Welcome to Fifth Grade!

Ms. Dear Fifth Grade Families

Asalamu Alaikum families and welcome to what I
Hackert know will be a great year for your student! My
darcy.hackert@ name is Darcy Hackert and I am very excited to
huda.school.org be your student’s fifth grade teacher this year.

I graduated from the University of Michigan with a

degree in Elementary Education. As a teacher, I
am especially passionate about tying together
science, math, and language arts for my students
in meaningful activities that capture and hold their
interest.

I spent my childhood growing up in Franklin,

School Day except for a brief time living in Hiroshima, Japan. I
am thrilled to be back in my hometown!
The school day is
from 8:07-3:40. I I hope the following information will be beneficial
will let the to you as we being an exciting and busy fifth
children in at grade year!
8:02 so we can
begin promptly Snack & Water Bottles
at 8:07. It is very
important for We will have a mid-morning snack break daily.
your student to Your student may bring in: fruit, vegetables,
be on time so cheese & crackers, pretzels or any other nutritious
they don’t miss snack. Please do not send in sweet treats, fatty
the start of the chips or anything containing nuts. Huda is a nut
day. We begin free school this year due to allergy concerns.
by taking
attendance and Your student may keep a water bottle at their
doing our daily desk during the day. I would recommend they
morning take it home on the weekend to wash it out.
assignments.
 “BOOKS ARE A UNIQUELY PORTABLE MAGIC.”
– Stephen King

Volunteers Grading
I will send a Help Wanted email/letter Your student will receive
as I need volunteers to come into the letter grades on most
classroom. However, everyone is class work and tests. My
welcome at any time. When the grading system will be
opportunity arises, please let me know as follows:
when you would like to come in and I
will put you to work! 90 - 100% = A
80 – 89% = B
70 – 79% = C
Book Orders 69 and below = N
(needs improvement)
Book orders give students an
opportunity to order grade level
appropriate books inexpensively. I will Home-School
send home the book club orders
periodically. If you would like to make Folders
the books a gift to your student, please
Your student has been
let me know and I will call you when the
provided with a green
order arrives instead of sending the
folder that they will
books home with your student.
bring home every
night. It will contain
Please place orders online only. If you
any notes for home,
are unable to do so, please contact
work that is to be
me.
completed or fixed as
well as any completed
Go online to:
work I have graded.
scholastic.com/newparent
Look up my name: Darcy Hackert
The majority of the
Or enter our Class Code: RDC4T
work I correct will
Follow the instructions to place your
come home every
order online by the due date.
other Friday with your
student’s evaluation in
The books usually arrive a week or two
their Friday Folder (see
after I place the order.
next page.)
 “Our greatest national resource is the minds of
our children .” – Walt Disney

Homework Friday Folders

You can expect approximately 45
minutes of homework (30 minutes for
core subject areas and 15 minutes for
Islamic Studies and Arabic.) Students
are also expected to read to self for
20 minutes each night and get their
reading log signed nightly (See
below).
Reading Logs
Students are expected to read to self
for at least 20 minutes every night
Monday-Friday and to fill out a
“reading log” in their planners. In one
of the blank sections at the bottom of
each planner page, students need to
record the title, author and number of
pages read. They must also get
your initials on each daily
reading log. This counts for a
homework grade and I will check it
periodically. If you are unable to sign
your student’s log, please contact me.
The purpose of this log is to help
students continue to build
responsibility, record their progress as
readers and it also give you a chance
to look at their planner and read their
exit ticket for the day. The exit ticket
is something that they learned or did
that day and is a great talking point at
home when you ask about their day
at school.
I will be sending home
bi-weekly evaluations
with your student on
Fridays along with their
corrected work (I do
keep some of their work
for display and/or
assessment). Please sign
the evaluation and return
it to school with your fifth
grader on Monday so
that I know you have
seen it.
Study Hall/
Extra Recess
In order to hold students
accountable for their
work, Mrs. Hanson and I
are implementing a
weekly study hall/ extra
recess every Friday. If
students have missing
classwork or homework,
the study hall will give
them the opportunity to
complete it. If students
are all caught up with
work for the week they
will have extra recess
time with their friends
from the other class.
 “A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if
it is not open.” – Frank Zappa

Classroom Rules and Behavior

By fifth grade most students know what acceptable behavior at
school is. The first week of school the students and I came up with
five class rules that are posted in the room. My goal for students is
to manage their own behavior. We want to develop a community
where we care about each other and respect each other’s rights.
We are all aware that disruptions in the classroom do not promote
a quality, learning environment.

The management system I employ is based on logical

consequences. Logical consequences are directly related to the
child’s behavior to help them fix their mistakes. For example, if a
student is talking to a classmate during instruction, I will remind them
privately that this is not the time to talk and suggest they move to
an area where they can focus better. If the child chooses not to
move and continues talking, then I will intervene and have them
move to another desk. The goal of logical consequences is to help
children develop internal understanding, self-control, a desire to
follow the rules and aim to preserve children’s dignity.

If I see a severe or chronic behavior pattern developing, I will

contact you to discuss it and see if we can help the student resolve
the problem. Please call or write me with any concerns you have.
Again, our goal is to help all students manage their own behavior
and to be a productive member of our school community.
 “BOOKS ARE A UNIQUELY PORTABLE MAGIC.”
– Stephen King

Late Work Grading

If needed, you can adjust the font size to fill
more or less space. You can also copy and
paste any of the lines/headings from this
template to create additional divisions.

Heading 2 SUMMATIVE
Each section is grouped for easier ASSESSMENT (70%):
movability. You can still click on and move to edit the chart, click on
things individually and they will stay the graphic and select
grouped. To ungroup, right click on entire “Edit Data” in the chart
tools. You can also
box and click Group à Ungroup. change the chart type if
desired.

Heading 3 FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENT (30%):
If needed, you can adjust the font size to fill your text here your text
more or less space. You can also copy and here your text here your
paste any of the lines/headings from this text here your text here
your text here
template to create additional divisions.

Class Expectations
BE PREPARED BE RESPECTFUL DO YOUR BEST
Ø Come to class on time. Ø Respect yourself and Ø Be responsible for your
This means being in your others. learning; work hard and
seat at the start time, do your best.
focused and ready to Ø Respect our class time
learn. and our materials. Ø Don’t be afraid to ask for
help.
Ø Come to class with the
necessary supplies.
 “BOOKS ARE A UNIQUELY PORTABLE MAGIC.”
– Stephen King

Late Work Grading

If needed, you can adjust the font size to fill
more or less space. You can also copy and
paste any of the lines/headings from this
template to create additional divisions.

Heading 2 SUMMATIVE
Each section is grouped for easier ASSESSMENT (70%):
movability. You can still click on and move to edit the chart, click on
things individually and they will stay the graphic and select
grouped. To ungroup, right click on entire “Edit Data” in the chart
tools. You can also
box and click Group à Ungroup. change the chart type if
desired.

Heading 3 FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENT (30%):
If needed, you can adjust the font size to fill your text here your text
more or less space. You can also copy and here your text here your
paste any of the lines/headings from this text here your text here
your text here
template to create additional divisions.

Class Expectations
BE PREPARED BE RESPECTFUL DO YOUR BEST
Ø Come to class on time. Ø Respect yourself and Ø Be responsible for your
This means being in your others. learning; work hard and
seat at the start time, do your best.
focused and ready to Ø Respect our class time
learn. and our materials. Ø Don’t be afraid to ask for
help.
Ø Come to class with the
necessary supplies.