PTO Info

Did you know that Harmony’s PTO has a blog?  You can stay up-to-date with just a couple of clicks!  Go to http://harmonypto.wordpress.com/

Fall Festival

Harmony’s Fall Festival is on Saturday, November 7, from 5 – 8 p.m.  Please come and enjoy the fun while you support Harmony!  Students can wear costumes if they would like.  4th and 5th grade teachers are planning a haunted house this year…stop by and get scared!

Shop at Ingles and Support Harmony Elementary!

Use your Ingles Advantage™ Card and support Harmony Elementary! When you make purchases using your linked Ingles Advantage™ Card, Ingles will give back to Harmony a portion of those sales. The portion can be used by Harmony to purchase computers and school supplies.

Over the past 10 years, Ingles has contributed over 10 million dollars to schools in towns where Ingles stores are located. Those dollars have been used for valuable learning tools and equipment. Ingles and our Tools for Schools program are committed to helping thousands of schools and students achieve their education goals.

Three ways to link your card and support Harmony Elementary:

1. Fill out the form that your child will bring home this week (Aug. 17 – 21) and return it to your child’s teacher, OR

2. Link your card online!  Go to http://www.ingles-markets.com and click “Tools for Schools” to get started, OR

3. Link your card at Ingles next time you shop! Tell your cashier that Harmony’s school code is 12141.

Thank you for supporting Harmony Elementary!

Welcome to the 2009-2010 School Year!

Hello!  Welcome to a brand new school year!

Former students have given new fifth-graders some advice about how to be successful.  Follow these suggestions…they will make your life much easier this year!

How to be a Successful 5th Grader

Organization

• STAY ORGANIZED!  Your life will be much easier.
• Materials- have a binder or some other organizer to keep all of your work together for easy transport from class to class. Don’t keep asking your teachers if you need your books.  You are only going next door or across the hall – take your stuff every day!
• Pencils, pencils, pencils- have lots and lots of pencils.  Keeping your pencils in a pouch in your binder will help.
• Paper, paper, paper- have lots of paper with you at all times.
• Lockers- keeping your locker neat and clutter free will help you get to class with all of the necessary materials.
• Agenda- use your agenda for writing homework assignments.  This will help remind you of important assignments, dates, projects, tests, and will help keep you on track with your behavior card.
• Homework- expect homework nightly; complete daily homework; place homework papers in correct folder/binder and return it to school- don’t stuff things where they don’t belong.

Absences

• Always get your missed assignments and complete the work immediately.  It’s your responsibility to ask teachers for your missed work.

Attitude

• Be positive! Participate in class, listen to teachers, and be respectful of your peers, teachers, and yourself.

Behavior

• Have great behavior- it’s not that hard to keep 100 points in all classes, and you will earn lots of good rewards including the End-of-the-Quarter Party.

Lunch Balances

The following information was sent home several weeks ago, but this is a terrific program and I want to make sure everyone knows about it.  The following is an excerpt from a letter from Melinda Edwards, Pickens County School Nutrition Program Director.

Dear Parents of PCS Students:

The Pickens County School Nutrition program now offers the ability to view balances and purchases and to pay for your student’s School meals on-line.  We are happy to announce that MealpayPlus (www.mealpayplus.com ), a state-of-the-art online service, will provide you with the convenience and information you need to manage your student’s meal account.

MealpayPlus is an innovative tool that allows any parent to:

• Log-in at www.mealpayplus.com to check student meal account balances and monitor the food items your student purchases at school.

• Deposit funds directly into your student’s meal account using your credit card, debit card, or check! A small processing fee applies per family deposit.  (This fee is charged by the MealpayPlus.  The fee makes the online service available to our school system.)  Online deposits you make will usually be available for student use at school within a matter of minutes.
• Create settings to automatically replenish your account or receive a notification e-mail when the balance is low.
• Create settings to automatically replenish the account when empty and to notify you by e-mail when the account balance is low.

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There is a processing fee every time you add funds to the account, but the convenience might be worth it.

Grammar Game Links

Georgia PerformanceStandard	Links to Games
ELA5Ce	Complex, compound, and simple sentence practiceBe sure to look at the Grammar Glossary in the lower left corner before you begin.
ELA5Cg	Subjects, predicates, and fragmentsIt’s not flashy, but it’s good practice!
ELA5R3i	Definitions and synonymsFun game, and very challenging words.  Have a dictionary handy!
ELA5Ca	Basketball and prepositions…it’s a winner!Choose the number of points you’re trying for, answer the question, then click the ball that says shoot.
ELA5Ca	Robbie’s Evil Twin teaches the parts of speech!

GPS and Writing Assessment Links

 Links to Important Georgia Department of Education Sites

Main link to GA Dept. of Ed. GPS for all grades.  Select the grade level and subject in “Advanced Search”	GPS for ALL Grades
Link to 5th Grade Language Arts GPS	GPS for 5th Grade
Main link to GA Dept. of Ed. 5th Grade Writing Assessment Information	5th Grade Writing Assessment Main Page
Link to 5th Grade Writing Assessment Scoring Rubrics	5th Grade Writing Assessment Scoring Rubrics