Aloha Everyone!
August 4 2025
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Aloha mai. My name is Pamela North. I am a dual certified Elementary General Education and Special Education teacher with a B.A. in Psychology. I have worked with students with various abilities in a variety of settings from preschool to Community College. This year I will be working with the fifth grade.
I am a proud mother of a student who attended Waikoloa School in the past, and who has since worked extremely hard to become a graduate of the University of Michigan, and an engineer in the field of medicine. We enjoy being physically active, foiling, scuba diving, swimming, paddling, and exploring. We believe it is all of our kuleana to malama our world, including the places in which we live, work, visit, and play. When not on the water, you can find me working hard in the garden, or around the pond, experimenting with different plants and taking pleasure in an evolving ecosystem. I am grateful for the lessons learned and the food it supplies.
Growing up in Quebec, I experienced first hand what it was like to be a second language learner in French immersion classrooms. From the perspective of a U.S. citizen born abroad, I appreciate our school's efforts to reach and teach a diverse community of learners. I appreciate inclusive practices, and targeted small group instruction being a shared responsibility. I like when teams enterprise on each other's strengths to better meet the needs of our students. I value the support and participation of parents, family members, fellow teachers, educational assistants, related service providers, administrators, and community support organizations. Our custodians, health workers, cafeteria workers, and after school care providers also play key roles in our kiddos' lives. We are ohana. It takes a village. We are Waikoloa.
Communication: How to reach me? Parent Square. Because there is much to do both before and after school, Parent Square is the easiest way to reach me as messages will reach me. I will check them before school, at lunch and after school.
In an emergency, or last minute change in schedule, try reaching me through the office.
Please notify me immediately if you have any questions or concerns.
Backpacks: Students are rewarded for the following:
- Parent signatures in planner daily (after homework check).
- Parent signatures on Thursday Envelope weekly with contents removed, or returned with signed documents inside.
- Parent signatures on reading log
- Completed homework.
- Only what is needed for school being inside the backpack.
North Grade 5 Schedule
Homework: Why is homework so impactful?
20 min. per day = 2,880 minutes over the course of 144 days school days.
5 min per day of math fact practice = 720 min. toward mastery.
Please schedule a time and space for homework.
Students who develop homework routines early on are better prepared for the demand of work in later grades.
- The planner will have students’ CLEVER badge login to login to
- The planner has an iReady Progress Chart that parents and students can use to track personal progress..
- A bright yellow folder will contain worksheets and reading logs to be completed.
- A homework journal will be in the yellow folder, and will be used for students to write about their reading, and to work out math problems when needed.
- Students may have personalized homework that focuses on a particular skill development that may be a step lower or higher depending on need.
Parent Square information will help to clarify homework and assist with communication about homework and classwork as well.How do I choose a book for my child?
Knowing your child’s reading level will help.See iReady Lexile Level. Then you can check https://hub.lexile.com/find-a-book/ and either
- Use our school library
- Order books on line with information from that website
- Select stories to read, for example on Readworks (through Clever) that will help to develop your child’s reading skills.
- Use ixL (through Clever that has Common Core language, reading and math opportunities and is very easy to use and manage.
Imagine Learning Students: Students whose first language is NOT English have proven to make excellent gains with regular daily attendance. Please sign up as soon as possible.
After School Tutoring: TBD - feel free to contact me to discuss.
Behavior: The following three personal standards are expected to be exhibited school-wide to promote social/emotional learning, health and safety as well as academic success.
- Show respect.
- Make good decisions.
- Be a problem solver.
Routines and expected behaviors will be modeled, practiced, and reviewed as needed throughout the year. The following General Learner Outcomes (GLO) will be graded on quarterly report cards sent home in the Thursday envelope. A grading scale exists from 1 (rarely) to 4 (consistently). Please review the Student Handbook descriptors with your child as we will in school for the following:
- Be self directed.
- Be a Community Contributor
- Be an Effective Communicator
- Be a Complex Thinker
- Be a Quality Producer
- Be an Effective User of Technology
We employ a variety of strategies per student’s needs to access learning. We acknowledge individual needs for more time, space, and motion. Preferred activity breaks are earned to foster more focused on task work behavior. We recognize the value of positive praise.
- We encourage and reward practice of SEL strategies that are part of our Character Strong program that employ Ha (breath) and relaxation techniques that help to amplify positive things in our lives and to build purpose and acceptance of self and others.
- We post and regularly teach and reward behavioral expectations and routines until learned.
- Students have opportunities to reflect on expected behavior and set personal goals for behavior and learning. We reward positive changes, individual and group efforts.
- We encourage and reward students’ efforts to chart their own progress e.g. fluency, iReady assignments, and more.
- We encourage and reward students showing their work - the HOW - to solving problems in math.
- We encourage and reward writing about reading (included in all subjects).
PBIS Points can be used by students to buy snacks from the snack cart every other week and tangible rewards.
Safety: Students are reminded to stay in the supervisor’s line of sight at recess, and during instructional periods. Please remind your child to never leave a designated area without permission from an adult. Further, please remind your child to report unsafe situations immediately, and to please share that information with school staff so that we can respond in a timely manner.
Accommodations and Modifications will be implemented per each child’s IEP (Individual Education Plan) or 504 plan. Service page information is distributed to service providers working directly with your child.
Meetings: If you wish to schedule a meeting, please contact me via Parent Square. I would be more than glad to meet with you.
Common Core Report Card Grades:
ME Meeting and exceeding the standards.
MP Meeting with proficiency (on grade level)
DP Developing proficiency toward grade level expectations
WB Well below standards
Common Core Standards are deconstructed by teachers so that students share opportunities to show strengths in their learning in different ways despite challenges in reading, writing and math. Report card grades are Common Core based and have to be reported as such. In addition students with disabilities will receive quarterly IEP reports on progress:
Individual Education Plan (IEP) Grades (Special Education Students only)
M Mastered
P Progress Made
E Emerging
NP No progress
NA Not applicable
Progress reports describe progress per annual IEP or Revision IEP goals and objectives. Four reporting periods (R1, R2, R3, R4) are shown on an IEP progress report. The progress report is given to parents/guardians of Special Education students at the end of each quarter. These four reporting periods are not synchronized with the school-year quarters, but start on the date upon which the initial or annual IEP occurs. Comments tend to be more detailed as compared to the standard report card.
Schoolwide Assessments:
SBA Assessments: (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) assessment results for Spring (2026) End of year assessment scores fall on a continuous scale (ex: Smarter Balanced Assessment SBA from approximately 2000 to 3000) that increases across grade levels. Scaled scores can be used to illustrate students’ current level of achievement and their growth over time. When combined together across a student population, scaled scores can also describe school- and district-level changes in performance, as well as reveal gaps in achievement among different groups of students. Please contact Ms. Souza for more detailed information about this assessment.
English Language Learner Assessments: World-class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) is a consortium of states and territories that provides standards, assessments, and professional development resources for multilingual learners in K-12 education and WIDA for ELL (English Language Learner) assessments. This assessment takes place in February. Please contact Ms. Iokepa for more detailed information about this assessment.
DIBELS screener takes 1 minute and measures a student’s current accuracy rate of reading when compared to the DIBELS grade level norms. Three progress monitoring assessments are given (Fall, Winter, Spring). Total Words Read Correctly for Fifth grade students on grade level are as follows:
The iReady screener occurs three times per year, and begins in the first weeks of school.
Fifth Grade Expectation: Reading: "On Grade Level" ranges from 582 to 609 Beginning: 581-608, Middle: 609-629, End: 630-660.
- Phonics: Students with an overall scale score below 511 will be assessed on their ability to recognize and decode letters and their corresponding sounds, focusing on more complex letter combinations and patterns
- High-Frequency Words: For students scoring below 421 in the Phonics domain, this section evaluates their ability to recognize and read sight words
- Vocabulary: This section assesses students' understanding of a wide range of words, their meanings, and contextual usage
- Comprehension: Literature: Students are evaluated on their ability to understand and interpret literary texts, analyzing characters, settings, events, themes, and central messages
- Comprehension: Informational Text: This domain focuses on students' capacity to comprehend non-fiction texts, identifying main ideas, supporting details, text structures, and author's purpose
2025 fifth-grade i-Ready Math diagnostic: "on-grade level" ranges are: Early: 480-497, Mid: 498-526, and Late: 527-540 The iReady Test for 5th graders is designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of students' academic skills, helping teachers identify areas of strength and opportunities for growth When combined together across a student population, scaled scores can also describe school- and district-level changes in performance, as well as reveal gaps in achievement among different groups of students. iReady is a screening tool used to measure progress in the Fall, Winter and Spring. Teachers may assign tasks to students to target needs. Otherwise the program delivers tasks to students based on their assessment score.
Please remind your child that scores help to set goals, and structure learning opportunities for students that meet their individual needs. When not taken seriously, scores will elicit redundant, repetitive digital learning opportunities.
- No food, no drinks are allowed during testing.
- A quiet testing environment is required.
- Please make sure your student has adequate rest daily, and the night before testing.
Phonics and “Spelling”: is done daily: The Sonday System® (used schoolwide) has been evaluated by educational experts in industry-leading organizations such as the National Center for Learning Disabilities, the International Dyslexia Association, and Reading First offices in seven states. They are all in agreement that The Sonday System® contains the required elements identified by the NRP. The Sonday System® follows the teaching methodology of Orton-Gillingham, one of the effective methodologies that addresses the needs of struggling students.
Students more than two grade levels below may be included in a group that uses UFLI Foundations, an explicit and systematic program that teaches students the foundational skills necessary for proficient reading. It follows a carefully developed scope and sequence designed to ensure that students systematically acquire each skill needed and learn to apply each skill with automaticity and confidence. The program is designed to be used for core instruction in the primary grades or for intervention with struggling students in any grade.
HMH (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is the math curriculum being used. Its programs aim to support student growth, foster a growth mindset, and build problem-solving skills. They incorporate a blend of digital resources, hands-on activities, and assessments, catering to different learning styles and aligning with Common Core Standards.
Readworks: A research-based reading comprehension resource for K-12 educators. It offers a vast library of over 6,000 curated fiction and nonfiction texts, along with vocabulary supports, text-dependent questions, and teacher guidance, all aligned with the science of reading. ReadWorks aims to improve reading comprehension by building background knowledge, growing vocabulary, and strengthening strategic reading skills.
Other programs that we use to supplement curriculum and assess are approved by the district and accessed through your child’s Clever, or assigned via Google Classroom.
Mystery Science: an innovative, standards-aligned, hands-on curriculum that teaches children how to think like scientists will be used this year.
Social Studies: Project based learning will occur giving students the opportunity to apply reading and writing skills in a meaningful context using a variety of text resources, written and digital formats. They will also practice presentation skills.
Attendance: Please contact teachers as soon as possible to request work when your child is absent. Frequent absences impact academic success and foster low self-esteem as students begin to feel less connected the more they are absent. Please plan trips during school breaks to avoid students missing out on work and important activities that will impact their progress.
Health and Hygiene: We appreciate families keeping us apprised of any current health concerns to best support your child's physical or emotional needs.
Water and Snacks - Please supply a water bottle so that your child can access filtered water from our fountain and hydrate regularly. Bottles should be filled before school starts. Only healthy snacks are permitted. Note that bright colored foods tend to be full of unhealthy dyes, sugar and preservatives that can be damaging to a child’s ability to focus and grow into healthy adults. Small amounts of Gatorade helps with focus, however energy drinks are strongly discouraged as they can damage health over time.
After homework: I encourage everyone to take a break from their devices to explore, wonder and discover talents beyond the classroom in engineering (eg. lego robotics), art, music, dance, sports (paddling, soccer, baseball, pickleball, golf, sailing etc.), hikes, and more). Students can get connected to our place by exploring historic sites, participating in community events and volunteering (eg. Waikoloa Dry Forest initiative) or in the community garden. Such opportunities promote family and community bonds, confidence and joy as students discover things about themselves and others beyond the school setting. Students may want to share photos of their interests that we can display to inspire others.
I am really looking forward to working with you all this year. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. I am open to meeting to discuss, review, explain, or assist in any way I can.
Aloha and Mahalo Nui!
Pamela North
