Friday, August 14, 2015

Welcome to 5th Grade!


We are so happy to have your student in fifth grade this year and look forward to meeting all of you!
Meet the teacher!
Ms. Coss:
          I’m so excited to be a part of Highline Academy Southeast this year in fifth grade! Originally from San Francisco, California, I made my way up to Spokane, Washington, to attend Gonzaga University (Go Zags!) where I completed my undergraduate degree and teaching program. While in Spokane, I helped start a mentoring program for kids and college students that inspired me to become a teacher! After spending my summers working at an outdoor adventure camp in southern Colorado, I finally decided to make my way back to the Rockies two years ago. This is my second year teaching 5th grade here at Highline South East. When I am not teaching, I enjoy hiking, running, skiing, and playing tennis and volleyball. I look forward to getting to know your family and connecting with the Highline Southeast community!

Communication
E-mail is the best and most efficient way for quick communication regarding questions and concerns. If you’re interested in following our daily community and academics, sign up to receive notifications for blog updates. We update them frequently with upcoming dates, news, and homework.




Ms. Coss: acoss@highlineacademy.org (phone extension 310)
Blog Site: MsCoss5.blogspot.com


Tutoring
Teachers will set up tutoring hours for individual students/classes. Please contact the teacher directly for more information.

THURSDAY FOLDERS
Every Thursday night, a blue folder will go home.  This folder will contain recent work your student has completed, as well as important school information.  Please send the blue folder back to school every Friday so we can ensure that your student’s papers stay organized.

SNACK
Students are welcome to bring one healthy snack item to eat during their morning.   In order to ensure that each student is eating healthy brain boosting foods, we ask that these snacks be healthy snacks (natural, low sodium, low sugar).  Please also ensure that the snack that you send with your student will not become a distraction to their working environment (peeling an orange, crinkly packaging, sticky mangoes, giant sized portions, etc.).   If students bring an unhealthy snack, they will not be permitted to eat it during snack time.  If you have any questions, please feel free to send us an e-mail.   
As a reminder, our school is a nut-free school due to students in our building who have potentially life-threatening nut allergies.   Please refer to the food packaging for nut-related information

    I know many of you send your student with his/her own snack.  If you happen to be interested or able to donate class snack for those who do not bring snack, please do so.

 
 Performance Groups
Highline Academy places students in performance groups to best meet the needs of all the students at our school.  Students have been placed into appropriate English Language Arts (ELA) and Math groups according to their learning needs and strengths as learners. To meet individual students’ needs, guided reading is a part of ELA and a skills block is a part of Math. 


Behavior
We expect all students to exemplify REACH characteristics. Reach Up by striving for academic success.  Reach In by striving for personal excellence. Reach Out by striving for civic excellence.  If a student fails to uphold these characteristics, they can expect to go through our restorative practices routine to help them identify the harm done and how to repair it. If you’re interested in more details about this approach please contact us directly.

Absences
When a student is absent from any class for any reason, it is the responsibility of the student to communicate with all of his/her teachers (this includes Spanish) to find out what he or she has missed. Our classrooms have absent folders where they can find the work they missed easily.  Depending on the nature of the missed work, the student may have to schedule time outside of school to complete missing class work.  The student will be granted the same amount of days he/she was absent to complete the work.


Homework
Homework is expected to be an assignment that your student can complete independently.   However, if they need help, please reach out to their teachers or write a quick note on the assignment.  Fifth graders will have approximately 50-60 minutes of homework each night.  They can expect to have homework in ELA, Math, Writing, and/or Science homework. We will work closely together as a team to balance out homework from different subjects. Every student has been given a planner to help them stay organized.  Teachers will sign or stamp each student’s planner upon assigning homework.  Please check your student’s planner and/or our blogs each night to help get all assignments completed on time.  Please also support your child in helping him/her to bring this to and from school daily.  Lost planners must be replaced at a $5 fee to the office.