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Today is a new day

with a new opportunity to

make your world a better place.

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Susie Dalton

5th Grade

sdalton@westsideusd.org

707-433-3923

Website: https://msdalton5.wixsite.com/westside5

Daily Schedule

8:20 School Starts

8:20-10:20 Language Arts

10:20-10:40 Recess/Snack Break

10:40-12:05 Math

12:05-12:25 Lunch Recess

12:25-12:45 LUNCH

12:45-2:50 Other subjects

2:50 Dismissal (1:50 on Wednesdays)

Parent conference week is Sept. 25-29,

scheduled via Sign-Up Genius (starting

Sept. 11) for Zoom or in-person conferences.

*Students are released at 12:10 every day during conference week.

Our class website is a great way to catch important updates, see photos of the latest in Room 5, check homework assignments, and keep up with

what we are learning.

https://msdalton5.wixsite.com/westside5

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Absences

When your child is absent, a “Make-up Work” folder will be created for them. Although we try to catch students up with missing work, when they return, it is typical that they will need to bring some of their make-up work home to complete, as the school day does not usually allow the extra time needed to fully complete missed assignments.

Tardies

If your child arrives late to school, they need to stop at the office for a tardy slip BEFORE heading to class. If you know in advance that your child will be late, please alert the office and teacher.

Volunteers

We love having volunteers to help in the classroom, support projects, and participate in field trips and events.

If you are interested in volunteering, you must be cleared by the office before working with students. Email is the best way to share your availability and volunteer interest.

Drivers

We need drivers for most of our field trips. In order to drive, you must submit the appropriate paperwork to the office and update insurance and licenses before they expire. Thank you for making our trips happen!

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Basic info:

Class Updates

Volunteers

Birthdays

Field Trips

Snacks & Lunches

A class newsletter will be sent home approximately once a week. Be sure to check our website for updates, info, and a peek inside 5th grade: https://msdalton5.wixsite.com/westside5

All on-campus volunteers must attend a volunteer orientation with Ms. Meechan before working on campus.

Birthdays are acknowledged, but not celebrated, in class.

Snack time is during recess (10:20-10:40). Students are often quite hungry by this point of the morning, so please be sure they have healthy snacks to consume.

School lunches can be ordered up to a month in advance, and must be ordered by 8:00 a.m. of the previous school day. Contact the office for information on how to order lunches.

October 23, 2023:

Sonoma County Water Education Center

January 30, 2024: LBC “The North- The Musical” (cost ~ $10 per student)
February 15, 2024 : Santa Rosa Symphony (cost ~ $10 per student)
*New dates: March 7-8, 2024: Westminster Woods (Cost ~$240)

We plan to use parent drivers for these trips.

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HOMEWORK

Homework is sent home/assigned Monday-Thursday, due in on the following Monday (to allow extra time over the weekend for those who need it).
Homework is posted on our class website.
Typically, students will be assigned:

30 minutes of reading (to self or to others)
Math homework page or facts practice

Eureka Math² homework includes “Practice Partners” which guide students (and families!) through the homework and support math thinking and language at home.
Special projects during the year will require a different homework structure, such as Family History Essays and research projects.

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Little Buddies

5th graders are Big Buddies to 1st graders and meet with their buddies about twice a month for fun activities.

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LANGUAGE ARTS

Benchmark Advance, our district-adopted ELA program, integrates both science and social science content with Language Arts.

Fifth grade skills include:

taking information and putting it into their own words
creating written pieces that follow a structure geared toward a writing purpose (e.g., a narrative story, an informational report, or an opinion text).
daily writing in the form of journaling, creative writing, essays, paragraphs, responses to literature and content, and/or personal writing projects
critically analyzing and reflecting on what they read
learning to identify and understand word relationships and nuances in meanings
reading text with greater purpose and critical stances
voicing views using multiple perspectives and textual evidence
interacting with text in ways that allow them to more deeply understand meanings and question the premise of a text

Reading

Writing

Word Study

Cursive

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MATH

Fluency

Place Value & Number Sense

Geometry

Division

Multiplication and division facts (to 12)
Addition and subtraction of fractions
Multiplication of multi-digit whole numbers

Dividing by two-digit numbers
Dividing fractions and decimals

Developing an understanding of volume

Understanding decimal and fractions to the thousandths place
Operations with decimals to thousandths
Understanding our Base 10 system of numbers

5th grade math moves quickly and requires perseverance and stamina from our students. It requires a deep understanding of place value, number relationships, and mathematical problem solving strategies.

West Side is excited to launch Eureka Math² this year!

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HISTORY/SOCIAL SCIENCE

History is a major part of the 5th grade curriculum, focusing on the development of what would eventually become the United States of America, with emphasis up to the year 1800, including:

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

What does FREEDOM mean in the United States, both in the past and the present?

How have systems and practices in our nation affected the rights and freedoms of the people who have lived here?

Why and how do laws and governments continue to evolve and change over time?

Using primary sources to explore the past through the eyes of women, men, and children from a variety of historical groups
The diverse history of pre-Columbian indigenous peoples
The exploration of the Americas
The role of women, indigenous people, and enslaved peoples in creating and changing our society
The colonization of North America and the evolution of societies in Colonial America
The events leading to and following the Revolutionary War
U.S. governmental structures, principles, and laws
The geography of what is now the United States and how the land shaped people, events, and the development of the nation

5th grade is piloting the TCI Social Studies Alive! program in the 2023-24 school year.

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Technology

West Side uses CLEVER as our technology hub. Your child can log into all school apps on any device, with a single sign-on through CLEVER, using their QR badge or username and password.

Chromebooks are used in class for:

Writing
Research
Skills practice
Assessment/Testing
Technological literacy

Programs include:

IXL
Prodigy Math for Education
Google Classroom
Google Docs & Slides
A variety of history, science, and learning applications

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Science

Earth’s Place in the Universe

Stars

Patterns and movement in the night sky

Ecosystems: Interaction, Energy, & Dynamics

Food Chains & Webs

Plant systems

How matter moves

Earth’s Systems

Gravity

Water systems and processes

Geospheres, biospheres, hydrospheres, atmosphere

Engineering Processes

Define problems

Identify and compare solutions

Plan and carry out tests

Matter and Its Interactions

Mixtures & Solutions

Graphing & Measuring

Properties of Matter

Chemical Reactions

Healthy Bodies

*including the “My Body is Healthy” Program

Nutrition

Exercise

Intro to Puberty

Body Systems

West Side has a new science curriculum: TWIG Science!

This excellent program gets kids DOING science and using the eight NGSS science and engineering practices as they learn the 5th grade core ideas and concepts.

You can read the science practices on the next page!

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Asking questions and defining problems
Developing and using models
Planning and carrying out investigations
Analyzing and interpreting data
Using math and computational thinking
Constructing explanations and designing solutions

Engaging in an argument stemming from evidence

Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

The eight science and

engineering practices of NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)

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