August 31, 2011

Dear New Students and Families of J-16,

Welcome to the fifth grade! Next week, after some wild weather and a delayed start to our school year, we will be meeting together for the first time as our new fifth grade class. And in just a few days, you will be finding out if you are in my class. I hope you are as excited as I am to start a new school year. Practice math facts!

Have you been having a great summer so far? My summer has been very busy. For the month of July, I worked as the director of the summer STAR program here in Franklin and saw a few of you there. Recently I was in California with my family. For many years we camped our way up and down the East Coast and around New England. This year it was off to the West Coast to explore. We started in San Francisco and worked our way down to Los Angeles over the course of thirteen days. I have also spent a few weekends at my family’s house on Lake Ossipee in New Hampshire and of course have hit the beach on some of the blazing hot days we had. The summer is my time to get all my “This Old House” projects done as we live in a very old (1839) house. The rest of August gives me time to prepare for the new school year. When you come back to school, you will meet Bubbles the Wonder Turtle. Bubbles is our class pet. She is an African “side-neck” or “mud” turtle. Practice math facts!

Now you know a little about me. I look forward to meeting all of you and working with you to make this a rewarding school year. This is your last year of elementary school so let's make it a memorable one. As fifth graders, you will be taking on even more responsibility and accountability in school than you have in previous years as you prepare for middle school. With 27 students in our class this year, many challenges lay ahead of us, but we will tackle them together and create a classroom community that will help all of us to be successful. Practice math facts!

Below are some items that will be useful in preparing for the school year. You can find these items on sale at several stores. They are entirely optional so do not worry if you are unable to get everything. I can supply you with most of these items.

• 1 1.5 inch thick three ring binder for our planners and papers that go home, any type will do

• 2 single subject notebooks, perforated pages are neater

• 5 sturdy pocket folders, one for each subject

• 1 large book cover, a supermarket paper bag will do

• A personal pencil/crayon sharpener, non-electric

• 2 pens, black or blue, any type

• 1 soft, zip-up pencil bag to keep all your “stuff” in

• 1 set of 4 white board markers (no chemical cleaners please)

• 1 used (clean) white sock or rag to store white board markers in and to clean white boards

• 1 box of Kleenex to share with the class during the year

• 1 small container of wipes to share with the class for cleaning desks

You will not have room for large binders or organizers, large pencil boxes, boxes of crayons, marker sets, supply holders, etc., so keep everything small. In the past, I have allowed students to keep water bottles on their desks. I discourage the purchase of Poland Spring-type disposable bottles and prefer metal or plastic refillable sport-type bottles. Practice math facts!

You can email me at sdiamand@franklin.k12.ma.us if you have any questions. It is going to be a great year. Get ready for a lot of learning and fun. Even though it is the end of August, the summer is not quite over yet, so enjoy the rest of it. Don't forget to bring a snack the first day. I will see you soon.

Sincerely,

Mr. Diamand

P.S. Oh, did I mention to practice math facts? The ability to recall them quickly will be essential to your success in math this year. Expect an un-graded assessment on them the first couple of days of school. (Hint! Hint!)

P.P.S. Please start saving bottles and cans! I use the money from them to buy materials for fun science experiments.