Strausser Elementary
2025-2026
The Home Access Center (HAC) is where official grades are housed and can be accessed by clicking the link on the Jackson Local Schools website and putting your child’s username and password in. If a grade has an “X” in the box the student has been excused from that assignment. If there is a “Z” that assignment is missing. If it is empty, it is possible the teacher has not graded it yet or it’s missing. Please reach out to your teacher. Teachers will update grades once per week- not with every assignment.
Polaris will be used daily. In Polaris students will find assignments, resources, tests, and links to videos needed in class. Be sure to check the larger projects for their due dates so students are not stressed out at the end. At times, if the teacher feels that the students need additional time, the date in Polaris or on the Planner may change. Be sure to continue to check both for updates. Please do NOT use Polaris as a way to check grades. Much of what we grade in 5th grade is on paper and will only show up in HAC. Please ONLY use HAC when checking grades.
The district grading scale is as follows:
A 90-100%
B 80-89%
C 70-79%
D 60-69%
F 0-59%
Fifth graders should expect to have homework in math each night. Reading should also happen at home each night. We have a 40 Book Challenge for the school year and while we do get time to independently read in school, outside reading will benefit the students both within the classroom and beyond. Please be sure to check with your child each night for what is potentially homework. It is the student’s responsibility to keep track of what he/she is expected to finish each night. We will discuss in class, have the possible homework listed on the board, as well as in Polaris in order to help the students understand what is expected of them.
We do not have official planners for the students to use. Instead, the students will complete their own planner page based on the planners for each of their teachers. This will be good practice for when they get to the middle school next year. Students will need to keep track of what they finish in each class so they know what is and what is not homework. There will be a “class” homework page in Polaris that students and parents can use as a reference when at home.
A digital newsletter will be emailed every Friday. There will not be a paper newsletter sent home. A version of the newsletter will be placed in your child’s HOMEROOM course in Polaris so you are able to view it there as well. Please use the Parent Square App as I will send the newsletter through that app and send important information.
We LOVE to celebrate birthdays- EVEN in 5th grade! You are free to send in a birthday treat with your child in the morning of their birthday. If your child has a summer birthday- he/she may bring in a birthday treat the last week of school. If your child has dietary restrictions, please contact us so we can set up an alternate plan for birthday treats. If your child is bringing in invitations for a birthday party, he/she is required to bring one in for all students. This alleviates hurt feelings from students who may not have been invited. If you do not plan to invite all boys or all girls in the class, please find another way to pass out the invitations.
Students will have snack during Block 1. Having said this, it is important that the snack is not sugar based. Sending in candy bars, or other candy is strictly prohibited. Please send in something like pretzels, vegetables, fruit, rice cakes, granola bars, cereal bars, etc. Students ARE allowed to come to school with a water bottle each day. Please do not send your child to school with glass water bottle- for fear it would accidently break.
Caldwell | cmk2jc@jackson.sparcc.org |
Hynes | jmh4jc@jackson.sparcc.org |
As we inch closer and closer to middle school, expectations get higher. While we know no child is infallible, students should put in their best effort on a daily basis. Students and teachers create PAX visions during the first few days of school. These visions explain what the class would like to SEE more, HEAR more, DO more, and FEEL more of their whole school experience. The visions also highlight what students might want to SEE, HEAR, DO, or FEEL less of.
Each Friday, your child will come home with his/her PAWS paper. This paper will share your child’s individual behavior in class that week, homework turned in, and updated grades each week. We would like this to become a routine for your child to bring you his/her paper and for you to sign that you’ve seen it. If students have at least one paw left at the end of the week, they will earn a bonus recess on Friday. If they do not have one paw left, they will stay in from bonus recess to complete any late work, or to fill out a reflection sheet (if it was behavior related).
In class we will also have “Table Wars” where students will compete for points in order to become the Table Champion for the following seven days. This encourages students to work together, complete their homework, stay on task, and speak with kind words. We will “crown” our champion after each letter in “TABLE WARS” has been earned by a group.
Chromebooks need to be charged everyday before school. Students will not be allowed to charge them at school. Chromebooks are for educational purposes only, even at home. They are a tool, not a toy.
MY CHILD SHOULD BRING EVERYDAY
The following is a basic overview of what the students will learn in 5th grade
-Place Value
-Number and Operations in base 10
(ability to fluently add, subtract, multiply and divide)
-Fraction Operations
-Calculating Volume
-Numerical Expressions
-Customary and Metric Measurement
-Decimal Operations
-Geometry
(classifying figures and identifying patterns)
Life Science
Food Chains and Food Webs
Photosynthesis
Energy Transfer
Interaction of humans and other organisms in an ecosystem
Physical Science
Light Energy
Sound Energy
Earth and Space Science
Earth’s properties and predictable patterns
General knowledge of planets and other space objects
The following is a basic overview of what the students will learn in 5th grade
History
Multiple Tier Timelines
Ancient Civilizations (Maya, Inca, Aztec)
European Exploration and Colonization
Geography
Latitude and Longitude
5 Themes of Geography
Indigenous People of the United States
Government
Democracies, Dictatorships, and Monarchies
Economics
Economic Decision Making and Skills: Choices people make have consequences
Scarcity: Human resources, capital goods, and natural resources
Financial Literacy: Gaining new skills and knowledge
The following is a basic overview of what the students will learn in 5th grade
Curriculum
Benchmark Advance
Fiction
Figurative Language
Quote accurately from texts (summarize, quote, paraphrase)
Determine THEME
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, events, etc.
Point of View and Perspective
Nonfiction
Quote accurately from texts (summarize, quote, paraphrase)
Determine Main Idea with supporting details
Provide a summary
Text Structures
Analyze multiple accounts of the same topic
Writing
Writer’s Notebooks
Research Projects
5 paragraph Informational Essay
5 paragraph Opinion Essay
Narrative Writing
Possible Novels
There’s an Owl in the Shower
Chronicles of Narnia- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Hatchet
READ ALOUDS (examples)
Fish in a Tree
Long Walk to Water
Wonder
Restart
Wild Robot and Wild Robot Escapes