5th Grade Newsletters

Welcome, families, to a new school year!

My name is Hailey Alexander and I am so excited to welcome you and your child to my fifth-grade classroom! This is my fifth year teaching, and I'm thrilled to be teaching fifth grade! As your child's homeroom teacher, I'll be guiding them through our morning meetings, read-alouds, and closing circles, but my main focus will be teaching them math! This year, we'll dive into the world of numbers, shapes, and problem-solving with exciting challenges and discoveries. We'll be incorporating robotics and STEAM projects to make learning even more dynamic. My goal is to create a fun and supportive space where every student feels confident and ready to grow. Through a mix of hands-on activities, collaborative projects, and individual practice, we'll build a strong foundation in mathematics together. I can't wait to see all the amazing things your children will accomplish!

Meet the Team

This year, your child will be part of a departmentalized structure and have three different teachers. This allows each of us to specialize in our subjects and provide the best possible instruction. Here's a quick introduction to the rest of the fifth-grade team:

• Susan (ELA): Susan will be teaching English Language Arts to all third, fourth, and fifth graders. She's passionate about helping students become strong readers and writers and will foster a creative space for them to explore new books and craft their own stories.

• Tim (Science & Social Studies): Tim will be covering Science and Social Studies while Mrs. Bevil is on maternity leave. He's a master at bringing learning to life through exciting hands-on experiments and engaging discussions about the world around us. Your children will love exploring everything from historical events to scientific discoveries in his classroom.

Staying Connected

Your partnership is essential for a successful school year, and I want to make sure we stay connected. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. The best way to reach me is by email at [email protected] or by phone at (970) 259-5949 ex. 3750. You can also expect a weekly newsletter from me with updates on what we're learning, important dates, and classroom highlights. Your child will also bring home a Friday folder with paper copies of their work and any important school flyers.

Since your child will have multiple teachers, communication may come from Susan, Tim, or me (or Mrs. Bevil when she returns). This could be to share a great success we saw in our individual classrooms, or to collaborate with you on ways to help your child succeed. We look forward to working as a team with you this year!

I am looking forward to an amazing year together and I hope to see you on Monday at meet the teacher!

Warmly, 

Hailey Alexander

Dear Fifth Grade Families,

Just a quick note to let you know that a permission slip for our upcoming field trip to Riverview's SOIL lab has been sent home in your student's backpack.

The field trip will take place on Tuesday, September 23rd, from 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM.

Please review, sign, and return the slip by next Thursday, September 11th.

Thank you for your help! Have a great weekend!

Dear Fifth Grade Families,

What a wonderful month we’ve had in fifth grade! It's been fantastic watching the students tackle new challenges and collaborate on our core subjects.

I truly love talking about what we are working on and learning, so please feel free to call, text, or email me at any time. Communication is always welcome!

As always, please check your student’s Friday folders for important papers that are great for at-home practice or things that need to be signed and returned. Also, don't forget to check out the class newsletter for all the important upcoming events this month!

Thank you for your partnership!

Dear Fifth Grade Families,

Please accept my sincerest apologies for the delayed October newsletter! Time truly got away from me, but I didn't want to wait any longer to share all the fantastic work your students have been doing and highlight some key events coming up this month. See below for the Spanish version.

Student Learning Highlights: What We've Been Up To!

ELA with Ms. Bell

This month, we wrapped up our nonfiction unit on Animal Survival, where students practiced essential reading skills like identifying cause and effect, determining importance, and finding the main idea. To transition into creative writing, the students drafted exciting, spooky October narratives, utilizing all their flow-mapping and editing skills. Please ask your child to read their completed story to you this week—they are truly fantastic! Next, we will dive back into informational reading and writing through the lens of government, learning how to compare and contrast text structure and write effective summaries. This mix of reading and writing helps build the strong literacy foundation needed for their success!

Science and Social Studies with Ms. Bevil and Ms. Dotson

This incredible crew is continuing to build and develop their Lego League projects! It has been so cool diving into this with them and Mrs. Dotson. We are SO IMPRESSED by their cooperative work, problem-solving, robot coding, building Lego missions, and the new things they teach us each day.

Please note their competition is this Saturday, November 15th, at Escalante Middle School!

From me in Homeroom and Math Workshop:

Fifth grade has been working hard on empathetic collaboration and creative problem-solving as we navigate new and difficult concepts while working with others. We are working on identifying and solving problems in social situations as well, which has really helped lift our classroom community.

In math, we are currently focused on adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions, decimals, and whole numbers. We’re getting really good at solving these problems in isolation, but it gets trickier when we put them into context! Ask your kiddo about the real-world mystery stories we are working on in math. It is cool to see students motivated to solve these real-world challenges! I also can’t wait to join them at the Lego League competition this Saturday!

Upcoming November & December Events

As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns. I am always happy to chat!

Warmly,

Dear Families,

As we head into our winter break, I want to share the incredible progress our fifth graders have made. We have been diving deep into complex concepts across all subjects, and I am so proud of their hard work and perseverance.

Language Arts & Literacy

In Morphology, we are studying the "smallest units of meaning" in words. Students have been mastering suffixes and the Three Great Rules for adding them to root words:

• The Doubling Rule: (e.g., hop → hopping)

• Drop the “e”: (e.g., bake → baked)

• Change y to i: (e.g., busy → busiest)

We are also focusing on high-quality writing in preparation for CMAS. Ask your child to show you the video that accompanies the editorial they recently wrote in ELA!

Mathematics

We are currently working through the "Big Three" of fifth-grade math: adding, subtracting, and multiplying decimals and fractions. Students are using the standard algorithm alongside visual models to truly understand how to manipulate these numbers.

At Home Tip: Review operations within 1,000 or practice adding/subtracting decimals while grocery shopping or cooking!

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

Our classroom community is growing stronger every day. Lately, we have focused on:

• Kindness & Problem Solving

• Executive Functioning Skills (organization and focus)

• Bullying Prevention

• Appropriate Language: Many students are participating in small groups to practice using respectful and situational language.

Upcoming Events & Calendar

When we return, we will begin Middle of Year (MOY) testing. To help your child "show off" what they know, please ensure they arrive at school on time, well-rested, and ready to go.

While Sunnyside does not officially schedule MOY conferences, I believe this is a vital time for us to check in as a team before the transition to middle school. I will send a sign-up link after the break to schedule check-ins for February once we have the testing results.

Have a safe, restful, and wonderful break. I look forward to seeing everyone in the New Year!

Warmly,