Parent
Information
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Parent
Information |
| Dear Third
Grade Families,
Greetings and welcome to Team Thompson! My name is Mrs. Melissa Thompson and I am honored to be your child’s third grade teacher. This is my third year of teaching and my third year at Jerry Ross. You may be asking yourself, “This is her third year? Who is Mrs. Thompson? I haven’t heard that name before.”. It’s ok – I’ve gone by Miss Ramirez for the past couple years. New name - even more excitement to begin a new school year! To help familiarize yourself with the inner workings of Team Thompson, I have mailed home our class handbook that outlines many of our team policies and procedures. I’ve always handed my information out during the open house, but I thought sending it out early would give you some time to get acquainted with our team before visiting for the first time. You may even come with a question that I can answer right away. For future use, I suggest putting your handbook in a safe place in case you ever have questions about our team. If you would like another sneak peek at our team,
please visit our team’s website at www.ourclasscorner.com to catch
some more insider information. Also, be sure to check out the Team Thompson
Blog link for special reports and breaking news. Feel free to send an
e-mail if you have any questions or just want to introduce yourself! Sincerely, |
Download Mrs. T's Classroom AR Book List
http://www.ourclasscorner.com On our web site, I have included information about myself, our class information blog, and useful Internet links. I hope that you will utilize this web site to stay current with what is happening at school. If you can think of anything else that you would like to see on the site or would be helpful, please let me know so I can add it. Our Team Thompson information blog can be found at... http://teamthompsonweb.blogspot.com
As far as homework in my class,
I will assign homework that will benefit the students and not just to
have busy work after school. The amount of homework should not exceed
30 minutes of time at home, unless your child has make-up work from an
absence. If the homework is taking a considerable amount of time, please
contact me so we can make modifications to the situation. Also, there
will NOT be homework over the weekend, unless it is involved with a long
term activity. Learn more about our Class Economy
If you are sending any money, slips, or confidential information for the office, please make sure that it is in a sealed envelope. Also, please make sure that it has your child’s name, my name, and what it is. If it confidential information, please address to the person receiving it or the place as to where it is supposed to go. Sometimes things are remembered last minute, but it helps me and the students stay organized if we know what is being sent to school and where it needs to go.
While, I am not in charge of attendance, please let the office (and me if possible) if your child is going to be absent. Also, if you are picking your child up early, please let me know in the morning so I can adjust our schedule as need be so your child doesn’t miss something important! Click here to link to the Jerry Ross Attendance E-mail TopI am allowing snacks and a small drink to be sent in for snack time. I’m pretty easy going with snacks, however I do have some rules. Please do not send chocolate, candy, whole boxes/bags of snacks, or small meals. Also, our third grade team has voted not to allow water bottles to used in the classroom. We have drinking fountains in and out of the classroom, and I am easy going with the use of them. I do not mind if your child brings a Capri Sun or juice box for snacks, but day long water bottles are not allowed. TopBirthdays are always celebrated in our classroom. You are welcomed to send treats in for your child’s birthday (or half birthday for summer babies). All I ask is that you send a note or have your child mention it to me the day before so I have a heads up. Also, if you are sending in something that requires plates, cups, napkins, etc., please send those in with your treat. As far as homework in my class, I will assign homework that will benefit the students and not just to have busy work after school. The amount of homework should not exceed 30 minutes of time at home, unless your child has make-up work from an absence. If the homework is taking a considerable amount of time, please contact me so we can make modifications to the situation. Also, there will NOT be homework over the weekend, unless it is involved with a long term activity. Going along with homework is the assignment notebook. Each student has been provided with an assignment notebook that is a part of the ROCKET Folder. When homework or other information is given to the students, they will write it in their books. These books should come home DAILY and should be reviewed DAILY by you so that everyone involved knows what is expected. If homework is not received on the day it is due, your child will have to owe T-bucks!!! We do not use the traditional Spelling book in our class. We use another series that focuses more on patterns and vocabulary. The students will receive their words and create their own spelling lists to be used in class. A separate list will be sent home. The students will get to choose three of their own weekly spelling assignments that will be due on Fridays before the Spelling test. They will have some class time to complete these activities, but may have to be brought home to be finished. All students will start with the same spelling lists for the first 7 weeks. On week 8, I will differentiate the lists based on the progress I see and some spelling assessments. Your child may move up to the challenge lists that focus on harder spelling patterns, prefixes, suffixes, Greek and Latin roots, and much more.
For the first time, I will be using a special binder folder called a ROCKET Folder. ROCKET stands for Really Organized Children Keep Everything Together. The ROCKET folder is a 3 ring binder that the third graders in my class will use to help develop their organizational skills and promote responsibility. Third grade is a really big transitional year, where the students will become more independent and really need a good organizational foundation to build upon. The folder will be taken home every day and brought back every day. This binder will be the key piece of communication between you, me, and your child and hopefully prevent any lost notes and disorganized backpacks. In this folder you will find… 1. Important Notes (Red Flag
Notes) 2. Assignment Notebook 3. Homework/Important Work
Folder **** Some students last year found it useful to add a zippered pencil pouch for extra storage and added sheet protectors to hold documents like lunch menus and reading logs. You are welcomed to add to the binder to help your child stay organized, but please don’t remove the 3 things listed above. Also, most of the binders were pretty worn by the second semester. Please replace with a white, 1 inch binder with view pockets when you see the binder on its last leg.
The Indiana Academic Standards are written by the state of Indiana and are the core to our curriculum. They outline what students need to have mastered by the end of third grade in the core subjects of English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. These standards are also what the ISTEP+ test is based off of. The important thing to know about the standards is that learning does not stop at these standards. While we make sure our students are mastering these standards, our learning goes beyond these standards with enrichment and extension activities. A copy of all the third grade standards are listed at the end of this handbook. Click here for the English/Language Arts Standards Click here for the Mathematics Standards Click here for the Science Standards Click here for the Social Studies Standards Reading Logs will be sent home at the beginning of each month. Each student is responsible for reading 20 minutes a day for a total of 100 minutes each week. Ideally, the reading will be done Monday thorough Fridays, with Saturday and Sunday to be used for spending time with family. You are more than welcomed and encouraged to read beyond 100 minutes each week. The reading calendar will need to be initialed by you on each day that your child reads. Before you send it in for the month’s credit, you will need to sign the bottom of the calendar. An extra incentive during the year is that these reading logs will count toward our Book-It program for pizzas!
Please make sure you are reviewing math facts at home. Addition and subtraction facts should be well known by third grade to make multiplication and division easier. If you notice you child counting on fingers or not doing well on timed test, please review math facts nightly at home. My website also provides many online games for practice. Print the Multiplication Parent Letter Print the Multiplication Flash Cards
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| Language Arts Printables for Home |
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| Sticky Thinking |
| Rollin' with Vocabulary |
ACCELERATED READING PROGRAM