Friday, May 08, 2020

Fifth Grade News!


Dear Fifth Grade Parents,

It’s so hard to believe that we’re looking at the last few days of fifth grade.  What a fun year it has been!  Thank you for the support you’ve given us as we’ve navigated the unexpected fourth quarter in unchartered waters.  We know that you didn’t sign up for distance learning, but you’ve been a tremendous support for your fifth grader and for us and we cannot thank you enough!

We have several important dates coming up and want you to have all of the information in one spot.  Please read carefully and let me know if you have any questions.

Monday, May 11th, 1:00-3:00 – 5th Grade Drop-Off/Pick-Up Day (Elementary Carpool)
  • Drive through and pick up your student’s journals, writing portfolio, art portfolio, extra supplies, and any other personal items that were left in the classroom.
  • Drop off any items that belong to FPD or to a teacher (classroom library books, FPD library books, safety patrol belts, pencil boxes from cubbies, dictionary, thesaurus, etc.).
  • See your fifth grade teachers in person one last time before you graduate! 😊

Wednesday, May 13th – Deadline for Graduation Video Submissions (we need help from everyone!)
  • 1-2 individual photos of your child from 5th grade FPD events
  • 1-2 small group photos of your child from 5th grade FPD events
  • 1 video of your child sharing his/her favorite 5th grade or favorite FPD memory (this can be the video you submitted for Open House or a different video)
  • If you have individual photos or small group photos of other 5th grade students, please send those to their parents so they can consider them for submission.  We want all of our students represented well in this video and it will take everyone’s help!
  • We will send the Dropbox link to you this weekend.

Friday, May 15th, 5:00 pm – Deadline for all assignments
  • Please start monitoring NetClassroom so you can make sure your child has completed all of his/her work.  If your child has not submitted an assignment, you’ll see ‘0’ for that particular grade.  We will accept current and past due work until May 15th.
  • Assignments not submitted by this deadline will result in a ‘0’ to be factored into the report card grade.
  • Fifth grade students will receive all assignments for the last week of school by Monday, May 11th.  Daily assignments emails from teachers will still be sent but we want all students to have an overview of the week so they can plan accordingly.
  • Students and parents have been receiving emails about missing assignments.  A final written reminder will be given Monday to those who drive through for Drop-Off/PickUp.

Wednesday, May 20th – 5th Grade Graduation Celebration
  • Teachers will be delivering elementary diplomas, certificates, and a few fun surprises to our fifth graders on their graduation day!
  • Watch online for a special tribute to our “Elementary Seniors” as we celebrate this important milestone with all of you!

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

Parents: Check NetClassroom!

The last day for students to submit work for the school year is May 15th.  Parents are being copied on emails to students about missing assignments.  If you are copied on a "missing assignment" email, please make sure your child is completing and turning in all of the work!  In some cases, the work is complete but needs to be put in the appropriate place in the OneNote notebook so we can find it.

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Newbery Book Report Projects

One fifth grade tradition at FPD is that our students' spring book report project focuses on a character from a Newbery book that each student chooses.  After studying characterization methods that authors use while reading award-winning books, each student created a paper version of their favorite character.  Since we can't post these awesome projects on the bulletin board this spring, enjoy the next best thing!

















Friday, March 27, 2020

Grandparents Day Pictures

Hey there, fifth grade parents! If your students did something special for their grandparents today, could you snap a picture and email it to their homeroom teacher?

Friday, March 20, 2020

Distance Learning Update

Congratulations to you all!  We have finished our first week of distance learning and we appreciate your patience and encouragement.  The FPD administrators have been an incredible support to all of the teachers and we would like to publicly thank them for that.  We are also so thankful for each of you and the support you gave your children as they figured out how to complete their schoolwork and continue their learning remotely.

We have a few suggestions to help make this new model as successful as possible for your student(s):

  • Check NetClassroom regularly for assignments and grades.  If you see "M" where you should see a grade, that means the completed work is missing and needs to be submitted by your child.
  • Remind your child that the daily email with assignments is usually sent the night before, so he/she will have to look at yesterday's email messages to see today's work.  The assignment date will be included in the subject line. For example, Monday's assignments will be emailed Sunday night, but the subject line will be "Monday, March 23."
  • Encourage your child to do his/her very best!  Students are being held accountable for the quality of their work, just as they would be if we were on campus for school.
  • Check out the co-curricular teachers' blogs for additional learning games and ideas!  They are working hard to continue the learning opportunities in their areas of expertise while our campus is closed.
We continue to pray for your families!  If there is anything we can do for you, please don't hesitate to send an email!

With Love,
Jessica and Melissa

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

A Message From Counselor Causey


Hi Guys!

This is Counselor Causey. Guess what? We missed you at school Monday! Even though you did not come to school, all of your teachers were here! We were preparing to teach you while you are still at home. Is that awesome or what? FPD is one of the few schools that is already prepared to be able to do this, since we have been using one-on-one technology for years, and have spent a lot of time learning how to use it! Your teachers know that you have a lot going on, so their assignments are going to be simple, but effective. The main thing we want you to do, is enjoy your time with your family and spend your time wisely. One of the wise ways you can use your time is to learn to pray always and trust in the Lord. So I have sent you THIS VIDEO to teach you more about prayer.



Counselor Causey will be sending you out some words of encouragement, and distance lessons and hugs to let you know we are thinking of you and that I am still here for you. If you  need me for any reason, just e-mail me or call me.

Lots of love,  

Counselor Causey

FPD's Outback Library Time with Mrs. Darnell


G’day, mate!  Did you know that there is a huge area of Australia called the Outback?  The area is so big, and the families living there live so far apart that going to school is impossible.  Kids might live hundreds of miles from their teachers and their school!  The only way kids in the Australian Outback can experience school is through “distance learning” like you are doing this week.   Each child has a computer and an adult helper nearby, usually a parent, and receives lessons and schoolwork from teachers and then returns the work to teachers through email.  Then 3 or 4 times a year the kids travel long distances to meet together for a week, kind of like a school camp.  Why don’t we pretend we are living in the Australian Outback, and I will deliver your ‘library time lesson’ for the week below?  Isn’t that a grouse idea?  (In Australian slang ‘grouse’ means that you like something, like you think it’s a wonderful idea.)


I hope you have begun your Newbery Award or Newbery Honor book and are thoroughly enjoying it.  Remember the book you chose was voted the BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR or a runner up to that honor in the year it was published.   Reading just doesn’t get much better than that!   If we were in the library this week, I would give you free silent time to begin your Newbery book and then give you the wordsearch puzzle below to do for fun and to see how many Newbery titles you remember hearing about last week.  I hope you will remember many of those titles and will read them in middle school because you’ll find most of them on the middle school side of the library, too.


Before you start reading and wordsearching, I want to share a few facts from those amazing Weird But True books that you love so much:
Vanilla is used to make chocolate.
An elephant’s tooth is the size of a brick.
The Statue of Liberty’s nose is almost 5 feet long, taller than you.
Chewing gum can make your heart beat faster.
The 50 tallest mountains in the world are all in Asia.
There are around 3 trillion (3,000,000,000,000) trees on Earth.                   (I wonder how many are cherry blossom trees.)
Isn’t it just amazing and so much fun to see what all you can learn when you read!
Now…on to your Newbery reading and wordsearch puzzle. Check your school email and let the fun begin!



Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Zoom Instructions & Rules


Hey Kiddos!!

We are still all learning and we will get better with each day. Please help us with Zoom by following these few rules and instructions. These will hopefully make our time together on Zoom much more successful! 

*Make sure your camera view is not distracting your classmates during the meeting.
*Keep yourself muted unless you have permission to talk (this is like raising your hand during class).
*The group chat feature can be very distracting.  Use it only if you need to ask the teacher a question.

Love,
Your 5th Grade Teachers

Monday, March 16, 2020

Distance Learning Information


Dear Fifth Grade Parents,

We are excited and a little nervous to embark on a new way of teaching, as I’m sure your children are excited and a little nervous to “do school” in a different way.  We feel that our FPD fifth graders are uniquely equipped for distance learning because our school already integrates technology into everyday teaching and learning.  While we don’t expect our students to complete all of their schoolwork on their tablets, we are thankful for an easy and somewhat normal way to communicate with our students daily while our campus is closed.

Please read the following information carefully.  If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us via email at any time.  We will answer emails during our established “office hours” that are listed below and as we can outside of office hours.

  • Learning from home will be different!  Melissa and I will be flexible as we learn with your children how to “do school” in a different way.
  • Your children will need supervision while working on their tablets.  This does not mean we expect you to sit next to them as they complete their work, but we think it’s important for you to have your eyes on their screens from time to time.
  • We expect our students to be able to complete their daily school work in about 2 hours.  This will roughly equate to 30 minutes per class each day and will include any live meetings.
  • All teachers have been asked to communicate office hours for school days.  Melissa and I will answer emails from 12:00-1:00 and from 6:00-7:00 daily.
  • The school has set up a new page on the website for distance learning information. Please visit www.fpdmacon.org/distancelearning/ for updates from FPD.
  • Your students will be expected to check their school email by 10:00 am daily.  This is a change from our original instructions to them!  We will email daily assignments and online meeting times to fifth graders (usually the night before, so that early birds can start their work before 10:00 am if they’d like).

We are praying for your families and look forward to our online meetings with our students!

Sincerely, 
Jessica Murnan

Saturday, March 14, 2020

Campus Closure Announcement

FPD will suspend on-campus classes and after school activities beginning Monday, March 16, for one week in an effort to minimize the risk of the COVID-19 virus. Classes will continue through distance learning options beginning Tuesday, March 17. Plans for the following week will be evaluated on Friday, March 20.

Please check the school website (www.fpdmacon.org) for more information.