All homework is due the following day unless otherwise specified. Parents/Guardians should write a note of explanation in the agenda for any incomplete work. Thanks!

Language Arts ~ Read nightly for 20 minutes. Read the first page out loud three times then continue reading the rest of the story out loud until you've reached 20 minutes. Why out loud? This increases reading fluency. The first read-through introduces you to the main idea of the story and locates any unfamiliar words. This reading will probably be choppy. The second reading will be less choppy. Since you know what’s coming up you can focus on the punctuation and expression as well as practice those unfamiliar words you found in the first reading. The third reading should be fluent (read smoothly with expression, without error, in your natural story-telling voice).

The students are no longer required to record their thoughts after reading at home. We are doing that in class now.

Math ~ mrnussbaum.com Study ten facts each night.

The emergency contact information form sent home in September lets us know who to call if your child is sick or injured at school, usually a parent or guardian. In the near future you will be asked to fill out another form, an Early Dismissal form, which lets us know where your child will be going in the event of an unscheduled closure due to a snowstorm, power outage, loss of heat or loss of water in the building. If your child will be going to a friend's or neighbour's in these instances, please list the name of that person as first contact on the form and ask them to notify you. I have to phone every child's emergency dismissal contact. This is a monumental task which is very time consuming and it is not possible for me to make multiple calls for one child. Also, in these instances, the school's phone lines are jammed with calls so the secretary may not be able to take incoming calls. If your child has younger siblings in the school, I will be the one to make contact on behalf of all teachers. Then, the child in my class will be sent to the younger child's class, with all of their belongings and a note from me, explaining what the children are to do. If you are picking them up, the children will be with the younger child's teacher. WHEW! Please discuss these plans with your children as they tend to worry about who will pick them up, where the assigned meeting place is, who will greet the bus or unlock the door for them.

Math facts should be studied nightly on www.mrnussbaum.com. Students should tell the program to set up for 10 questions of addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. They MUST put in a user name and they MUST type the answer in the answer box above the worksheet (otherwise the program will say the child answered incorrectly). In Grade 5, the operations focused upon are multiplication and division, however, quick recall of addition and subtraction facts is vital to both of these processes. If your child does not have quick recall of addition and subtraction facts, please practice with them (and use the site mentioned above)

My school email is northrup@staff.ednet.ns.ca  Please note that I usually only check it once or twice each day; around 7 a.m. and possibly at 10 p.m. I encourage you to write to me to notify me of any concerns you have regarding your child's progress or other issues your child brings to your attention. Please do not write to inform me of absences or early departures as I may not get them in a timely manner. Continue to use safe arrival or notes in the agenda for these purposes. I am also open to receiving your child's weekly writing (as an attachment) via email.

Homework: Your child will have nightly homework. as well as weekly homework . Nightly homework includes a) reading (see Language Arts note above)  b) completing 10 questions from the above mentioned math website and c) any unfinished work from that day. 

 Weekly homework involves your child writing at least two double spaced pages per week as well as completing grammar pages. They will do this in the Writing scribbler which will also be kept in their homework agenda. NOTE** You may chose to allow them to do this on your computer, in their own file, and you may email the current week's writing to me on their scheduled day. They may write on whatever they like. They may create a short story one week but write a diary entry the next. The important thing is that they are writing. I will be checking for all of the usual things like spelling, capitals, punctuation as well as assessing how they are growing with respect to paragraphing and adding details and description. The reader must see and feel what the writer is describing. I will be setting up a schedule for collecting the children's Writing books once the year gets rolling but it will definitely be between Monday and Thursday.

Library – each library day for which there are no overdue books, I will personally bake the class a small treat. Are you up for the challenge? Library is Thursday.

Novel study - currently working on part 2 which is A)  illustrating your favourite part of the novel, then B) writing about it. The writing should include what is going on in the picture (retell that small part of the story) and why it is their favourite part (this is their personal connection) This part is due Friday, March 11, 2011