5th Grade Weekly Update
Here's what's going on at O.C. Taylor!
Week of November 11th - 15th
The Importance of Attendance
ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!
- Camp Thurman is officially rescheduled! Please see below for more information!
-Nurse Katy will be giving the 5th-grade puberty program on Friday, November 22nd. Forms have been sent home if you wish your student to opt-out of this instruction.
- All 5th graders have received an O.C.Taylor planner. We are doing a quick daily briefing with the planners in our classes in addition to the larger Monday Meeting where we lay out the week(s). We would encourage you to please check your student's planner daily to help reinforce these helpful management strategies!
- Taylor Tiger Choir
All 4th and 5th graders are invited to attend!
We meet every Thursday from 2:55-4:00 p.m. in the OCT Music room.
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES
Nov 11th - Veteran's Day Assembly - wear red, white, blue
Nov 12th - Choir Concert at White's Chapel at 7pm
Nov 12th - Math Interim Assessments
Nov 13th - TTT and Yearbook meet
Nov 14th - choir meets
Nov 15th - Running Club, Big Kahuna deliveries
Nov 19th - makeup picture day AND Club Pictures (choir, TTN, TTT, Yearbook, NEHS, etc)
Nov 20th - Yearbook, TTT, NEHS, and the Turkey Drive
Nov 22nd - makeup inflatables time from FUN DAY!
Nov 22nd - "Growing Up Girls/Boys" puberty program
Nov 23 - Dec 1st- THANKSGIVING BREAK! NO SCHOOL! ENJOY YOUR FAMILIES!
DEC 9th - CAMP THURMAN!
Tiger Time Expectations
Here are our expectations for the hour of Tiger Time. We use this time to check-in with students to see that they have completed and submitted all incomplete/missing work for both Humanities and Math/Science in an effort to limit or avoid them having to work on anything at home. This time will still be used by teachers for small-group instruction and remediation or extension as needed. When students are pulled from core instruction for special services, we also utilize Tiger Time to catch them up from instruction they missed earlier in the day.
- Extension activities - We want Tiger Time to be inclusive of all our learners. In addition to having time for completing their regular classwork, the students also have menu choice boards for both Humanities and Math that are meant to supplement our instruction, extend lessons in fun ways, and are great ways to review content past what is covered in class.
- For GT students, we understand that they don't have Tiger Time Mon-Wed. They will have Tiger Time on Thursdays and Fridays to help them reclaim some time to make up or complete anything from class that they might be missing to help them with their workload.
- Telescopers - Mrs. Griffin pulls this group on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays from 10:40-11:10. On Tuesdays/Thursdays, they will have this same time window to work on any unfinished or missing assignments they have from Humanities, Math, or Science to help them with their workload.
- *Students should only be on Prodigy and other online sites after all work has been completed and their teachers have confirmed they are not missing anything. This should also be limited to about 10 minutes as they have the menu choice boards they can be working from as well*
O.C. Taylor Tigers salute our Veterans!
Our 3rd and 4th-grade students are preparing music to perform at our annual Veterans Day program Monday, Nov. 11 at 8:30 a.m. in the OCT cafeteria. Parents, friends, and family are invited to attend. 3rd and 4th-grade students should wear red, white and blue for our performance. There is a reception in the library immediately following the program for veterans, honored guests, and their families.
If you have a picture of a veteran you wish to hang on the Wall of Honor, please label your picture with your name, the veteran’s name and the branch of the military they served in. Turn in your pictures to your teacher or Mrs. Vencill by Wednesday, Nov. 6. Your pictures will be returned to you after Veterans Day.
The OCT National Elementary Honor Society students are collecting supplies to send to current U.S. troops. As we prepare for Veterans Day, this is a great way to show honor and support to our current military people. Thank you for your donations, Tigers!
Supplies needed: bars of soap, toothpaste/toothbrush, shampoo, sunscreen, lip balm, lotion, foot powder, Q-tips, first aid kit, card games, frisbees, balls, books, stationary/pens, AAA batteries, nuts, sunflower seeds, candy (not chocolate).
5th Grade Gifted and Talented Testing
The presentation will also be shared on the Advanced Academics page of the district website following the meeting. GT testing will begin after we return from winter break in January. Parents interested in referring their child for testing need to complete this form: Parent Inventory & Permission to Test . THE PERMISSION FORM LINK IS NOW LIVE!
Camp Thurman has been rescheduled for MONDAY DECEMBER 9th!
*** Camp Thurman waivers have been sent home! Please sign and return ASAP!***
These are DUE BACK TO TEACHERS BY NOVEMBER 19TH!
We are so excited to share that our fifth-grade students will be able to return to Camp Thurman for the Challenge Adventure Program Field Trip. We will update you soon with the extended times and info regarding the additional hot dog cookout that CT is providing for our students at no additional fee. We will pass this information along to you in the next few weeks. We will be communicating more information soon! Below is the release form -
We have made copies and will be providing every student one so please only print off if needed.
*** If for whatever reason your child was not originally able to attend Camp Thurman, we will ensure they get all the necessary paper work for you to sign, and we will collect their camp fee as well, thanks! It's really cool that several students who were unable to attend now get to go!***
HUMANITIES (Reading, Writing, & Social Studies)
**Reminder that Book Talk #2 is due next Thursday, Nov 21st**
Spelling: No new Spelling words or activities until after the break!
Writing: Students will be working on writing their Turkey Stories in class.
Students will share these stories in class on Nov. 22.
*Reminder that students should be disguising their turkeys at home and they need to be brought to school on the 22nd**
Social Studies: We will be working through chapter 10 notes using our History Alive books in class. This chapter is posted in google classroom.
*We will be checking chapter 10 notes on Thursday for completion.*
MATH
We are pretty proud of how our students performed on their Unit 4 test! Great job guys!!
This week in math, we will be working on finding equivalent fractions by using the least common denominator which will help us add and subtract fractions with uncommon denominators later on in this unit. We will be working with models and with standard addition and subtraction. We will also refresh our memories on concepts like simplifying fractions, converting improper fractions to proper fractions and mixed numbers.
Students have examples of strategies in their notebooks. They all have multiple methods to complete their multiplication and division problems.
All students also have an account on PRODIGY. They can access this through Classlink and log in using their Google credentials. This is an excellent way for them to practice their math skills in a fun way!
*******Pleeeeeeeease encourage your child to practice their multiplication math facts nightly. This will tremendously benefit them in 5th-grade math! Flashcards, apps, anything will help!*******
SCIENCE
We have started unit 7 - Food Webs - and are working through analyzing the transfer of energy between producers, consumers, and decomposers within an ecosystem. This will carry us through to Unit 8 where we will obseve the effects of changes in ecosystems caused by living organisms
This continues a study of a total of 6 units before our next district assessment. A review will be provided to help prepare for the assessment. All of these units build on each other and the students really enjoy the content. We will also be adding in certain ongoing investigations such as observing a habitat of a rotting log over several weeks.
5th grade Grading Policy - Please Read!
We know that many of you are new to your student receiving numeric grades. We want to make you all aware of our grading policy in 5th grade this year. This policy is also posted in our 5th grade Curriculum Night Slideshow presentation.
We are a no-homework campus. If classwork requires extra time, it will come home as unfinished classwork to be completed at home and returned the next day. Assignments scoring below a 70 can be corrected accurately and returned as soon as possible for up to a 70. Tests under 70 will be revisited in small group with a test at a later date for an improved score. Assignments turned in late will be 10 points off every day until the assignment is turned in.
We encourage both parents and students to check Skyward often to monitor student progress. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Progress Reports and Report Card Dates
Teacher Contact Info
sharon.fiffik@gcisd.net - 5th grade Humanities/Team Leader (Reading/Writing/Social Studies)
@OCTFIFFIK
morgan.epperson@gcisd.net - 5th grade Math/Science
@MsEppersonOCT
amber.fields@gcisd.net - 5th grade Math/Science
@OCTFields
michelle.watkins@gcisd.net - 5th grade Resource - all content
@OCTWatkins
tiffany.daggercummin@gcisd.net - 5th grade Humanities (Reading/Writing/Social Studies)
@OCTDagger
Location: 5300 Pool Road, Colleyville, TX, USA
Phone: 817-305-4870