8/22 (2pm) Meet & Greet8/22 (2:30pm) Popsicle Social 8/26 First Day of School 9/2 No School (Labor Day)

9/4(6pm) Back to School Night *(K, 4, 5 only)

9/6 Camp Lincoln •(Grade 5 only)

9/17 School Pictures

Important DatesMark your calendars, but you can also find these one our classroom

calendar located on the class website.

5 Ca

nton

e 2013 - 2014 CLASS OF 2021

Welcome to 5th Grade!Hello Explorers, Scientists, Historians, Authors, Artists & Innovators!

I hope you are as excited to receive this letter as I am to send it. As you know by now, we will be spending your 5th grade year together. 5th grade is full of amazing learning opportunities and topics. I can’t wait to get started!

A good theme for this year is “Discovery & Exploration”. We will bring the world to our classroom with virtual field trips, expert visits to the classroom, and plenty of hands on

activities in our own backyard. We’ll uncover what it was like to navigate the world during the “Age of Exploration” , and what it took to turn America into the country we know today. We’ll take trips outside the classroom for adventures relating to colonial and revolutionary America, ecology and, of course, at Sargent Camp (just to name a few!).

I’m eager to learn more about you. When you have a free moment, please log onto our classroom website (you can get there through the 5th grade site listed under my name on the Swasey website) and take the “Student Survey”. Try to do this before school starts.

It’s going to be a great year! I’m so glad you’re joining us.

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Cantone

Scan this QR code to visit our class site!

10 Random Facts

About Room 2 We don’t have desks...even the teacher!

Our classroom jobs are unlike any others you’ve done before...the chores, on the other hand, are definitely things you’ve done before.

We Skype with other classrooms, authors, & places often throughout the year.

Hard work always pays off here.

We often work together (as a class and as a whole 5th grade) in many different ways.

Our class mascot is our Eyelash Crested Gecko, Apple Noal.

We do LOTS of academic simulations. You’ll get to be an EXPLORER, COLONIST, and REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER.

You can eat & drink all day as long as it’s healthy and not near electronics.

You’ll get to choose a lot of what you study, read, and do!

I’M HUNGRY!With all of the learning and hard work we’ll do this year, we need to keep our brains fueled! Our classroom DOES allow (all day) grazing on healthy snacks (only). Be sure to pack additional snacks to keep your brain running all day! Water packed in a re-useable, plastic bottle (marked with your name) is also welcome in our room. Additionally, to keep our hardworking brain focused, please feel free to bring in sugar free gum to chew throughout the day.

What’s new in

5th Grade? Fifth grade is a year focused on preparing you for your journey to the middle school and your lifelong learning beyond Swasey. With this in mind, several things will be “bumped up” from 4th grade - especially the expectation of responsibility. You will need to be responsible for yourself, your choices, your work, and your learning this year.

We will have several long term projects over the course of the year. You will need to help manage, plan, and complete each along with regular, daily homework assignments. Fifth graders also have to adjust to different teachers for Science and Math units throughout the year. For many reasons, it will be important to be organized. We’ll spend much of September setting ourselves up for success through good organizational strategies.

There will be lots of opportunity to stretch your wings as a learner this year as well. You’ll discover new things about yourself as a community member, a friend, a school leader, and as a person. We will be sure to have lots of fun along the way too!

Throughout the year, you will have choices to make in what you explore and discover and how you share your learning with others. Be prepared to connect what interests you outside of school - sports, dance, nature, music,

whatever(!) - to your work in the classroom.

We are fortunate to have many technology resources available to us this year. We’ll learn using digital cameras, green screens (learn more about this on our website!), laptops, netbooks, ipods & ipads, blogs, wikis, website creation, and much more. Speaking of adventures - hold onto your hatS (with a capital S!). You’ll wear many of them this year as you try jobs such as tutorial designer, official scribe, researcher, collaboration coordinator, news broadcaster, and curriculum reviewer.

5th Gradeat a glance...

SCIENCE MATH WORLD STUDIES LITERACY 5th Gradeat a glance...

Circulatory & Respiratory

Systems

with Mr. Fowler

Multi-digit Multiplication and Division

Geography & Mapping

Active Reading

Strategies

5th Gradeat a glance...

Chemistry & Matter

with Mrs. Woods

Fractions, Decimals & Percents

US Government

Book Clubs

5th Gradeat a glance...

Scientific Method

with Mrs. Babine

Angles &Geometry

European Exploration

Research

5th Gradeat a glance...

Ecology

with Mrs. Cantone

Gathering, Organizing & Analyzing

Data

Colonial & Revolutionary

America

Writing, Writing &

More Writing

This year, we’ll explore the world - past & present - using the tools of the future....

We will connect to the world virtually (through blogs, book clubs, websites, wiki’s, and more), and in person (through field trips - like the one to Camp Lincoln at the START of the year!). We’ll also learn how the world, as we know it today, was discovered, mapped, and governed throughout history. We’ll uncover how (and why) America was formed. We’ll also think about how the environmental choices we make today will affect the world we leave for future generations.

For more on 5th grade curriculum, please visit our classroom website !

sites.google.com/a/sau16.org/cantoneclassroom

10 Random Facts about

Mrs. Cantone10. Her family is made up

of all boys (and her), including her husband; her crazy but adorable son, Rocco; two dogs: a severely overweight Golden Retriever named “Bear”, and a cat-and-child-herding border collie named “Max”; and a kitty named Fenway.

9. Her favorite color is lime green.

8. She still has the name plaque her 5th grade teacher gave to her on the first day of 5th grade.

7. Her biggest pet peeve is when people chew with their mouth open. Especially gum. Yuck!

6. She likes to paint in her free time.

5. Her favorite author is Roald Dahl.

4. She loves to paint, draw, and create.

3. She has a HUGE collection of Crayola stuff - both vintage and new. It’s an obsession.

2. Halloween is her favorite holiday...but she hates scary movies.

1. She is training to run a 5K this fall.

Besides the items listed on the SCS Grade 5 Website...

2” plain binder (similar to the one students saw on Fly Up Day) • Binders with clear front sleeves work well • Please don’t spend a lot on binders, you will likely need more than one this

year. 1 package of wide ruled paper

• You may want more than one if you like to write • Hole punched paper is best

2 packs of insertable, write on dividers (5 subject packs) • PLEASE PURCHASE 3 (you’ll need an extra for our writing binders)

2-3 pens • Bold colors work best (no black, yellow, or orange)

1 package of pencils • You will need a LOT of pencils this year, I recommend buying several and

saving some at home for later. 1 package of small post it notes

• I recommend a few packages (we use these a lot for reading activities) 2-3 whiteboard markers

• Please get THIN markers (no yellow, pink, or orange please)

Here are a few other items you might like to have for the year:

2 lined paper notebooks • With 3 hole punch (to put into a binder)

GRAPH/GRID PAPER notebook (Staples has these) - • 1cm squares or larger work best• ** Please get the type that are bound on the side, NOT on the top** (these

tend to fall out)Clipboard

• Please clearly mark it with your name and feel free to decorate it!Pack of colored pencilsErasers

• Pencil tops are great, but it’s also nice to have a large one.Large, sturdy zipper bag (to hold pencils, coloring materials, etc.)Highlighters

• More than one color is helpfulBike water bottle holder

• This helps prevent spills.

Special Schedule (Subject to Change)

Monday PE & Tech

Tuesday Art

Wednesday Music

Thursday Library & Tech

Friday PE

Mrs. Cantone’s Top 5 Ways to Feel Ready for 5th Grade

ReadRead everything and anything you can get your hands on: magazines, newspapers, books, instructions,

recipes. Just read!

Practice Basic Facts Spending just 10 minutes a day practicing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and/or division facts will help 5th grade math feel easier. You’ll be ready for bigger challenges!

Get OrganizedBeing organized is so important in 5th grade and beyond.

Take some time now to organize things around you...maybe even clean your room! That way, organizing your school stuff will seem like second nature.

Establish a Routine

Everyone has a busy schedule, especially after school starts. Plan now when you’ll do homework and where.

Enjoy SummerRelaxing is

important too!

Meet our Classroom Pet

& Mascot....

APPLE NOEL

This is my son, Rocco, holding Apple. She loves to climb up to say “hi”!

Scientific Name:

Rhacodactylus ciliatus

Natural Environment:

Islands of New Caledonia (Southwest Pacific near Australia)

Average Size:

8" to 9"

Average Life Span:

10 to 15 years (captivity)

• Thought to be extinct until they were rediscovered in 1994

• They are nocturnal • Crested Geckos cannot grow their

tail back once it has dropped.• Some Crested Geckos are very

vocal and may make barking or squeaking noises.

•You’ll learn much more about Apple this year!

Must Read 5th Grade Books (Recommendations From Last Year’s Class)

Wonder - Abbie & Lizzie The Children of the Lamp series - Anna

School of Fear - RobinThe False Prince - BrookeThe Runaway King - MariahSavvy - AdaThe Percy Jackson series - Tyler

Ranger’s Apprentice series - GageBeyonders - Derek

Love? Maybe - Kaelyn

The One and Only Ivan - Kyle Ships Cat Doris - Kendyl Unwanteds - Kevin

Scan this code to see more recommendations!

im

agin

eStudent Assignments

180 minutes of Skills Tutor fact practice

Read four books (at your reading level)

Complete 4 mini book report projects (listed on the 5th grade website) * Projects are due 8/31

Join our Edmodo class page

Complete the student survey (on the home page of our classroom website)

Parent Assignment(Yes, you have work too!)

Please take a moment before school begins to complete the parent survey located on the homepage of our classroom website.

MRS. CANTONEC/O SWASEY CENTRAL SCHOOLBRENTWOOD, NH 03833

CONNECT!Please take a moment to join our

class Edmodo group

www.edmodo.com Class Code: auulke

@CantoneClass

www.diigo.com/user/cantoneclass

Don’t forget about your

summer homework

assignments!