Welcome to the Third Grade!


I hope this information will be a helpful guide to you. While I have included the basic information that I feel will be necessary to you as your child enters the third grade, this is certainly not a complete guide, so if you have questions or suggestions please feel free to contact me. I look forward and am excited about working with you to help your child grow spiritually as well as academically. We are going to have a great year.

The Third Grade Teacher


CURRICULUM LIST

Bible Building on the Rock      Summit Ministries
Grammar/Writing          Treasures Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
Handwriting Handwriting Otter Creek
History Heritage Studies 3 Bob Jones
Language Treasures Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
Mathematics Mathematics Scott Forseman
Reading Treasures Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
Science Science Scott Forseman
Spelling Treasures Macmillan/McGraw-Hill


SCOPE AND SEQUENCE

BIBLE

Students will learn about God’s Chosen Kings, specifically the kings of the United Hebrew Nation: King Saul, King David and King Solomon. We will also focus on image-bearing in our lives with God: wisdom, fellowship, servanthood, and stewardship.

GRAMMAR/WRITING

Treasures introduces several domains of writing which are implemented in the classroom through the Writer’s Workshop Format. This enables the students to practice the steps of the writing process. For each domain, I target certain elements of writing that are appropriate and assess the children’s writing in those areas. Writing a complete sentence is reviewed, topic sentences, and supporting details are explored. Topics covered in grammar include: capitalization, punctuation, prepositions, nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs and friendly letter.

HANDWRITING

The handwriting curriculum is from Otter Creek. It reviews all the letters in cursive, which takes the largest part of the year. In mid to late Spring, I would expect the children to begin doing their work in cursive.

MATHEMATICS

Students will learn about place value to the hundreds place, money and mental math. We will work on addition and subtraction concepts and facts, and then multiplication and division concepts and facts. The goal is for multiplication facts to be mastered. Geometry and measurement will be introduced. The year will conclude with learning about fractions, measurements and probability, and possibly decimals.

READING

The students will read a variety of genres in the new curriculum, Treasures. They will break into groups for enrichment reading and further practice on their particular reading level. Each week new vocabulary words will be introduced, practiced and assessed. Fluency will also be taught, practiced and assessed. Comprehension is targeted through the use of graphic organizers, discussion, pinpointing clues and further practice. Love of good literature is further encouraged through the Read Aloud program and independent reading. The Book It program runs for several months, plus our class will be part of the Iditeread, if done again. I have a classroom library with novels that cover their reading levels.

SCIENCE/HEALTH

In Life Science students will learn how plants and animals live and grow. We will be looking at ways humans can stay healthy and live a healthy life. In Earth Science students learn about their surroundings and environment: water, weather, rocks and soil, and natural resources. Students will use a variety of materials, activity worksheets, hands on labs, and interactives.

GEOGRAPHY/HISTORY

Using Bob Jones Heritage Studies 3, will discover the history of America by studying the people who helped shape our country. Students will develop an appreciation for the freedoms and opportunities our form of government gives its citizens. Since we only are able to do history for half of the school year, it covers the Revolutionary War briefly through the westward movement. Time lines are introduced. Some basic geography and related map work are taught.

SPELLING

Treasures has word card manipulatives which I use at the beginning of the year to help students sort the words by sounds and patterns. We transition into mainly using visual work, including editing to practice words. We play spelling games to review the words and give an auditory form of practice. There are weekly spelling tests and students also are graded on spelling in their writing and copying vocabulary correctly.


LITERATURE

Read Aloud: Every day the students will be read to from good literature.

Possible Titles: Author
Heidi Johanna Spyri
John Newton: The Angry Sailor           Kay Marshall Strom
Old Yeller Fred Gipson
Pollyanna Eleanor H. Porter
Strawberry Girl Lois Lenski
The Wheel on the School Meindert DeJong
Treasures of the Snow Patricia M. St. John
Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder
Kidnapped by River Rats Dave & Neta Jackson
Annie and the Old One Miksa Miles
The Wagon Tony Johnson
Author Study: Patricia Polacco
The Keeping Quilt
Chicken Sunday
Mr. Lincoln’s Way
Thunder Cake

REFOCUS PROCEDURE

My philosophy is to prevent problems and recognize positive behavior.

Classroom Rules:

  1. Respect Others
    2. Be responsible for yourself and your things
    3. Never leave the room without permission
    4. Raise your hand to be recognized

We will be exploring what makes good character and what the big R words (respect, responsibility) mean using the Bible in our daily devotion time. Choices we can make to handle conflicts will also be discussed. At the rear of the room is an area where I will send children to work through their conflicts with others. Choices of what one can do will be on the wall. They are to decide which one will help them resolve their conflict and report back to me. Taking ownership of wrongs, empathizing, and apologizing are encouraged.
My whole group reward system is the marble jar, which means we have a food party when it is full.
I also have what I call “choice time” at the end of every day for 10 minutes. The children are allowed to choose any educational choice they want do alone or with someone. This is a reward for good behavior and must be earned. The children are allowed one reminder for breaking a rule (at which time an appropriate intervention may occur) and if there is a second offense, they give up their choice time for the day.

REFOCUS SHEET

Refocus sheets are a way of informing you of the opportunities your child has during the week to “refocus” or change an inappropriate behavior. After a student has been given a reminder of the appropriate behavior that is not being exhibited (e.g. being quiet during study times, keeping hands and feet to self, etc), s/he is given the opportunity to think about his/her actions and make the decision to change his/her behavior to reflect more positive conduct. In order to encourage the student to change his/her behavior, s/he is asked to go to a designated place and complete a refocus sheet. The student will be allowed to return to his/her schoolwork when s/he is ready.

Each refocus sheet given will be matched with a progressive consequence at the teacher’s discretion.

Please do not be overly upset if your child receives a refocus sheet. This does not mean that your child has been “bad.” It merely means that your child has needed an opportunity to work on improving behavior. Please sign any refocus sheets your child receives and return them the following morning.

Students who accumulate multiple refocus sheets for the same behavior during a grading period will have an appointment scheduled to discuss a plan of action.

Obscene, vulgar or profane language will be dealt with following the Refocus Procedure. A copy of the Refocus sheet will be submitted to the Administration that day. At the Administration’s discretion, additional consequences may be imposed depending on the severity of the language. Continued violations will result in a conference with the parent(s), and Administration.

OFFICE REFERRAL PROCEDURE

Office referral must occur for significant unacceptable behavior, such as:

  1. Rebellion: Outright disobedience in response to instruction.
  2. Fighting: Striking someone in anger with the intent to harm.

If these significant behaviors occur, the following actions will result:

  1. The student will be removed from classroom or activity.
  2. The school will contact the parent.

The following statement gives our focus for coming to school:
I came to school to learn and I will learn. I will act in such a way that I will be proud of myself and others will be proud of me too. Because God is my helper, I will have a great day!

HOMEWORK

Thirty minutes of homework on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday will be given. The teacher will list homework on a "homework contract" sheet. When homework is correctly completed, student will have a parent sign it and return it the next morning to be collected by the teacher. If this policy is not followed, the teacher will send home a late slip to be signed and returned. Unresolved homework issues will result in the refocus procedure.

LABELING ITEMS

Please label all items that your child will be bringing to school such as: individual crayons, pencils, scissors, ruler, erasers, pencil box, and ALL CLOTHING. If it can drop on the floor or be laid down somewhere, label it. Initials work well on small items. Every year we find clothing items in the lost and found. If they are labeled we can return them to the owner. Thank you for your cooperation in this area.

SNACKS

Each day we will have a time for a snack. We are asking that you send an extra snack in your child’s lunch. Please send only nutritious, non-sugary foods. Only water for a snack drink, please. Foods with sugar such as cookies may be eaten at lunch, but not for snack. Here are some ideas for good snack choices: Fruit, Yogurt, Veggies, Breads (whole grains are best), Pretzels, Crackers, or Jerky.

PARENT VOLUNTEERS

Your help in the classroom is always welcome. If you would like to come in and lend a hand with checking homework, helping with reading, correcting, or helping with parties and field trips, please let me know.

PLEASE SEND A NOTE IF . . .

  1. Your child has not been feeling well so I will be aware of any care needed.
  2. You plan to be out-of-town and want your child to take class work with him or her, several days prior to student leaving.
  3. Someone other than the usual driver will be picking up your child.
  4. You have questions or struggles with homework that is sent home.
  5. You need to excuse absences or tardies.
  6. Feel free to contact me with any questions and concerns. You may send a note or contact the school office between 8:00 am and 3:00 pm and leave a message, I will contact you promptly.

 

Revised 7-28-09