Information for Incoming Fifth Graders

May 29, 2015

Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s) of Incoming Fifth Graders,

        As we come to the end of the school year, the fifth grade teaching team has information it would like to share with you for the next school year. We believe a key part of your child’s success in fifth grade depends upon organization. Students in fifth grade are required to follow a color coded folder system in which papers and notebooks for each class are stored in specific folders. With the support of the fifth grade parents over the past several years, we have had great success with this system.

Below you will find a list of items that you may purchase over the summer for the next school year. In addition to folders and notebooks, we have included the basic items that your child will need as he or she starts fifth grade. From our experiences as teachers and parents, we have found that students sometimes tend to want to purchase a great deal of unnecessary items for school—extra folders and notebooks for example. We have found that these items hinder rather than help with organization.

 School Supply List for Fifth Grade at North SchuylkillElementary

ü four solid colored folders with two pockets

*RED for Reading/Language Arts

*BLUE for Math

*GREEN for Social Studies

*ORANGE for Science

(You may want to several of each colored folder as they often need to be replaced during the year.)

ü 3 wide ruled blue or black marble notebooks (not spiral bound)

ü many many many number two pencils (Regular pencils that can be sharpened are preferred. Lead pencils that can not be sharpened are a distraction.)

ü many many many pencil top erasers

ü crayons (16 or 24)

ü colored pencils

ü highlighters

ü glue stick

ü soft pencil case

       Please do not purchase binders as they take up a lot of space in your child’s backpack and locker. Also please do not purchase backpacks with wheels. We have found that these can be tripping hazards when changing classes.

 Also during the summer, please encourage your child to read. If your child is reluctant to read, consider reading a book with him or her. This will have positive effects on your child’s reading and writing skills when we return to school. In addition, practice math facts. It is expected that incoming fifth graders are proficient with their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Flashcards and computer games are often helpful with memorizing these facts.

We look forward to meeting you and your child in August. Thank you in advance for your interest and support!