About Me
• September 13- First
Half Marathon
• October 4- My Brother’s
Wedding!
 I believe learning begins once a community is built.
 Expectations of class, students, and teacher
 Caring members and teacher
 Responsibility
• Individual roles within the community
• Students take ownership of their own
education
• Follow the routines
 Once a safe space is built, students will be able to:
 Take risks within the classroom
 Enjoy learning by using their curiosity and critical
thinking skills.
I am committed to...
 Fostering the love of livelong learning in each student.
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Bringing fun and student interest into curriculum
 Encouraging curiosity and critical thinking.
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Asking deeper questions and bringing in real world connections
 Instilling the importance of responsibility as a fifth grade student and
community member inside and outside of school.
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Classroom responsibilities, assignment notebooks, etc.
 Building strong students academically, socially, and emotionally.
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I will make sure that my lessons reach each child through differentiation
Reinforce the importance of community in a learning environment
I will ensure that my students feel safe and comfortable in room 19
Developing Responsibility
 What do I expect of each child?
 Follow social contract/expectations
 Use the assignment notebook properly
 Completed work that is on time. Homework means
something!
 Bring necessary materials to and from school and to and
from other classrooms
 Ask questions…but think before!
 Taking responsibility of own education- communicating
what he or she needs
Communication
 Assignment Notebooks:
 Students are responsible for filling these out every day
 Good preparation for 6th grade
 Cumberland Website—
 Wfbschools.com  Cumberland  5th Grade Home
 Available by phone or email
 Kara.gritzmacher@wfbschools.com (on website)
 414-963-3943 x2019
 Weekly Newsletter via email and Hard Copy
 All teachers are included in this newsletter
Communication
 Each student will receive graded work on a timely basis
 Parents are to sign and return graded work
 This will keep you updated on student progress and to
stay in communication with myself.
The Fifth Grade Team
Ms. Sarnowski, Ms. McCormick, Mr. Moore,
Ms. Castleberry, and Ms. Gritzmacher
Team Philosophy
 Common planning time
 Sharing of ideas
 Problem Solving/Brainstorming
 Similar goals—
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Success of all of our students
Meeting the Common Core Standards
Instilling the importance of responsibility
Preparation for 6th grade
ELA Curriculum
Common Core State Standards
 English Language Arts: Reading
 Anthology Stories (Scott Foresman)
 Vocabulary and Comprehension
 Novel Reading/Independent Book/Stations
 Response journals, “Reading Notebooks”
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Engaged reading (independent, group, guided)
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Collaboration and discussion with peers
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Work with Mosaic comprehension strategies
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Various genres
ELA Curriculum
Common Core State Standards
 Reading
 Our objective is to build strong skills and strategies
 Reading Comprehension
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Identifying theme, defending thinking with evidence from
text
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Making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring,
determining importance, synthesizing
 Central Skills
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Point of view, author’s purpose, author’s viewpoint, cause
and effect, character, plot, compare and contrast,
vocabulary development
Assessments for Reading
 Comprehension Test- Multiple Choice and ShortAnswer
 Beginning-of-Year and End-of-Year Assessments and
Unit Assessments
 Anthology Stories- Read in school, reread at school or
home, selection test
 Assessment of Written Responses/Response Journals
 Fluency—Assessed up to 4 times a year. Words correct
read per minute using grade-level passages that student
has not seen before
ELA Curriculum
Common Core State Standards
 Language Arts: Lucy Calkins Writing Curriculum
 Multiple Formal Writing Pieces
 Completed in school, one-two per trimester
 Personal Narrative, Informational Writing: Compare and
Contrast, Biography and Opinion: Persuasive
 Other Writing Pieces
 Ongoing shorter pieces of writing
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Reader’s Response Journals
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Memoirs
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Poetry
ELA Curriculum
Common Core State Standards
 Skill Focus
 Generating ideas, elaborating ideas, vivid word choice,
descriptive language, interesting/effective introductions,
satisfying conclusions, purposeful paragraphs,
transitions, and editing
 Grammar Focus
 Complete sentences—subject and predicate, run-on
sentences
 Subject-verb agreement, commas, punctuation in
dialogue, apostrophes/possessive nouns
Math Curriculum
Common Core State Standards
 Math Expressions by Houghton Mifflin
 “Supports the Common Core State Standards by
covering select concepts for deeper mastery...”
 “Research-based, proven to be effective in raising
student achievement...”
 “Offers new ways to teach and learn mathematics
through exploration, modeling and discussion...”
Math Curriculum
Common Core State Standards
 Students will be able to...
 Construct a deeper understanding of math skills
 Defend and communicate understanding using words,
numbers, symbols (written and spoken)
 Continue to build critical thinking skills
 Strengthen fluency with math facts
Math Curriculum
Common Core State Standards
 Differentiation
 Pretesting to assess and plan for each student’s needs
 Frequent, ongoing assessments after each lesson
 Computer-based, multi-level practice, challenge questions and
intervention resources
 Daily homework and remembering workbook
 FYI there is no “home textbook” students are to take home
activity book if they feel they need it to do their homework.
 Check Links on my homepage!
Science Curriculum
Next Generation Science Standards
 FOSS: Develop Inquiry Skills
1. Living Systems
 Analyze everyday systems and subsystems.
 Analyze food chains and food webs as a way to study the
biosphere.
 Make and analyze a worm habitat as a decomposition system.
 Investigate nutrient-getting systems of yeast, plants, and
animals, including humans.
 Investigate and model transport systems in plants and
animals.
 Investigate sensory systems in animals.
Science Curriculum
 2. Sun, Moon, and Planets
 Observe and compare shadows during a school day.
 Relate the position of the Sun in the sky to the size and
orientation of an object's shadow.
 Use physical models to explain day and night.
 Record observations of the night sky.
 Observe and record changes in the Moon's appearance every
day for a month.
 Analyze data to discover the sequence of changes that occur
during the Moon's phase cycle.
 Make and interpret a model of the Earth, Moon, and Sun
system.
 Classify planets by their properties.
 Record and display the organization of the solar system
graphically.
 Identify several constellations as stable, predictable patterns of
stars.
 Use models to build explanations.
Social Studies Curriculum
 Emphasis on American History from the early arrivals
during the Ice Age, to modern times.
 Geography is embedded throughout the text.
 Highly collaborative and interactive
 Online Access
 Eduplace.com/eservices
 Karagritzmacher
 123456
Standards-Based Grading
 Grading –Three point system
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3, 2, 1 Evaluative and Formative Assessment
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3 = Proficient-can apply skill or concept
correctly/independently
2= Developing-making progress towards grade level standard
1= Beginning-cannot complete task independently/shows little
understanding of concept or skill
+, , - Formative Assessment- Feedback purposes for teacher
and/ or student
+ = 3 ,  = 2, - = 1
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Grading is aligned with the standards
Teachers work together to norm our grading practices
Exemplary work is noted through comments
Typically numbered grades indicate that a grade is in the
grade book and a check, plus or minus indicates that the
grade is for feedback purposes only and not entered in the
gradebook
Curriculum Overlap
Life Skills
Human Growth
and
Development
Guidance
Lessons
Life Skills Curriculum
Self esteem
Build social
skills
Communicate
feelings
effectively
Cope with stress
Analyze
decision-making
strategies
Learn harms of
tobacco use
Examine
advertising
techniques
Guidance Lessons: Ms. Anstett
Self esteem
Build social
skills
Communicate
feelings
effectively
Cope with stress
Analyze
decision-making
strategies
Conflict
resolution
Career Planning
Human Growth and Development
Adolescence and
Puberty
Self-Esteem
Conception
Physical Abuse
and Safety
Analyze
decision-making
strategies
Male and
Female
Reproduction
Systems
AIDS
Miscellaneous
 Buddy Classes
 Band/Orchestra:
 Once a week class lessons, twice a week grade level lessons
 Student Council: Monthly, lunch and lunch recess meetings
 Project Wisdom, weekly
 Announcements on character building read by 5th grade
students over the PA system
 Room Parents: Kris McKinney and Crystal McClain
Reminders
 Field trips- Kindness Retreat, Discovery World, First
Stage
 Enter through front door and pick up visitor badge.
 No birthday treats, please.