3rd Grade Policies
Accelerated Reader
All third graders are expected to take Accelerated Reader (AR) quizzes at school to track their reading progress. All students should work towards achieving his/her Accelerated Reader point goal, set by your child’s homeroom teacher. The first trimester point goal will be announced soon.
Math Facts
All third graders are expected to memorize the basic addition and subtractions facts in the first trimester. By the end of the third grade all students should also have memorized the basic multiplication and division facts. Nightly practice at home is recommended.
Homework Policy
The third grade team has worked to create a cohesive homework policy that will be implemented across the grade level. At the third grade level, we have determined that this time would be most effectively spent on weekly assigned review sheets, learning basic math facts, and independent reading. Students are also encouraged to complete the optional monthly math projects.
As always, communication with your child’s teacher is encouraged if there are issues or questions regarding homework.
Behavior Expectations
Students are expected to follow the Bel Aire School rules at all times. Please review the school’s Citizenship Handbook at rusdhandbooks.weebly.com for more information.
Rewards
Students give, or are given, positive affirmations when they make good choices, demonstrate expected behaviors, and model the Scholarly Attributes. Affirmations may be “Caught Being Good” slips or other classroom recognition. Students’ intrinsic motivation is developed and encouraged.
Consequences
Consequences for unexpected behavior or choices depend on the severity of the incident and are as follows: Minor offenses (ex: disrupting classroom activities or off-task): Student is given a verbal warning. If the behavior continues, the student is given an additional warning. If the behavior still continues, the student receives a STOP form and the parent is notified. Major offenses (ex: teasing, bullying, or any other malicious, intentionally harmful or dangerous activity): immediate CITATION and parent notification. NOTE: The third STOP in one trimester equals a CITATION. All CITATIONS will result in a loss of privileges, including, but not limited to multiple lunch recesses, field trips, school assemblies, and classroom parties. The teacher and/or principal determine each privilege. Please carefully review the school’s handbook.
Class Rules: Be Respectful!
• Positive Reinforcement
1. Lots of verbal praise
2. Caught Being Good
3. Bel Aire Bucks (5= a party)
• Consequences for undesirable behavior:
1. Verbal Warning
2. Name on board
3. ‘STOP’ and email to parents. STOP Signs result in a detention at recess in the STOP room.
Birthdays
The Reed Union School District has instituted a new policy concerning the celebration of birthdays. It is as follows:
We want all children to be recognized on their birthdays. What the Wellness Committee and PTA are recommending is a change in HOW each child is recognized. Traditionally, families send in or bring a birthday cake or cupcakes. It is important to understand that the 15 -20 such celebrations per class each year do not meet our Wellness Policy guidelines.
Therefore:
a.Your child will be honored on his/her special day
b. The principal and teachers will have “age appropriate” ways to honor the birthday student.
c. Thus, parents should not send in birthday cakes, sweets, foods or “goody bags.”
Grading
Math: Tests will be sent home with a % grade.
Writing: Writing (not edited by an adult) will be evaluated for proficiency in third grade standards and kept in a Writing Workshop Binder.
Reading: Accelerated Reader data will be sent home with reading level and comprehension scores.
Homework: Not graded but checked for accuracy and completeness.
Spelling: Tests graded and sent home, daily work evaluated for spelling accuracy.
All other work: Key pieces will be checked for proficiency in the standard being taught and be sent home.
Accelerated Reader
All third graders are expected to take Accelerated Reader quizzes at school to track their reading progress. All students should work towards achieving the Accelerated Reader point goal, set by Bel Aire teachers. The first trimester point goal will be announced soon.
Math Facts
All third graders are expected to memorize the basic addition and subtractions facts in the first trimester. By the end of the third grade all students should also have memorized the basic multiplication and division facts. Nightly practice at home is recommended.
How will I address the varying academic needs of the children in 3rd Grade?
Math Workshop
With continual formal and informal assessments, I will be grouping the children according to their academic needs on a daily basis. Every day, students will work in three ability-based groups and rotate through three ‘workshops’.
The workshops will include teacher time, seat-work, and math games.
During teacher time, I will pace the lessons according to the group’s ability. We will be working with small whiteboards as well as the Smart Board or Ipads to target various skills. We may work with applied math, real life problem solving, Garden Math, or other applied mathematics. I am also able to help the students with seat work at this time. The second activity is seat work. The groups will work individually or with partners on skills appropriate to their abilities. At this time, they may work using the math book or other teacher-generated materials. The work is usually different for each group according to their needs with the particular skills we are focusing on. The last activity is math games. They may choose a math activity from our class website, or play a non-computer math game with partners. They may also be working on
Another way math is differentiated is through seminars. There are several different math seminars offered each session ranging from re-teach of a certain skill to advanced problem solving.
Reading Workshop
Students use the Accelerated Reader system to read ‘just right’ books and take quizzes to evaluate comprehension. During Reading Workshop, students will work on ‘book tasks’ that are kept in their Reading Workshop folder. The tasks cover many reading strategies such as cause and effect, inference, parts of speech, characterization, sequence of events, main idea, etc. The tasks are the same for each student, but they are all reading different books (at their AR level).
Again, seminars are also used to differentiate reading instruction.
Writing Workshop
Students are being lead through the Columbia Writing system. Students are being taught the same writing skills but all work at their own pace. The students conference one to one with an adult on a weekly basis. During conferencing, the adult is able to target the student’s writing needs. The goal is to address one need at a time, not to edit the piece to perfection during one sitting. One student may need to work on writing complete sentences while another student may need to focus on spelling.
