Welcome to 3 rd Grade!

1. Welcome to 3rd Grade! Get ready for a challenging year!

2. Student Handbook & Code of Conduct • Please be sure to read each of these books. There may be updates from last year. • Complete and return all forms in the back of the book as soon as possible.

3. Conference Times • 8:15 Daily • Before and after school-Tuesday through Friday only by appointment, please. • To schedule an appointment please write me a note in your child’s assignment pad, send me an email, or call the school office.

4. Tick tock! • School begins at 8:00am sharp! • Please do not drop your child off before 7:30am unless he/she is enrolled in before school care. • School ends at 3:00pm. • Please send any transportation changes to school in the morning. Changes by phone need to be called to the office before 2:00pm.

5. So much to learn! • Please make sure your child is at school every day unless it is absolutely necessary to keep them home. • Don’t send a child to school with a fever and keep them at home until they have been without a fever for at least 24 hours! • Please send an excuse for any absences. You have 2 days to get them in. Student’s are responsible for making up missed assignments for the time they were out. All unexcused missed work or excused missing work will be a zero.

6. Money • Breakfast and lunch prices for students and visitors are listed in the Student Handbook. • Ice Cream is served on Tuesdays and Thursdays. • Slushies are served for 3rd grade on Mondays. • Please send money in an envelope with student’s name, my name and lunch number.

7. Snacks • No drinks other than water. Your child may have water at his/her desk all day as long as it is in a bottle which can be closed and not leak. No flavored water. Any type of food, which can be eaten with only one hand, is acceptable. We work while we eat.

8. Supplies • Please make sure your child has all the supplies he/she needs. Ask them if they are missing anything. They will know.

9. Field Trips Each year we attend the following field trips. • Leeds Public Library • Children’s Theater – 2 shows • McWane Center • DeSoto Caverns **This year parents MUST provide their own transportation to all field trips.

10. Rutledge Reader: I will do a weekly newsletter. I will post the newsletter on our website just in case it gets misplaced. • Reading Logs: Reading logs should initial nightly and I will be checking them daily. You and your child have the option of having one night a week off from reading, however, I do ask that you write Night Off on that day and initial it. This will count for at least one of your child’s reading grades during the nine weeks.

11. What Research Says About Reading!!!! A close relationship exists between reading fluency and comprehension. One-minute measures of oral reading fluency are highly predictive and strongly correlated with reading scores on standardized tests.* *Davidson, M., & Myhre, O. (200). Measruing reading at grade level. Educational Leadership, 57(5), 25-28.Variation in Amount of Independent ReadingPercentile Rank Minutes/Day (Books, Magazines, Newspaper)Words/Year98th 67.3 4,733,000 90th 33. 4 2,357,000 70th 16.9 1,168,000 50th 9.2 601,000 30th 4.3 251,000 10th 1 51,000 2nd 0Anderson, R., Wilson, P., and Fielding, L. Reading Research Quarterly, Volume 3, 1988. "Growth in Reading and How Children Spend Their Time Outside of School."

12. Graded Test Papers/Folder: • A test folder will come home every Monday or Tuesday. Check your child’s take home folder, sign all test papers and return by Thursday. Feel free to write a note or ask for a conference if you have any questions about any test. If you write a note on the test, please tell your child to tell me there is a note on his/her test from you. If your child fails his/her test and you help them correct the test and return it the next day I will add some additional points to his/her grade. However, it must be returned the next day.

13. Discipline:We must work together as a team! My discipline plan is in the Parent Handbook that you received at Meet the Teacher or on the first day of school. Please check assignment books daily for conduct. If you are not sure why your child received a sad face, ask them. They will know because we discuss the choices they make and alternatives to those choices.

14. Reading: Every child has been assessed to find out his/her reading level. We will do reading groups daily. Your child will either read with me every day or every other day. Your child will have a vocabulary and spelling test every week. Your child will assessed on the focus skill at the end of every unit. I will let you know in my newsletter when your child will have a test. • Writing and Language: Most language skills will be taught with the story we are reading for the week or in Writers Workshop. • Math: Math lessons are hands on as much as possible. Math is taught from the math books. • Science/Social Studies: Grades are combined for these subjects. We may have an hour a day of Social Studies one or two weeks and then an hour a day of Science for the next week or two. All Alabama course of content areas are taught.