Back to School Night
This is the Power Point that I shared on back to school night.
There are a few minor changes. I took out our class codes
for Edmodo and Remind 101 because they are not for public
access. I added a few pages at the end w/ some lesson
examples and some answers to questions from parents.
Some Actual “Forgot my homework” excuses…
•I just saw it on the New York Times Bestsellers List, so that means someone stole it.
•I had better things to do.
•I didn't do it because I didn't want to add to my teacher's heavy workload.
•I accidentally divided by zero and my paper burst into flames.
•I hired a paper writing company and they did it in Chinese.
A little bit about me…
•Born and raised in the area. Went to Fairfax
County Public Schools. Graduated from
Madison High School
•Undergrad at VA Tech – Family and Child
Development – Early Childhood Education (PreK through 5th grade)
•Grad School at George Mason – Curriculum
and Instruction – Gifted Education
•Taught in Fairfax – 2nd and 3rd grade for 5 years
•Taught and ran my own preschool for 3 years
•Married to Rob – we met at Tech
•3 kiddos – Robbie, Freshman at Champe –
Lauren, 7th grader at Mercer – Ryan, 2nd grader
here at Pinebrook 
•I love teaching. Have known that I was going to
be a teacher since I was about seven
•I believe every child can learn and reach their
full potential with the proper guidance
•I believe that I need to continue my education
and be reflective in my work in order to be the
best I can be for my students
•I love my dogs, taking pictures, sitting on the
beach, gardening, cooking and M&Ms
Some Communication
Tools I Will Be Using:
•Edmodo – Go to edmodo.com
•Remind 101 – text messaging
•Please e/m me for our
class codes for these!
•My Pinebrook website
Odds and Ends
•Snack – lunch is very late, please send in a snack for your child!
•What is Resource? – Short time at end of day for writing down homework,
finishing up class work, time for me to talk to individual kids, and packing up
•Conferences – Please sign up on Sign Up Genius
•DARE – Drug Abuse Resistance Education - 10 lessons throughout year
•Field Trips – first it to Camp Highroads next month
•Volunteers – Would like to have assignments to you by next week
•Donating to our Class – will post on website – now we could use:
-Post it notes
-Clip boards (your child can have their own - or you can donate a few to
class!)
-Books (I’m still building my 5th grade library!)
A look at all of our Teachers!!!
•We have lots of teachers in our classroom every week.
•Mrs. Moore
•Mrs. Stripling
•Mrs. Santi
•Mrs. Matthews
•Mrs. Clark
•Our specialists are:
•Mrs. Ross – Guidance
•Mrs. Quintero – FLES
•Mr. McPherson – P.E.
•Mrs. Hoffmaster – Music
•Mrs. Johnson – Art
•Mrs. Higgins – Library
Grade Level Expectations
• Students will be prepared for all classes
everyday
– Students may not call home for homework
• Students will produce quality work at all times
• Students will show respect for everyone that
they come in contact with
• Students will respect classmates’ learning by
remaining seated quietly during instruction and
raising hands to ask questions
• Be positive role models for younger students
5th Grade Behavior Plan
Students are given a 30 minute recess
period daily. If students do not follow 5th
grade expectations they may miss recess.
• Each classroom teacher will have their own
behavior plan.
• Students demonstrating good character will
be invited to participate in extra activities.
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Homework
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Agenda
Parental Support
Nightly Reading
Science Facts of the Week*
*I will not be sending this home.
•Nightly
•Students are expected to complete homework in a timely
manner and will be responsible for making up any missing
assignments
Grading Policies
• Students will be assessed in a variety of ways on a
daily basis.
• Three primary forms of assessment are:
– Diagnostic- not graded/used to assess knowledge of
concepts
– Formative- not counted toward quarter grades/used
to check for understanding
– Summative- graded/ counts toward quarter grade
Math
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The text for math is Scott Foresman / Addison
Wesley . This is a spiral curriculum where
concepts are either introduced, reinforced,
expanded, or investigated.
Numeration (Number Sense, Numerical
Operations)
Measurement
Geometry
Data Analysis
Algebra
Problem Solving
Math Groups
• Flexible math grouping
• Pre-Assessments
• Criteria for math placement
• Quarterly pre-test
• Differentiated Instruction
• Fifth grade SOLs
• Enrichment
Reading
Students will participate in Reading Workshop which is a
method that uses a combination of mini-lessons, independent
reading time, and individual conferences to inspire and
motivate students. Some skills that will be taught during the
year include:
•Predictions
•Context Clues
•Discussion Questions
•Connections
•Illustrations
•Summaries
•Presentations
Writing
Students will participate in Writing Workshop,
similar to reading workshop.
Instruction will focus on the following:
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Expository
Persuasive
Narrative
Descriptive
Grammar will be reviewed on a daily basis through both
morning work and mini lessons.
Students will also have occasional handwriting practice
homework.
Science
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Changing Earth
Ocean Environment
Cells and Organization of Living Things
States of Matter
Light and Sound
Science Fair
Experiments and hands-on investigations are
incorporated into each unit!
Social Studies
Regions of the United States
•Map Skills
•Geography
•Landforms
•Environment
•People
•History
•Economy/Resources
Report Cards
• Students will be marked in the content areas of Reading,
Writing, Mathematics, Social Science and Science using
the following Grading Key and Progress Indicators:
Grading Key
A = Advanced Proficient
B = Proficient
C = Intermediate
D = Beginning
Progress Indicators
4 = Advanced Proficient
3 = Proficient (This is the target for all
students)
2 = Intermediate
1 = Beginning
• = Denotes knowledge or skill not assessed at
this time
Questions or Comments?
•Check Pinebrook’s 5th grade webpage for
newsletters and important dates.
•You can reach us by phone or email. We
will get back to you as soon as possible!
•School Phone: 703-957-4325
•5th Grade Team E-mails are online
•If you have specific questions or comments
please leave them on an index card for me.
I’ll be in touch soon! 
Homework
Homework will never be e-mailed directly to you or the students (unless you ask me to
e-mail you something in particular.
Homework is always posted on a chart in the front of the classroom – students are
required to write their assignments in their agendas.
I will post their assignments on my Pinebrook web page – it will look like what they
have written in their agendas.
Online or digital assignments will only require that the students have access to a
computer. An example might be – “Type your word study words 3 times. You may
print them out, e-mail them to me, or post them on Edmodo.”
Again – I will NOT e-mail homework assignments. All of the students do not have email accounts, and that would make their homework your
homework!
I hope that helps some.
What does a typical Reading/Writing/Math Lesson look like? Some examples.
Reading:
Whole Group Lesson – Making Predictions
-develop a list of question or interesting facts that you have learned so far in
your book, then write 3 things that you think might happen later in the story
based on your facts and questions, explain your predictions
Independent Reading Time/Small Group Conferences
-Independent Reading - students read silently, while reading they might have
a small assignment that they are to be working on as they read, such as
writing down difficult or interesting words that they come across while
reading – these will then be used in a later whole group lesson or in their
Small Group Conference
-Small Group Conference – students will meet with the teacher to read their
book and to discuss a particular aspect of their book (such as predictions)
Some books will be chosen independently and some books will be
assigned (similar to a typical “reading group”
Cont’
What does a typical Reading/Writing/Math Lesson look like? Some examples.
Writing Whole Group Lesson – Writing Topic Sentences
-students will be given an incomplete paragraph and will be required to
write a topic sentence for it – we will discuss how to write a strong topic
sentence, students will share examples
Independent Writing/Writing Conferences
Independent Writing
-students will work on individual writing – this may be a topic chosen by the
teacher or may be a topic they have chosen to write on
-they will be required to highlight their topic sentence and edit it to make it
stronger or more appropriate
Writing Conference
-students will meet with a teacher individually or in a small group to review
and edit one of their current writing pieces
-focus will be on strong topic sentences, as well
as all other writing skills we have worked on
throughout the year
Cont’
What does a typical Reading/Writing/Math Lesson look like? Some examples.
Math (this is for my math class)
Problem of the Day – students will solve our Problem of the Day
answers and strategies will be shared (these are not just word problems – it
might be a division problem – but students will share the different ways they
get to the answer – we all think a little differently!)
Mad Minute Math – basic facts review – 1 minute to do as many problems as they can
Focus Lesson – whole group instruction of current subject – such as Prime/Composite
numbers – teacher directed lesson explaining concept
Practice – this may be done in a variety of ways – games, hands on activities with math
manipulatives, answering questions from their math book, etc.
Ticket Out – 1 question/math problem students do independently used to assess if
they understand the day’s concept