Mrs. Smith's Fifth Grade ELA Class
Welcome to Our Class Page
To all Tiger families, Welcome Back! I hope everyone enjoyed their spring break filled with laughter and special moments.
At Chelsea School, we want each and every student to know they are valued and that they hold tremendous worth. Our school is built on the foundation of our three core values~ Respect, Responsibility, and Caring. Both students and teachers work towards these values daily. We also believe in fresh-starts and new beginnings. Let's make each school year special by believing in a growth mindset and by unlocking your child's true potential. We can accomplish this by working together. This school year will be a success on their educational journey!
Use this class page as an extension of our classroom to stay informed. It contains important dates, reminders, homework, the quarterly curriculum standards, links, and other essential information about what's happening in our classroom, school, and district.
Please check back often! Each school day's activities and homework assignments will be featured in the "Week at a Glance." The standard ELA homework is to read for a minimum of 20 minutes per day at home. Please encourage reading! We will also have occasional reading response homework.
Family Shout Outs
We are offering parents the opportunity to complete a "Shout Out" form to celebrate students' accomplishments outside of the school day that can include events such as team competitions, recitals, etc.
This form is linked to the Chelsea e-newsletter. It is also posted on our Chelsea page. Depending on the number of "shout outs" we receive, we will recognize students either on the morning announcements or on the monitors throughout the school.
We are looking forward to acknowledging achievements by our students!
Spring Reading Challenge: Class vs. Class
Let's be the class that reads the most in fifth grade! From April 15–May 8, all interested students will log the time they read outside of school using the Beanstack app (accessible through our district's ClassLink). Students will receive a refresher on how to use Beanstack before the challenge begins during their library visit. They can pick their own books, build a diverse reading log, and make reading goals!
Classes will compete within each grade level to see which homeroom reads the most. Progress updates and reader raffles will take place throughout the challenge.
The challenge will conclude on May 8, when final reading minutes can be entered. After that time, logging will close. The winning class will earn a reading challenge trophy and lunch with Mrs. Fracassi in the library!
Please encourage your child to participate, build strong reading habits, and most importantly enjoy great books along the way!
E-Learning Plan
The purpose of an emergency E-Learning plan is to provide for a continuation of learning and engagement for all students when conditions require that school cannot be in the building. Students will receive instruction through digital resources, and it would count as attendance days without the need to add emergency days to the end of our school year.
If an E-Learning Day is necessary, we will be utilizing the fifth-grade schedule.
See E-Learning attachment at the bottom of this page.
Save the Date! DARE Graduation Friday, April 10
DARE invitations are going home on Monday, March 23, 2026. Be sure to check your child's backpacks and folders for a red DARE invitation. We would love for families to join us.
Please complete the RSVP and return it to school as soon as possible if you plan to attend.
We can’t wait to celebrate our students together!
DARE Graduation Invitation.pdf
Important Days
Friday, March 27th-Early Release Day 2:30 PM
Spring Break: March 30-April 3
Thursday, April 9th-Wheel of Wisdom Assembly
Friday, April 10th-DARE Graduation Ceremony
Tuesday, April 14th to Thursday, April 16th-Illinois Science Assessment (ISA)
Friday, April 24th- Bring Your Child to Work Day
Friday, May 1st-School Improvement Day 12:05 Dismissal
Thursday, May 14th-Fith Grade Step-Up Day at Hickory Creek Middle School
Thursday, May 14th-Fifth Grade End of Year Party
Monday, May 25th-Memorial Day Holiday No School
Tuesday, May 26th-Chelsea's Field Day 2026
Thursday, May 28th-Tug of War
Friday, May 29th-Last Day of School 12:05 Dismissal
Theme Thursdays at Chelsea
Show your Chelsea pride and wear our school colors of maroon and gold on Friday
April 9th: Character Day-Wear a shirt with your favorite movie, TV show, or cartoon character.
April 16th: Almost Earth Day! Let's wear green or blue in honor of Earth Day on April 22nd.
April 23rd: Spring has sprung! Wear your favorite spring colors.
Encore Schedule
Quarter 1 Spanish with Mrs. Smerz
Quarter 2 STEM with Mrs. Jozaitis
Quarter 3 Music with Mr. Bertrand
Quarter 4 Art with Mrs. Maney
Library on Mondays
My ELA classes will be going to the library on Mondays. My homeroom class will be going from 10:25-10:50 and the afternoon ELA Block 2 will be from 2:40-3:05.
Erin's Law Presentations
Governor Pat Quinn signed Erin's Law in January of 2013, which requires all schools in the state of Illinois to provide age-appropriate sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention education programs for students in grades Pre-K through 12. The Chelsea Intermediate School social workers will be teaching each lesson in the child’s classroom. The "Think First and Stay Safe" program will be the curriculum utilized for these lessons with a focus on Child Lures.
ClassLink at Home
Students can access ClassLink from their home computers! Directions for how to access the ClassLink launchpad from home are in the downloads section of this page. In order for students to not have to reenter usernames and passwords they will need to add an extension to their web browser. Directions for how to do that are also linked to this page. If the extension is not added, then login credentials will have to be entered each time.
This information can also be found on the district website under "Student/Parent Technology Tutorials."
Communicating with Students and Families
I am committed to establishing a strong parent-teacher relationship. I will be using this teacher webpage, email blasts, and the Remind app to communicate on a regular basis. You will be able to find the homework assignments in the "Week at a Glance" tab. The quarterly standards are listed in the "ELA Curriculum" tab.
If you would like to receive text notifications about your child's ELA class with information on homework and general reminders or announcements, then please select the Remind link that corresponds to your child's ELA block.
To sign up for Mrs. Smith's Homeroom notifications, click the link below:
To sign up for Mrs. Smith's Block 2 notifications, click the link below:
Please consider following us on social media to see photos and updates from our classroom, other teachers and our administrators. Follow Chelsea School on Twitter by adding @Chelsea_Tigers. We tag all of our school happenings with #WeAreChelsea.
Birthday Reminder
Birthdays are definitely a special day for students. It is a time to celebrate! That being said, per our district policy, we highly discourage the passing out of invitations at school. The only exception is if the entire class is being invited. However, you are more than welcome to send a non-food item (pen, pencil, etc.) for each student in class. We have 27 students in our homeroom (ELA Block 1) and 23 students in my afternoon ELA Block 2. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.
- Name
- Mrs. Julie Smith
- Position
- 5th Grade Teacher
