5th Grade Weekly Update
Here's what's going on at O.C. Taylor!
Week of February 10th - 14th!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
-Valentine's Day is quickly approaching. We wanted to remind you that all students will need some sort of Valentine box to collect all their goodies in. They can begin bringing these in on Monday, February 10th. If your child is going to be bringing Valentine's to pass out, please make sure they are providing one for each student in their homeroom class. VALENTINES BOXES WILL NOT BE WORKED ON AT SCHOOL - STUDENTS ARE FREE TO WORK ON THEM ON THEIR OWN TIME AT HOME.
-We are having more and more students coming to school with their Chromebooks not charged. We are really pushing student responsibility. Please check with your student each night about making sure their computers are charged and ready for school the next day. We really appreciate it!
- Please remind your child to leave air pods at home. We have seen students bringing these and wearing them in class. Since we have headphones in the class, we would hate for students to lose their air pods - so please leave these at home. Thanks so much for your support.
- Our grade level will continue to reinforce our refreshed expectations. We are proud of our students and know they are amazing examples for all the other OCT Tigers here at school!
- 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
-February 10th - wear your OCT shirt!
-February 12th - TTT, yearbook, NEHS meets
-February 13th - choir
-February 14th - Valentine's Day class parties at 2pm
-February 17th - district staff development - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS!
-February 18th - CMS Info Night for incoming 6th graders (see below)
-February 18th - Math Interim Assessment
-February 19th - Reading Interim Assessment
-February 19th - yearbook, Student-led Conferences for 3rd/4th/5th
-February 20th - Dental Presentation
-February 21st - Kinder Rodeo Parade, Run Club
-February 28th - Taylor Tiger Choir performs at the Lone Star Brahmas hockey game at 730pm
-March 2nd - 5th grade Science Interim Assessment
-March 2nd - wear red/Dr. Suess
-March 5th - Portrait of a Graduate Open House, choir
-March 9th-13th - SPRING BREAK!!!
Is your student interested in becoming a Math Telescoper?
The window to register to test for math telescoping is February 14-March 2, 2020.
The spring telescoping test will take place on Saturday, April 18, 2020.
There is a second registration window in May for a late June testing opportunity.
For more information about math telescoping, please click on these links to see the GCISD Math Department video regarding acceleration in mathematics and the Assessment department’s website for information regarding testing registration.
Attention Parents of Students Attending CMS Next Year!!!
https://www.facebook.com/colleyvillemiddlepta/
https://twitter.com/cmscoltspta?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/cmscoltspta/?hl=en
You can also find information on our website cmscoltspta.org
In addition to these links the school also has a Facebook account, Twitter, an Instagram. It’s under Colleyville Middle School. The PTA and the school are big on communication, so like both the schools links and the PTAs links.
CMS PTA President
2019-2020
PARENTS OF 5TH GRADERS!!!!
There are many upcoming dates to be aware of as this semester will FLY by! We will add information/dates/times as soon as we receive them, so... check back often!
Important Spring 2020 Dates for 5th grade
Please mark your calendars as we charge ahead this semester!
AVID Dates
January 13th-April 10th
AVID applications available online
January 13th-April 10th
AVID applications available online
March 19th
AVID parent informational meeting
location TBD
April 13th-April 24th
Student interviews and student selection for AVID
May 1st
Acceptance/Regret letters mailed to student candidates
STEM Academy and Dual Language Dates
TBD
Online Application available for STEM and Dual Language
TBD
Online STEM and Dual Language Lottery conducted
Middle School Family Night
Cross Timbers - Feb. 18th @ 6:00 p.m.
Colleyville - Feb. 18th @ 6:00 p.m.
Grapevine - Feb. 25th @ 6:00 p.m.
Heritage - Feb. 25th @ 6:00 p.m.
Learn more about middle schools
6th Grade Course Selection Dates
February, February 28th
MS counselors visit OCT fifth graders
Course selection sheets go home with students.
Thursday, March 5th
Course Selection sheets are due to Mrs. Whisman
March 6th - 27th
Course selections will be entered in Skyward.
Middle school counselors will send a copy of the selections in May to verify course requests.
TRANSFER REQUESTS:
Students will only enter course requests for the middle school they are zoned to attend. If asking for a transfer, those requested courses will go to the school upon notification of approval. For more information about transfers: https://www.gcisd.net/cms/one.aspx?portalId=96313&pageId=195752.
817-305-4880, or contact your homeroom teacher.
WHAT IS AVID?!?!
HUMANITIES (Reading, Writing, & Social Studies)
Book talks are coming due quickly. Remember that the due date is the 20th. This book talk needs to be told from a minor character's point of view.
Writing: Students will be writing about their books this week. They will be comparing and contrasting the 2 characters in their book. We are still going to be discussing prepositions this week during our Patterns of Powers lessons in class.
Spelling: New spelling words will come home Monday. The activities are the same as they have been the past few weeks. Activities will be due on the 21st.
The test will be on the 21st as well.
Social Studies: We will be wrapping up our study of Westward Expansion. We will be reviewing what we have learned through student-created skits. We will finish up with an open book test over this material.
MATH
This week in math we will be working on recognizing patterns in a table and generating a rule for that pattern like y = x + 2. We are building upon our knowledge of coordinate grids and reviewing key terms from the beginning of the year. The students will also be able to recognize an additive pattern or a multiplicative pattern based on an input/output table.
We will begin preparing for STAAR with a 10 question STAAR like quiz every Friday to work on problem-solving strategies and review concepts from the beginning of the year. We will be sending out an email with more information soon.
Students have examples of strategies in their notebooks. They all have multiple methods to complete their multiplication and division problems.
We are pushing our students to work on math through IXL and XTRA Math. Prodigy is more of a game to them rather than a strong instructional tool.
*******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
Our last test went so well!!!!
Our next unit covers weather and climate. Much of our upcoming content will refresh topics that were covered at length in 3rd and 4th grade including the water cycle, the solar system, shadows, tides, and the moon.
SAVE THE DATE! MAY 1st, 2020!!! CAMPUS CAREER DAY!
Are you a 5th grader who wants to be on the Morning Show?
Six Flags Read to Succeed Program
Forms were sent home Thursday, January 9th for the Six Flags Read to Succeed Program. All 5th graders will be required to participate - this will be taken as a reading grade. All they have to do is read 6 hours between now and April 17 and they will receive a free Six Flags ticket that can be used during the summer of 2020. Parents will log their children's reading time into an online reading log this year. There will be no need to turn in a paper log. The form your child received on Thursday will have your child's class code on it. If you have questions or lost your login code, please feel free to contact Mrs. Fiffik.
Baby Pictures Needed for Yearbook!
Each year, the OC Taylor yearbook features pages with fifth graders' baby photos. It's fun to guess who's who (there is a key provided at the end of the section) and see how far the kids have all come!
How to Submit Photos
a) Digital or scanned photos need to be emailed to tiffany.daggercummin@gcisd.net.
(preferred)
b) Hard copies of photos can be sent in an envelope with your child's name on the back.
Photo Guidelines
- For digital photos, high resolution (300 dpi) is best. Most photos taken with a standard digital camera will be fine, but we will contact you if a photo is too small/low resolution to print.
- If you are scanning a photo, please send it as a JPEG and not a PDF.
- The photo should be of your child aged 0-2. The photo should have a clear view of the face; close-ups work well. The photo should ideally not have other people in it, so we can feature only your child in.
- Be sure to include your child's identification, as described above. Photos without identification will not be printed.
Please email your photo to tiffany.daggercummin@gcisd.net!
FROM PTA *** 5th GRADE PARTIES*** Please send ASAP
PTA is asking NOW so they can budget accordingly and so that all can enjoy the rest of the school year and all of the fun things during this final year in elementary school!
Venmo: @channing-borecki
Please make checks out to Channing Borecki
For all questions, please reach out to Channing Borecki, 5th grade GLC at 817-437-4247 or at channingborecki@gmail.com.
The Importance of Attendance
Our daily core instruction begins promptly at 7:40 am and runs to 11:10 am.
While we understand that appointments are needed throughout the year, if at all possible, please try to schedule these during the afternoon hours or after school to help us maximize your student's learning. We just want their sweet, smiling faces in class! Thank you for your support!
Planner Expectations
We are asking that you please sign your student's planner at least once a week as a way to show that you are in the communication loop! They get prizes for this too!
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*
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