are already developing, and it is important that you have conversations about what they are to expect as their bodies are changing prior to our Reproductive Health Unit in May. Language Arts Writing By the time students enter fifth grade, they will have been introduced to most if not all of the new skills expected of fifth-graders. The sequence of fifth grade units consolidates those skills and introduces the learning objectives called for in the sixthgrade standards: how to conduct research using primary sources, how to write narratives that are reflective and theme-based, and how to write argument essays that use counterargument to clarify a position. Students will use the writing process, which includes pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing to practice writing skills learned. We will be writing in the genres of narrative, informational, and opinion/argumentative. In addition, throughout the year we will focus on developing the students skills in the seven traits of writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. We will continually teach the writing skills through mini-lessons and these skills will be applied in a variety of activities such as writing stories, informational pieces, reports, - 6 -

7 reflections, journal entries, and poetry. In the end, students will demonstrate proficiency with: Ideas Students will focus on: choosing an interesting topic or theme, presenting a clear main idea, providing good supporting details, and holding the reader s attention. Organization Students will focus on: including a beginning, middle, and ending, using transitions to show how ideas connect, choosing a structure that matches a given theme, and sequencing ideas in a chosen order. Voice Students will focus on: knowing whom their audience will be, letting their readers see how they feel about the topic, writing as if they were speaking to their readers, and making their reader think about what they have to say. Word Choice Students will focus on: choosing words that make their meaning clear, choosing nouns, verbs, and modifiers that are interesting and exciting, using language that is natural, and choosing words and phrases that catch the readers attention. Sentence Fluency Students will focus on: making their writing fun and easy to read aloud, building sentences that make meaning clear, showing connections between thoughts, varying sentence length and structure, and starting sentences in varied ways. Conventions Students will focus on: spelling, paragraphs, punctuation, grammar and usage, and capitalization. To foster the use of grammar, students will complete daily lessons and will be assessed on the content after each section. Presentation Students will focus on: making their writing look good, leaving white space around and within their writing, using titles, bullets, page numbers, subheadings, and other aids, and adding illustrations and visual aids to clarify meanings. Spelling and Word Study All students will receive spelling instruction in the classroom designed to help them become fluent decoders and spellers. Students will be engaged in a variety of activities each week that will focus on three main goals. The first goal is to teach students how to decode and spell one- and two-syllable words based on words they already know. The second goal is to help students develop a visual checking system when spelling rhyming words with two or more patterns. The last goal will be to teach students key words containing the major prefixes, suffixes and spelling changes and how to use these to decode, spell, and build meaning for many polysyllabic words. Did you know that four prefixes (re, dis, un, and in/im) account for over half of all the prefixes readers will ever see? The most common suffixes (s/es, ed, and ing) account for 65% of all words with suffixes. Research shows that in order to be a proficient speller you must have basic knowledge of word structure. The purpose for learning to decode and spell words is to transfer this knowledge to everyday reading and writing. Weekly spelling activities will - 7 -

8 stress the transfer to reading and writing and create automaticity, which is spelling words without thinking about the spelling of the word. Every other week the students will be given a spelling test. Tests will consist of about twenty words from the spelling lessons presented during class. In addition, there will be transfer words, which are combinations of the prefixes, suffixes, and root words taught during the weekly lessons. Reading The students will be reading in a variety of settings and groups within the classroom. The students will read independently along with completing comprehension activities. We will be focusing on writers craft and the reading comprehension strategies of: making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, synthesizing, and summarizing the main idea. Literature discussion groups and book club talks will be used to practice comprehension skills while reading other pieces of literature. A variety of informational and narrative reading genres will be covered in fifth grade. We will continually evaluate the students reading progress throughout the year. Reading is a very important part of learning each day. For independent reading at home, your child is expected to read a minimum of 150 minutes per week in order to receive an A. An average of minutes will earn a B and will earn a C. The students will be recording their reading minutes on a Reading Minutes Sheet that is in their binder each week. We ask that parents sign their initials next to the minutes read each day. These minutes are totaled and graded in your child s homeroom. Homework Expectations, Assessments, M-STEP Tests, & MAP Tests Homework Expectations In fifth grade, students are guided through large amounts of curriculum. Hands-on activities, differentiation, and explorations are part of everyday learning. The learning experience is one where the student experiences learning. Fifth grade homework may include daily independent reading at home, long-term projects, or other work not completed in class. If you are finding that homework time is exceeding minutes per night, please contact your child s teacher to inform them of this. Learning, processing, and thinking is guided in the classroom, where the teachers can observe, interact, and encourage careful thinking. Within the classroom, reasonable steps will be taken and taught to ensure that your child understands work expectations, as well as what the final product should be. These steps help to develop a final product that allows teachers and students alike to question, develop, and create an end result that is memorable, authentic, and of the highest quality. This age is truly the time when students must become independent learners. Our goal is to prepare for the rigors of middle school and in doing so our homework policy is that all assignments must be turned in on the due date and be of fifth grade quality. Assignments that are one day late will receive a deduction of 10%. Assignments turned in after one day will receive a 0%. In the event of unforeseen homework obstacles, please - 8 -

9 contact your child s teacher. Growth is inevitable when you let your child take on this responsibility of getting their homework completed. Classroom Assessments Students will be assessed on daily activities and assignments, homework, and quizzes, and final assessments. All students will be monitored closely for growth and mastery in curriculum based concepts and skills. On many newly introduced topics guided practice assignments will be assessed with a check plus, check, or check minus. The check plus indicates secure work, the check for progressing in the learning, and a check minus for beginning level work. Long-term projects will come home with checklists, rubrics, and or guidelines to provide expectations and necessary content. Teacher instruction regarding the project will take place in the classroom. Tests will be given at the conclusion of studying a specific skill or topic. Students that earn below a 70% on a final assessment will be given a re-take test after appropriate review time. The highest possible final assessment grade a student may receive from retaking a test is 70%. Report cards will be given in January and June. Traditional grades will be given for each benchmark in each curriculum area. You will also be given a progress report at conferences in October and March. M-STEP Tests & MAP Tests All 5 th graders in the state of Michigan will be taking the state required English Language Arts, Math, and Social Studies M-STEP Tests. The students will be well prepared for what to expect on these tests. We will focus on making this a positive testing experience. We will inform you of the specific M-STEP test dates once they are set by the Michigan Department of Education. It is important for your child to be present during the testing times. Please try to schedule appointments around these times. You can help your child do his/her best on these tests by making sure they get adequate sleep each night and a well-balanced breakfast each morning. You can also help by reducing the student s stress and helping them start their morning out great. It is important to let your child know you are thinking of them. Also, let them know you are confident in his/her ability to do well. You are an important part of your child s performance. The Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Tests are an online test that gives us immediate feedback as to where your child s reading, language usage and math level is. MAP testing will take place two times this year, in the fall and winter. The results of these tests help to drive our instruction for each student

10 Technology Throughout the school year, the fifth grade teachers will be incorporating the use of technology into their daily lessons. Each fifth grade classroom has an interactive Smart Board to incorporate into our daily lessons. Lakeside has one computer lab and each fifth grade classroom has a full classroom set of Chromebooks. The use of computers at home will also be very important for long-term projects and various assignments. Internet access at home will be useful for research and constant supervision is suggested. Expectations of Students Lakeside Elementary is known as the school where Kindness Counts and as fifth grade teachers and students, we will role model this behavior daily for the entire school. We are a school where all students can feel safe and welcome. With zero tolerance for bullying, all behaviors that fall under this category will be written up and reported to the principal and homeroom teacher. Parents will be notified of any infraction. Throughout the year, students will have the opportunity to work with their peers in groups or pairs. Respect for others in all situations will be modeled and taught. We hope that as your child prepares to go to middle school, they will have adopted a value system that they themselves, their teachers, administration, and parents would be proud of. Students will know that they will always have a network of peers that will support them at any time. Student Planners Student Independence and Ownership Students are responsible for their own schoolwork. There should be an appointed area in your home and a specific time when homework is completed each day. This predictability will help prevent arguments, frustration, and incomplete or missing assignments. Your child is ultimately responsible for the product of work that comes back to school, thus it is their responsibility to complete the work in a reasonable amount of time and of superior quality. Do not feel like you have to edit or check over their final product of work. As teachers, it is our job to raise each child s awareness and increase personal expectations and ownership for homework. Parental Help Each evening you can help your child by looking over the assignments that are recorded in the Daily Planner. Double check that your child has completed all of the assignments and that they are in their binders to return to school the next day. Make sure your child has recorded the number of minutes he/she has read independently on their Reading Minutes Slip. Finally, sign the planner in the box marked, Parent Signature. Your signature signifies that you ve seen the homework that was completed, as well as witnessed your child reading for the reported minutes

11 The Student Planner must be signed and returned to school daily. At the end of each day, students will be given time to write down all of their homework assignments in their student planners. Homework assignments recorded in the planner are due the next day, unless otherwise specified by the teacher. The student planner is a great tool for learning organization and a wonderful way to keep you informed of the assignments that your child is working on. Over weekends, holidays, or breaks, a parent signature is required on only one of the days. There is a comment section available in the planner, but because the planners are out on desks and visible to all students, we would ask that parents send in separate notes with their children if they want to communicate to the teacher for confidentiality purposes. Fifth Grade Economic System The fifth grade students will get a taste for what it feels like in the Real World as they learn about economics through the use of a classroom banking system. Each student will have a checking account and receive a checkbook and register that they will be responsible for keeping balanced. Together as a class we will decide how they can earn and spend their Fifth Grade Francs within the classrooms. In addition, students will have the opportunity to learn about the pros and cons of using a credit card and will quickly realize how interest can affect them. One way the students can earn money is by getting a classroom job. The students will be given a paycheck on a bi-weekly basis for completing the necessary responsibilities related to their job. Taxes will be subtracted from their gross income in their paychecks. The students will also have to pay their property taxes twice a year. We will attempt to simulate the Real World as much as possible while using economics. In June we will have a fifth grade auction, where students will be able to spend their hard-earned money and learn more about economics. To make our auction successful, we need to collect items throughout the year that will excite the fifth graders and motivate them to earn and save their money. Parental involvement in gathering, collecting, and donating auction items will help make the auction a success

12 Parental Involvement The Fifth Grade team encourages all parents to become involved in the education of their child. Throughout the year we will be in need of volunteers for a wide variety of activities and programs. Please don t hesitate to contact your child s teacher if you wish to help in any way. Classroom Parties There will be three classroom parties throughout the school year: Halloween Party- October 31 st December Holiday Party- December 16 th Valentine s Party- February 14 th Classroom parents will organize activities for all children that are secular. Each homeroom teacher will communicate with the parent in charge one week prior to the party to review plans. Fifth Grade Events Throughout the year parents will have the opportunity to assist with curriculum related activities. We will need chaperones, teachers, drivers, leaders, and volunteers for many events. We will all parents prior to each event to request volunteers. If we have an abundance of parents that volunteer for a particular activity, we will draw names. Our hope is to include all willing parents in at least one activity. In addition, we will be collecting money for the individual field trips as they arise rather than collecting for all of them at the beginning of the year. We do this because we need to collect a large amount of money for camp at the very beginning of the year and we find that the amount changes from year to year and we want to make sure we are accurately collecting for each event. Here are some details regarding activities for the school year. Mystic Lake Overnight Camp: 8:15 am on September 19 th through 3:45 pm on September 20 th. For this trip, we will be taking sixteen parents (eight fathers, eight mothers) to encourage, support, and monitor students. The camp counselors will be teaching all of the lessons and guiding all activities. Cost per student: $80 Hoffmaster: Thursday, October 20th. (Weather Permitting) We will explore the beauty of our Michigan forests and dunes. Throughout the morning, we will have the opportunity to see multiple ecosystems and the animals within their environment. It is a refreshing, beautiful way for us to experience our fifth grade life science first-hand. We will be concluding the morning with an alfresco lunch in the woods with our classes. We will need approximately five parents from each class to join us and drive on this field trip. Cost per student: $5 Colonial Day: This learning experience will take place at the beginning of March. Many parents will be needed to assist with the various activities throughout the day and the Colonial Feast

13 Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village: In June, fifteen parents will be needed to chaperone a group of students as well as encourage and support learning while they walk through the museum and village. We will travel via charter busses to and from Dearborn, Michigan. Cost per student: TBD 5 th Grade Farewell: Friday, June 16 th. The fifth grade team will host a meeting in April to designate sub-groups (such as, memory books, DVDs, keepsake, family picnic, fifth grade auction, and decorations) of volunteers to help with the special farewell event. Anyone is welcome to attend this meeting and volunteer their help! We thank you in advance for your interest in making the end of elementary school a memorable one for our fifth graders. Cost per student: TBD We will schedule other field trips/service projects throughout the year and will keep you updated once we know the details and dates. Conferences Fall and Spring Conferences This fall and spring you are invited to attend our student involved conferences. Students are welcomed to attend these conferences with their parents. We feel it is important for students to hear what is discussed and be able to reflect upon academic progress. This conference will last fifteen minutes and will take place in the child s homeroom. Progress reports will be handed out at this time. Snacks and Treats Breakfast Eating a good breakfast is very important. This fuel will help stimulate brain activity and create a positive climate within the classroom. Snacks Children are encouraged to bring a healthy snack each day to school. After their first recess, at 10:25, they are allowed to eat the snack while learning. Snacks should not require cutting, cooking, peeling, or napkins. It should be food that can be quickly eaten with minimal mess. Celebrating Student Birthdays Celebrating birthdays in fifth grade is special for the students since it is their last opportunity to celebrate at school with their peers in a classroom. Please coordinate with your child s homeroom teacher as to when the best date and time to celebrate your child s birthday. We ask that you either send it in with your child at the beginning of the day or drop it off in the office. You may either send in a treat to eat or a small item for your

14 child to pass out to each student in the classroom. Like the snack, it should be something that can be eaten and/or drank with minimal mess or work. Students pass out the treats to their peers, so it should be in an easy serving container of some sort. Please provide napkins, cups, plates, etc. if the treat needs those supplies. No peanut/tree nut treats. We ask that you send in enough treats for the whole class. Parent and Teacher Communication Communication is a vital component of any relationship. We plan to keep our communication open to parents in a number of different ways. These will include a newsletter blog, s, voice mails, websites, and a phone tree. Newsletter Blog & Website This year we are going to have an ongoing updated fifth grade newsletter by using a blog. We will continually update the blog any time we have new information and to let you know what is happening in our classes. This news blog will be linked to our fifth grade team website. You can access this through the Lakeside Elementary website by clicking on the staff directory. Feel free to check it out any time you want. We will occasionally send out an to remind you to check the new postings on the news blog. In addition, you can subscribe to the news blog so that you can get updates as we post them. This will be one way that we will communicate with all the parents. In addition to the news blog, you can also find a variety of other helpful information on our fifth grade team website including: daily planner of possible homework, important dates, newsletter blog, this Parent Information Packet for reference, any duplicate forms and copies, helpful online links for your child to use, and fifth grade pictures of activities and events. To access the pictures through our website, you need to create a free account with your own personal login and password. Then you can login to our 5 th grade Shutterfly page with the password Lakeside. Voic & Please feel free to contact us if you ever have any questions or concerns. You can reach us by or leave a voic at (616) : -Mrs. Benham voic extension: kbenham@egrps.org -Mrs. Lecours voic extension: klecours@egrps.org -Mr. Scheidel voic extension: bscheide@egrps.org

15 Absences Responsibilities When Absent If circumstances prevent your child from attending school, the child will be responsible for obtaining an Absence Form, which states incomplete homework or in-class work that was missed. The day that he/she returns they will collect their absence folder and form from the student absence helper. The student helper and teacher together will explain assignments that were missed and class work that was completed. Please report all absences to the homeroom teacher and the Lakeside office. Making Up Missed Work Keep in mind that all work missed may not be able to be made up at home. Some teacher assistance may be needed and your son/daughter will need to stay in at recess for instruction. The Absence Form will go home with the student the day he/she returns. Depending on how many days the child has missed, the student is granted one day per day absent to make up missing assignments. Family Vacations Families are encouraged to use breaks and holidays for extended vacations. If you choose to go on an extended vacation (3 days or more) during school, teachers will not always be able to provide the assignments and activities that your child will be missing. If extensive curriculum is missed, those standards may not be assessed on the report card. Appointments Schedule doctor and dental appointments before or after school hours if at all possible. Notify the school office and your child s homeroom teacher if the scheduling of appointments during the school day is unavoidable. Picking Up and Dropping Off Your Child When picking up your child from school during school hours, you must sign your son or daughter out in the main office and the secretary will call them down when you arrive in the office. Your child may not exit the building without you or meet you in the parking lot. When dropping off your child during the school day, like when a child returns from an appointment or is tardy, you must escort your child into the office and sign them in

16 Lockers Each student in fifth grade has been assigned a locker. This locker will be used on a daily basis to hold all of their materials and personal items. We will not be storing much in an individual desk in order to help the fifth graders transition into a middle school routine. The lockers will be cleaned and organized on a regular basis. We ask that the lockers not be decorated for birthdays and other individual events. Thank you for your help with this matter. We Greatly Appreciate Your Support!