TCE 5th Grade: Friday, September 17

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Parent Newsletter

Ms. Martin, our principal, sends out a weekly parent newsletter. Please make sure you read this every week. You can click the image above for easy access.

Art Supply Needs

5th graders are going to start making a sculpture made out of plastic grocery bags and newspaper in Art in the coming weeks. If you have any extras of either (or both), Mrs. Williams, our art teacher, would love to take them off your hands. Any kind of plastic bag is perfect and any kind of newspaper!

Curriculum Night

[We will leave this in the blog for one more week.]

5th grade had Curriculum Night on Thursday, September 2nd at 5:00 PM on Zoom. You can access the recording of our Zoom here. You can access a copy of the presentation here.

The following questions were shared in the chat during the Zoom:

Question: Spelling Bee- date, time, instructions, etc.

Answer: We have yet not received an update about this year's District Spelling Bee. Last year we used the Scripps Spelling Bee online platform, and in years past we had a traditional Spelling Bee in which students spelled orally. As soon as we have information about the District Spelling Bee, we will share an update here on the blog. We're excited that we have parents & families already thinking about the Bee!

Question: Can we expect weekly updates to grades within each content in Schoology?

Answer: We do our best to give the students timely and specific feedback. You can expect to see periodic updates to grades within Schoology throughout the nine weeks. However, those updates likely will not be regularly scheduled or simultaneous among courses. As we get closer to progress reports, we will teach our students how to access their grades and comments in Schoology and in the Home Access Center.

Question: What does homework look like this year in 5th?

Answer: At this time, we will not be assigning any homework. If you are looking for extra practice or resources, we would always encourage students to read at home! (Kids are more motivated to read when they are reading books they've chosen and find interesting.) In addition, students have access to online resources such as iStation, Raz Kids. For math, we would love for students to login to Dreambox at home and complete lessons.

iPads

TCE 5th graders should come to school each day with their iPad and charger. Please ensure your child charges his/her iPad each evening. Your child should also check periodically to ensure his/her iPad's software is up to date (settings --> general --> software update).

Headphones

In addition to having a charged iPad every day, we also need the students to have their headphones for class every day. Our supply list included four pairs of headphones. Please help remind your son/daughter to keep their headphones in their pencil bags.

Snack

We have a short snack time each day while we continue to work. 5th graders do not each lunch until 1:00 PM each day, so it's important that they have a healthy and nutritious snack each day to fuel their bodies. We also ask that the snack they bring is completely free of peanuts/tree nuts. This will help provide a safe environment for all learners. Thank you for your help!

Water Bottles

The water fountains at school are not currently open, so the students only have access to the bottle filling stations. As you know, it's very hot outside, so the kids are very thirsty when they come back from recess. Please help us by ensuring that you son/daughter brings a water bottle to school each day.

Breakfast

Lots of our 5th Graders have been enjoying eating breakfast at school in the mornings. If your son/daughter wants to eat breakfast here at school, please help them get to school by 7:30 so they have enough time to eat before school starts. As a reminder, TCE doors open at 7:20, and students are expected in class by 7:40.

Progress Reports & Accessing Grades Online

Today, Friday, September 17th marks the midpoint for the 1st nine weeks. Progress reports will be sent home with any student with an average of 74 or lower in any course.

We want to encourage each parent to take this opportunity to login to Home Access Center. Once you are logged in, you can see your son/daughter's grades for individual assignments as well as class averages. It's important to note that the 5th graders turn everything in through Schoology. Therefore, there are more grades and assignments in Schoology than what we actually take for a grade on report cards. The assignments and grades you see in Home Access Center are the ones that contribute to your son/daughter's report card grades.

For directions on how to login to Home Access Center and access grades, click here.

Fall Conferences

We are looking forward to meeting with our 5th Grade Families for Fall Conferences this year! We are not sure exactly how those will look yet, but we do know that they will be held virtually over Zoom on Friday, October 8th. Please mark your calendars with this date. We send a sign up out in the next week.