Welcome to grade five!
The 5CC classroom is a place where I would like students to feel welcome and open to being themselves each and every day. I emphasize, in all subject areas, the importance of having a 'growth mindset' - to be ok with making mistakes and recognizing that this is how we learn, grow, and improve. We will learn from, respect, and be kind to one another because 5CC is a team that is only its best with all of our combined strengths, weaknesses, and differences.
As part of the Grade 5 Literacy, students are expected to develop a daily reading program. They are encouraged to read at least 20 minutes each day and they are to record their reading on their digital reading log. (see reading logs page) . While reading their novels, students are also encouraged to read aloud to someone at home at least once a week in order to further develop their fluency and expression skills.
The students will bring home a planner DAILY to be checked by you, as to keep you in the loop with everything going on - homework, assignments, presentation dates, etc. I see 5CC at the end of every day and we will remind them to take time to update our planners before home time. I will check each planner on Mondays and Fridays to ensure that they are accurate and have been filling them out. Homework due dates are most often assigned well in advance. In class, we are emphasizing, with students, the importance of best effort on all assignments and punctuality. Our goal is that all students will be demonstrating excellent RESPONSIBILITY, ORGANIZATION, INDEPENDENT WORK, COLLABORATION, INITIATIVE, and SELF-REGULATION skills. We will appreciate your consistent support at home with the reinforcement of these important LEARNING SKILLS.
We will have spelling dictations every other Tuesday and the list words usually relate to the units we are studying. We introduce the students to spelling patterns and rules and we encourage students to chunk the words when they are learning to spell them. This method is very helpful to develop strong spelling skills. I also find that this is a great way for students to practice their study skills and habits and practice ways to improve on them.
Each month, we will focus on a different style of poetry. The students will be taught the poetry style and will then write a rough copy in their Literacy Section in their binder. Students are then expected to complete a good copy of their poem and to add pictures, drawings, photos, borders, etc. which will be put into a poetry book at the end of the year. This expectation will work on visual display and publishing skills. The published copies of their poem will always be due near the end of each month.