Mr. Glass's Fifth Grade

Testing is Over

We are all thankful that CRCT testing is over.  I was very pleased with how hard they all worked to review, be present, and on time for testing.  Thank you also to the many parents who sent in snack items to munch on before testing began each morning. 

Score reports will be available for you to pick up at Kincaid over the summer; however parents of students who did NOT pass math or reading will be notified by phone the last week of school. 

Please emphasize to your students that we still do have three more weeks of school and a bit more  content to cover before the end of the year, so we need to stay focused so that our grades don't slip during the last few weeks of school.  Be on the lookout for communication regarding end-of-the year activities in your student's VIP folder or this blog.  Forms for the fifth grade pool party and last day picnic need to be returned by next week so the organizers can make arrangements for food, etc. 

17 more days! 

Important Dates and Deadlines

We have quite a few fifth grade activities going on in the coming months.  Here are some important dates to mark on your calendar.  Please refer to Keynotes for other school-wide activities.

April 17 - "All Around Atlanta" fifth grade trip (more details to come)

April 21 - May 1 - CRCT

May 1 - IBM Career Day (more details to come)

May 4 - Dodgen Fifth Grade Parent Night (at Dodgen)

May 5 - Simpson MS counselors visit Kincaid (during school day)

May 5 - Daniell Fifth Grade Parent Night (6:30 p.m. at Daniell)

May 14 - trip to Simpson MS (during school day)*

May 16 - Simpson Fifth Grade Parent Night (6:30 p.m. at Simpson)

*Daniell and Dodgen students visited back in March.

Please continue to check your student's VIP folder as there will be a lot of information coming home about these events in the near future. 

Electricity Unit Test

We will be having our unit test on electricity on Wed. 10/15.  A study guide was given out on Thursday of last week.  If you and your student focus on the study guide, the test will be very simple.  Fifth graders are just now learning how to study, so they would benefit from working with you to show them some effective studying techniques.  We will review briefly in class before Wednesday, but the majority of the studying will be left up to your student.

Reading Logs

As you are aware, your student has a nightly reading log that they are responsible for having signed each weeknight.  They are to read for at least 20 minutes, record the time and pages read, sign it themselves, and lastly, have it signed by a parent or guardian.  We collect it at the end of each month and record a participation grade for having an entry for each weeknight of the month.  For example, there are 23 weeknights in the month of October.  At the end of this month, when the reading log is collected, each student should have at least 23 entries recorded and signed to get a 100%.  Twenty-two entries would be a 95%, and so on.  They have also been told that if they miss a weeknight, that night can be made up on a weekend day, just as long as 23 days are represented. 

Please reinforce this system at home and remind your student that they should be reading nightly.  This is an easy way for them to boost their reading grade and keeps them reading regularly!  Thank you for your help.   

Character Winner - Integrity

Congratulations to our character winner for integrity, Danny Fuentes.  Danny is an excellent model of integrity.  His teachers can always count on him to tell the truth and do the right thing, even when no one is watching.  He is a valuable asset to our class, and we are glad he is a part of it.  Danny was honored at the character luncheon on Sept. 29.  Thank you, Danny, for setting an example we all should follow!

Thank You

Testing is over!  Thank you to Mrs. Lyons, Ms. Morales, Mrs. O'Keefe, Mrs. Faber, and Mrs. Williams for sending in healthy snacks for us to eat before testing.  We are glad to be back to our regular schedule!  Our next big testing event is the Fifth Grade Writing Assessment in March.   

Social Studies Test - Causes of the the Civil War

We will have a social studies test over the causes of the Civil War (ch.5) on Monday Sept. 29.  We try  to avoid giving major tests on Mondays, but with all of the testing lately, it has already been delayed.  The study guide was sent home tonight.  Please sign and return it on Friday.  We will give it back for studying, but we want to make sure you are aware of the test.  There is a copy of the study guide attached. 

Download causes_of_the_civil_war_study_guide.doc

ITBS and CogAT

Last week we sent out a letter detailing the ITBS and CogAT schedules.  I did ask the students to have you sign it and bring it back, so if you still have it, if you would please sign and return so that I know you have received the information. 

While these tests are not gateway tests like the CRCT, they are still very improtant because they, along with the CRCT in April, determine class placement for middle school.  Please emphasize the importance of these tests to your student.  Fifth grade will be taking the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) on Sept. 17-18 and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) on Sept. 22-26.  The CogAT is a mental abilities test that measures ability in three areas: verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal.  The ITBS is a norm-referenced test of skills in the main subject areas which evaluates your student's performance and compares it to the performance of other fifth grade students across the country.  Once you receive the scores, you will be able to see how your student performs in comparison to his or her peers. 

Mrs. Mauldin has announced that the classes that have no absences or tardies on the testing days will be rewarded with a popsicle party.  In addition to being on time, please make sure your student gets a full night of sleep and a good breakfast each morning.  I will give only minimal homework during testing.   

Open House Materials

As promised, here are digital copies of the materials we distributed at Open House.  If you have questions, please let Mrs. Mawn or me know. 

Download open_house_agenda.doc

Download math_newsletter_1.doc

Download science_newsletter_electricity.doc

Also, if you have questions about testing, pacing, fifth grade units of study, or learning resources you can use to help your student succeed with the fifth grade curriculum, you can access the PICASSO portal on the Cobb County Schools Web site.

Open House

Just a reminder that Open House is tomorrow evening (8/4) at 6 p.m.  There will be two sessions for parents with more than one child at Kincaid.  We hope to see you there; however, if you can't make it, I will post digital copies of the documents we give out so you can see what we discussed.