Team Fleet
Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year!
My name is Megan Fleet and I am so excited to be teaching 5th grade at Gold Rush Elementary and I can't wait to get to know your family this year!
Below you will find important information about upcoming events to help kick off our school year together. Please don't hesitate to reach out with questions as you explore our class website and start thinking about all things FIFTH GRADE!!!
August Curriculum Update
Welcome to an exciting new school year! I am thrilled to have your children in my class, and I look forward to a year full of learning and growth. Here’s an overview of what we will be focusing on this month:
Reading: We are launching our reader’s workshop by establishing our routines in whole-group, small-group, conferring, and independent reading. These routines will help create a structured and supportive environment where each student can thrive.
Unit 1: Partners in Survival In this unit, students will explore how living things help one another survive through interactive read-alouds. This theme will guide our reading activities and discussions as we dive into various texts. Here are some key skills and concepts we will be focusing on:
Asking Questions: Encouraging curiosity and deep thinking about the text.
Inferring the Central (Main) Ideas: Understanding the main messages and themes.
Building Vocabulary: Use Context Clues (Synonyms): Expanding vocabulary through context.
Analyzing Text Structure: Cause-and-Effect: Identifying relationships within the text.
Building Vocabulary: Consult Resources to Clarify Meaning: Using tools to understand new words.
Analyzing First-Person Point of View: Understanding the perspective of the narrator.
Explaining Author’s Purpose and Message: Determining why the author wrote the text.
Introduction to the Genre of Poetry: Exploring the unique elements of poetry.
Writing:
Students will start with an assessment to gauge their current skills and set goals. Following this, we will begin our Paragraph Bootcamp unit, where students will learn strategies for developing coherent and well-supported body paragraphs, including topic sentences, supporting details, and transitions.
5th grade Math:
In Topic 1, we will extend students' understanding of place value to one million and include reading and writing numbers with exponents. Students will use patterns and positive exponents to write and interpret products involving powers of 10. We will also work on comparing and rounding numbers by understanding the relationship between the values of digits in different places.
Science: Students will study Matter and Energy Flow in an Ecosystem by investigating how animals depend on the Sun (other than for heat), how plants keep growing bigger, and whether all organisms eat plants.
Math Block:
Attendance is extremely important, especially at the end of the day during our math block. Please try to avoid scheduling afternoon appointments or leaving early. While I understand that these can't always be avoided, minimizing them will be very beneficial for your student. Keeping your child from falling behind and preparing them for middle school is my top priority.
Homework:
5th graders are asked to read for 100 minutes per week.
Math homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday, except on testing days.
Student Information Form (also linked above)
If you could, please fill out this form to help me get to know your child. We will find our time running short at Meet the Teacher, so this will help give me information prior to meeting your child and you. If there is anything personal about your child that you do not want to share with other families around, please make sure to include that in the form so that I can learn more about your child.
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, August 6th
MEET YOUR TEACHER & PICTURE DAY (GRADES 1-5)
We believe that it is important for students to have the opportunity to meet their teacher and visit their classroom prior to the first day of school. Families are welcome to visit their classroom on Tuesday, August 6th, and drop off school supplies. Students will take their school picture in the gym after they visit their classroom.
We want to ensure that families are able to spend time with the teacher in a small group setting, so we ask that parents sign up for one of the time slots shown above. Click here for our online scheduler which opens July 20th and closes July 28th. The password is digger. The sign up is first come first serve, so please sign up as soon as possible if you have a preferred time or you wish to align siblings’ times. School supplies ordered through the PTO will be delivered to your child’s classroom. Click here for a map of teachers’ classrooms.
Wednesday, August 7th
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL & FLAG CEREMONY (GRADES 1-5 ONLY)
The first full day of school for students in grades 1-5 is Wednesday, August 7th. Students will meet their teachers on the front blacktop on the first day of school for an opening flag ceremony that begins at 8:30 AM. Click here for a map of your classroom location for our opening ceremony. All teachers will have a sign with their name on it. Students will walk into school with their teacher at the end of the ceremony.
On the second day of school students will enter the building at their assigned locations between 8:20 AM-8:30 AM and walk directly to their classrooms. These locations are different from where students met for the opening Flag Ceremony. Click here for year long classroom arrival locations. Teachers and older students will assist our younger students. Parents of preschool students need to walk their children through the preschool playground to the preschool door and sign their child in.
Wednesday, August 21st @ 4:30-5:00 or 5:10-5:40
BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT (K-5)
Mark your calendars for Back to School Night! This is a great way to get to know your child's teacher and learn about the coming school year.
The principal will share school celebrations and school goals in the gym from 4:15-4:30 PM. Teachers will then present an overview of the school year at 4:35-5:05 PM and 5:05-5:35 PM in their classrooms. Back to School Night is intended for parents only.
We hope you will join us for these informative sessions!
GRE's ARRIVAL & DISMISSAL Logistics
ARRIVAL
Gold Rush has had tremendous success with our rolling start! If you are returning to Gold Rush, you are aware that all students enter the building between 8:20-8:30 AM and head directly to their classroom. Grade levels/classrooms are assigned a specific entrance and all entrances are monitored at 8:20 AM by GRE staff.
Classroom teachers will show students how to enter the building and proceed to their classroom on the first day of school. Additional adults will be present to support students during the first week of school.
It is imperative that students are not dropped off prior to 8:20 AM unless they have a previously scheduled meeting or activity as supervision is not available.
DISMISSAL
We also had great success with our staggered dismissal times for primary and intermediate students. Please see GRE’s dismissal schedule below.
3:20 PM
Kindergarten
3:25 PM
Grades 1 & 2
3:30 PM
Grades 3-5
**Rolling carloop begins
At 3:20 PM Kindergarten teachers will walk their students out their exterior classroom door. Students in first and second grade will follow out the main entrance at 3:25. K-2 teachers will meet at the same place students lined up during arrival. Please see the map below or click here.
At 3:30 PM 3-5 teachers will walk students out of the building. Third graders will dismiss out the main entrance and fourth and fifth graders will dismiss out the back gym doors. Teachers will escort students who are getting picked up in the carloop to the shade structure on the front blacktop.
Parents can park and meet their child at their teacher's identified location or use the rolling car loop. The car loop for all students will begin at 3:30 PM. Parents cannot park in the loop at any time before or after school.
