ABC's of 3rd Grade

 

Attendance

It is very important that your child is at school everyday! Please send me an email if your child is going to be absent. Also try and schedule family trips during planned breaks.

Birthdays/Bullying

If you would like to send in a treat for your child’s birthday please feel free to do so! However, please let me know in advance so we can arrange a time!! We will celebrate summer birthdays on their “half birthday!” So take some time to figure that out with your child! For example, mine is Aug. 5th so I would celebrate Feb. 5th!

Bullying – East Side is focusing on bully prevention this year. We have discussed it in our class meetings and are using the following common language definition: “Bullying is unfair and one-sided. It happens when someone keeps hurting, frightening, threatening, or leaving someone out on purpose.”

Correspondence

Feel free to call me at school (770)578-7200 ext. 425 or email me, Laura.Anderson@cobbk12.org, to discuss anything concerning your child and our classroom.  Email is the best way to contact me! I check it throughout the school day and usually once or twice at home.

Discipline

East Side is a school that supports a positive discipline plan! In our class we expect and praise positive behavior. Students who repeatedly make poor choices will develop an action plan that includes steps needed to turn poor behavior around. I ask that parents be a part of enforcing this plan.

Early Release

Below are the dates for early release. On these occasions, students are dismissed at 12:10.

October 21; week of January 25th; March 10

Field Trips

Throughout the year we will schedule field trips to enhance our curriculum. Permission slips and the trip cost will be sent home prior to each trip. You will need to send these back as soon as possible! Please don’t include the permission slip inside the payment envelope! I have to have these items separate!

Grades

This year we are moving to a standard based report card in 3rd grade! It is an exciting time where you will now know specifically where your child is meeting Georgia standards. For each standard, your child will receive:

3 for meeting the standard,

2 for progressing toward the standard

1 for limited understanding of the standard.

Also a 3+ has been added to the new report card. To receive this marking a student must “have demonstrated an exceptional level of understanding and performance on classroom assignments and assessments related to that standard of the report card. If a child receives a 3+, that student has exceeded class requirements and has done so in a self directed fashion. 3+ is designed to challenge students with exceptional ability to meet their maximum potential.”

Please let me know of any questions you have concerning this new report card. It is new to 3rd grade so please stick with us as we all learn the new system together.

Homework

Homework will be assignment most nights (except Friday). Each night their homework will be in their planner. Please go over it with them. Completing homework is a big part of learning responsibility!! You can also find out about daily homework assignments on our class website. If for some reason a child is unable to complete their homework please write me a note explaining. I understand there are situations outside of school that may prevent the completion of assignments, but it doesn’t need to become habit! 

Illness

We know it is hard to decide whether or not to keep your child home from school. It is important to keep your child home if they are sick. This helps to keep your child comfortable and others from getting sick. We need to be extra cautious with the illnesses that are currently circulating!! Children function better when they are healthy!

Journals Home

Every Friday the students write letters home in their journal to share with you what has been going on in our classroom. Please take this special time with your child to discuss their school activities and write back to them! They are so excited on Monday mornings to hear how much you care and support them!

Keep Up

You can keep up with everything going on in our class by visiting our class website. www.teacherweb.com/GA/EastSideElementary/Anderson

Lunch

Your child can bring their lunch from home or order one at school. Each day they have three choices to choose from (two entrees and salad bar). Lunches are $1.60. Please send in money to put in your child’s account. If you would like to join us for lunch our time this year is 12:42 – 1:12.

Mystery Reader/Monday Folders

Every few weeks we will have a mystery reader. It has been set up for Wednesdays at 11:00. Our wonderful room reps are taking care of this! If you are interested please let them know so they can schedule you a time! If you would really like to be a Mystery Reader, but that time doesn’t work with your schedule please email you and we will work out a time!

Monday folders are for weekly communication concerning your child’s behavior and academic progress. It is important for you to check this folder every Monday, sign it, and return it to school on Tuesday. Please include any notes or questions regarding my comments to you!

Newsflash (“Star Worthy” News)

This is our weekly newsletter that is posted on our website.  It includes information from last week and well as the upcoming week! Make sure you have signed up to receive it J

Open Lines of Communication

It is very important to keep open lines of communications. Please let us know if you have any concerns or questions regarding your child throughout the year.

Parent Conferences

Conferences are scheduled for January 25 - 29. Students will be released early these days and conferences are scheduled to discuss your child’s progress. If you feel the need for a conference before then please let me know. I will also let you know if we think a conference is needed prior to conference week.

Quality

Student’s work should always be quality. As they are getting older I 
am expecting them not only to finish assignments, but complete them with quality work. I encourage students to take their time to produce their BEST! Please encourage this with their homework as week.

Reading

I encourage reading whenever students have free time. I cannot emphasize the importance of reading. Those who fall in love with reading become great readers!

I will be using a CRIP-QV reading log this year to monitor reading. Each week students will have to fill in comprehension strategies they are using as they read. It will be due back every Friday with your signature.

Our class may order books from Scholastic. About once a month the order form will be sent home for you to place your Scholastic order. Orders will also be available online and you can find this information on my website.

Snack/Scientist of the Week/Scholastic

Please send in a healthy snack with your child EVERYDAY!! We do not eat lunch until 12:42 so your child will need a morning snack.

Scientist of the Week – Every child will be assigned a week of the school year to be our Scientist of the Week. For that week they will present a science experiment on Thursday to show the use of the scientific method. Feel free to use books and/or the internet to help your child come up with an idea! You will be notified the week before your child’s experiment is due.

Scholastic can be ordered by paper and check or ONLINE! Each month the catalog will come home in a Monday folder. Please order books that are on your child's reading level. Also for every order submitted online we get to add one book to our classroom library! 

Time Schedule/Transportation/Testing

7:20 – 8:00

Arrival/Daily Duties

8:00 – 9:00

Reading

9:00 – 10:00

Writing/Snack

10:00 – 10:50

Specials

10:50 – 12:00

Math

12:00 – 12:15

Class Meeting

12:15 – 12:40

Recess

12:42 – 1:12

Lunch

1:12 – 2:00

Science/Social Studies

2:00 – 2:10

Pack Up/Dismissal


Transportation - Students will always go home the way you signed them up to at Meet the Teacher, unless I have a note from you.  I must get a note of changed transportation for your child to go home a different way! 

Testing - 
CoGat (September 9 - 11)
IOWA (September 14 - 18)
CRCT (April 14 - 23) 

Unique

Each child in our class is unique and wonderful! We celebrate the similarities and differences in our classroom community.

Volunteers

Thank you for signing up to help in our classroom. I will frequently email out ways you can volunteer and help out our class, so please be checking your email J Our Room Reps will be in touch concerning other volunteer opportunities as well. They are Jennifer Tear (jbtear@hotmail.com) and Linda Drummond (ledrum@comcast.net)

Wish List

Please check out our “Wish List” on our website. It will be updated and changed as items come in. We would love for you to contribute to our class! 

eXpectations

STAR Expectations

Stay on Task, Twelve Inch Voice, Accept Responsibility, Respect Everyone

Rewards for meeting expectations:

1.    Tickets (individual) – These are collected throughout the quarter and turn into dollars to spend at our end of the quarter garage sale.

2.    Group compliments – Tables collect cotton balls in a popcorn bag. The table with the most cotton balls at the end of the week gets the “fancy” bucket at their table!

3.    Class Compliments – Our class earns bingo numbers when we receive compliments from other teachers or the class as a whole has really succeeded! When we get BINGO we have a compliment celebration!

You

You are a vital part of your child’s education. There are several things you can do at home to help your child out!

1.    Read with them! This encourages them to become good readers.

2.    Ask them questions about what they are learning at school! These questions cause the students to reflect about what we are working.

3.    It is also very important to work with your child on their homework each night. They need to know that you too are interested in what they are doing at school.

4.    Talk POSITIVELY about school. The way your child perceives school has a lot to do with how you feel about it.

5.    Show enthusiasm for learning! It is contagious!

Zzzzz

Make sure your child gets a good night’s rest EVERY night.  They need to come to school energized and ready to learn! They will function more productively in class with a good night’s sleep.