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BROMWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (214)
2500 East
Fourth Avenue,
80206-4214
(Columbine Street at East Fourth Avenue)
Telephone:
(303) 388-5969
Fax: (720) 424-9355
E-mail: Bromwell@dpsk12.org
Mr. Jonathan Wolfer, Principal
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A-4: Ms. Oglesby's Fifth Grade Classroom
Welcome to 5th Grade!
Finally, you are at the top of the school, the oldest students! The ones the younger children admire. The ones with loads of homework. The ones entering the "tween" years. You're no longer young children and not yet teenagers, yet you have characteristics of both. It's a great age, you'll still love to play, yet you're able to look seriously at life. You'll find fifth grade to be a year filled with both laughter and serious stuff. It will be a year that skyrockets you on a clear path to your future.
About Mrs. Oglesby
At age thirteen I moved to Denver, from northern California, against my will. It took me months to forgive my parents for taking me away from my friends! However, I soon made new friends at Byers Junior High and later at South High School. I came to appreciate this wonderful state and fine city. One of my after school jobs in high school was as a preschool assistant. It was then that I decided that having an impact on young lives was to be my future. I obtained my BA degree in elementary education from the University of Northern Colorado and recently completed an MA in education at Regis University. I have taught third through sixth grade in Denver Public Schools for eighteen years, at times specializing in reading and math. My husband Randy is a physical education teacher and we have two sons, Oliver and Scott, ages 11 and 6 years old. This is my eighth year at Bromwell Elementary. I love Bromwell’s positive community spirit. Students, parents, teachers, staff, and administrators all work and have fun together in the cycle of learning.
More About Ms. Oglesby...
From Our Principal!
Ms. Oglesby is a leader at Bromwell both in and out of the classroom.
She meets the needs of her students and colleagues and above all is a
consummate professional. She is a credit to the profession and
particularly to Bromwell and its students.
- Mr. Wolfer
Schedule
Specials Schedule
P.E. - Mondays and Wednesdays 10:50 - 11:30
Art - Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:00 - 2:40
P.E./Art rotation - every other Friday 10:50 - 11:30
LMC - Wednesday 8:45 - 9:45
Music - Monday 2:00 - 2:40
Daily Schedule
Monday
8:30-8:40 - morning activities
8:40-9:50 - math
9:50-10:50 - reading workshop
10:50-11:30 - physical education
11:30-12:15 - lunch
12:15-12:30 - kid's read aloud
12:30-1:30 - writing workshop
1:30-1:55 - skills block
1:55-2:40 - music
2:40-3:15 - return papers & shared literature
Tuesday and Thursday
8:30-8:40 - morning activities
8:40-9:50 - math
9:50-10:40- reading workshop
10:40-11:30 - writing workshop
11:30-12:15 lunch
12:15-1:05 - social studies
1:05-1:55 - science
2:00-2:40 - art
2:40-3:00 - skills block
3:00-3:15 shared literature
Wednesday
8:30-8:45 - morning activities
8:45-9:45 - library/media center
9:45-10:50 - math
10:50-11:30 - physical education
11:30-12:15 - lunch
12:15-1:05 - social studies
1:05-1:55 - science
1:55-3:00 -literacy
3:00-3:15 - shared literature
1st and 3rd Fridays of the month
8:30-8:40 - morning activities
8:40-9:50 - math
9:50-10:30- spelling test
10:30-10:50 - alternating activities
10:50-11:30 - physical education
11:30-12:15 - lunch
12:15-1:05 - social studies
1:05-1:55 - science
2:00-2:40 - enrichment
2:45-3:15 - Friday free time
2nd and 4th Fridays of the month
8:30-8:40 - morning activities
8:40-9:50 - math
9:50-10:30 - spelling test
10:30-11:30 - literacy
11:30-12:15 - lunch
12:15-1:05 - social studies
1:05-1:55 - science
2:00-2:40 - art & small academic groups
2:45-3:15 - Friday free time
Contacting Mrs. Oglesby:
by phone
303-388-5969
by e-mail
cathy_oglesby@dpsk12.org
A-4 Homework Expectations for 5th grade
(the short version)
- Check agenda daily and initial or sign.
- Weekly spelling list with 20 words. Assignments Mon. and Tues. due the following day. Study at home for dictation test on Friday.
- Write for 75-90 minutes each week and bring in on Monday.
- One book report due each month.
- Math homework may occur any or every day and is usually due the following day.
A-4 Homework Expectations for 5th grade
(in detail)
Assignment notebooks - Each child will fill out the daily homework in their agenda and I will initial it (cio) indicating its accuracy. Please sign or initial indicating that you have seen the assignments everyday. Please help your child be consistent about these signatures and we will have few questions about homework. The agenda is a good place to jot me a note as well.
Due dates - Due dates for assignments will be written in the agenda. Also see the short version of homework expectations. If a child does not turn in his or her homework on time and does not bring in a note regarding it, they will take time out of class to call home. Please check your messages if you are away from home during the day. The purpose of the call is so you know the homework was not turned in, NOT so you can come to the rescue by bringing it in for them. You can determine appropriate consequences and see that it is brought in the next day. If you know an assignment will not be turned in on time, please write me a note so we do not take time out of class to call home.
Take home folders: Any day that the students have homework or notices to bring home those papers should be in their take home folders. Generally, graded papers are sent home on the first day of the week. However, many assignments are in notebooks or workbooks that don't usually go home. You are welcome to request to see such things as the reading response notebook or writing notebook whenever you'd like. Expect to see take home folders almost everyday.
Math - Students may have math homework any or every day of the week, occasionally including Fridays. Please refer to the assignment notebook daily to see whether math homework has been assigned or not. Math homework is generally due the next day.
Writing - This year students will have a “traveling writing notebook” for their writing homework. I expect students to spend approximately 75-90 minutes per week writing at home. The assignments will coincide with the genre or technique we are practicing during writing workshop at school. Students are to try the technique and return the notebook each Monday. Monday in class they may share their writing with a small response group made up of their peers.
Final drafts will NOT be expected each week. On a rotating basis five or six students will choose a piece that they have been working on in their traveling notebook to take to final draft form. Their publishing week they will spend their at home writing time completing, combining, and/or revising their chosen piece. You may help with this and do the final editing with your child. That Monday they will turn in a perfect final draft on another piece of paper. This may be word processed. These pieces will be graded with a rubric that the students are familiar with. Look for future information about whose final drafts are due when.
Spelling - Weekly spelling lists of 20 words willbe sent home on Tuesdays. They will be glued in the agenda book. On Tuesday evenings the students will complete a homework assignment with the words. The assignments will vary and are due on Wednesday. The spelling test (given Fridays) is ten dictated sentences which include ten of the spelling words. Students are graded not only on correct spelling of the spelling words, but on punctuation and capitalization as well.
Graded tests will be returned on Monday and the students’ homework that evening will be to correct the test. This needs to be done on another piece of paper. On it they should write each misspelled word five times correctly. Then write each sentence with any kind of mistake one time correctly. The corrections attached to the original test are due Tuesdays.
Book Reports - Students need to read at least one chapter book each month to report on. I've chosen a genre for the focus of each month.
The genre schedule is as follows; Sept. - realistic fiction, Oct. - mystery, Nov. - biography, Dec. - a picture book written for the mature reader, Jan. - historical fiction, Feb. - non-fiction/information text, March - science fiction, April - fantasy, May - students' choice.
These reports may be turned in at any time during the month, but are due by the first of the following month. Students who wish to complete a more creative project in addition to the written report may see me for those instructions.
Several months into the school year additional at home reading may be required for book clubs. More information about this will come at a later date.
Other subjects - Students will occasionally have homework in other subjects. This may sometimes be a long term project in social studies or science or perhaps some work from a subject in which they are falling behind.
How you can help at home: Clearly, your child will need help from you with his or her homework. Help them manage their time and the new assignments at the beginning of the year. They will become more efficient and independent as the year progresses. The kind of help your child needs varies from week to week and assignment to assignment. I believe that homework is a prime opportunity for children to receive one on one instruction from an adult who knows them well. I still needed homework help from family and friends as I pursued my master’s degree! I also believe that children benefit from becoming increasingly independent at initiating work time, identifying the kind of help they need and managing their time to meet deadlines. Finally, I believe that family time and active play with friends is highly important. It's all a fine balancing act the children are already beginning to master. Please call me if you have questions or concerns about homework.
COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER PROJECT
MRS. OGLESBY’S 5TH GRADE CLASS
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
-Booker T. Washington
In our attempt to create responsible citizens of our children we need to give them opportunities to practice adult responsibilities. I believe that volunteering to make a difference in one’s community is one of our responsibilities as citizens. Encouraging our children to make a difference in their community gives them a realization that individuals can affect positive change. It increases their self-esteem. It stretches their comfort zone, just a bit.
Each student in my class needs to complete a community volunteer project this year. This project is meant to be entirely completed outside of school, but presented to the class near the end of April or beginning of May. Periodically, one of the students’ written homework assignments will be to update me on their community volunteer plan.
This project may involve some research. Using the web, the phone book, and making phone calls to several organizations may be part of the learning experience for the children. I do not intend for this to put any undue burden on families. Please schedule the hours at a time of the year when they work for you. This may be a family event that you would do anyway or you may take a more supervisory role. Make it meet your needs. Students may spend a few hours doing some tree planting in the city or shovel a neighbor’s front walk every time it snows. It’s the significance of contributing to the community and helping others that I want the students to gain, not a product to show or a certain number of hours to complete.
An organization called Metro Volunteers has a guide for youth volunteer opportunities where the situations are described and and age groups are noted. Check out their website:
www.metrovolunteers.org
Please contact me if you have questions, concerns, or ideas about this project. I hope that you and your child will find this a valuable experience with lasting memories.
Classroom Management
The Fifth Grade teachers use a uniform
management program, which centers on a behavior chart that travels with each class as it
moves throughout the school. This chart lists each student's name with room for notes about
behaviors that may lead to reprimands or rewards.
What is good behavior?
At Bromwell, specific examples of good behavior are identified in
the "Student Responsibility Pledge" and the associated list of "Characteristics of Bromwell
Students." Good behavior is also promoted by the B.E.A.C. program in materials and
activities shared with students. In fact, the best "code" I have ever known is the two-step method promoted by our own B.E.A.C. program: "Respect yourself and others" and "Always be learning."
Reprimands and Rewards
Of course, normative behavior doesn't happen 100% of the time. Children, like adults,
sometimes do the wrong thing just because they are human. We believe that "wrong choices"
or "difficult behaviors" don't make a student a bad person. They are a part of any student's
life and every classroom experience.
In our classrooms, students who make persistent "wrong choices" will be given a verbal
warning and a slash mark by their name on the chart. A second occurrence merits
another slash, and the two slashes then form an X.
A third time makes for a new slash which can then (at a fourth
occurrence) become another X
and so on. Students will always be notified of their infractions,
and only teachers can give slashes.
At the end of the week, X
's are tallied. Students with no X
's or only one enjoy Friday
Free Time, a half-hour break given from 2:30 to 2:55 at the end of each week. Students with
more X
's will spend some or all of that time in a common classroom for detention. This is how
the system works:
A = no X
's -- earn Friday Free Time
& a possible additional reward
B = one X
-- earn Friday Free Time
C = two X
's -- miss half of Friday Free Time
D = three X
's -- miss all of Friday Free Time
F = four X
's -- miss all of Friday Free Time & weekend writing assignment
Five or more X
's constitute a severe disruption pattern and will require a
conference with the student, teacher, and parents.
Other important information...
MY GRADE-LEVEL PARTNER, LESLIE DODGE
E-Mail: leslie_dodge@dpsk12.org
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
How many pencils should you bring to class? Find out at the Grade 5 Supply List
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