This document provides information for parents and students about the upcoming 5th grade school year. It includes a letter of welcome from Mrs. Cantone, the teacher, highlighting themes of discovery and exploration. It lists important dates for the school year and provides details about classroom policies, curriculum overview, supply lists, homework assignments and ways to connect virtually before school starts.

1. 8/22 (2pm) Meet & Greet
8/22 (2:30pm) Popsicle Social
8/26 First Day of School
9/2 No School (Labor Day)
9/4(6pm) Back to School Night
*(K, 4, 5 only)
9/6 Camp Lincoln
•(Grade 5 only)
9/17 School Pictures
Important Dates
Mark your calendars, but you can
also find these one our classroom
calendar located on the class
website.
5Cantone
2013 - 2014
CLASS OF 2021
Welcome to 5th Grade!
Hello Explorers, Scientists,
Historians, Authors, Artists
& Innovators!
I hope you are as excited to receive
this letter as I am to send it. As you
know by now, we will be spending
your 5th grade year together. 5th
grade is full of amazing learning
opportunities and topics. I can’t wait
to get started!
A good theme for this year is
“Discovery & Exploration”. We will
bring the world to our classroom with
virtual field trips, expert visits to the
classroom, and plenty of hands on
activities in our own backyard. We’ll
uncover what it was like to navigate
the world during the “Age of
Exploration” , and what it took to turn
America into the country we know
today. We’ll take trips outside the
classroom for adventures relating to
colonial and revolutionary America,
ecology and, of course, at Sargent
Camp (just to name a few!).
I’m eager to learn more about you.
When you have a free moment,
please log onto our classroom
website (you can get there through
the 5th grade site listed under my
name on the Swasey website) and
take the “Student Survey”. Try to do
this before school starts.
It’s going to be a great year!
I’m so glad you’re joining us.
Happy Learning!
Mrs. Cantone
Scan this QR code to
visit our class site!

2. 10 Random
Facts
About Room 2
We don’t have desks...even
the teacher!
Our classroom jobs are
unlike any others you’ve
done before...the chores,
on the other hand, are
definitely things you’ve
done before.
We Skype with other
classrooms, authors, &
places often throughout
the year.
Hard work always pays off
here.
We often work together (as
a class and as a whole 5th
grade) in many different
ways.
Our class mascot is our
Eyelash Crested Gecko,
Apple Noal.
We do LOTS of academic
simulations. You’ll get
to be an EXPLORER,
COLONIST, and
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER.
You can eat & drink all
day as long as it’s
healthy and not near
electronics.
You’ll get to choose a lot
of what you study, read,
and do!
I’MHUNGRY!
With all of the learning and hard
work we’ll do this year, we need to
keep our brains fueled! Our
classroom DOES allow (all day)
grazing on healthy snacks (only).
Be sure to pack additional snacks
to keep your brain running all day!
Water packed in a re-useable,
plastic bottle (marked with your
name) is also welcome in our
room. Additionally, to keep our
hardworking brain focused, please
feel free to bring in sugar free gum
to chew throughout the day.
What’s new
in
5th Grade?
Fifth grade is a year focused on
preparing you for your journey to the
middle school and your lifelong learning
beyond Swasey. With this in mind,
several things will be “bumped up” from
4th grade - especially the expectation of
responsibility. You will need to be
responsible for yourself, your choices,
your work, and your learning this year.
We will have several long term projects
over the course of the year. You will
need to help manage, plan, and complete
each along with regular, daily homework
assignments. Fifth graders also have to
adjust to different teachers for Science
and Math units throughout the year. For
many reasons, it will be important to be
organized. We’ll spend much of
September setting ourselves up for
success through good organizational
strategies.
There will be lots of opportunity to stretch
your wings as a learner this year as well.
You’ll discover new things about yourself
as a community member, a friend, a
school leader, and as a person. We will
be sure to have lots of fun along the way
too!
Throughout the year, you will have
choices to make in what you explore and
discover and how you share your
learning with others. Be prepared to
connect what interests you outside of
school - sports, dance, nature, music,
whatever(!) - to your work in the
classroom.
We are fortunate to have many
technology resources available to us this
year. We’ll learn using digital cameras,
green screens (learn more about this on
our website!), laptops, netbooks, ipods &
ipads, blogs, wikis, website creation, and
much more.
Speaking of adventures - hold onto your
hatS (with a capital S!). You’ll wear many
of them this year as you try jobs such as
tutorial designer, official scribe,
researcher, collaboration coordinator,
news broadcaster, and curriculum
reviewer.

3. 5th
Grade
at a
glance...
SCIENCE MATH WORLD STUDIES LITERACY
5th
Grade
at a
glance...
Circulatory &
Respiratory
Systems
with Mr. Fowler
Multi-digit
Multiplication
and Division
Geography &
Mapping
Active
Reading
Strategies
5th
Grade
at a
glance...
Chemistry &
Matter
with Mrs. Woods
Fractions,
Decimals &
Percents
US
Government
Book Clubs
5th
Grade
at a
glance...
Scientific
Method
with Mrs. Babine
Angles &
Geometry
European
Exploration
Research
5th
Grade
at a
glance...
Ecology
with Mrs. Cantone
Gathering,
Organizing &
Analyzing
Data
Colonial &
Revolutionary
America
Writing,
Writing &
More Writing
This year, we’ll explore the world - past & present -
using the tools of the future....
We will connect to the world virtually (through blogs,
book clubs, websites, wiki’s, and more), and in person
(through field trips - like the one to Camp Lincoln at the
START of the year!). We’ll also learn how the world, as
we know it today, was discovered, mapped, and
governed throughout history. We’ll uncover how (and
why) America was formed.
We’ll also think about how
the environmental choices
we make today will affect
the world we leave for
future generations.
For more on 5th grade curriculum,
please visit our classroom website !
sites.google.com/a/sau16.org/cantoneclassroom

4. 10 Random
Facts about
Mrs. Cantone
10. Her family is made up
of all boys (and her),
including her husband;
her crazy but adorable
son, Rocco; two dogs:
a severely overweight
Golden Retriever named
“Bear”, and a cat-and-
child-herding border
collie named “Max”;
and a kitty named
Fenway.
9. Her favorite color is
lime green.
8. She still has the name
plaque her 5th grade
teacher gave to her on
the first day of 5th
grade.
7. Her biggest pet peeve
is when people chew
with their mouth open.
Especially gum. Yuck!
6. She likes to paint in
her free time.
5. Her favorite author is
Roald Dahl.
4. She loves to paint,
draw, and create.
3. She has a HUGE
collection of Crayola
stuff - both vintage
and new. It’s an
obsession.
2. Halloween is her
favorite holiday...but
she hates scary movies.
1. She is training to run
a 5K this fall.
Besides the items listed on the
SCS Grade 5 Website...
2” plain binder (similar to the one students saw on Fly Up Day)
• Binders with clear front sleeves work well
• Please don’t spend a lot on binders, you will likely need more than one this
year.
1 package of wide ruled paper
• You may want more than one if you like to write
• Hole punched paper is best
2 packs of insertable, write on dividers (5 subject packs)
• PLEASE PURCHASE 3 (you’ll need an extra for our writing binders)
2-3 pens
• Bold colors work best (no black, yellow, or orange)
1 package of pencils
• You will need a LOT of pencils this year, I recommend buying several and
saving some at home for later.
1 package of small post it notes
• I recommend a few packages (we use these a lot for reading activities)
2-3 whiteboard markers
• Please get THIN markers (no yellow, pink, or orange please)
Here are a few other items you might like to have
for the year:
2 lined paper notebooks
• With 3 hole punch (to put into a binder)
GRAPH/GRID PAPER notebook (Staples has these) -
• 1cm squares or larger work best
• ** Please get the type that are bound on the side, NOT on the top** (these
tend to fall out)
Clipboard
• Please clearly mark it with your name and feel free to decorate it!
Pack of colored pencils
Erasers
• Pencil tops are great, but it’s also nice to have a large one.
Large, sturdy zipper bag (to hold pencils, coloring materials, etc.)
Highlighters
• More than one color is helpful
Bike water bottle holder
• This helps prevent spills.
Special Schedule
(Subject to Change)
Monday PE & Tech
Tuesday Art
Wednesday Music
Thursday Library & Tech
Friday PE

5. Mrs. Cantone’s
Top 5 Ways to Feel
Ready for 5th Grade
Read
Read everything and
anything you can get
your hands on:
magazines, newspapers,
books, instructions,
recipes. Just read!
Practice Basic
Facts
Spending just 10 minutes
a day practicing basic
addition, subtraction, multiplication
and/or division facts will help 5th
grade math feel easier. You’ll be
ready for bigger challenges!
Get
Organized
Being organized is
so important in 5th
grade and beyond.
Take some time now to organize
things around you...maybe even
clean your room! That way,
organizing your school stuff will seem
like second nature.
Establish a
Routine
Everyone has a
busy schedule,
especially after
school starts. Plan now when you’ll
do homework and where.
Enjoy
Summer
Relaxing is
important too!
Meet our Classroom Pet
& Mascot....
APPLE
NOEL
This is my son, Rocco, holding Apple.
She loves to climb up to say “hi”!
Scientific Name:
Rhacodactylus ciliatus
Natural Environment:
Islands of New Caledonia
(Southwest Pacific near Australia)
Average Size:
8" to 9"
Average Life Span:
10 to 15 years (captivity)
• Thought to be extinct until
they were rediscovered in
1994
• They are nocturnal
• Crested Geckos cannot grow their
tail back once it has dropped.
• Some Crested Geckos are very
vocal and may make barking or
squeaking noises.
•You’ll learn much more about
Apple this year!
Must Read 5th Grade Books
(Recommendations From Last Year’s Class)
Wonder - Abbie & Lizzie
The Children of the Lamp series - Anna
School of Fear - Robin
The False Prince - Brooke
The Runaway King - Mariah
Savvy - Ada
The Percy Jackson series - Tyler
Ranger’s Apprentice series - Gage
Beyonders - Derek
Love? Maybe - Kaelyn
The One and Only Ivan - Kyle
Ships Cat Doris - Kendyl
Unwanteds - Kevin
Scan this code to see more
recommendations!

6. imagine
Student Assignments
180 minutes of Skills Tutor fact
practice
Read four books (at your reading
level)
Complete 4 mini book report
projects (listed on the 5th grade
website) * Projects are due 8/31
Join our Edmodo class page
Complete the student survey (on the
home page of our classroom
website)
Parent Assignment
(Yes, you have work too!)
Please take a moment before
school begins to complete the parent
survey located on the homepage of
our classroom website.
MRS. CANTONE
C/O SWASEY CENTRAL SCHOOL
BRENTWOOD, NH 03833
CONNECT!
Please take a moment to join our
class Edmodo group
www.edmodo.com
Class Code: auulke
@CantoneClass
www.diigo.com/user/
cantoneclass
Don’t forget about your
summer homework
assignments!