3rd+Grade+Handbook

3rd Grade Handbook

** Mrs. Elliott’s Third Grade Handbook **

** Carrie Martin Elementary **
 * 2017-2018 **

** Mrs. Julie Elliott **** julie.elliott@thompsonschools.org **

Dear Families, Welcome to a new school year at Carrie Martin Elementary! I am filled with enthusiasm and optimism as I look forward to working with each of your children. I am sure that this year will be full of successes and adventures!

This handbook is to provide you with some of the daily routines, practices and policies in our third grade classroom, and to encourage you to become involved in your child’s education.


 * __ Writing: __** We will use a variety of structures to develop our third grade writers this year. We will use the Writer’s Workshop model which provides time for guided practice of various skills, independent writing, one-on-one conferencing, as well as share time. We will use materials from Lucy Calkins and i-ready as we explore units of study in opinion, information, and narrative writing. The students will also practice their writing skills throughout the day during reading, math, science, and social studies.


 * __ Reading: __** We will focus on learning new strategies to help us become better readers. Some of the strategies include visualizing, questioning, making inferences, finding the important ideas in what we read and summarizing. Students will work on these skills through modeled, shared, and independent reading during our social studies and science content blocks. We will also conduct small, flexible guided reading groups to focus on specific skills at your child’s instructional reading level, and we will hold individual conferences with students to work on individual goals.


 * __ Outside Reading: __** Students may bring books home that they are reading in school or he/she may read a book from home or a library book. I ask that parents make sure that their child reads at least 100 minutes per week outside of school. It is most effective to split this time up over multiple days rather than reading all 100 minutes in one sitting. Nightly reading is **essentia**l in your child’s continued growth in reading.


 * __ Math: __** We will be using the //Math Expressions// program to meet the third grade math standards. //Math Expressions// was developed to meet the Common Core standards. This program emphasizes in-depth mathematics through real world problem situations, modeling, conceptual language, and “math talk” to help students build mathematical ideas that make sense to them. Knowledge of basic addition and subtraction math facts is crucial for incoming third graders as our 3rd grade standards only cover multiplication and division. There will be periodic timed tests to assess their progress towards multiplication and division fact fluency. **Students should be practicing their math facts nightly for at least 10 minutes.** Students will bring math facts homework sheets home to practice, but they may also practice with flashcards, online math fact games, as well as the Xtra Math online program if additional practice is desired.


 * __ Spelling: __** We will use a variety of strategies to help students progress with their spelling skills. The goal of spelling instruction is for students to learn common spelling patterns and apply them to their writing. Often, students memorize words for the weekly test, but they are unable to transfer their learning to their writing. We will teach lessons in class that incorporate writing words with specific patterns, and identifying these patterns in text. Our goal is to integrate these skills as much as possible rather than assigning lists in isolation.


 * __ Social Studies and Science: __ ** We will be covering many interesting topics in Social Studies this year such as, Citizenship and Civic Responsibility, Geographic Understanding of a Region, Understanding Historically Who We Are, Local Governments, and Effects of Exchanging Goods and Services. Science subjects that we will be covering are Measuring Matter, Food Chains and Webs, and Cycles on Earth and in Space.


 * __ PARCC: __** This is the state assessment that will take place in the spring. We will communicate information to you about this assessment as we get closer to the testing days in the spring.


 * __ Late Work or Unfinished Homework: __** Work is expected to be turned in on time. For late or unfinished work, a student will have to sacrifice some of his or her free time in order to catch up.

Habit 1: Be Proactive Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind Habit 3: Put First Things First Habit 4: Think Win-Win Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood Habit 6: Synergize Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
 * __ Discipline: __** We will be using our 7 Habits as guidelines for behavior. The habits are as follows:

We will spend the first few weeks reviewing the 7 habits and school expectations. Students demonstrating behavior that interferes with the learning or safety of themselves or other students will be warned and reminded of the expectations. At that time, if the student continues the disruptive behavior, he/she will step away from the group and fill out a refocus form that will help him/her reflect on the inappropriate behavior. This follows our school wide behavior plan. If your child has to go to refocus, he/she will bring home a copy of the form for parents to initial at the bottom and send back to school.

Our school wide positive behavior system will be referred to as “Caught Leading”. Staff is always on the lookout to catch students using the habits and being leaders. When a student is caught leading, the staff member will fill out a form for the student to hand in. The student will be announced during morning announcements and will be given a “Tiger Tag”. Students will also get their picture taken to be displayed in the school.


 * __ Book Orders: __** I will send home book orders periodically throughout the school year. Do not feel that your child must order any books. However, if your child is interested, the book orders offer some great deals. If you do order books, please send a check made out to Scholastic, or you may order online. Please do not send cash. When you order books online, our classroom gets a free book! Instructions on how to do this will come home with the book order forms.


 * Birthdays: ** We will celebrate student birthdays without food. I have a list of fun ideas we can use instead of treats (extra recess, dance time, play a game…).


 * __ Snacks: __** Your child may bring one individual snack each day to eat. The purpose of a snack is to hold them over until lunch and to boost their energy. Please send only healthy snacks. Please do not send candy or cookies. Students will not be permitted to eat these foods. Anything that your child can eat in a short amount of time is preferred. A filled water bottle may be brought to school. Please make sure that it has a closed lid, to avoid spills, and also make sure that it only has water inside.


 * __ Parent Volunteers: __** Parent volunteers are welcome in our third grade class!! It’s always a little slow at the beginning of the year getting projects organized for parent volunteers, so I will contact you as soon as I need your help. Your help is extremely valuable to me!!


 * __ Nightly Homework: __** Students will have a planner to bring home each night. We will fill out the planner in class with important dates and assignments. There is a place for a parent/caregiver to initial each night. The initials indicate that you have seen your child complete the required work**.** Each night student s are expected to read for 20 minutes, and practice math facts or complete a math homework paper from that day’s lesson. If you have an extra busy night and your child does not have time to complete his/her nightly assignment, please make sure extra time is spent on another day during the week to make up for the missed time.

__**Home Projects**:__ Occasionally throughout the year, the third graders may be assigned homework projects to work on. These projects will incorporate the topics and skills we are working on in class. Instructions will be sent home for each project, and you will be given plenty of time to work on it before it is due in class.

__**Before/After School:**__ Your child is expected to be at school no earlier than 8:30, as teachers are not on duty before then. At 8:47, the bell will ring and your child will line up at their classroom door. Students are dismissed through the classroom door onto the playground at 3:47. Please help your child remember how they will get home from school each day.

__**Scheduling Time to Meet:**__ If you need to speak with me about something, please leave us a voicemail or send an email so that we can schedule a time to talk. I want to give you my full attention, and I am often unable to do so spur of the moment.

Thank you for taking the time to read this handbook! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. E-mail is usually the quickest way to get in touch with me.