Welcome to Third Grade!

Information for third grade students and their families!

2013-2014 School Year

Hello students and parents! I am so excited for the upcoming school year. In this packet, you will find important information regarding school policies and classroom policies/procedures.

Table of Contents: What to expect in 3rd grade………………………………………………………… Planner……………………………………………………………………………… ……………………. Friday Folder……………………………………………………………………………… ………. Homework policy……………………………………………………………………………… … Reading Contract Math Contract Rocket Math Spelling Absences…………………………………………………………………………… …………………….. Birthdays…………………………………………………………………………… ……………………… Classroom Economy/Credits and Debits …………………………….. Behavior Policy……………………………………………………………………………… …………

What to Expect in Third Grade The transition from 2nd to 3rd grade is large step in your child’s education. At the forefront of this transition is your child taking the steps to becoming a more independent learner. This includes problem solving skills, self-assessing their own work and self-direction. In addition to these skills, we also work hard with your child to develop 21st century skills. Mountain View delivers curriculum in a Project Based Learning format. This allows students to interact with their learning and with their peers using all of the 21st century skills. In your child’s classroom, you will see creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making, collaboration with others, communication skills, integration of technology.

Planner As a way to communicate between school and home, your child will have a planner that will go back and forth between school and home daily. Each day your child is required to write down the necessary information in their planner for that day at school. At home, it is your child’s responsibility to show you their planner and ask you to sign or initial on that day. If you need to write a note to me, please utilize the planner as I check it first thing each morning for notes and parent initials/signatures. *Students who have signed/initialed planners will earn credits and students who do not will earn debits. Friday Folder Each Friday a Friday Folder will be sent home with your child. This is one of the main tools of communication between home and school. The Friday Folder will include graded assignments from the week, homework that is due the following Friday, important information from the classroom and Mountain View and the weekly Clip Chart Log. Please review the Friday Folder with your child and return necessary paperwork and completed homework by the following Friday. *Please note that sometimes there may be papers that need to be returned prior to Friday. If there is something that is required before Friday, it will be noted in your child’s planner. Occasionally, I may need to send something out before Friday. Again, it will be noted in your child’s planner if this happens. *Each Friday, your child can earn $5 credits for having their Friday Folder. If they do not have their Friday Folder, they will be debited. Homework Policy The homework policy throughout the entire 3rd grade is that homework is for the purpose of practicing skills and concepts taught in class. Therefore, homework is primarily given a completion grade. Since each child learns differently, much of the homework is created in a way that allows each child to be successful in homework practice and completion based on their own needs. The only exception to this is the weekly math packet. This will be graded as a class in order to provide your child immediate feedback. Homework is given out on Fridays, and it is due the following Friday. This gives students ample time to accomplish the week’s homework. All of the week’s homework is sent home in the Friday Folder and it must be returned in the Friday Folder. Since students have an entire week to complete their homework, it is expected to be finished and ready to be turned in FRIDAY MORNING at the latest. If it is not turned in to me by that time, students will have stay in for recess during the week to complete homework (and/or classwork). This policy is for both homework and classwork. Reading Contract: Research shows that 20 minutes of reading at least 5 days a week is crucial for your child’s growth as a reader. The reading contract is sent out on Friday as homework. Students are required to read AT LEAST 20 minutes 5 times a week. They then graph the minutes they spend reading on the graph located on the contract. If you feel, or your child feels, they need to challenge themselves, encourage them to do so. They can control their weekly reading goal as long as it is 20 minutes or more a night (100 minutes a week). Math Contract: The math contract is similar to the reading contract in regards to graphing the minutes spent practicing their math facts. This practice may take a variety of forms – flash cards, games, online, quizzes by family members, etc. THE MATH FACTS YOUR CHILD NEEDS TO PRACTICE ARE THE FACTS THAT COME HOME ON THE COLORED HALF SHEETS (ALSO KNOWN AS ROCKET MATH). Rocket Math: Rocket math is a student-paced system of practicing and learning math facts. Rocket math starts with addition and progresses through subtraction, multiplication and division. Each week, the student will take a one minute test, trying to pass the test with 90% accuracy. If they pass, they move on to the next level of rocket math. If they do not pass, they will continue to practice that level and try to pass again next week. Addition and Subtraction are full-page sheets and your child gets 5 minutes to complete as much of it as they can, and multiplication and division are half sheets on colored paper. The colored sheets contain a letter at the top – that is the level your child is on. Two of these sheets will come home a week. They need to practice these weekly and count as practice on their math contract. Spelling: Spelling is sent home weekly. Students need to practice their words as needed prior to the tests on THURSDAY. In addition, they will also need to complete the spelling menu that comes home with the other homework on FRIDAYS. Absences If you know that your child is going to be absent for any amount of time, please let the school and me know in advance. If I have advance notice, I can gather the work we will be doing in class and send it home with your child prior to their absence. If the student is absent unexpectedly (i.e. ill, family emergency…), I will continue to gather the work they missed and send it home once the student returns.

Birthdays Instructional time is crucial to your child’s success. Maximizing instructional time is important to us. As a 3rd grade policy here at Mountain View, birthday parties will be celebrated ONCE A MONTH. Parties will be held on the SECOND Friday of the month from 2:30 – 2:45. Please let your child’s teacher know in advance if you are able to bring treats for the party.

Classroom Economy – Credits and Debits In Social Studies, third graders have a State Standard in Economics. This standard requires 3rd graders to describe how goods and services are exchanged and describe how to meet short-term financial goals. One way we teach this is through our behavior management system of Credits and Debits. Credits are given out for positive behaviors, completion of homework and classwork. Debits are given for undesirable behaviors and not completing homework and classwork. Each week, students will add up their credits and debits to determine their total for the week. Part of fostering independent, 21st century ready citizens, they are required to keep track of their totals.

Behavior Policy In addition to credits and debits, 3rd grade classrooms also utilize a “Clip Up/Down Chart”. This is a 7-tiered chart that allows students to move up and down the chart based on their behavior and choices made throughout the day. In this process, each student begins in the green section, or “ready to learn”. From there they can move up the chart for positive behaviors, or down the chart for negative actions. An amount of credits/debits is placed on each section of the chart and whichever section the student ends the day on is the amount of credits/debits they are given. This system allows the child to immediately see what behavior caused them to be able to move up or down the chart. This is important to us as teachers as it allows the student to build self assessing skills AND they can move up and down the chart, letting them see that they can always make a better choice and move up the chart. Students keep track of where they ended each day on a weekly Clip Chart Log. This log will be sent home in their Friday Folder for parent review. If your child was below “Ready to Learn” more than three days that week, please sign the log and return it Monday. If your child gets to the “Parent Contact” section of the chart, you will be notified by a phone call/email and a parent contact slip that day.