Information from Back to School Night
Homework will be given out nightly, Monday through Thursday. It should take
about an hour, though every student is different. If you are spending more than an hour
on homework, please send a note and let me know. This includes 30 minutes of reading
each night.
We try to be a very positive classroom. Rewards are aplenty, from class marble
parties, good phone calls home, prizes, certificates, and tons of praise. For unacceptable
behavior, I start with a warning, then a name on the board which results in a missed
recess. A check mark means a parent note or phone call. A second check results in going
to the office. I never expect behavior to get to that level. Expectations are made clear and
I do my best to help every student make the right choices to be successful and have a
positive day.
Being in fifth grade, I expect the students to be responsible, or at least to be given
the chance to be. Agendas do not have to be signed by parents or myself as long as it is
done. If, however, homework is missed three times, the student will be put on a plan for
the rest of the trimester where I have to sign the agenda daily before they go home and a
parent must sign the agenda each night.
A new star will be chosen each Friday for Star of the Week. He/she will have the
weekend to fill out a poster that is sent home and bring it in on Monday. They can bring
in one item to share each day
For birthday party invitations, please only bring invitations to class if the entire
class is invited. This is to avoid hurt feelings by those not on the invite list. If you are
having a hard time getting invites to some classmates, let me know and I can help do it
discretely.
We’ll be practicing the Fish Philosophy in class. The rules are play, make their
day, choose your attitude, and be there. It’s pretty neat. You might want to ask your
student to explain it to you.
The class website is something I try to make a fun interactive experience for
students and their parents. I have always kept it packed with music, pictures, all copies of
permission slips and letters sent home, class rules, on and on. However, this year it was
deleted by the school district. All class websites done through the school have to follow a
new structure, using a new program. I’m still working on this and hope to have the class
website up and running to some degree as early as possible.
To have your student’s picture on the website, I must have your signed permission
slip turned in and on file. This is one of the papers sent home on the first day of school. I
am very cautious in regards to students on the website. I never put pictures with names
and where there are names, it is only a first name- no last name. No personal information
is on the website except for possibly the month of your student’s birthday (again, with no
last name).
On Fridays, all graded and finished work will be sent home, along with a weekly
newsletter and any papers sent home by the school. Please take out all the papers and
review them and send back the envelope on Monday, including any signed papers.
Parent volunteers are always welcome in the classroom. If you’d like to volunteer,
please let the office know. They will set you on your way to get fingerprinted and a tb
test. This can all take a while, so if you’d like to be a regular volunteer, the sooner you
get started on being cleared, the better. I know it’s a bit of a hassle, but it is set up to
protect the kids here at school, so I’m sure everyone can understand and appreciate that.
I also welcome volunteers that would like to help with parties, make copies for
the classroom, have work sent home to check off for me, or have any other skills that can
be beneficial to the class.
Phone calls will be made for good behavior as well as behavior that may be a
problem. Parents are encouraged to give kids all information before dropping them off at
school, as it is hard to take calls during class and I don’t always get all information in
time when it comes to changes in who is picking up the child and that sort of matter. I do
understand that things can arise, but please try not to make it a regular habit. Also,
students are not allowed to call parents for homework. I see homework being brought in
as the students’ responsibility and don’t want everyone calling home to have their
homework brought in.
Email is the best way to communicate with me. I can be reached at
nkerin@tusd.net. If you are an emailer, please let me know right away so I can contact
you as needed. A form is being sent home which asks for the best way to reach you,
phone numbers, and email. Please get that back to me right away. Good communication
between parents and myself is really essential to having a good year.
Lunch money is no longer taken in class. It is to be dropped off before school in
the office, by parent or student. This is all explained in the Hirsch newsletter. It should be
in an envelope with all required information on the front.
We will be reading a few books aloud in class this year. I would like to see the
pace of the class before I say how many we will be reading. Some books, I have class sets
of, other’s I do not. Kids are welcome to read along with my book if I provide one, or
listen to the reading if I don’t. I will always announce a book ahead of time, so if you
want your student to read aloud, for the extra reading benefit, you can get a copy. Our
first book is Number the Stars. Our first literature unit deals with cooperation and this
book is a great story based on the people of Denmark working together to help World
War 2 era Jews escape the Nazis during their occupation. It is based in truth and a very
moving book that I have read for years.
Birthday celebrations are welcome in class. All food must be store bought and
please don’t send in soda. Treats can be sent in with your student or dropped off in the
office. If you’d like to bring them for passing out yourself, please let me know ahead of
time. The times that work for doing this are 10:05, 12:00, 1:35, and 2:45, before we go to
recess, lunch, or home. If your student has a birthday after the end of the school year, let
me know and we can celebrate during the last month.
Accelerated Reader is the reading program here at Hirsch. Kids should check out
only AR books from the library and are expected to read these in class and/or at home.
Passing comprehension tests on these books earns the kids AR points. A minimum of ten
is expected each trimester. Besides school rewards, any student in class that earns at least
50 points this year will get a cool Super Reader bracelet. The best part is the
comprehension practice the kids get, which is so essential. We will also be honoring our
top 5 AR point earners each trimester.
I run the chess club here at Hirsch. If your student is interest in chess or would
like to learn, have them talk to me. We will also have a tournament again this year, with
medals for all who participate.
I also get to run the school art show each year so you can be sure you’ll be the
first to know any news about that.
Finally, I set up the Family Science Night here at Hirsch as well. If you are
interested in helping with that, please let me know.
Our curriculum in fifth grade is very exciting. I enjoy upper level math quite a bit
and have some great ideas for how to teach the concepts. We also have a new math
homework workbook that has a review page and a homework page in it, both of which
will be homework often. This is great because we didn’t have the review page in the past
and it made it harder for parents to help. My B.A. is in History and I enjoy fifth grade
history very much as well. We cover so much, from the explorers through the American
Revolution. There will be research reports to be done on a semi-regular basis. There will
also be book reports in this class, just lots and lots of fun stuff.
I know money is tight for everyone right now, so I am trying not to ask for too
much from parents. I have already asked for $15 for our artist in residence. I am trying to
think on the less expensive side when it comes to field trips as well. We are looking at
going to the Lawrence Lab in Livermore around February/March, and the price should be
below $10. That may be it this year, or there may be one or two other less expensive field
trips.
This is going to be a great year, with a wonderful group of students. I look
forward to all of us working together this year!
Thanks,
Nick Kerin
nkerin@tusd.net