 PARENT HANDBOOK
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Dear
Parents of Third Grade Students,
Welcome
to the new school year in thitd grade! I am happy to have
the opportunity to get to know each of your families and look
forward to seeing you often.
Third
Grade is such a rewarding and challenging grade for teachers. The
children grow so much in all areas. It is exciting to observe
their progress as they become more independent and responsible. I hope
the information in this booklet will answer many of the questions you
have regarding the third grade program in my classroom.
Feel
free to contact me at school or write me a note should you have further
questions, concerns or comments. I anticipate working with you to make
this year a happy and educationally profitable for your child.
Sincerely,
Francie
Hughes |
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 SNACKS
Your
child will need to bring a snack to eat in the morning. I ask
that you please try to limit these to fruits, vegetables, and crackers
with cheese or peanut butter or another nutritious snack. Please don’t
send candy, cookies drinks or snacks requiring utensils or teacher
assistance. I am hoping to keep our clean carpets looking good. A bit
of nutrition helps them to fucus on lessons better. |
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BIRTHDAYS
Your
child may celebrate his/her birthday with our class. Sending
cookies or cupcakes is fine. Please
send napkins.
Some families prefer
to send a new book, game or puzzle for the class instead of sweet
treats. If a birthday falls on the weekend we can celebrate
either Monday or Friday. A child with a summer birthday may have
a birthday celebration on the week he/she is our Top Banana or on
the1/2 birthday.
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 BOOK
ORDERS
I
encourage you to purchase books for your child from the book clubs.
Since the companies are in different states, please write a check out
to that particular book company, not to the school or teacher. I
cannot accept cash |
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TOP
BANANA
Every
child will have a week to be ”Top Banana”. Mom or Dad may help with
what pictures to use and what items to bring. You will receive a notice
the week before your child’s turn. Please assist in sending the
completed poster to school on the first school day of his/her week.
Bringing some favorite things is a fun way for us to get to know your
child better! Please send them in a sturdy bag
Here
are some suggestions:
1.
Favorite pictures
2.
A Favorite book, poem or song.
3.
Favorite toy.
4.
Favorite game.
5.
Favorite tape, CD or video.
6.
Special talent (reading, telling a joke, playing an instrument, etc.)
If
your child has a summer birthday, this would be a great week to send a
treat. Please send napkins.
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CURRICULUM
INFORMATION
RELIGION
I
believe:
Themes
studied should be
meaningful
to students and reinforce Christian morals and values.
Themes
should be explored based on what children know and what they should
know regarding the Catholic faith.
Teacher
must model Gospel values for students.
Teachers,
students and families must work as a team in exploring themes in
Religion class.
The
study
of our Catholic religion is a wonderful part of the children’s school
day. The children are so curious about the presence of God in
their lives. Throughout the year, we discuss feasts, saints and
celebrations of the church. We enjoy quiet prayer together and
learn new prayers, the sacraments, the Ten Commandments and how we are
a reflection of God in the world.
IE4; MATH
I
believe:
Children
acquire math information developmentally.
Math
concepts should involve a “hands-on”, memorization and paper and pencil
approach.
Math
should be fun.
We
will study place value, adding and subtracting with regrouping,
measurement both standard, meteric, money and time. The
memorization of math facts in all
Operations
will be emphasized,especially multiplication.
LANGUAGE
ARTS
I
believe:
All
children can learn and can acquire language skills developmentally.
Spelling
and vocabulary are best learned in context.
Many
strategies are necessary for proficiency in the Language Arts. These
include phonics, word attack skills, sight word recognition, picture
and text clues, comprehension, mechanics of grammar and punctuation and
the parts of speech.
Presenting
children with a wide variety of literature provides a means to develop,
enhance and enrich
lifelong
literacy. Language Arts should be fun. Through
in-depth
explorations of a wide variety of children’s literature, it is
my goal that children will use their experiences with language to
move to a position of confidence and skill in spoken, written, read and
listen-to words. Books, songs and poems in whole-class. I feel it is
imperative that each child works at a pace that is comfortable Many of
the shared book experiences will include extension projects designed to
reinforce and encourage reading, writing, speaking and listening
strategies.
During
the year, students will progress through several textbooks within the
McGraw- Hill reading series. Third graders will be exposed to a large
collection of good literature for shared reading, as well for
individual reading. Our classroom has a wide variety of fiction and
non-fiction books available. In addition, each student has a grammar,
phonics, practice and spelling book. These are fine resources.
Third
Grade students will write in journals, write stories, poetry and
reports to be published in class. Children will be responsible
for correct spelling of words learned prior to and during third grade.
A list will be provided. Six trait writing and the writing process will
be emphasized. Third grade’s goal is for students to be able to write a
paragraph using a topic sentence and supporting details with use proper
mechanics. The school is expecting good writing across the
curriculum. For handwriting, we use the D’Nealian approach to
printing and cursive. A handwriting chart will be sent home. Please
post it at home where your child will see it while doing homework.
SCIENCE
AND SOCIAL STUDIES
The
themes are explored and reinforced during reading and writing time and
include many hands-on activities and much discussion. The children will
practice various methods of observing, collecting and reporting
information, reading for details and presenting information to
the
class.
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Disciplin
REPORTING
PROCESS
THE
THEMATIC OUTLINE
