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1. Back To 3rdGrade, Rooms 203 and 302 Ms. Olsen, Ms. Nardone, Ms. Ostering, Ms. McCarthy, Ms. Bobadilla,

2. Expectations for 3rd grade Student expectations: • Follow our classroom and school rules. • Complete homework. • Always do their best. • Always, always…… show work for all math problems!!!! Parent expectations: • Review homework with their child every night. • Sign both homework and planner on a daily basis. • Communicate freely with teachers about child’s progress.

3. Expectations….. 3rd grade is a challenging grade because it is the first time the students take the NJ-ASK. To make sure we are bringing all students to the level they need to be, parents and teacher need to work on the same team. Let’s keep the communication open and work towards helping the students excel in their learning!

4. Effort Students are always expected to turn in their best work in their best handwriting. Students who do not turn in their best work will be asked to redo their work, in school or at home. Students will have the opportunity to correct low scores on assignments (but not on tests) in order to make sure they understand what is being taught.

5. Homework Policy • All homework needs to be checked and signed after the student completes it. Please don’t sign it just to sign, make sure your child has put in their absolute best effort before you put your signature on their homework. • Please sign the RTA assignment book and behavior chart in the box designated for parent signature each night. • Check homework daily on new.schoolnotes.com

6. Your third grader should take about 30-40 minutes to complete his or her homework. Please contact us if this does not seem like an attainable goal for your child. • If a student does not complete their homework, they will receive a zero for that assignment and their homework grade gets deducted 1 point for each day the homework is missing. • We will notify you with a note, phone call, or email if your child misses a homework assignment.

7. Emergency Contact Information • Please make sure that you have completed and signed the emergency contact card provided to you at the beginning of the school year or when you registered your child. It is very important for emergency and administrative reasons, that every student maintains an up-to-date emergency contact card. Please make sure you notify the office or the teachers if you have a change of address, phone number, emergency contacts or place of employment.

8. End of the Week Folders • Every two weeks, on Fridays, or the last day of the week, your child will bring home a special folder . This folder will contain your child’s graded work for the week. Please look over your child’s work. This will help give you an understanding of what we’ve worked on during the week and also indicate how well your child is progressing. You may keep the graded work at home, but you will need to sign the form within it and return the entire folder to school by the following Tuesday.

9. Newsletters • Newsletters will come home once a month. You can look for the newsletter on colored paper. The newsletter should be found on the left hand side of your child’s folder. The purpose of the newsletter is to inform you of what we’re working on at school as well as give you information about upcoming events and important dates. Please take a few minutes to read the newsletter. If you misplace the newsletter, you may access another copy on our schoolnotes page.

10. Behavior Modification Plan • Our behavior modification plan is called “Rockin’ Behavior”. The success of the system hinges on the consistency of its use and your interest and reinforcement at home. • The purpose of the behavior modification plan is to: • Help maintain a classroom atmosphere conducive to learning. • Help the students learn to take responsibility for their own behavior. • Allow for daily home/school communication about each student’s classroom behavior.

11. Classroom Rules • 1. Listen carefully and follow all directions. • 2. Raise your hand and wait patiently to speak or get out of your seat. • 3. Keep hands, feet and hurtful words to yourself. • 4. Respect all your classmates and your teachers. • 5. Complete all work with your best effort.

12. Attendance Policy • Your child’s success at school depends upon regular attendance. Our school day officially starts at 8.30 am. If a student is late, he or she must obtain a “Tardy Slip” from the office in order to enter the classroom. • If you are picking your child up early (before dismissal time), then you must stop at the office to sign your child out. The secretary will call your child to the office. At RTA, we ask that you avoid picking up your child early if at all possible. Instruction occurs until the end of the day.

13. Absences • If your child is absent, he or she is responsible for making up the work missed. Students will find a “Missed work packet” in their mailbox upon their return to school, which will contain all assignments that were handed out during their absence. Students will have one day for each day they were gone to make up the work. For example, Sally missed 3 days of school. She will have 3 days after the day she returned to make up the assignments. • If an absence occurs, please call the office before 8:00 a.m. We encourage you to pick up make-up work for the day your child missed. Please allow time for this to be gathered. You can pick up your child’s work after 2:45 p.m. in the office.

14. Uniform Policy • Uniforms are expected to be worn to school each day. On Thursdays and Fridays, our P.E. days, the students should wear their gym uniform underneath the regular uniform. • Please refrain from wearing jewelry, including necklaces, bracelets and hoop earrings.

15. Drop-off and Dismissal • Students are not allowed to walk to or from school alone. • The 3rd grade students are dismissed at 3.15pm. If anyone else but a parent will be picking up a student, make sure the office has received prior notification. • No person, including siblings, under the age of 18 will be allowed to pick up any student.

16. Remediation and Pick-Up Times • Remediation classes will commence in September. • If your child needs extra help in reading or math, we will send you a remediation request form to be filled out and signed by you. Remediation classes begin at 4pm and are dismissing at 5pm. We respectfully ask that you don’t pick up your child early from remediation.

17. Folders • Your child must be using folder to bring their homework back and forth to school every day. On the LEFT, you will see papers that you should read or look over but which need to be LEFT at home. On the RIGHT, you will see papers which need to be read and brought RIGHT back to school! Monday through Thursday nights you will ALWAYS see AT LEAST 3 homework assignments on the RIGHT side: • (1) Reading comprehension homework (2) Math Homework • (3) Spelling Homework. • Students will be instructed to always place these assignments on the RIGHT side of the folder because these are definitely papers that need to be brought RIGHT back.

18. Birthdays and Holiday Parties • You are welcome to bring a special treat to celebrate your birthday or when we are having a classroom party. • Treats cannot contain any tree nuts as RTA is a nut-free school. • Please make sure there is enough for everyone. Please remember to include napkins, plates, forks, and other “equipment” that may be needed. If you bring a treat that needs to be sliced (like a cookie cake), please slice it at HOME. • Parties are to be held during the students’ lunch period, 11.50-12.20.

19. Scholastic Orders • Book Orders - About every month we will be sending home Scholastic book orders for you and your child to look over. • Scholastic offers wonderful books at reduced pricesand are a great way to build your home library! If you choose to order from any of the book orders, please send cash or make checks IN A LABELED AND SEALED ENVELOPE payable to Scholastic Book Orders. Another option would be to place your order online at www.scholastic.com/parentordering • Class code: GT8MJ • Ordering online is the most convenient way to use Scholastic Book Clubs, and placing your online credit card order is completely safe and secure! This way, you never have to send any money or checks to school!

20. READ, READ, READ!!! • In order to build fluency in our young readers, we need to make sure they are getting as many opportunities to read as possible! • Bring your child to the towns’ Public Libraries. • Encourage your child to grab a book instead of watching TV or playing videogames. • Make sure your child is reading books on the appropriate level. • Read with your child. This is a great way to spend time together and also to ensure that he/she understands what is being read.

21. Guided Reading • RTA is using a Guided Reading Program. There are many advantages of using this system in our classrooms, including the following: • Provides experience with a wide variety of texts within a specific level. • Easier selection of books for children with similar reading skills. • Allows the teacher to assess each child’s reading progress.

22. Guided Reading • Guided reading is an instructional approach that involves the teacher working with a small group of students who demonstrate similar reading behaviors and can all read similar levels of text. • Guided reading is important because it gives students a chance to apply the strategies they already know to new text. It also gives the teacher an opportunity to provide individual support.

23. Reading/Language Arts Reading Writing 3rd grade students are expected to write multiple paragraph compositions. Vocabulary strategies are introduced and practiced to strengthen reading comprehension and writing skills. Journal writing and discussions 5 stages of the writing process is emphasized. Computer technolology/information research. • Encourage your child to read for 20 minutes, then ask them to tell you what they read. • Imagine It - Open Court Series • Spelling – weekly words • Vocabulary – words will be assigned on Friday to be defined over the weekend for Monday’s new story. • Grammar – incorporated in the Open Court Reading in Practice Skills workbooks. • Weekly skills will be tested every Friday.

24. Math In the 3rd grade, the students will learn many new concepts and it is very important that they follow all strategies we teach in class and SHOW ALL WORK!!!! We appreciate all the help from you parents and together we can make the students excel in math!

25. Math Drills • Students can’t move on to higher level reasoning in mathematics until they master their basic math facts. In addition to regular math assignments, your child will be performing daily drills until he or she has mastered the basic facts. You can help your child prepare by studying with flashcards or having them spend 10 minutes a day working with online flashcards at www.mathfactcafe.com or use the factdashon www.mathconnects.com. You can also practice math facts with your child when you are cooking or driving to and from school! The times tables is particularly challenging and it is very important that your child knows it, so we encourage lots of practice and offer incentives in school to become fluent with the multiplication facts. We have a special surprise in store for the students once everyone knows their multiplication facts fluently!

26. TOPICS WE WILL LEARN ABOUT: • Place Values • Solving word problems • Multiplication and Division • Patterns and Algebra • Measurements • Organize, Display and Interpret Data • Fractions

27. Math Connects Online • Go to www.mhschool.com • Click on “Math” in the Program Resources box in the lower left corner. • In the upper right corner, in the box that reads “Select a Program”: Choose Mathematics/Math Connects • In the “Select a State” box: Choose New Jersey • Click “GO”

28. Math Connects • Scroll down on the page and find the icon for the 3rd grade textbook and click on the book. • Scroll down and find the chapter you are looking for and select the lesson we are currently working on. You will find a wide variety of activities to help your child with the topics we are working on in school. On this page, under the section that reads “Online Tools”, you and your child can access an online version of the textbook.

29. Math Connects • In the Online Tools section, click the icon that reads “StudentWorks Plus Online”. • You are now on a page where you will be asked to enter an access code. • The access code is: c3732d5a10 – enter this code and click “Submit”. • Use the “Table of Contents’ to select the chapter and lesson you need. In the chapter resources, you can find all the workbook and homework pages in English and Spanish and even a fact dash practice!

30. Saturday Academy • In 3rd grade, the students will start attending Saturday Academy in order to prepare for the NJ-ASK. • We will notify you of the start date of the Saturday Academy later on during the fall, but would like to stress the fact that all students are required to attend Saturday Academy. • During Saturday instruction, we will work with the students to prepare them for the NJ-Ask in May and it is very important that your child attends.