Friday Folders will come home every Friday (alternating with Write Back Journals).  They will be filled with completed school work, memos, and flyers from school.  Please empty the folders, sign the folder, and return it to school on the following school day.  It is important to review school work with your student to find areas of strength and weaknesses.  If you have concerns about returned work, please contact the teacher.  

Write Back Journals are a communication tool between you and your student about his year in third grade.  Every other week, students will be given a prompt to respond to in letter format to their families.  The goals are as follows:  1) to learn how to respond completely to a prompt; 2) to communicate with families about classroom activities; and 3) to improve writing fluency. 

The Write Back Journals will be checked, but not corrected by the teacher.  They will be graded, however, for a thorough response to the given prompt.  Your job is to read them lovingly with your child and respond lovingly to your child.  They should be returned on the following school day.  At the end of the year, the Write Back Journals become a wonderful keepsake of memories of third grade.  

This year, we will not be celebrating birthdays in the classroom any more.  Birthdays will be celebrated at our weekly Friday Morning Line Up Assemblies.  Please do not send goodie bags, foods, treats, or balloons to school with your student on his/her birthday.  

VAPA stands for Visual and Performing Arts.  We will have expert VAPA teachers on our site during the first semester on Thursdays.  We will start with Visual Arts, then have dance, and music.   

You can access the VAPA website link with lessons and pictures here.

PE and movement activities will occur Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday in third grade.  Students should come prepared to move and be actively engaged every day.   Appropriate PE shoes are required.  Students who want to wear sandals or boots should bring a pair of PE shoes in their backpacks to change into before P.E.

Students should read every day (not just on weekdays) for at least 15 minutes a day.  This reading can be independent, with a parent, or with an older sibling.  I encourage parents to read with and to their children at least 1-2 times per week.  When you read WITH your children you can guage appropriateness of book content and level and discuss the book with them.  When you read TO your children, you can read books that are at a higher level than they can read independently. This will help to improve their vocabulary and comprehension.   

Students will be assigned a page of math facts to do each week.  Students should study those facts until they are mastered and memorized "as quick as a snap".  Paper and pencil, flashcards, online games, and digital programs such as XTRAMATH can be used to study math facts.  When facts are memorized, new concepts like column multiplication and long division are easier to master.  The facts tests on Friday will be timed, but only to determine how long it took  for the child to complete the page.  They do not have to complete it within a set amount of time.  The goal is to improve speed on each successive attempt.  They are in a "contest" with themselves to increase fluency, not with others in the classroom.   

There will also be a homework "menu" included each week with family fun activities to do together.  We encourage you to choose TWO each week and send in a picture, a drawing, or a few sentences describing what your family did together.  The students love sharing their "menu activities" with each other.   

Homework folders will be given out on Mondays and are due back on Fridays.  Please sign the bottom of the homework log so that your students can earn their otter bucks for the week!