Welcome to the 5th grade!
Hello Parents,
My name is Mrs. Hargrove, and I am thrilled to have your child in my Science class for this upcoming school year. I am a graduate of Augusta State University with a degree in Middle Grades Education. My husband and I have been married for almost twenty-three years, and we have two boys. Our oldest son is a senior in high school, and our youngest son is an eighth grader. In fact, I am probably like most of you; when I am not at Our Lady of Peace with your children, you can find me at a baseball field, a soccer field, or a swimming pool cheering my own boys and their respective teams on to victory.
While the science curriculum is quite challenging, we are going to have great fun as we explore space, plants, animals, weather patterns, the human system, and much more. As our days are going to be filled with experiments and exploration, I have high expectations for each of our middle school scientists. Students must come to class on-time and prepared each and every day. We have a lot of material to cover, so students need to stay on-task. I assign homework at least twice per week, and I grade all homework assignments. The purpose of homework is three-fold. First, it gives parents a bird's eye view into what their child is studying in class. Second, homework offers students an opportunity to enhance their learning and strengthen their skills. Finally, I can see what students have mastered as well as identify any areas of concern. This affords me an opportunity to re-teach or expand on information that is unclear prior to a test. Moreover, students are encouraged to come to me for tutoring. I am available on Thursday afternoons until 4:00 p.m.
In an effort to strengthen students reading fluency and comprehension, we will read several science related novels. These novels are brief and will help enhance and supplement student learning/understanding as well as providing students with a chance to pleasure read. I will provide parents and students, by grade level, with the list of novels in the next several days. Parents will need to provide their child with the assigned novels.
Please note that I will update our on-line grade book weekly. Moreover, I have created the following class pages to help parents stay up to date on the goings-on in our classroom. Stay tuned to that website for updates on lesson plans, tests, and projects. The following address will allow you access to the site. Just click on the appropriate link for your child's class: http://bfelderolp.educatorpages.com/188897.
Students will also have several small projects and/or writing opportunities to be completed, for a grade, each and every nine weeks. As I indicated before, I don't assign a lot of homework, and I give students class time to work on assignments. All students are required to participate in the middle school science fair during the month of March. Students will journal, daily, on science related topics. Likewise, these journals will be graded. I have included a grading rubric/outline for your convenience.
Participation & Labs 10%
Classwork/Homework 20%
Quizzes & Presentations 30%
Tests & Projects 40%
Should you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. I check my email several times daily, and I will always respond to you within twenty-four hours. My email address is pamhargroveolp@gmail.com. If you ever wish to schedule a conference, please call the school office to do so. I ask only that you give me at least a one week notice.
Thanks for entrusting your child with me for this school year. I assure you that we will grow and learn together in a safe and supportive environment. We are going to have a fantastic school year.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Hargrove
Thursday, August 22, 2013
To each of the parents and students that came to Open House last night, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting each of you. To those of you that I did not get to meet, I look forward to getting to know you very soon.
Homework for tonight: Read pages 6-9 in chapter 1. Define the vocabulary/science words on page 2.
Students, as I promised in class, here is the link to the Prezi presentation that we watched in today. Feel free to watch it again. See is you come up with different answers or more questions. We will continue our discussion on this important question tomorrow.
http://prezi.com/f2nuyosyj31z/what-is-science/