FYI – For Your Information. . .

A           Attendance:  It is essential that your child keep good attendance in school to prepare for testing and future grade levels. Please view school as a priority and see to it that your child attends everyday except in cases of illness or emergency. 

B     Book Orders: Book orders will be sent home several times a year. This is a great resource for purchasing books inexpensively. Please send checks made payable to Scholastic.

Birthdays: You may send a treat to celebrate your child’s birthday. These will be usually be served during the last period of the day. Send invitations to school if all children are invited.

C     Curriculum: Neal – Math/Science; Kalich – Reading/English/Spelling/Social Studies.

D     Dismissal:  School ends at 3:25.  All children should be picked up promptly or ride the bus.  You must send a note if your child is to go home a different way than his/her normal schedule.

E     Emergencies:  Please make sure we have emergency numbers and information on file for your child.

F      Field Trips: Our class will       

participate in field trips this year. Permission slips must be returned for your child to attend.

G     Grading Scale: The following grading scale is used in 5th grade:  A=90-100, B=80-89, C=70-79, F=69 & below. All graded work will be sent home in a take-home folder on Friday. Sign & return Monday.

H     Homework: We try to keep homework to a minimum. Spelling packets are assigned every Monday. Math assignments not completed in class will be finished at home.

I      Internet: Your child will use the Internet to conduct research this year and participate in learning activities. In order to do this, we must have your permission. The teacher will guide all Internet searches.

J      Journals: Your child will write in a journal throughout the school year. Sometimes this will be an arrival activity other times this may be a reflection activity.

K     Kindness: Students will demonstrate kindness and respect each day. Remember the Golden Rule! Treat others as you wish to be treated! J

L      Lunch:  Time – 12:05 PM until 12:25 PM; Cost – Lunch $1.50 & Breakfast $1.00.

 M       Monday: Students will need to bring signed planners and homework folders to school each Monday.

N     Newsletters:  A newsletter will be sent home every Monday to keep parents informed of the learning activities & content, upcoming events, and student achievements.

O     Organization:  Good organization is important to your child’s success! Help your child periodically clean out folders and his/her backpack.

P     Planners:  Your child will be expected to write assignments, tests, and special notes in their planners. Parents/Guardians will need to look these over on Friday and sign. Return Monday.

Q     Quiet:  Quiet classrooms create an atmosphere that is conducive to learning. All students will be expected to respect learning time.

R     Reading:  Reading instruction will be taught through author studies and genre studies in our room. This will challenge all readers and broaden their knowledge of literature. Students will be required to earn 5 Accelerated Reader (AR) points per six week period for a grade. J

S     Scientist of the Week:  Every Friday one student from each class will conduct a science experiment for the class. 

T     Tardies:  Students should be in the classroom by 7:50 AM. Arriving after this time causes students to lose instructional time.

U     United States Capitals: Students will be learning the names of the 50 states and capitals this year.

V     Vocabulary:  Vocabulary and spelling words should be studied throughout each week. Students will also need to study prefixes, suffixes, or root words that are assigned weekly. These will be tested on Fridays.

W     Website: For additional information check out our website.

Water: Your child may bring a water bottle to keep at his/her desk as long as it has a lid to prevent spills.

XYZ   We are extra thrilled to teach your student this year! J

Online Dictionaries for Kids:

From: http://familyinternet.about.com/od/websites/tp/kidsdictionaries.htm

There are plenty of online dictionaries, but only a few cater to kids. Are you looking for an online dictionary for kids to have age-appropriate definitions and language? Here are some to help your children with their homework, research, and curiosity:

Yahoo! Kids Online Dictionary

The Yahoo! Kids dictionary is an online edition of the American Heritage Dictionary by Houghton Mifflin. A search with Yahoo! Kids provides a list of possible words meeting the query. For example, the word "earthquake" returns results for both "earthquake" and "earthquake engineer." The dictionary provides suggestions for misspelled words. Click on the word of interest and you will receive an in-depth result, including a sound file with the word pronunciation, multiple definitions (when appropriate), and the etymology (word origin). This is a great dictionary for kids.

http://kids.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/english

Word Central Student Dictionary

Word Central uses the Merriam-Webster dictionary to provide results. If a user misspells a word, the dictionary will provide suggestions for the correct spelling. It also provides suggestions for words that may have multiple interpretations. For example, a search for "Scientist" offers a number of options including "earth scientist," "social scientist" and "political science." Each definition includes a sound file for pronunciation. It is a nice dictionary for kids.

http://www.wordcentral.com/

Little Explorers Picture Dictionary

This dictionary is geared towards very young learners and is designed to be browsed, rather than searched. It behaves more like an encyclopedia than a dictionary. Each entry has an illustration and a couple of sentences about the topic. Many entries include a link to find more information. The words in the Little Explorers dictionary range from extremely common ("hair") to relatively obscure ("Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterfly" - the largest butterfly in the world, according to Little Explorers).

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Dictionary.html

Wordsmyth

Wordsmyth is a full-featured dictionary including pronunciation, animation, synonyms, photographs, and etymology. Users have the option to search with three different levels: Beginner's, Children's, and Advanced. The Beginner's level is the most simple, focusing on a simple primary definition. Children's is slightly more complex with multiple simple definitions. The site will also create a few different types of quizzes, so kids can use it for a practice tool as well.

http://new.wordsmyth.net/

Dictionary.com

This is the dictionary used in the fifth grade classroom for revising and editing papers. It includes a thesaurus, encyclopedia, and translator.

http://dictionary.reference.com/