Dear Parents,
Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year. We want to take the time to tell you what to expect as your child enters our classrooms. Your child will have three teachers: Mrs. L. Austin will teach Science and Study Skills, Ms. Reynolds will teach Math and Social Studies, and Mrs. Masterson will teach Reading and English.
Our conference time is 8:25am every morning. Your child’s lunch will be 12:40pm.
Fifth grade is a challenging year. Your child will take three STAAR tests; Math, Reading, and Science. We will immediately begin working on the skills needed to prepare them for success.
We are stricter than previous grade levels about turning in late work. We expect an assignment to be turned in on time. If it is not, we will give the student ONE extra day to turn it in with a thirty-point penalty. After the first day, your child could receive a zero with no chance to bring it up. Work given when a student is absent is due the day after he/she returns to school (unless several days in a row are missed). Study Skills is a 45 minute class that your child will have each day to work on homework, missing work, or failed assignments.
Students may correct any failed assignments for a passing grade of no more than a 70, however, it will be the student’s responsibility to correct the failed assignment and return it for rescoring. We will NOT ask your child to make corrections or to turn in corrected papers. Corrections can only be turned in THREE school days from the date the paper was returned. Any paper turned in after that date will NOT be accepted. Discipline marks may be given in subjects where students have failing grades as a result of not correcting assignments. Since students are allowed to correct assignments for a passing grade, we do not offer Extra Credit work. In addition, students may be given an entirely different assignment to do for corrections. No Pass/No Play -If students are not passing in a subject, they will forfeit their recess time until they bring their grade to a 70 or higher.
Your child has a folder for each academic subject. Unfinished assignments will be brought home in the correct subject folder to be completed for homework. Completed work should be returned to that subject folder, so the assignment can be turned in the first thing the next morning. Please do not remove graded papers from your child’s folders. Students are to leave all graded assignments in their folders until the end of the six weeks. At the beginning of each six weeks, we will have students clean out their folders at school. Your child also has this student planner. Homework and behavior notifications will be sent home in this planner. Please review your child’s planner nightly and sign when required.
Inside the student planner are calendars for the six week grading period. The goal of each child is to keep their calendars “clean”, or without any marks. Marks are given for behavior that does not meet our class expectations. On the day a mark is received, calendars are to be initialed by the parent and returned the next day. For each six weeks period, students that reach behavior goals will enjoy a reward activity.
Reward activities occasionally include field trips. Field trips are earned by good behavior, attendance, and an effort shown in academics. If your child cannot follow school rules or has multiple absences, he/she will not be able to go on any field trips. The policy for the required attendance by semester to qualify for field trips can be found in the Malakoff Elementary Student Handbook.
Parent portal is a great tool available for you to keep up with your child’s grades. This is a very helpful site that will keep you informed of your child’s progress through the year. If you are not already set up, you will need a code to log in to check attendance, grades, and set up alerts. If you need your child’s log in information, please let us know. Progress reports will be sent home approximately halfway through each six weeks grading period.
Remind – We communicate with parents through Remind. You will need to sign up for the 5th grade Remind account. Remind allows teachers to communicate with parents via text messaging and send you reminders of important events going on here at school. This is a great tool that will get you information immediately without waiting for your child to bring a paper note home from school. If your phone number changes during the school year, please sign up for Remind again using your new number. It is vital that we be able to communicate with you at all times.
Parent Drop Off and Pickup is located at the rear of the building by the gym. Please DO NOT drop off your child before 7:30am, as there is no one on duty. Please note that there is only one drop off line closest to the gym door. In the afternoon, please be ON TIME to pick up your child at dismissal. 5th graders are picked up in the 2 lines furthest away from the gym door, NOT the one closest to the gym. If your 5th grader has a younger sibling, he/she will be picked up at the younger child’s pickup location. For example, 1st grade is picked up at the cafeteria and kinder at the rock building.
We ask you to encourage your child to practice good hygiene. Please speak to him/her about bathing, wearing deodorant, and clean clothes daily. Children can be cruel.
We are all here for your child. We will work hard to prepare him/her for the next step in their life. If you have any questions or concerns, please text, email, or schedule a conference with us. All of our emails are listed on the Malakoff ISD home page under district directory. We will help in any way possible. Please remember we cannot help a child with a problem if we are unaware it.
We look forward to getting to know your child and you.
Thanks,
Fifth Grade Teachers
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