3rd Grade Information

Study Skills and Social Skills

We will begin this year with lessons on the study skills and social skills our students will need to be successful. Working as a together as a team, we will ensure that your child builds a strong foundation for his or her future. Each of us has an important role to play in this process:

Student's Role: 
  • Fill out assignment book daily and complete all work
  • Bring materials back to school and turn work in on time
  • Show papers to parents, making corrections as needed
  • Keep desk and locker organized, have supplies on hand
Parent's Role:
  • Check and sign assignment book and behavior chart daily
  • Establish a study place and schedule a daily study time
  • Provide supplies
  • Send child to school ready to learn
Teacher's Role:
  • Go over all assignments and help organize materials
  • Inform parents of important dates and information
  • Manage time at school and provide a working atmosphere in class
  • Adjust the amount of homework so it can be done in 30 minutes
At Home Tips for Homework
  1. Please do not ask your child, "Do you have homework?" because the answer is always "Yes!, 30 minutes worth." Rather ask questions such as "What's on your assignment book tonight?" or "What are you going to do in your 30 minute study time today?"
  2. Make a homework schedule that fits with your family routines and the activities your child participates in after school. Together agree on when the 30 minutes of homework will be completed each day.
  3. Establish a study place for your child at a desk or table with a flat top. A straight back chair is best and enough light is a must. Working on the couch or bed does not promote your child's best work. 
  4. Turn off the TV. Contrary to what children will tell you they cannot do their best while the TV is on or there is other commotion in the room.
  5. Have some basic school supplies at home. Your child will need some pencils, a hand pencil sharpener, crayons, scissors and glue to complete homework this year. Taking supplies back and forth does not work out well for our students!
  6. Parents at home are "Homework Checkers". Your student should come home knowing how to complete the work that has been assigned. If not, encourage your child to ask more questions at school. You should look over completed work and sign your child's assignment book each evening.
  7. Establish a "drop spot" to place your child's backpack after everything has been put back inside for the evening. Finding this consistent place ensures that things your child needs are not left at home.

Super study skills will be rewarded this year both daily and quarterly. At the end of the day Behavior Stickers will be placed on a chart for excellent behavior in class. Check your child's chart periodically, it should be gaining stickers!  At the end of each quarter our Study Skills Breakfast will recognize students with 95% of work turned in on time during the quarter. We will also hand out quarterly award certificates and list successful students names in our 3rd grade newsletter.

Academic Subjects
  1. Language Arts:  We will be using the Four Blocks framework this year. This is a "balanced" approach to language arts that focuses equally on all the aspects of language. In Guided Reading class we will study comprehension and fluency skills by using books that also relate to our content area studies. In Writing the students will study elements of English grammar and then apply these skills in a wide variety of written projects. Working with Words will emphasize phonics, word parts and spelling. Oral and Silent Reading will allow the students to hear and read a variety of literature at their level.
  2. Math:  Everyday Math is the text we will use to study math this year. We have designed our curriculum to closely mirror the Ohio State Standards and we have established pacing that will ensure that our students have studied all of these skills by the time the Ohio Achievement Assessment in Math is given in late April.
  3. Handwriting:  Our students will be studying and eventually using Cursive for their work in third grade. We use a traditional cursive style, introducing the letters by shape, first the lower case letters and then the upper case. Third graders are always very excited about learning cursive!
  4. Content Areas:  We will study a wide variety of topics in the content areas this year. In Health we will study units in Study Skills and Social Skills, Physical Growth,Stress and Disease Prevention and Safety this year. Our Science units include Living Things, Forces and Motion, Metric Measurement and Earth Materials. In Social Studies our topics are Local Geography, Local History and Heritage, Local Government and Local Economics. Students will receive a study guide for each content area unit to help with preparation for tests at home. We will include the test dates in our newsletters and on our online calendar.
  5. Testing: Our students will take the Ohio Achievement Assessment in reading in both early October and late April. The OAA in math is given in April only. Parents will receive results of these tests about a month after they are taken.
  6. Grading: Your child's papers will be marked with a fraction this year; the number correct over the total number of items. If your child has difficulty with an assignment, the concepts will be reviewed and the paper corrected. You may be asked to sign such a paper or test so we know you are aware of the difficulty. At midterm, you will receive an Interim Report showing your child's scores at that time. Your child will receive letter grades in reading, writing and math on grade cards this year.

Communication with Parents
To make our students truly successful, we need to keep the lines of communication open so home and school can work as a team. Below are some of the ways we can communicate this year.
  1. Third Grade Web Site - If you have access to the net, we will keep this site current so you can check the calendar and the newsletter.
  2. E-mail and telephone - On the Meet the Teachers page on this site are the e-mail addresses and phone numbers for the third grade teachers.
  3. Thoughts from the Third Grade - Our newsletter will come home once a week and will be uploaded to our web site.
  4. Interim Reports - These reports will come home at mid term and keep you informed about your child's progress each quarter.
  5. Grade Cards - At the end of each quarter your child's final grades will come home.
  6. Conferences - In third grade we conduct Student-Led Conferences, allowing your child to have a role in our discussion. I think you will enjoy this new way of discussing your child's school life.
  7. Assignment Book - We will check your child's assignment book each morning to check on completed work and to look for your signature. There is a place on each page for Parent Messages. Feel free to write a note when needed and we will get the message each morning.
    Other Information
    1. Computer Lab - We will be using the lab twice a week this year. It is important that your child has a working set of headphones to complete many of the activities. We do not want the children using the headphones in the lab for health reasons or miss out on the lab projects altogether.
    2. Book Orders - About once a month we will send home order forms for Lucky Books. We find they have a wide variety of books at a reasonable price. If you would like to order any books, please make your check payable to "Lucky Books" rather than to the school or teacher. We will not send order forms home in the months that Sylvan holds its book fairs.
    3. Field Trips - Our classes will take several field trips this year thanks to Sylvan's PTA. In December we will travel to Imagination Station in connection with a science unit. We will need quite a few parent chaperones for the trip and current fingerprints are necessary for our parents. We will get started early in the year to get ready for this trip.
     
     
    Last Modified: Sunday, Jul. 31, 2011
     
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