Welcome to Mr Joe's Grade 5 Blog!

Welcome to Grade 5 classes 5BA/5BD class blog!

I would like to welcome all the students back to Mubarak bin Mohammed school for the 2014-2015 academic school year. I feel it is going to be a great year full of fun activities and adventures in learning. Some of you may have had me as a teacher in grade 4, but if you are new to my classroom I would like to welcome you! 

I expect many things from you this year as a student, but above all else is you must follow the school expectations. These are:

Be Safe
Be Responsible
Be Kind and Respectful
and Be a Leader 

If every student follows these each and everyday, I promise it will be a fantastic school year. For the next two weeks we are going to be going over what these expectations are and what they mean. Parents, please review what these are with your students so they understand what is expected of them in the classroom.

Questions Parents May Have???

I'm Sure you all have questions so let me give you some quick information:

Q: When do the students get the book?

A: The books will be passed out either at the end of this week or the beginning of next week.

Q: What about Homework?

A: Students will be doing a variety of homework. If the student says that they have no homework they are lying. The students will either have scootpad.com homework they will need to do, required readings, writing homework, etc. Also if I do not give homework, they are expected to read their own books from home or visit the extra practice websites that I post on my blog.

Q: When can parents come into the classroom to speak with the teacher?

A: My door is always open for parents to come and speak with me during the day. I also invite all parents to come into my classroom to observe me teaching your children.

Q: What should students bring to class? 

A: Students will bring their pencil cases with pencils to class. Please do not let your student come to school without a pencil as I have found this a problem in the past. When students receive their books, they can leave them in the lockers, and do not need to carry around every book in their shanta bag. The students will only need to bring home a book if there is required homework from that book.

Scootpad, Classdojo, brainpop and Schoology.com

The Students will be in the I-class this year. The I-Class is a classroom full of different forms of technology that will help increase your students academic skills within the classroom. Different devices such as computers, SMART technology boards, IPADS, and Cameras will help your students succeed in my class. Students are also expected to participate in the different websites at home to further their skills. These sites will also help communicate with parents for a great partnership between parents, students, and the teacher. 

Scootpad.com is a website that will help your student improve their English, Math, and Science skills. Students will be expected to log on several times a week at home to participate and build their skills. We will be also using this within the classroom.

Classdojo.com is a classroom management or behavior system that lets both students and parents know how their student is behaving in the classroom. Points are awarded to students with different criteria. Students will be awarded prizes for having the most points in the class.

Brainpop.com is a website that will help your students build their skills within the classroom. They have many good resources to help students within the classroom. The movies on the site are also especially good, and are geared toward children.

Schoology.com is a school based networking site that we use here at Mubarak bin Mohammed. Basically its like Facebook, but only for school related things. I will give each student a login, and here students will be able to speak to the teacher or each other, download different powerpoint presentations that have to do with what we are learning in the classroom. This is a great site that will help both parents and students communicate better with the teacher.

A final link is to our Abu Dhabi Education Council website and portal where you can find all sorts of information regarding schools and policies.

*I will be teaching your students how to use and navigate each site, as well as posting on this blog to help you and your student be successful within the classroom.

Welcome to Mr Joe's Blog for Grade 5 and I look forward to working toward academic success with you and your students!!!

You may contact me via email @ joescully6@gmail.com

*If any parents do not want their student's pictures or video on this blog please let me know.

Thank You,

Mr. Joe