Your First Week of 5th Grade 🎒

Hi families,

Welcome to 5th grade! Most of you have done a Cedar Brook first day before, so I'll skip the pep talk and get you what you actually need: times, places, and how the year runs. Bookmark this note — it answers about 90% of the questions I get in week one, and it's built to be read on your phone in under two minutes.

School starts Monday, August 31. Day one, your kid needs exactly three things: their supplies (unlabeled is fine — we sort together), a water bottle, and a lunch or lunch money. Everything else is below. 📋

• Arrival. Gates open at 8:05; first bell rings at 8:20. Fifth graders line up on the upper blacktop by the basketball hoops — no more walking littles to the door, and yes, they can handle it. There's no supervision before 8:05, so please don't drop off early.
• Running late? After 8:25, students sign in at the front office and walk themselves to Room 21. No note needed for the occasional slow morning — it happens to all of us.
• Dismissal is 3:05 (Wednesdays are early release at 1:50 — set that phone reminder now). Fifth graders walk out on their own to the front loop, bus line, or bike rack. If the plan changes mid-day, email me or call the office before 2:00 — after that I can't guarantee the message beats the bell.
• Lunch. 5th grade eats at 12:10. Kids can pack or buy — the monthly menu and lunch-account top-ups are on the school website, and the account carries over from last year. First-week pro tip: put a few dollars on the account even if they pack, for the day the sandwich gets left on the counter.
• Snack & water. We take a quick working snack around 10:00 — something they can eat with one hand while reading. Room 21 is nut-aware, so please keep peanut and tree-nut items for home. A labeled refillable water bottle every day keeps everyone off the fountain line.

Our day has two big blocks: humanities in the morning (reading, writing, social studies) and math and science after lunch, with recess in between. Specials rotate by weekday, so here's the fridge-worthy version:

• Monday & Thursday — PE. Sneakers required; kids sit out in sandals, and nobody enjoys that. Leave a spare pair in the backpack and never think about it again.
• Tuesday — Music. Band and strings sign-ups happen in September — instrument info will come home before you're asked to commit to anything.
• Wednesday — Art. Aprons provided, but maybe not the brand-new white shirt on Wednesdays.
• Friday — Library. Books due back every Friday. The under-the-bed sweep on Thursday night is a Cedar Brook family tradition. 🔎

Fifth grade is where homework becomes their job, with you as the friendly supervisor. Here's what it looks like from home:

• About 40 minutes a night, max. Twenty minutes of reading (any book they love counts — graphic novels included) plus short math practice most nights. If it's regularly taking longer, that's my problem to fix, not yours — tell me.
• The planner comes home daily. Your job isn't to pack the backpack — it's to ask "what's in the planner?" and let them answer. Glance, don't manage. That handoff is the biggest gift you can give a 5th grader.
• The no-tears rule. If homework turns into a battle, stop, write "we stopped here" in the margin, and send it in. Homework is practice, not a nightly referendum on anyone's parenting.
• Long-term projects don't start until October, and we build the timeline together in class — no surprise dioramas due tomorrow, I promise.
• Chromebooks live at school. Each student gets an assigned one that charges in our cart overnight — nothing to buy, insure, or remember. Logins for our reading and math practice sites come home in Friday folders during week one.
• Phones and smartwatches are fine for the walk to school, then off and in backpacks 8:20-3:05 (watches switch to school mode). If you need your kid mid-day, call the office — it's genuinely faster.

Email is best — I read after dismissal and reply within a day. For anything urgent during school hours (a pickup change, an appointment), call the front office so it reaches us before the bell.

This is the year they run their own backpack, keep their own planner, and surprise you with how capable they are. I can't wait to get started. See you Monday at 8:20 — upper blacktop, by the hoops. 🏀

Warmly,
Ms. Reyes