Syllabus

5th Grade Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to a new school year.  I am very excited about beginning a new year full of friendly faces that are ready to learn.  My name is Jennifer Podufalski St. Pierre, but I am better known as Mrs. J.P.  I grew up in this area and attended Lutcher High School and then Nicholls State University.  I have a degree in Elementary Education and am certified to teach grades 1-8.  Teaching is my passion and I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else.  This is my 19th year as a teacher at Paulina Elementary and all of my teaching experience has been in 4th and 5th grades.  I feel that I am ready for the challenge of teaching your child's mind, body, and soul.  Below you will find a few details about how things will work this year.  With your help, I plan to make this a memorable year full of Love, Laughter, and Learning!

Schedules can be found in the school’s information folder given to you.  Your child will have 3 teachers this school year.  One teacher for ELA (Mrs. Roguee or Ms. Dempster), another teacher for Science/Social Studies (Mrs. Moore), and I will be your child’s Math teacher.  

Folders will be used to keep students organized.  The teal colored folder will contain notes from the office and PTO, along with discipline forms and homework sheets.  The purple folder will be for tests, which will be sent home each Wednesday.  The blue folder and notebook is for Math.  We will send home a direction sheet of how to label folders and notebooks because this was not specified on the supply lists.

Homework will be issued often, but students will no longer receive a homework sheet.  Homework planners or agendas will be issued to each student, and they will be responsible for writing assignments down.  I plan to have students fill in the planner for the entire week each Monday, but sometimes changes will be made.  This planner should remain in the schoolbag at all times.  If students do not complete assignments, it will be documented and you will be contacted directly if an excessive amount is missed.  Please remember that homework is a way to review skills and prepare your child for future testing.  Prizes will be issued to those that consistently complete assignments.

Missed work will be organized and kept in a folder for students when they are absent.  The work will be sent home with a sibling, cousin, or neighbor at your request.  When returning to school, it will be the student's responsibility to give up recess or activity time to catch up on unfinished work.  I will remind students of what needs to be done in a timely manner.  If an excessive amount of absences occur, I will contact you and we will come up with an alternate plan. 

Eureka is the name of the Math series that St. James Parish uses.  It is an extremely rigorous, common-core based series, which I feel prepares students for fundamental mathematical understanding and statewide testing. The 5th grade series is divided into 6 modules, and student workbooks will be distributed once they arrive.  Until then, I will be using copies of the workbook pages.  We will, at times, stray from the Eureka lessons.  This will be done with a strategic plan in mind of making sure students are prepared for statewide testing.  

  Grades will be sent home each Wednesday in the purple test folder and will be posted on the Internet within the new grading program.  In Math, 90% of their grade will be based on teacher-made tests, as well as Eureka mid-module and Eureka end-of-module assessments. The remaining 10% will be used for homework completion and classroom participation.

School-wide behavior expectations will be followed at Paulina Elementary.  These will help our little Paulina Pelican students “SOAR” as they grow into productive students and citizens.  Areas of the school are labeled with our expectations, and I will be teaching these to students throughout the year.  These are as follows:  Stay Safe, Obey Rules, Act Responsibly, and Respect Everyone.  The school-wide discipline plan can be found in the information folder.  You will be notified daily of your child's behavior in class.  I pledge to follow this plan of rules, consequences, and rewards fairly and consistently. 

  Contacting me can be done in many different ways.  Please feel free to write notes, e-mail, or call when needed.  If a conference is needed, please let me, or the school secretary know, and we will make the necessary arrangements.  The school phone number is 258-4700 and my e-mail address is [email protected].  I will also have a Class Dojo account to help with communication.  This service will allow me to send messages directly through an app on your smart phone to keep you informed of assignments, events, and behavior.

Thank you for entrusting your precious child to me.  I promise to do all I can to help create an inquisitive young mind that understands the value of having character.  I vow to live and teach by the famous Maya Angelou quote, "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Jennifer P. St. Pierre
5th Grade Math Teacher