Policies and Information
Volunteer Opportunities:
Parent Volunteers are a wonderful asset to the classroom. If you are interested, please read
the different classroom jobs. Think about signing up or sending a note in telling me where
you would like to help!
Classroom Assistants:
Help work with small groups and one-on one instruction.
Teacher’s Helper (any day and time during school hours would be fine).
Prepare materials, arrange displays, pull math pages, and copy papers (this does not involve
working with students).
ROOM PARENT:
Coordinates special events and contacts other parents for class events.
Behavior Policy and Classroom Community
I believe that showing each other respect and staying positive helps to establish a learning
environment in which everyone benefits. Rules help in creating this positive environment by
outlining acceptable ways of interacting with one another.
The students will be working together to create a classroom community. As a part of this
community students are expected to contribute in a positive manner to this community
environment. They do so by behaving as good citizens (following class established rules),
performing daily jobs to help the class function smoothly, completing assignments (including
homework), and contributing to group activities.
The students will be using an economic system as a part of our community. The students will
earn class money by meeting the expectations outlined above. Students will have to pay fines
for breaking the behavior rules established by the class.
Discipline procedure will be as follows:
1st offense: Reminder by the teacher
2nd offense: Student is fined to class bank
3rd offense: Letter completed to parent written by the student
Incentives
Students are going to be using an incentive based discipline plan. Class money will be earned
for good behavior in the classroom. The students will save their money to use at our class store.
The store will be 2-4 times a month. The students also can earn class money for doing the
following:
$0.50 a day for completing ALL parts of the nightly homework
$0.25 a day for having a parent’s signature in the student’s agenda
$0.25 a day for completing and signing up for the daily class job
$1.00 a week for showing appropriate hallway behavior
Homework Policy
Frequency:
The students will be given homework Monday through Thursday throughout the school
year.
Assignments and Organization:
The children will be given word study and an assignment from another content area
(such as math) for homework. The content work should be kept in the students’
homework folders.
The children will bring home their word study notebooks nightly. In the front of the
notebooks the students will have a list of activities to complete throughout the week. The
word study words are to be kept in the pocket in the back of the notebook. Children are
responsible for maintaining their words and keeping them in the notebooks. Spelling
words will not be posted online.
The students should be reading nightly for approximately 20 minutes. Please have your
child record the book he/she read, genre of the book and the time spent reading, in the
homework agenda. The students will be given a sheet containing descriptions of the
genres. Your child should keep this paper in the front of his/her agenda to refer to.
Parents:
Parents are encouraged to work with their children on their homework and look over it
when it is complete. Although assistance is wonderful, the child should be able to do the
activities sent home independently. When checking your child’s work, parents should
circle “tricky” questions that were worked on together. This allows me to see where
students need additional work.
Note: Homework should be taking approximately 30 minutes to complete. If it is taking longer
than this, please sign the homework page showing where your child stopped working after it was
reviewed by you.
Parents, please SIGN your child’s planner every night.
Test Policy
Students will be tested periodically on the material covered in class. They will be expected to
study for tests at home. A day or two before the tests, students will do a review guide in class,
which will give them most of the information for the test. They need to study the review guide,
the book and any other worksheets that we completed in class.
After each test is completed and graded, I will send them home for review with your
child. Please make sure you take the time to see how your child is doing and discuss with them
the things that they struggled with as well as the things they did successfully. Your interest and
encouragement will help motivate your child to always do his/her best. These tests will need to
be signed and returned to school the next day.
Each Friday your child will be bringing home work that has been completed and graded
throughout the week. Please sign the front of the white envelope that we will be using as a
Friday folder to show that you have seen all the graded assignments sent home, including tests.
Word Study
Dear Parents,
Your child is going to be involved in a spelling program called Word Study this year.
This program integrates reading, writing and spelling together and helps children see the
connection between them. Word Study uses hands-on instruction to promote meaningful
connections between words and helps students recognize patterns found within them. It
follows the Inquiry Approach, allowing children to make connections themselves, gaining a
broader understanding of how to create their own words. This will help your child have an
overall better understanding of the English Language.
Every Monday your child will receive a new list of words that they will be working with
all week. They will be using these words in various sorting activities where they look at
patterns and use them in additional writing and drawing assignments. The children will be
learning to look at words in different ways, finding the patterns and meanings that make up our
language. The children will be expected to complete a different activity each night for
homework that will help them remember and retain the new patterns we are studying. On
Friday, the class will take a spelling tests based on these words.
You can help! Look at the 1st quarter schedule below to make sure your child is
completing the activities nightly. The students will complete their work in their Word Study
Notebooks that should be coming back and forth to and from school daily. Each quarter the
assignments will change slightly. The schedule will be glued in the front of your child’s Word
Study Notebook. *Some of these assignments require your help!
Mondays: Sort the words the way that they were sorted in class.
*Have your child read the list out loud to you and tell you why the words are in each column.
The children need to write the words in their columns in the word study notebook.
Tuesdays: Write five sentences, each with a different word from your word list.
Underline the spelling words used din the sentences.
Challenge: Write five sentences with two or three words in them!
Wednesdays: Write a paragraph using at least seven of your spelling words.
Underline the spelling words used in the paragraph.
Thursdays: No- Peeking Sort
Read out the spelling words one at a time. have your child point to the column that the word
should be placed in without looking at it. The children need to write down the words in the
columns to practice spelling them correctly.
Snack
Our third graders each lunch often hours after breakfast; we suggest
that your student bring a healthy snack to eat during the morning. Please
help your child make a good choice about what they bring to class. Please
no candy or junk food and only one small snack item. Snack is eaten
quickly in our rooms’ mid-morning. If your child will need a utensil (i.e.:
spoon or fork) please send that along as well.
Thank you for your support. Working together, we can help your child
be successful!