Welcome to Fifth Grade
News From Mrs. Emerson
September 2015-2016
Welcome!
We are off to a new year! This year you and your child will be a member of the fifth grade class and Silver Lake Learning Community at Silver Lake Elementary School. I am Mrs. Emerson. This year your child will be in a self-contained classroom due to enrollment changes over the summer. We will be breaking out for Physical Education, Music, Library, and Spanish only. This means that your fifth grader will not be changing classrooms for anything other than the co-curricular classes. That may be very good news to some.
The building schedules are still being worked on and will be finalized hopefully, by the end of the first week. I will send a final schedule as soon as the dust settles here at Silver Lake. I am looking forward to this year with you and your family, as it will be very exciting!
Communications
I am looking forward to working with you and your child this year. You are welcome and encouraged to contact me at any time, as you feel necessary. I will however be unavailable during the instructional times as this is what I call “Kid Time”. Please do not take offense if I am unable to either answer the phone or interrupt class instruction for a quick conference. I promise to do my very best to answer my messages and requests in an efficient a means as is possible. I am available before school, after school, and by appointment. Thank you for understanding ahead of time.
You may plan to hear from me at least once a month with a classroom newsletter. For those of you that like to communicate more frequently, you are welcome to do so. Your child will bring home a Daily Planner and Other Tools. This booklet will allow you to see homework assignments on a daily basis. It has a place at the bottom for notes near the parent signature or on the back of the page. If this is not enough space please feel free to insert a note or let me know in some other fashion that we need to connect. I know we can work something out together.
Continuing this year is my Weebly site. This site contains bunches, tons, and loads of information along with important links. This site will be updated as is necessary. I am very excited about using this new format and will be very interested in your feedback. The link is,
www.http://emersonli.weebly.com/
I will also be constructing group emails to keep you updated, again in an attempt to keep you informed. You will not have to worry about personal addresses being shared as I will blind copy to protect your privacy. It would be appreciated if you would sent me an email at: [email protected] so that I can simply cut and paste your most current email address into my address book. If you are parents that share your children in separate households, please make sure I have both email addresses. Thank you so much.
Please look for completed and corrected work each Friday, though there may not be a lot. I am not sending new Spelling Lists home each Friday, as I have enclosed they year’s list in the back of each planner. This will allow you to see a week’s worth of work at a glance and hopefully ensure you see all of the work instead of loose papers trickling home.
The Daily Planner
This planner, as mentioned above, will come home daily. It is to be reviewed, signed by the parent(s), and returned daily even if there is no homework assigned for that day. I will make the time to; daily check each planner for communications, make sure it leaves the building each day with your student completed correctly. It is very important that we are able to communicate with you everyday and thank you ahead of time for your concerted effort in this matter. One more note, please do not tear out completed pages as they do serve as a reminder to both you and I as to what we have communicated. If these begin to fall apart, you may feel free to insert them into a new notebook. Thanks so much for your support in this effort!
Snacks, Water Bottles, and Birthday Treats
Please make sure you send your child with a good breakfast. We will be having a snack in the classroom though not until midmorning. We will take breaks for restroom, drinks and a stretch as we need to. Our lunch is generally late so my concern is kids will have come to school fortified with a good breakfast and a snack will be very important. Snacks should be HEALTHY, no liquid or sugary snack please. I also do not have spoons if your snack requires one. I do encourage all students to have water bottles at their seats and to use them throughout the day. We are able to refill them in the classroom if this becomes necessary. I ask that only water be in the water bottles as juices, sodas, etc. are a potential mess and can lead to problems of various kinds.
There has been a change in how birthday treats are handled at Silver Lake. Your student will be honored at Monday morning meeting as well as in the classroom on their birthday. They will be given a class birthday card and a birthday wristband. We are asking that there be no food treats sent in from home. If you would like to send in pencils or some small non-food item for your child to pass out to the class you are welcome to do that. Students will not be passing out goodies school-wide any more. I ask that these special treats be simple in nature and that there be enough for the whole homeroom. Right now that is approximately 30 students. Thank you millions and millions ahead of time.
Classroom Environment
Silver Lake Elementary is an ITI, Integrated Thematic Instruction and Habits of Mind, school. For those of you unfamiliar to these programs we have adopted research-based programs that are committed to a more environmentally friendly approach to learning. The past several years we have worked to bring a sense of home into the classroom with more comfortable furniture, relaxed atmosphere and common behavior goals and beliefs that are shared building wide (Lifelong Guidelines and Lifeskills along with Habits of Mind). I would like to invite you to help me continue our efforts by sending in a smallish (5x7 or so) framed picture of you and your child. All of these photos will be on display all year long. The goal is to contribute to the more homelike atmosphere and share a snapshot of your child with the class. All pictures will be returned at the end of the year and only used within our classroom.
Habits of Mind, is a program dedicated to developing a school wide culture of thinkers, explorers, and learners. Please take a look in the Planners for the insert attached to the cover. We will be working on this program all year long and you will be hearing more about this program very soon.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you have.
Classroom Behavior Expectations
We work very hard at making sure each classroom member is honored with a sense of value, dignity, and respect. This is done with constantly monitoring curriculum, making sure levels are appropriate for each student and valuing their right to learn as well as be in a safe environment. I therefore ask each student, regardless of their academic level to respect learning and playing time by demonstrating the Lifelong Guidelines of:
· Trustworthiness
· No Put-Downs
· Truthfulness
· Active Listening
· Personal Best
I know each of us “falls off the wagon” and has a temporary “moment of madness” (comes from lots of experience as a mom and a long time teacher) so I will offer a reminder as needed to respect each other by remembering to follow our Lifelong Guidelines. If the problem persists or there is some confusion I will talk with the student discretely. If that does not work I will communicate with you and enlist your help.
One of my many goals and expectations for this year’s students is that they live up to their academic promise, treating themselves and classmates with kindness, dignity, as well as respect.
Building Visitors
Silver Lake Elementary welcomes visitors to the building. All visitors will be buzzed into the building from the front door and must stop into the office. We very respectfully ask that all visitors stop at the front office to check in. You will be given a Visitor’s Pass to wear, letting all staff/students know that you have registered at the office. We ask for this safety procedure to be followed to insure safety of our students. Please do not be offended if someone asks to see your pass if it is not readily displayed in a way that it can be seen. Our goal is the safety of our students and staff. Thank you so much in advance.
Rides Home
Please let us know when there is a change in how your child is transported home. This is imperative! We will be sending your child home via assigned buses and carpools as per your PREARRANGED requests. When there are pick-up arrangements that differ please call the office and let us know in writing so that there are not nervous feelings at the end of the day. Thank you soooo much ahead of time for this.
Homeroom Needs/PTO
We will again be collecting Labels for Education and I believe soup labels. I am happy to collect these as they become available so don’t be shy, go ahead and send them in. They will all be stored in a bag and be ready to be turned in as contests arise.
As always we have a wonderful PTO this year. They are welcoming all of you to participate in meeting and events as your calendars deem doable. They support many of the efforts and needs at Silver Lake. I encourage you to become an active participant in this group. We could not run our school without them.
Finally!!!
Just one more quick word and then I’ll sign off for now. (Hooray right?) Please remind your children to not bring toys and gizmos to school especially electronic devises. It is a concern that these items may become lost, broken, or “misplaced” and to avoid hurt feelings and added distractions we ask that the kids not bring these items to school.
I am really looking forward to working with all of you this year. Please let me know if there are items that we need to discuss as they arise and I will be happy to meet with you.
If you need to contact me the phone number in the office is 933-5760, the classroom is 933-5775, and at home is 947-3955. You are also welcome to email me at:
[email protected]. Please do not hesitate to contact me with concerns that you have. I know we are going to have a great year together!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Emerson
5th Grade Teacher 933-5775
www.http://emersonli.weebly.com/
[email protected]
News From Mrs. Emerson
September 2015-2016
Welcome!
We are off to a new year! This year you and your child will be a member of the fifth grade class and Silver Lake Learning Community at Silver Lake Elementary School. I am Mrs. Emerson. This year your child will be in a self-contained classroom due to enrollment changes over the summer. We will be breaking out for Physical Education, Music, Library, and Spanish only. This means that your fifth grader will not be changing classrooms for anything other than the co-curricular classes. That may be very good news to some.
The building schedules are still being worked on and will be finalized hopefully, by the end of the first week. I will send a final schedule as soon as the dust settles here at Silver Lake. I am looking forward to this year with you and your family, as it will be very exciting!
Communications
I am looking forward to working with you and your child this year. You are welcome and encouraged to contact me at any time, as you feel necessary. I will however be unavailable during the instructional times as this is what I call “Kid Time”. Please do not take offense if I am unable to either answer the phone or interrupt class instruction for a quick conference. I promise to do my very best to answer my messages and requests in an efficient a means as is possible. I am available before school, after school, and by appointment. Thank you for understanding ahead of time.
You may plan to hear from me at least once a month with a classroom newsletter. For those of you that like to communicate more frequently, you are welcome to do so. Your child will bring home a Daily Planner and Other Tools. This booklet will allow you to see homework assignments on a daily basis. It has a place at the bottom for notes near the parent signature or on the back of the page. If this is not enough space please feel free to insert a note or let me know in some other fashion that we need to connect. I know we can work something out together.
Continuing this year is my Weebly site. This site contains bunches, tons, and loads of information along with important links. This site will be updated as is necessary. I am very excited about using this new format and will be very interested in your feedback. The link is,
www.http://emersonli.weebly.com/
I will also be constructing group emails to keep you updated, again in an attempt to keep you informed. You will not have to worry about personal addresses being shared as I will blind copy to protect your privacy. It would be appreciated if you would sent me an email at: [email protected] so that I can simply cut and paste your most current email address into my address book. If you are parents that share your children in separate households, please make sure I have both email addresses. Thank you so much.
Please look for completed and corrected work each Friday, though there may not be a lot. I am not sending new Spelling Lists home each Friday, as I have enclosed they year’s list in the back of each planner. This will allow you to see a week’s worth of work at a glance and hopefully ensure you see all of the work instead of loose papers trickling home.
The Daily Planner
This planner, as mentioned above, will come home daily. It is to be reviewed, signed by the parent(s), and returned daily even if there is no homework assigned for that day. I will make the time to; daily check each planner for communications, make sure it leaves the building each day with your student completed correctly. It is very important that we are able to communicate with you everyday and thank you ahead of time for your concerted effort in this matter. One more note, please do not tear out completed pages as they do serve as a reminder to both you and I as to what we have communicated. If these begin to fall apart, you may feel free to insert them into a new notebook. Thanks so much for your support in this effort!
Snacks, Water Bottles, and Birthday Treats
Please make sure you send your child with a good breakfast. We will be having a snack in the classroom though not until midmorning. We will take breaks for restroom, drinks and a stretch as we need to. Our lunch is generally late so my concern is kids will have come to school fortified with a good breakfast and a snack will be very important. Snacks should be HEALTHY, no liquid or sugary snack please. I also do not have spoons if your snack requires one. I do encourage all students to have water bottles at their seats and to use them throughout the day. We are able to refill them in the classroom if this becomes necessary. I ask that only water be in the water bottles as juices, sodas, etc. are a potential mess and can lead to problems of various kinds.
There has been a change in how birthday treats are handled at Silver Lake. Your student will be honored at Monday morning meeting as well as in the classroom on their birthday. They will be given a class birthday card and a birthday wristband. We are asking that there be no food treats sent in from home. If you would like to send in pencils or some small non-food item for your child to pass out to the class you are welcome to do that. Students will not be passing out goodies school-wide any more. I ask that these special treats be simple in nature and that there be enough for the whole homeroom. Right now that is approximately 30 students. Thank you millions and millions ahead of time.
Classroom Environment
Silver Lake Elementary is an ITI, Integrated Thematic Instruction and Habits of Mind, school. For those of you unfamiliar to these programs we have adopted research-based programs that are committed to a more environmentally friendly approach to learning. The past several years we have worked to bring a sense of home into the classroom with more comfortable furniture, relaxed atmosphere and common behavior goals and beliefs that are shared building wide (Lifelong Guidelines and Lifeskills along with Habits of Mind). I would like to invite you to help me continue our efforts by sending in a smallish (5x7 or so) framed picture of you and your child. All of these photos will be on display all year long. The goal is to contribute to the more homelike atmosphere and share a snapshot of your child with the class. All pictures will be returned at the end of the year and only used within our classroom.
Habits of Mind, is a program dedicated to developing a school wide culture of thinkers, explorers, and learners. Please take a look in the Planners for the insert attached to the cover. We will be working on this program all year long and you will be hearing more about this program very soon.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you have.
Classroom Behavior Expectations
We work very hard at making sure each classroom member is honored with a sense of value, dignity, and respect. This is done with constantly monitoring curriculum, making sure levels are appropriate for each student and valuing their right to learn as well as be in a safe environment. I therefore ask each student, regardless of their academic level to respect learning and playing time by demonstrating the Lifelong Guidelines of:
· Trustworthiness
· No Put-Downs
· Truthfulness
· Active Listening
· Personal Best
I know each of us “falls off the wagon” and has a temporary “moment of madness” (comes from lots of experience as a mom and a long time teacher) so I will offer a reminder as needed to respect each other by remembering to follow our Lifelong Guidelines. If the problem persists or there is some confusion I will talk with the student discretely. If that does not work I will communicate with you and enlist your help.
One of my many goals and expectations for this year’s students is that they live up to their academic promise, treating themselves and classmates with kindness, dignity, as well as respect.
Building Visitors
Silver Lake Elementary welcomes visitors to the building. All visitors will be buzzed into the building from the front door and must stop into the office. We very respectfully ask that all visitors stop at the front office to check in. You will be given a Visitor’s Pass to wear, letting all staff/students know that you have registered at the office. We ask for this safety procedure to be followed to insure safety of our students. Please do not be offended if someone asks to see your pass if it is not readily displayed in a way that it can be seen. Our goal is the safety of our students and staff. Thank you so much in advance.
Rides Home
Please let us know when there is a change in how your child is transported home. This is imperative! We will be sending your child home via assigned buses and carpools as per your PREARRANGED requests. When there are pick-up arrangements that differ please call the office and let us know in writing so that there are not nervous feelings at the end of the day. Thank you soooo much ahead of time for this.
Homeroom Needs/PTO
We will again be collecting Labels for Education and I believe soup labels. I am happy to collect these as they become available so don’t be shy, go ahead and send them in. They will all be stored in a bag and be ready to be turned in as contests arise.
As always we have a wonderful PTO this year. They are welcoming all of you to participate in meeting and events as your calendars deem doable. They support many of the efforts and needs at Silver Lake. I encourage you to become an active participant in this group. We could not run our school without them.
Finally!!!
Just one more quick word and then I’ll sign off for now. (Hooray right?) Please remind your children to not bring toys and gizmos to school especially electronic devises. It is a concern that these items may become lost, broken, or “misplaced” and to avoid hurt feelings and added distractions we ask that the kids not bring these items to school.
I am really looking forward to working with all of you this year. Please let me know if there are items that we need to discuss as they arise and I will be happy to meet with you.
If you need to contact me the phone number in the office is 933-5760, the classroom is 933-5775, and at home is 947-3955. You are also welcome to email me at:
[email protected]. Please do not hesitate to contact me with concerns that you have. I know we are going to have a great year together!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Emerson
5th Grade Teacher 933-5775
www.http://emersonli.weebly.com/
[email protected]