First Week of School 2014-15

5M Highlights:

• Welcome back! We have had a wonderful first week back. Your children have done a great job following our #1 rule – Everyone deserves to be treated with kindness and respect. 
• We have had three main goals this week: 1)To get to know one another, 2) To learn the procedures and routines that help our classroom run smoothly, and 3) To do some assessments and organizational work to get us ready to learn. 
• Thank you all for the thoughtful input you have given me on the Parent Surveys. The faster I can get to know your children, the better I can teach them. 
• By now you have seen your child’s black Planner/Reading Log.  This will come home nightly with a list of homework.  It will be initialed by me and I would like you to initial it as well.  After a few months if I see that your child completes quality homework consistently, I will let you know that your initial is no longer required. 
• Homework expectations for fifth grade are 50 minutes or less.  If your child is consistently spending more than 50 minutes per night on homework, please let me know.  The expectation is that your child reads at least 15 minutes per night and should log this reading on the weekly reading log. I ask for your help in holding your child accountable for this reading and for being honest with the minutes logged.  I am willing to be flexible with this required reading. If your child plays soccer on Wednesdays, for example, and your child would like to read double on Tuesdays or Thursdays to make up for not reading Wednesdays this is ok with me.  I would not, however, like to see your student waiting until the end of the week to do all his/her minutes. 
• I do have a classroom website that you can access through the Skillin School website.  I am fairly good about keeping up with my blog, calendar, news, pictures, etc… I do understand that not all families have internet access, so these Friday Reports are a good source of weekly information. 
• Please do not hesitate to contact me via email, notes in planners, or phone calls before or after school with questions or concerns.  Maintaining open lines of communication is very important to me. 
• Today we enjoyed a band demonstration put on by Mr. Furman, the band teacher, and some former Skillin students. This demo was meant to give students an idea about what instruments they could play in fifth grade band. Many students are very much looking forward to joining the school band. Participation in band is not mandatory. If your student chooses not to participate, he or she will be working in the classroom toward other academic goals.