Welcome Third Grade Students and Parents!!!!!! Welcome! I am thrilled that we get to be a community of learners this year. This year is such an exciting year for all of us. Third graders get to have a lot of responsibility and with that comes a lot of learning and great experiences. This year we will be learning about communities in all areas of life and environments. Science will involve many hands-on experiments as we learn about plants technology, and the world around us. You will be amazed at the growth of your student in reading and in their love of reading. Literature is very important to me and I will constantly share my love of it in the forms of read alouds, book studies, literature circles, guided reading groups, etc. Math involves multiplication and division in many forms and ways of thinking. Learning is SO exciting in third grade! Third grade begins the use of assignment books. The actual assignment books have not arrived so we are using copies of an old one for now. Homework will be written down each day. If a student already has that activity complete they will just check it off in their assignment book. All homework is due the next day before the tardy bell. All homework papers can come home each night if you would like to verify its completion. Please sign/initial the assignment book every evening. This should become the student s responsibility to ask you to sign it. Should it not get signed we will start off with 5 minutes off of recess. This is how I know that you are aware of what is expected of your student daily. This is also the perfect place to write down a quick note for me to see the next morning. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with the assignment books. It is just one step in helping your student become a responsible learner. A purple homework folder will also come home with the student every day. It will need to be returned to school the following day. Please check and clean that folder out daily. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns or comments that you may have. The best form of communication is email but feel free to contact me however it works best for you. Again, I am really looking forward to this year! This is the first of many letters and newsletters that will be coming home. reevesa@leb.k12.in.us Sincerely, 317-769-3286 ext. 14300 Mrs. Reeves
Our 2014-2015 Daily Schedule 9:00 Tardy Bell Morning Routine 9:20-9:30 Community Circle 9:30-10:00 Writers Workshop 10:00-11:30 Literacy Block 11:35-12:05 Lunch 12:05 12:25 Journals/Compass Learning 12:25-12:55 Recess 1:00 1:35 Specials 1:35-1:40 Restroom 1:40-2:00 Organization/Check-in 2:00-3:00 Math 3:05-3:35 Science/Social Studies 3:45 Prepare for Dismissal Specials Monday Art Tuesday PE Wednesday Computer Lab Thursday Music Friday Media
Homework Homework for third graders should not last more than 30 minutes. Most nights there will not be 30 minutes of homework coming home. Most papers, except for an occasional math paper, will already be started and just need to be completed at home. However, on any night that you do not have 30 minutes of homework, that time needs to be filled with reading. I do not care what is read (newspaper, magazine, pictures books, chapter books, etc). Practicing reading is the only way to become a better reader with increased comprehension. Late papers are not acceptable and will not be scored. I understand an occasional incident occurs and that will be permissible. I do expect all papers to be turned in whether they are late or not so that I can see your student s learning. Papers are to be turned in by the tardy bell. This sounds very harsh but third graders have to learn responsibility. I make sure they have plenty of reminders about assignments and due dates. Spelling Spelling with start on Monday. I will give a pretest. You do not necessarily have to have a 100% to go to list B. The goal of spelling is to learn words. If there is only one or two words that you don t know then you are not learning enough words for that week. The grades will be averaged for the final grade. Grades/Skyward Everyone has access to their child s grades every day. By Monday evening, Skyward should be up to date with the previous week s grades. I try my best to keep those as updated as possible. Graded Papers I am human!!! I make mistakes!!! Should you or your student see that I marked something incorrectly, please just have them approach me with their paper the next day. I will be more than happy to fix any mistake that I make.
Criminal History Check Remember, you cannot be in the building with students or on a field trip without criminal history check papers on file. This includes lunch which you can attend after Labor Day (11:35-12:05). Compass/Pearson Passwords Paperwork will be coming home soon with websites and log-in information for your student. This is a great way to reinforce at home what we are learning in class. Birthdays I love birthdays. If your child would like to celebrate their special day in class, they are more than welcome to. However, we cannot spend more than 10-15 doing this. Please let me know if you are planning on sending in something so that I can make the time for it. Field Trips Treats are a great idea for a celebration in place of snacks (pencils, erasers, favors, etc.) Snacks We do have a peanut allergy in 3 rd grade. Snacks need to be store bought and made in peanut free facility. Please NO cookie cakes or sheet cakes. Individual snacks are a huge time saver. Please send in any paper products needed. Drinks are not needed for birthday snacks. Thank you for your help with this! We take three field trips in 3 rd grade: Conner Prairie, Howard School and the IMAX Theater. The only trip that allows parent chaperones is Conner Prairie and we can usually take as many parents who want to go. This trip usually falls in October. Contacting Mrs. Reeves There are multiple ways to contact me: email, assignment books, notes and telephone. Email will be the fastest way for you to get a response. I do not have much time during the day to make confidential phone calls. If you are just emailing me about dismissal or something that is just an FYI for me, I will reply
with Thanks! If you do not get this reply, then I have not seen your email. Please always include Cari Estes on all dismissal changes at estesc@leb.k12.in.us. Science and Social Studies Third grade has many standards to cover in both of these subjects. These subjects will not receive a letter grade on the report card. A (+), (/), or ( ) will be assigned based on performance. (+) = 100%-72%, (/) = 71%-62%, (-) = below 62%. A (/) or (-) will result in a student not being eligible for honor roll. Website/Newsletters I am in the process of creating a website/blog that you can always check for the latest information. I will send home that link sometime next week.