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DISCIPLINE:
We have three rules in the school: Be responsible, Be respectful, Be safe.
All third grade teachers use a card turning system. If a child breaks a rule, he/she will receive a verbal warning from a teacher. The exception to this is being unsafe- there is no warning here.
If the student continues making poor choices they will flip their card:
Turn to the YELLOW card: this will be 5 minutes off of recess
Turn to the ORANGE card: this will be 10 minutes off of recess and an email to the parent
Turn to the RED card: they lose their full recess and they will need to meet with the principal
At the end of each school day, your children should indicate in their planners the color on which they finished the day. This gives you an opportunity to open a conversation with your third grader about their day.
We want to be fair to all students and we try to give them every opportunity to make a good decision. We will be discussing Ben Franklin's 13 Virtues in class and teachers will try to set a good example. Hopefully our third graders will make the best choice as often as possible.
COMMUNICATION:
The best way to communicate with us is via email. Please keep in mind that we work with 26 children and our most important priority is teaching. Sometimes we do not have the opportunity to sit and check email until the end of the school day. So if there is important information for your child about how they are to get home that day, please contact the office. They will have that information delivered to the classroom and we can send your child in the right direction. Otherwise, please allow us 24 business hours to reply to your email. We will try my hardest to stay in contact with you, but evenings, weekends, and holidays are for family.
BIRTHDAY TREATS:
We love to celebrate birthdays in my class! If your child has a summer birthday then we are happy to celebrate with them on their half birthday in December or January! Please bring the treats (or send them with your child) the morning of the celebration. If you wait until the end of the day (or even lunch) we may not have a good time to get to it! Our days are fairly structured, but things like assemblies, outings, or even science lab can get in the way.
Please also know that there are a few requests from teachers who try to keep the room clean:
1. We don't all keep paper towels. Not even in the restrooms. If you send a messy treat, please send napkins- even wet wipes if they are going to have icing all over their hands and faces!
2. Please make sure your treat is already in individual servings.
3. Finally, if there are leftover goodies at the end of the celebration, we will be sending them home with your birthday kid or they can deliver to other teachers during pick up at the end of the day.
HOMEWORK and GRADING POLICY:
Homework is important! The third grade expectation is that students have math everyday (or nearly) and 20 minutes of reading each night. There is also a weekly writing assignment and there will be times that students will be studying for tests in spelling, science, and social studies.
What can you expect? about 20-30 minutes of reading/Lexia combo and daily math assignments. Your student will also get a spelling list each week that they will need to study for and there are unit tests in science and social studies every couple of weeks. If you are finding that homework is taking WAY too much of your evening, please let me know. Adjustments and modifications can be made for students on learning plans.
Your CHILD is responsible for turning in his/her work. We may give a free pass on the first time a student forgets their homework. Everyone makes a mistake once or twice. However, consistent missed assignments do not go unnoticed. Third grade teachers WILL NOT accept work brought to school by a parent. The assignment will stay in my mailbox until the next day and counted late. The students know this also. Please support us on this. Homework not only reinforces what we are doing in school, but allows your child to learn responsibility, which is a major part of the school-going experience and third grade. You may want to bail them out when you find it on the kitchen table, but please do not. One missed assignment will not tank their grade. Learning to bounce back from a mistake is a good lesson in building grit.
10% of the overall grade will be deducted for each day that the assignment is late.
Attendance/Leaving Early/Arriving Late:
If your child is going to be absent, please call the office and let them know. We also appreciate an email to give me a heads-up, but the office must hear from YOU.
If you are signing your child out early, please do so before 3:00. The 3:00-3:30 chunk of time can be very hectic in my room as everyone has a job to do. Also, the office closes at 3:00-4:00 to prepare for carpool.
If your child is late to school (after 8:15) they must check in at the office. When they come into the classroom, we will ask for the tardy slip. If he/she doesn't have one, they must waste classroom time to go back to the office to check in.
Requesting Late Work:
As per the BFA Staff Handbook, make-up work will not be given until your child has been absent for at least TWO days. Please do not call/email me to request work before then. If your child is sick, allow them to recover! We would much rather have them make up work in class with a teacher, than to try and fill in the gaps on their own after being ill.
We have three rules in the school: Be responsible, Be respectful, Be safe.
All third grade teachers use a card turning system. If a child breaks a rule, he/she will receive a verbal warning from a teacher. The exception to this is being unsafe- there is no warning here.
If the student continues making poor choices they will flip their card:
Turn to the YELLOW card: this will be 5 minutes off of recess
Turn to the ORANGE card: this will be 10 minutes off of recess and an email to the parent
Turn to the RED card: they lose their full recess and they will need to meet with the principal
At the end of each school day, your children should indicate in their planners the color on which they finished the day. This gives you an opportunity to open a conversation with your third grader about their day.
We want to be fair to all students and we try to give them every opportunity to make a good decision. We will be discussing Ben Franklin's 13 Virtues in class and teachers will try to set a good example. Hopefully our third graders will make the best choice as often as possible.
COMMUNICATION:
The best way to communicate with us is via email. Please keep in mind that we work with 26 children and our most important priority is teaching. Sometimes we do not have the opportunity to sit and check email until the end of the school day. So if there is important information for your child about how they are to get home that day, please contact the office. They will have that information delivered to the classroom and we can send your child in the right direction. Otherwise, please allow us 24 business hours to reply to your email. We will try my hardest to stay in contact with you, but evenings, weekends, and holidays are for family.
BIRTHDAY TREATS:
We love to celebrate birthdays in my class! If your child has a summer birthday then we are happy to celebrate with them on their half birthday in December or January! Please bring the treats (or send them with your child) the morning of the celebration. If you wait until the end of the day (or even lunch) we may not have a good time to get to it! Our days are fairly structured, but things like assemblies, outings, or even science lab can get in the way.
Please also know that there are a few requests from teachers who try to keep the room clean:
1. We don't all keep paper towels. Not even in the restrooms. If you send a messy treat, please send napkins- even wet wipes if they are going to have icing all over their hands and faces!
2. Please make sure your treat is already in individual servings.
3. Finally, if there are leftover goodies at the end of the celebration, we will be sending them home with your birthday kid or they can deliver to other teachers during pick up at the end of the day.
HOMEWORK and GRADING POLICY:
Homework is important! The third grade expectation is that students have math everyday (or nearly) and 20 minutes of reading each night. There is also a weekly writing assignment and there will be times that students will be studying for tests in spelling, science, and social studies.
What can you expect? about 20-30 minutes of reading/Lexia combo and daily math assignments. Your student will also get a spelling list each week that they will need to study for and there are unit tests in science and social studies every couple of weeks. If you are finding that homework is taking WAY too much of your evening, please let me know. Adjustments and modifications can be made for students on learning plans.
Your CHILD is responsible for turning in his/her work. We may give a free pass on the first time a student forgets their homework. Everyone makes a mistake once or twice. However, consistent missed assignments do not go unnoticed. Third grade teachers WILL NOT accept work brought to school by a parent. The assignment will stay in my mailbox until the next day and counted late. The students know this also. Please support us on this. Homework not only reinforces what we are doing in school, but allows your child to learn responsibility, which is a major part of the school-going experience and third grade. You may want to bail them out when you find it on the kitchen table, but please do not. One missed assignment will not tank their grade. Learning to bounce back from a mistake is a good lesson in building grit.
10% of the overall grade will be deducted for each day that the assignment is late.
Attendance/Leaving Early/Arriving Late:
If your child is going to be absent, please call the office and let them know. We also appreciate an email to give me a heads-up, but the office must hear from YOU.
If you are signing your child out early, please do so before 3:00. The 3:00-3:30 chunk of time can be very hectic in my room as everyone has a job to do. Also, the office closes at 3:00-4:00 to prepare for carpool.
If your child is late to school (after 8:15) they must check in at the office. When they come into the classroom, we will ask for the tardy slip. If he/she doesn't have one, they must waste classroom time to go back to the office to check in.
Requesting Late Work:
As per the BFA Staff Handbook, make-up work will not be given until your child has been absent for at least TWO days. Please do not call/email me to request work before then. If your child is sick, allow them to recover! We would much rather have them make up work in class with a teacher, than to try and fill in the gaps on their own after being ill.