Parent Handbook

Ms. Davis
Room D-3
adavis@travisusd.org
msdavisfifthgrade.weebly.com

Fifth Grade
2018-2019
Foxboro Elementary School
 Class Schedule
P.E. Music/Band Library Buddies
Wednesdays Tuesdays Thursdays TBD
10:15-10:45 11:40-12:25 2:10-2:40
Fridays
1:55-2:40

The Home/School Connection

Communication between home and school is essential for a successful school year. Our relationship is truly
a partnership; one designed to facilitate your child’s academic and social growth. Should you have any
questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me either through a note, via telephone, or e-mail.
I also ask that you please keep me informed of any major changes within the home that may affect your
child. This will help me greatly in understanding behavior and making modifications to the workload when
needed. I can be reached by telephone at (707) 447-7883 and by e-mail at adavis@travisusd.org.

My Expectations
I expect…
…each student to do their personal best on every assignment.
…each student to arrive at school on time.
…each student to complete his/her work neatly and on time.
…each student to follow class and school rules.
…each student to carry himself/herself with respect, and to demonstrate an attitude of respect for
their peers, teachers, and parents.

Classroom Management
We have three class rules. They are: 1) Be safe, 2) Be respectful and 3) Be responsible.
Our classroom expectations are:
1) Use “whole body” listening, 2) Focus on the task at hand, 3) Do your part to keep the classroom
organized, 4) Celebrate one another’s successes; have a growth mindset and 5) Be a good role
model.
These rules will be the focus of class discussions during the first week of school. All students will help
brainstorm what our ideal classroom should look like when everyone behaves according to these simple
guidelines. As a result, all members of our classroom community know what is expected of them on a daily
basis.
To help manage behaviors in class, all fourth, fifth and sixth grade classrooms will be using the same
management system. If a student is doing something he or she shouldn’t be doing, a warning will be given.
If it continues, the child will be asked to fill out a reflection sheet which the teacher will keep. If the behavior
still continues, the child will fill out an additional reflection sheet. At this point, a phone call home to the
parents or guardians will occur. Both reflection sheets will be sent home for parents or guardians to review,
sign and return to school.
We will be using Class Dojo which is a fun and exciting behavior management system. There will be both
positive and negative behaviors included. Currently, students will not be docked points for the negative
behaviors. Individual and whole class rewards may be earned based on points.
As a reward for consistently positive behavior, the class as a whole can earn mini-celebrations by
accumulating a specific amount of Class Dojo points. Students will also receive positive notes home for
when they are exhibiting good behavior.
 How Can You Help?
There are a number of things you can do at home to help your child have a rewarding and successful year.
They include:
• Providing genuine, positive feedback regarding both work and behavior.
• Asking specific questions about units of study in class. For example, “Wow! You can read and
write numbers in the billions! Tell me, how would you read 2,090,343,086?”
• Making sure your child gets a good night’s sleep, starts the day with a healthy breakfast, and
arrives at school on time. These factors make a huge difference in the classroom in the morning.
• Supporting both my efforts and those of the Foxboro community by ensuring that your child
attends class regularly and has sufficient after school time to complete all homework, including
30 minutes of reading each night.
• Read alongside with your child and discuss what you both have read as he or she tries to
complete the 40 book challenge this school year.
I look forward to partnering with you in your child’s education. YOU are
your child’s first and most important teacher. Please let me know if you
have any questions or concerns.

Homework
Fifth graders will have up to 50 minutes of homework a night. This includes: thirty minutes of nightly reading,
math homework when appropriate, and occasional projects that were not finished at school.

All homework assignments are reviewed as a class during the day so that students have a clear
understanding of both the directions and my expectations. Assignments will be written down in a class
planner. Please sign where indicated in this homework planner each night after your child has
completed their assignment. Additionally, incomplete classwork may come home if a student has difficulty
managing class time effectively. Assignments will be placed in a homework folder that travels home each
day with the student. Unless otherwise stated, homework is due at the beginning of the school day after it
is assigned.

If either the amount of homework assigned or the difficulty of the projects seems to be too much for your
child, please contact me as soon as possible so that I can modify their workload.

It is my firm belief that students need time to be children as well as students. As such, homework is designed
to be a manageable amount.

Nightly Reading and the Genres Project

I expect each student to be reading a chapter book appropriate to their reading level as part of their nightly
homework. If your child needs help selecting appropriate books, remind them to use the “five finger rule,”
which works as follows: Open a book to a random page and begin reading. When you find a word you do
not know, or cannot pronounce, hold up one finger. Continue this process until you’ve finished the page. If
you have 1 – 2 fingers up, the book is okay for you, 3 fingers up means the book is just right, 4 fingers
indicate that the text is too difficult to be easily read and enjoyed, 5 fingers up means it’s definitely time to
pick another book.
In order to encourage students to read from a greater variety of literary genres, part of their reading grade
each trimester will be based upon their reading and completing a project on a book from seven genres to
which they have been introduced over the past five years. These genres include: fantasy, mystery, historical
fiction, science fiction, realistic fiction, biography, and autobiography. If students pace themselves
appropriately, they can easily move through the assigned book reports each semester.
Genre projects may be completed whenever a student completes the related novel. All materials are in the
classroom. If a student is interested in using materials other than those provided, all they need to do is ask!
Creativity is encouraged! Please note that though these are at-home projects, they are designed to be
completed by the student without a great deal of help.
 Differentiated Learning
Curriculum is differentiated for students within the classroom through the course of our daily program. Pre-
tests and assessments are given throughout the year to help ensure that each student is working at their
appropriate instructional level in both mathematics and language arts. Students who frequently finish work
early, and display a high degree of accuracy will be offered an independent study project, which they will
work on during their free time in class. However, these projects are not mandatory, and require student
interest and motivation.

Grades
Please do not expect letter grades on every assignment. Papers will receive a star or smiley face if they
are completed satisfactorily, a check if they need to be reviewed by the student, or a minus sign if they
need to be redone or finished. Students who wish to redo and resubmit papers with a low grade may, and
are encouraged to do so.

Online Gradebook- Teacherease.com

To enhance the school-home communication, as well as student responsibility, you will have
access to my online gradebook. I will send weekly monthly progress reports to let you and your child
know what is missing, and needs to be submitted for grading. Though I will not make new copies of
homework assignments, I will replace important worksheets if they are not locatable. Grades are updated
at a minimum of once a week.

Class Website: www.msdavis5thgrade.weebly.com

In addition to the online gradebook, I have created a class website to improve the communication
between our classroom and your home. On our class website you will find links to websites to enhance
the curriculum. You will also find all directions to any projects such as the genre projects. I will also post
weekly communication updates that are emailed home.

Celebrations
Celebrations are and should be a part of any young student’s life at school. At the same time, we need to
be careful not to take away from instructional time.
In December, we will have a class celebration before we go on winter break, and in February, we will
exchange friendship grams.
All birthdays can be celebrated in class with a small, healthy snack. Non-food based treats are
recommended and students usually have great ideas. If you would like to recognize your student’s
birthday with a healthy snack, please let me know one week in advanced so that I can plan for it.
If you do not wish your child to participate in celebrations for any reason, please send me a note, and I
will make the necessary arrangements.

Book Orders
Students will have the opportunity to order books from the Scholastic Arrow and Tab book orders each
month. I generally allow two weeks after the notice goes home to choose books before I send the order
in. Make checks out to Scholastic Book Clubs. You also have the opportunity to order books at any time
online at https://clubs2.scholastic.com, using class code G2Z8V.

Water
Water bottles with closing lids to prevent spills are permitted. Brain research shows that being well
hydrated helps kids perform better. Please don’t send other liquids in water bottles. Any water bottle that
becomes a distraction or that is used inappropriately will be confiscated. Because we do not have a sink
or water fountain in class, I highly recommend sending your child with a water bottle to class.
 The Fifth Grade Child
Although any group of fifth graders will contain a wide range of physical, academic and social differences,
there are general characteristics and needs of the age group which apply to most students. Fifth graders…
• …are talkative and enjoy working in groups.
• …prefer friends of the same gender, but may display interest in the opposite sex.
• …differ as to physical development – girls tend to be taller than boys.
• …compare students’ abilities in school subjects and sports.
• …often have best friends and may purposefully exclude another student from their group.
• …can be very logical in their thinking.
• …are excited by new projects.
• …are able to take on new responsibilities.
• …are able to understand the relationship between cause and effect.
• …enjoy their family and friends.
• …understand the reason for rules and will willingly participate in establishing behavior guidelines
for their class.
From Getting Ready to Teach Fifth Grade
by Susan Cloud Marino
 Volunteer Request Form
____ I will help with preparing materials, making copies, typing, etc.
The best day and time for me to assist is
________________________________.

_____ I will help organize parties.

_____ I will help represent our class at the Harvest Festival.

_____ Other (please explain):

________________________.

Student’s Name __________________________________

Parent’s Name __________________________________

Phone Number __________________________________

Email __________________________________