I am excited about the upcoming school
year and can't wait to get started! Douglas has been a happy home to me, and I
feel honored to be a part of the third grade team. We have a lot of great
things in store for this year! I am greatly looking forward to getting to know
you, and working together to make this a very happy and productive school year.
I would like to
emphasize that I am available to you for any questions or concerns that you may
have about your child’s grades or conduct in school. I strongly believe that if children are
supported from both their home and school environments, they will be able to
reach their maximum learning potential.
Please don’t ever hesitate to send me a letter or call the school to
schedule a conference, or if you have any concerns, comments or suggestions.
Homework will be assigned
daily. We need to work together to
reinforce the importance of the completion of assignments, as we strive towards
independence and responsibility for your child.
Your child will be required to maintain a homework planner, in which parents
are expected to read and sign each evening.
Along with daily assignments, the agenda will post upcoming tests,
projects and reminders for the class.
Encourage your child to complete assignments promptly and accurately.
Communication is important. Folders will be sent home every Monday to
ensure that you are aware of your child’s progress, important events, and
upcoming dates,. In these folders,
expect to find graded assignments and correspondence form the school, the PTA,
and community organizations. Our class
newsletter will also be in the folder.
Parents are expected to read and review the newsletter with their
child. It is your child’s responsibility
to place the items in the folder and bring home. Please ask for the folder every Monday.
In the third grade welcome packet
that you received at “Meet the Teacher” night I placed a copy of class
expectations and procedures. Please
review this with your child. Please
reinforce the importance of following all class procedures and rules
properly. Encourage your child to give
their best every day.
Parent/Teacher
Communication:
As one of the means for me to
communicate with you your child’s progress, I will be sending home weekly
progress reports. Inside the Monday
folder each week I will have your child’s “Behavior Folder”. The folder will relay to you your child’s
work habits and conduct for the previous week.
Please review the behavior folder with your child, sign it, and then
return it the next day. This will begin
next week.
Our Classroom is Nut-Free:
One of the students in our class
family has a severe nut allergy. Because
of this, our classroom will be completely nut-free and peanut butter-free. Please do not send in any community snacks
for the class or even individual snacks for your child that contain nuts or
peanut butter. (Our lunchroom is not
nut-free, so it is fine to send in lunch items with nuts and peanut butter.) Just please be sure to keep our classroom nut-free
and peanut butter-free. Thank you so
much for your support with this. If you
have any questions, please let me know.
Homework:
The green Douglas folder provided
will be your child’s homework folder.
This will go home every evening with homework assignments in it. As part of our nightly homework, your child
is required to read for at least 20 minutes per evening. In your child’s homework folder there is a
reading log. Your child must log his
reading each night, and then a parent signature is required.
Interested in Being a Room Parent?
Ms. Rodillas (Raven’s
mom) has generously offered to serve as one of our class room parents. At Douglas we typically have two room parents
per classroom. We are looking for
someone to help Ms. Rodillas with this responsibility. If you have any questions about being a room
parent or would like to help with this responsibility, please let me know. We would love to have you!
Classroom
Important Reminders:
- In
the third grade welcome folder I placed several forms to be filled
out. If you have not returned these
yet, please be sure to have these filled out for tomorrow. Thanks for your help!
- Students
are requested to wear sneakers everyday to school, due to recess
and gym.
- If you have not yet purchased all of the
third grade supplies that are needed, please do so as soon as possible. Each child is required to have an
agenda. These are sold at school
for $5.00. If you cannot afford
this fee, please let me know.
- We
have a student in our class who has a nut allergy. Please be mindful of this when bringing
in any snacks or treats for the class.
Please be sure to check the ingredients to ensure that the food
does not contain nuts or peanut butter.
Also, all food must be store bought. Thank you for your cooperation.
- If
there are any changes in your child’s transportation, changes must be
in writing. For example: if
your child is normally a bus rider and you will be picking him up on a
particular day, you must write a letter stating so.
- Please
be sure to send your child to school each day with a water bottle and also
a morning snack. Donations of
snacks for children in need are very much appreciated.
A Little
Bit about Our Curriculum:
Douglas will be continuing to utilize the “Daily 5”
program for literacy. The program
provides more independent time for reading and writing along with helping the
student focus on his or her own goals. This
week in literacy we will be setting up our Daily 5 program and practice
procedures and expectations. We will be
learning how to select “I PICK Good-Fit Books”.
I PICK stands for:
I choose a book.
P urpose—why do I want to read it?
I nterest—Does it interest me?
C omprehend—Am I understanding what I am reading?
K now—I know most of the words.
In reading we will be learning this week about how to ask ourselves
questions before, during and after our reading.
Before reading questions helps us to set the purpose and connect with
what we already know. During reading
questions helps us to stay engaged in the text.
After reading questions help you to check your understanding and to draw
conclusions.
In writing we will be launching our Writer’s Workshop program. The third grade team will not begin Science
or Social Studies instruction until next week.
Mr. Otto’s class and our class are paired up together for Science and
Social Studies. I will be teaching both
of our classes the Science instruction.
Our first science unit is on plants and soil. Mr. Otto’s first Social Studies unit will be
on History and Colonial America.
This week in math we will be focusing primarily on multi-digit addition
through place value and addition with and without regrouping. Next week we will begin subtraction, with and
without regrouping. The third grade team
does flexible grouping for math. What
this means is that the team of teachers works together to teach all of the
children. We will be administering
pre-assessments at the beginning of each new math unit. We then take your child’s needs for a
particular subject and place them with the teacher who will be focusing on that
particular skill. For example, with
subtraction this could look like one group needing more support with
regrouping, one group needing help with word problems, etc. Our team of teachers meets at least once per
week to discuss the program and the children.
We will be having our first pre-test tomorrow and will begin our
flexible grouping by the end of this week.
6 Simple
Ways to Help Your Child Do Better In School…
Show Interest. Ask your child to teach you something he
learned in school today.
Check Homework. See that his homework is correct. See that it’s neat. See that it’s done.
Meet the Teacher. If you can’t do it in person, do it over the
phone. Stay in touch so problems can be
handled as soon as they arise.
Read. Read out loud to your child.
Have her read to you. Teach her
how to use the library. The more she
reads, the smarter she’ll get.
Encourage. When you see his progress improve-even a
little-pat him on the back. Tell him
you’re proud.
Have High Expectations. Let your child know you believe
she can do it and that you expect her to do the best she’s capable of
doing. Convey these expectations to your
child’s teacher.
