Welcome to 3rd Grade

Curriculum Night

Mrs. Magee’s Third Grade

August 18, 2015

Morning Procedures

Please have your child here by 7:45. We do morning work at this time. When your child is tardy, they get behind from the very start of the day!

This is also time to turn in the previous night’s homework and folders, along with any notes from home.

Daily Schedule 7:20-7:55 – Agenda Sentence and Morning Work

7:55-8:35 – Specials

8:40-9:25 Start Writer’s Workshop

9:25-10:10 - Math

10:10-11:00 - Reading

11:00-11:50 - ELA

12:00-12:30 - Lunch

12:30-12:50 - Recess

12:50-1:35- Science/Social Studies

1:35-2:00 - Finish Writer’s Workshop

2:10 Dismissal

Units of Study Math- addition/subtraction with regrouping,

multiplication, time, division with remainders, geometry, & place value

Reading- working on fluency, comprehension, retelling of story, & vocabulary

Writing- cursive handwriting, grammar skills, & writing a story with a good beginning, middle and end. We will also be introducing writer’s workshop and work on 3 types of writing-expository, narrative, and persuasive.

Social Studies- Greece, Biographies, government, and economics

Science- magnets, rocks, heat energy, pollution, and habitats/animals in Georgia

Accelerated Reader

AR is now up and running. Your child is working towards earning 10 points for the first 9 weeks.

Students should select books within their reading range.

After reading the books they can take a test. A website will soon be sent home so you and your child can look up books within your child’s specific reading range.

3rd Grade Prize Day is once a month. Students will be rewarded when they reached certain point values. .

We will also celebrate meeting their AR goal at the end of every nine weeks.

Assignments • Your child will have weekly spelling and reading comprehension

tests. Spelling test will be every other week on Thursdays and Reading comprehension test will be on Fridays. We will also be taking a Math 4 Today Quiz and a Daily Language Instruction Quiz each Friday

We will also be having time test on addition and subtraction facts on Wednesdays, these will be changing to multiplication facts as we learn them.

We will also be taking Social Studies Weekly Quizzes on Wednesdays.

Special projects and book reports will always count the same as a major test grade. Assignments that are turned in late will be penalized and graded accordingly.

Projects are supposed to be a way to get the family involved and learn together. Please do not spend money, use things you have at home or I can provide the needed materials.

Spelling-Differentiated Spelling Lists

Students took inventories during the first week of school. This determined his/her strengths and weaknesses in spelling patterns.

Based on the pre-assessment, students will work on spelling lists in the areas of weakness.

Another spelling inventory will be given in December to check for growth.

-Spelling Homework Spelling Choice Board

Every Two WeeksChoose a minimum of 5 itemsStudents must turn in choice board and activities on the

day of the test.

-Spelling Tests Every other Thursday on Spelling City

Math Facts In 3rd grade, a major focus in math is mastery

of addition, subtraction and multiplication facts (Xtra Math and Moby Max).

Weekly Facts Quizzes

Multiplication Fridays

PRACTICE DAILY!!

In the second semester we will begin to explore problem solving more. We will have problem solving Fridays with exemplars.

Edmodo Computer ProgramEdmodo – a computer

program for discussion questions, polls, quizzes, etc. We will have a weekly reading discussion question each week and we will take our newspaper quiz on here every Wednesday.

Xtra Math, and Moby Max

Xtra Math - This program is used to help students memorize their math facts.

Moby Max–A self-assisted computer program that has games and lessons to assist with students in all subject areas based on their abilities.

Students can work on these programs at home!

Videos3rd Grade will only watch 2 to 3 yearly

videos with county approval only.

All videos will be related to chapter books 3rd grade has read and a writing activity will go along with the book and movie as a comparison activity.

GPB Video Streaming – computer clips of standards related material to enhance lessons and concepts will be used weekly.

Homework Daily homework assignments will be written in the agenda.

Agenda must be signed nightly. Homework is due the following day unless otherwise stated. Homework will be brought to and from school in the white

notebook. Every night students will need to write the amount of time

they have read in their agenda with a signature as part of their homework.

Failure to complete homework will result in your child having to complete it at recess on certain days when we have homework checks.

Homework is not busy work it is used to practice and reinforce the skills we are learning.

Grading Scale A - 90-100 - Above and Beyond B – 80-89 – On Target C – 71-79 – Almost There D- 70 – Needs Help F – Below 70 – Do it Again Participation

S= satisfactory N= Needs Improvement U= Unsatisfactory

Please look over graded papers, and help your child with excessive errors.

Please sign the top paper in the Friday folder and return all papers on Monday. You will receive all of your child’s papers at the end of each semester.

Contact me if you feel your child needs extra help or you need ideas of how to help them

Scores with a percentage are recorded grades!

ITBS

Iowa Test of Basic Skills – We will be taking this test in October. This is an ability test not an achievement test.

Georgia Milestones

Third grade students will take the GA Milestone Test in April. More information coming soon!

-Item Types

• Selected-Response [aka, multiple-choices]

– all content areas

– evidence-based selected response in ELA

• Constructed-Response

– ELA and mathematics

• Extended-Response

– ELA and mathematics

Georgia Milestones Constructed response is a general term for

assessment items that require the student to generate a response as opposed to selecting a response.

Extended-response items require more elaborate answers and explanations of reasoning. They allow for multiple correct answers and/or varying methods of arriving at the correct answer. Writing prompts and performance tasks are examples of extended-response items.

Georgia Milestones Features include:

inclusion of constructed-response items in ELA and mathematics, in addition to selected-response items

inclusion of a writing component (in response to text) at every grade level and course within the ELA assessment;

inclusion of norm-referenced items in every grade and content area to complement the criterion-referenced information and to provide a national comparison; and

transition to online administration over time, with online administration considered the primary mode of administration and paper-pencil back-up until transition is completed.

Depth of Knowledge

Some general distinctions can be made among the levels.

Level 1: Requires students to recall or recognize facts or to use simple skills or abilities.

Level 2: Requires students to engage in some form of mental processing beyond recalling or reproducing a response.

Level 3: Requires students to reason, analyze, evaluate, or synthesize information.

Level 4: Requires students to explain, devise, analyze, evaluate, synthesize (real world/problem based learning) over a period of time.

Communication The best way to contact me is through e-mail or a

note in your child’s white notebook folder. I will do my best to get back to you the same day if at all possible. I will check my e-mail twice a day.

I will sometimes contact you by phone to keep you informed of your child’s progress.

Parent Connect: You are now able to access your child’s grades through the parent connect program. Grades will be updated over the weekend, so Mondays are the best time to check your child’s progress.

Rules and Regulations

Absences and Tardiness Please try to have your child at school and on time

every day. Your child misses valuable learning time when they are not “in class” everyday. Please send in a note when your child is absent. All absences will be unexcused until a note is received.

Students are responsible for class work/homework even when they are absent. Students will have the number of days that they were absent to return any missed work.

Rules: Agendas - Your child’s agenda must be signed every

night and brought to school everyday!

Visitors – All visitors must check in at the office before coming to the classroom or cafeteria.

Transportation • Be sure to fill out your child’s monthly transportation

calendar. You may fill it out daily, weekly, or monthly. If it’s not filled out we will have to call you to verify how your child is going home.

• The office will not except transportation changes through email. Please make sure that all transportation changes are written down on a separate piece of paper, not the agenda. Please do not just tell your student to let me know of transportation changes. I MUST have a note.

• Parents may fax transportation changes along with a copy of their drivers license.

Discipline In order to create and maintain a positive learning environment for all students, I will

follow the behavior and discipline policies below.

Consequences:

In our classroom, multiple strategies will be used to help students learn to self-correct inappropriate behavior.

Examples of most often used strategies are listed below:

1. Complimenting

2. Nonverbal reminder

3. Verbal reminder

4. Offer assistance

5. Provide a safe space for de-escalation

None of the above consequences will require parent notification. If a student continually needs to be removed from group activities, communication between teacher and parent will occur and a plan will be developed. Parents will also receive notification if a behavior involves hurting someone else or disrespect.

Discipline Positive behavior reinforcement:

Indian Knoll has a school-wide positive behavior plan. Students are members of a house (yellow, blue, green, purple, orange, or red). Throughout the year, students will be earning points for their house based on good behavior and involvement in school. If a student is doing something especially well, teachers will recognize the behavior by filling out a Firebird Feather card on that student. Each card completed and turned in earns points for the student’s particular house. On Friday, students who turned in cards are entered in a drawing to win one of 5 goody bags.

For classroom-wide behavior, we will have a clock displayed in the classroom. The clock will start at 12 o’clock and the students can earn time on the clock for good behavior, hallway behavior, homework, etc. Once we move our clock ahead 12 hours, the class will earn a celebration of their choosing. This is a fantastic way for students to keep track of their good behavior, learn elapsed time, and work together towards a common goal. We will start over once we have met our goal.

Discipline

IKES Communities Our Mission with the new House System:To create a sense of community across grades among our students and staff. By incorporating the different houses at our school we are hoping to foster a sense of ownership within our school.

Each house will meet on a regular basis throughout the school year during the

school day. They will work on different service projects that will benefit our school

and the community around us. Our goal is to create more connections between

all grade levels. Students will be placed in houses on Wednesday during specials.

Our first House meeting will be August 20th. Look for your child to bring home a

flyer introducing their House and opportunities for you as parents to be involved.

Birthdays/Parties-If you would like to send in a special treat for your

child’s birthday, please make arrangements ahead of time to drop them off. We currently have 20 students. The best time to do Birthdays are during lunch.

- If possible please let me know ahead of time where the treats are coming from or send them in the morning of the celebration, so I can verify all information with the nurse. – Example – Cupcakes from Publix, Cookie Cake from Kroger, etc.

- Please no homemade goodies for treats due to allergies and other medical needs in the class

-We have a winter party and an end of the year party.

Miscellaneous Ice Cream (KONA Ice)– Dates: August, September,

October, April, and May. Price is $2.00-$5.00 depending on size.

Water Bottles are welcome daily to keep on their desk.

Field Trip – A field trip is in the works. We hope to visit the Tellus Museum sometime in October. Be on the look out for information about the upcoming field trip coming home soon.

We are not allowed to accept transportation changes by e-mail. If you forget to send a note in with your child you must fax a note to the office along with a copy of your driver’s license.

Remain “In the Know”

• Parent Connect – Check grades online (Weekends or Mondays).- Get signed up through parentsupport@cherokee.k12.ga.us: If you need to activate an

account in ASPEN, email this address with the child’s name, school, and grade level. 

- ID.cherokee.k12.ga.us: If parents (or students) have forgotten their password or

account information, they can visit this website.

– Link is on my website – Parents Access to Grades

• Remind 101– Text messages about important school related

items.– Contact Mrs. Magee for more information.

Contact Information

I check my email (chelsea.magee@cherokee.k12.ga.us ) at least 2 times a day. This is the best way to contact me.

Always read newsletters for important information. August is the only month that I will be sending home paper newsletters. Please let me know if you would like to continue to receive a paper copy of the newsletter.

Our room moms are Andrea Rittenberry and Angie Studstill .

My website will also be updated weekly with important information:

http://mysite.cherokee.k12.ga.us/personal/chelsea_magee/site/default.aspx

Thank you very much for attending curriculum night!