5th Grade Weekly Update
Here's what's going on at O.C. Taylor!
Week of October 12th - 16th
ANNOUNCEMENTS
**** NO SCHOOL MONDAY!!!*** Enjoy this beautiful weather and time with your family!!!
This Thursday, October 15th, is an early dismissal day for students to allow for parent/teacher conferences. Students will dismiss at 11:45 am. We will share the schedule as soon as we receive it and will also push it out in SeeSaw.
This is the final week of the 1st 9 Week grading period and report cards/term grades will be closing soon. Students are encouraged daily by the teachers to check their Skyward progress.
Each 5th-grade teacher has reached out to their "teacher-of-record" families in order to schedule a conference within the month of October. Please make contact soon to schedule these with your student's teacher-of-record so we can share how your child is doing in 5th grade.
*LATE-WORK* - Beginning the 2nd 9 weeks (October 19th) students will have ONE WEEK from when an assignment is assigned to complete/submit their work. After that point, a ZERO will be entered into the grade book and will NOT be changed.
During the first nine weeks, students focused on adjusting to the process of numerical grades and feedback on assignments through a remote learning platform. All fifth-grade teachers provide students with additional time and reminders to complete or revise all assignments. One of the primary goals of 5th grade is to instill strong habits of student responsibility. Here are some tips for students that will help to develop these habits:
- Check grades and missing assignments daily in Skyward.
- Check email for reminders from your teacher(s)
- Be sure to send your teachers an email if you have any questions about your grades or assignments.
- Check on your Seesaw progress, StemScopes, Readworks, IXL accounts, weekly learning checklist, and update your student planner.
Please contact Mrs. Whisman with any questions/concerns about your student's instructional format/delivery.
HEADS UP!
***As we make plans to accommodate our new in-person learners for the 2nd 9 weeks, please understand that we may have to make some adjustments to our cohorts here on campus. Students might be placed in different cohorts, however, please understand that nothing else about their day will change. All students will still have the same teachers, SeeSaw access, and time within each content area. Also, please be advised that we will only have about 3-4 feet between desks. Parents may still contact the original teacher-of-record or specific content teacher with any questions/concerns.
Remote learners will not have ANY changes to their schedule at this time. ***
Students take their 1st 9 weeks unit test in Humanities on Friday, October 16th. The test will cover main idea and details using text evidence for support, creating mental images while reading, picking out different story elements in a text, pulling out the theme or multiple themes in a text, and inferencing about events/characters in a text.
Students take their 1st 9 weeks Social Studies assessment this Friday, October 16th. This covers Unit 1, Map Skills/Geography, and Unit 2-Exploring a New World.
Students have made all final selections regarding their dioramas and reports for Science. Here is the instructions page to reference should you have any questions about the expectations. Students understand that there is a physical diorama they are to be creating as well as a slides presentation about their animal. Please feel free to email Mrs. Fields with any questions!
DIORAMAS AND SLIDES WILL BE PRESENTED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22nd.
Book Talks are due Oct.23!! The rubric is posted to every daily slide on the student lesson plans.
NORMS
*Families - please understand that due to the number of students returning, we are only able to space our desks roughly 3-4ft apart to accommodate our students*
*IMPORTANT WEBEX CHANGE!*
Beginning Friday, September 25 at 4 p.m. Webex personal meeting rooms will have an additional level of security so they can only be accessed by GCISD students and staff.
*Students will now be required to log in using their GCISD username and password.*
For instructions on how to enter your username and password to access the Webex, please click here. If your student has any issues accessing a Webex next week with these new security measures, please contact the help desk at 817-251-5629 or submit a help ticket through Classlink.
Please make sure your student is charging their Chromebook. We are seeing an uptick in students bringing devices to school that are not charged/ready for class.
Click HERE to view our WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE assignment listing for this week!
Humanities
Reading
We will continue to write about our reading. Our focus is to study different themes in a text. We are also studying how characters can teach us lessons through problems that they face in a text. We are practicing "seeing" our texts through the eyes of another reader while we share and discuss our cohort novel.
**Book Talks are due Oct. 23** We are taking our 1st 9 weeks TEKS check on Friday, October 16th during our class time. All remote learners need to login in order to take this test next week. If students cannot log in during our block, they will need to set up a time to meet with me and take the test during Tiger Time.
Patterns of Power
Our focus skill this week is irregular verbs.
Writing
We will begin exploring opinion, information, and narrative writing. Be sure your student has a spiral notebook, journal, or paper to write on for our sessions.
Social Studies
We will continue our study of the 13 Colonies. There will be a district-wide TEKs check on Friday, 10/16. All remote students will take it "live" during WebEx with their cameras on. This check will cover Unit 1, Map Skills and Geography, and Unit 2, Exploring a New World.
Math
The more fast facts they have memorized, the better off they will be in 5th grade and moving forward to middle school!
Science
Begin Unit 6 - This week we continue our ongoing study of animals using adaptations within certain habitats. Our focus now is on how organisms interact with both living and non-living elements within their ecosystem.
Please be referencing our daily blue slides posted as daily announcements in each SCIENCE SEESAW class for a daily checklist for science work. All diorama information is also linked daily in our science slides. Students are able to access StemScopes materials safely through ClassLink
Online Assessment Proctoring Expectations
All district assessments (Math, Science, and Humanities) will be given through an app called Edugence. This app can be safely accessed by students through their GCISD Classlink. We are aware there have been some glitches with this app and we are working to provide the necessary support for future assessments.
Webex proctoring by a teacher is required for district assessments when learning remotely. This will be utilized as a communication tool between the teacher or test proctor and the student.
Prior to taking the test, students will fill out an Assessment Honor Code google form stating that they are taking the test on their own without any help.
GCISD expectations are that remote students have their CAMERAS ON while they take the test.
If a student receives accommodations, they will already be loaded to their testing profile for them to access during the test. We have received feedback that this feature has been having issues so teachers are working to ensure we have a back-up recording of all testing materials that students can access if needed. Teachers will be there to help support the students. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to our team!
SPECIALS: 10:15-11:05am
IN-PERSON
Students will move in a 3 day, alternating Art/PE/Music schedule.
See attached calendar
Specials teachers will be sanitizing supplies and classrooms in between classes
Students will ALWAYS need Chromebooks in Music/Art.
Students will ALWAYS need to bring their school supplies to Art.
REMOTE
Remote learners may connect with Specials teachers one day a week through LIVE Webex meetings for the first 15-20 minutes of their Specials time. These Webex meetings are not mandatory.
Tuesdays - Mrs. Morgan (Art) https://gcisd.webex.com/meet/cristie.morgan
Wednesdays-Coach Mester(PE) https://gcisd.webex.com/meet/jason.mester
Thursdays-Mrs. Vencill(Music) https://gcisd.webex.com/meet/bethany.vencill
CONTACT INFO
- Mrs. Morgan - Art - cristie.morgan@gcisd.net
- Mrs. Vencill - Music - bethany.vencill@gcisd.net
- Coach Mester - PE - jason.mester@gcisd.net
2020-2021 Reflections Contest
5th Grade Grading Policy
Please click HERE to see how each teacher will submit grading feedback by their content area
TELESCOPERS
All Telescoping occurs daily from 8:00 am - 9:00 am.
REMOTE TELESCOPERS are encouraged to login to MS. EPPERSON'S WEBEX at 7:40am to participate in the Morning Show and Circle Up.
6th Grade - Ms. Anjalie Gilby - anjalie.gilby@gcisd.net
7th Grade - Ms. Melissa Baker w/ iUniversity Prep - melissa.baker@gcisd.net
Student Communications - EMAIL
In case your student is not familiar with how to do this, here is a brief video!
Fifth Grade Feedback
IN-PERSON ROTATION SCHEDULE
ROTATION SCHEDULE FOR REMOTE LEARNERS
5th Grade REMOTE/IN-PERSON Daily Schedule
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
Teachers will NOT be collecting or storing any student supplies in classrooms. Students will keep all their belongings in their backpacks and there are no community supplies. The following supplies should be brought to school each day for in-person learning:
- Charged Chromebook
- Bring your charger just in case
- 1 composition notebook for math/science, 1 spiral notebook for Humanities
- writing utensils
- headphones
- folder for any handouts
- OCT planner
- **please put together a pencil bag/box of basic art supplies for use in Art (colored pencils, markers, glue, etc)**
Our Focus
Our 5th-grade teachers are so excited to work with you this year and we look forward to teaming with our wonderful 5th-grade families in order to provide the best educational experience possible for our amazing students. There will be times of joy, excitement, and growth as well as moments of frustration. It is during these rougher times that we ask for all to proceed with patience and understanding as we all learn to navigate an entirely new approach to instructional delivery. We are all learning and doing our absolute best and we are confident that all involved will grow through this experience and be ready for the challenges of middle school and beyond. We value our community and welcome all feedback to help us shape this experience into an intentional and successful model of instruction for our students and encourage open communication throughout our time together.
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
@OCTEpperson
amber.fields@gcisd.net - 5th grade Math/Science
@OCTFields
michelle.watkins@gcisd.net - 5th grade Humanities
@OCTWatkins
Location: 5300 Pool Road, Colleyville, TX, USA
Phone: 817-305-4870
Connect With Us!
Follow our campus on Twitter @OCTaylorTigers and follow #OCT4U!