- What is Cook Cash?
- What is HWK like in 5th Grade?
- What is Writing Workshop?
- What is life like in 5th Grade?
- What happens of if I score below 70% on a Grade?
- Can you post the supply list?
- How does grading work?
- How can parents help?
- What do I (the teacher) expect?
- When and what are the Field Trips?
- What is circle/council?
- How do we work together in 5th Grade?
What is Cook Cash?
Cook-Cash
The aims of Cook-Cash are to:
are to:
Help prepare students for the real-world by having a classroom
micro society.
To develop and improve real-world Math skills.
To foster and maintain a motivated, positive, and productive
classroom atmosphere
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Wages ($250) will be paid at the end of each month.
Rent for desks ($250) is due at the end of each month.
Taxes, (income, business, property) are paid twice a year
Students are given money for HWK sigs, signed tests, neatness,
and organization
Students may buy their desk for $800.
Students may buy other peoples desks and then rent them out
To generate cash. There will be a Wild Auction at the end of each
month. Students must bring in an item from home (with parent
permission), that they would like to sell.
Students must own and run a business.
Students may buy tickets for class privileges. These include
passes for HWK, food, sofas and hats.
What is HWK like in 5th Grade?
Homework 5G
40 minutes per night + reading (20 minutes). 1 Hour in
total.
Sometimes it will be more than this. Often it will be less.
There are no excuses. Get it done.
If it is not done, it will be completed during recess/lunch time.
There will often be opportunities to begin HWK in class.
Regularly not completing your HWK will effect your grade.
Sometimes students will be given HWK that is due a number of days
later. Get into the habit of good time management. This means not
leaving your work until the night before/last minute. You will
stress out yourself and your parents and will probably get a poor
Grade.
HWK is a necessary and important part of school studies,and is
essential to help students develop into responsible and
disciplined learners.
What is Writing Workshop?
These are the writing assignments the students will do this year.
Each assignment is a 3-week process from beginning to end,
and part of a sequential writing development program designed to
foster confident and Grade proficient writing. The numbers in
parentheses relate to the relevant
California Writing Standards.
1) September Me, myself & I (2)
2) October A time I was most embarrassed/proud (2)
3) November Poetry Book (4)
4) November Social Studies Book (POWERPOINT)
5) December Xmas/end-of year-letter (5)
6) January Weather/Natures fury (2)
7) February Persuasive essay (5)
8) March Persuasive Essay 2 (5)
9) April A Narrative Story
10) May A School story
11) June Big Sur Diary
What is life like in 5th Grade?
These are some of the comments my students made at the end of the
year. You may have some questions based on these observations!
Mr. Cooks Beware list or
How to survive Mr. Cooks Fifth Grade class
By 5G
1. Dont raise your hand while Mr. Cook is
talking.it drives him crazy
2. Always write in cursive after Christmas or he will not accept
your work
3. Sometimes his accent is hard to understand
4. He does awesome field trips
5. Sometimes Mr. Cook might lose your work especially if you give
assignments in early
6. Dont be late.there will be consequences and you will sometimes
be locked out of the classroom
7. Never tip your chair. There will be trouble if you do
8. Mr. Cook loves camping
9. Mr. Cook has 2 kids
10. Mr. Cook is obsessed with soccer
11. Do not whine Mr.Cook doesnt like it
12. If you ask Mr. Cook about his kids he will talk a long time
and this will give you a break from working.
13. Watch American Idol to get on his good side
14. Never ask for Dragon bucks
15. Cookcash is a lot of fun
16. We take a lot of breaks
17. Mr. Cook likes to do musical things
18. We watch TV a lot
19. Do not ask Mr. Cook to spell words. He'll make you look in a
dictionary
20.Do not sharpen your pencil while Mr. Cook is talking
21.He knows nothing about baseball
22.We do lots of different sports
23.He says hamburger wrong
24.Dont blurt
25.Take care of the classroom. it must be sparkly clean
26.You have to read 25 novels a year
What happens of if I score below 70% on a Grade?
Any item of work that is 69% or below is a failing Grade. As a
rule, I do not accept failing Grades. Any piece of work that is
in this category needs to be done again.
Can you post the supply list?
Students are asked to bring the following supplies to school on
the first day.
We will be providing student binders this year.
• Language Arts composition book (Mead)
• Math composition book (Mead, Quadrille)
• Social studies/Science composition book (Mead)
• A pack of colored Pencils
• 10 + regular pencils, sharpened
• Small pencil sharpeners (not battery operated)
• 4 XL (cloth) book covers
• 3 glue sticks
• 2 pencil erasers
• A set of colored markers
• A set of crayons (make sure it contains the eight basic
colors)
• One pair of student scissors
• Two red pens for correcting
• Ruler with inches and centimeters
• Two highlighters
• Large Pack of index cards for flashcards
• Pencil Box
• Protractor
• Basic Calculator
• Clipboards
How does grading work?
Students will receive Grades continuously. Please check the
website mygradebook.com
Report cards will go home at the end of each semester
Progress reports will come home on a regular (bi-weekly) basis
I do not give students Grades, they earn them
All work is due on a set date. If the student does not hand in
the
piece of work on this due date, they will be given a 0.
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The exceptions to this are absences and illness.
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All Math work that is incorrect will be worked through and re-
taught, if
necessary, the following day. However, the original grade will
remain.
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As well as numbers, you will see Non-Numeric Scoring Codes:
? Unscored.
Does not affect grades. This code is automatically given as the
default score when assignments are created.
EXC Excused.
No score and does not affect grades.
INC Incomplete.
Graded as a zero.
MIS Missing.
Graded as a zero. This code is used when the student has not
turned in an assignment.
How can parents help?
Assist the class in any way you can
(no deed is too small, or goes unnoticed)
Monitor (but don’t do) Homework
Fulfill volunteer hours
Deliver your children to school well fed, on time, and prepared
Attend Back to School and Parent conference night
If you have any questions/issues, please communicate these
concerns to me straight away.
Read and respond to all items in the student folder
Check and sign for Hwk every night
Regularly check the Website
Participation in driving for Field trips
In the 5th Grade, any problem/challenge is an opportunity for
learning and finding solutions – for both students and parents
What do I (the teacher) expect?
Students will learn responsibility in the face of challenges -
this is how they will learn what is right and wrong, what works
and doesn’t work. We can best serve our children by giving them
every opportunity to fall, pick themselves up, dust themselves
off, and start again”
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“Every challenge, however big or small, is an opportunity for
growth, for new awareness, and for the blossoming of potential”
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“It is rare that we sow and harvest in the same season”
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I will endeavor to practice patience, trust, persistence, and
unconditional acceptance to all of the students in my care”
When and what are the Field Trips?
September Sage Hill Campout
November Santa Barbara Art Museum and Ty Warner Sea Center
December Xmas Concert (Cal Poly)
January Santa Barbara Film Festival
February UCSB Science center
March Cal Poly School of engineering and architecture
April SB Natural History Museum
May 5th Grade Hike to Cachuma saddle
June Big Sur camping trip
What is circle/council?
The 5th Grade classroom actively follows the character counts
program. We use Circle/Council for Conflict resolution/peer
mediation is used in the playground and in the classroom.
Students are guided in the mediation process.
Building a peaceful community is the intention.
The core elements of conflict resolution are:
Cooperation
Calmness
A willingness to work out differences
An ability to work collaboratively with problems
Openness and acceptance
The ability to say “I’m human, I’ve made a mistake, I’ll try
again”.
Most of all, Students need to know that they
have choices in the way they resolve conflicts.
How do we work together in 5th Grade?
Support groups in 5th Grade
How we can work (it out) together
• Value and respect others’ space
• Respect others’ things
• Ask for help
• Give help “How can I help you”
We can all talk – the greatest gift is to listen
• Everyone has a right to learn
• Avoid “I” – instead use “What do you think if….”
or “What about…”
This will help create a peaceful, cooperative, productive and
happy classroom where everyone feels heard, seen, and valued.
CARES
COOPERATION
We work together in order to be successful – we listen to, care
for, and look out for our classmates
ASSERTION
We clearly, calmly, and respectfully state our needs – we stand
up for ourselves and our right to learn and be heard
RESPONSIBILITY
We strive everyday to do the right thing, so that our actions are
a model for others and a credit to ourselves
EMPATHY
We are always conscious of the needs and feelings of others, and
this will help to modify our actions and words
SELF-CONTROL
We are aware that our words and actions affect others, and that
in order for us to have a peaceful classroom, we must behave in a
way that is respectful to, and considerate of, everyone in our
classroom