Classroom Information

Mrs. Niehaus’ Third Grade Information:

Breakfast: Each child has an opportunity to eat breakfast daily at school. After the arrival recess time children will be able to go down to the cafeteria to get breakfast items to bring back to our classroom to eat. This is optional and I will have a sign up sheet for breakfast to let me know whether or not your child should go down to breakfast or not.

Chaperoning Opportunities: (Due to COVID we are not planning on any field trips this year). We will be going on the following field trips throughout the school year in which we will need some chaperones to assist with. You will have to have your volunteer sheets filled out and returned to the office prior to being able to attend the field trips with our classroom. To be fair we only allow 2 chaperones from each of our third grade classrooms to attend. We don’t have all of our field trip dates finalized yet but we do have the months that we are planning attend plotted out. Here are the tentative dates/months we are planning field trips on:

October-- School Forest Field Trip

January- U.W. Steven’s Point Planetarium

April-Field Trip to Landfill and Skate City

May- Scranton School House Field Trip

End of the Year Field Trip

Volunteering Opportunities

If you are interested in volunteering in our classroom please let me know. You will need to have your volunteer form filled out prior to coming in to the office along with a copy of your driver’s license. I will need assistance with preparing materials for our students (copying, laminating, prepping art activities, etc) as well as helping students (reviewing flashcards, spelling, practicing, reading, etc).

Classroom Guests

You are welcome to join your child for lunch anytime during the school year. Also, when classroom parties take place if you’d like to come for the party we would be more than happy to have you attend.

Our Student Handbook regarding guests reads as follows:

VISITATION – PARENTS AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS Parents and other family members are welcome to visit children at school with the understanding that their presence may not disrupt the learning or teaching environment. Parents and other family members should contact the child’s teacher to let them know they are coming. Visitors may attend special events such as assemblies, classroom parties, etc., but during regular instruction, the time of visiting will be limited by the teacher and/or principal. If you plan to eat lunch with your child, please call the school office in the a.m. to inform them so that enough food may be prepared. An adult lunch ticket is available to parents at the regular adult rate of $3.85. Parents wishing to conference with their child’s teacher should call the school at 715-884-2517 to make an appointment. For the safety of all our children, all visitors must sign in and check out at the office upon arrival and departure at school and must wear a visitor identification badge while in attendance.

Water Bottles

If your child chooses to he/she can bring in a water bottle to have at their desks throughout the day. Please make sure your child’s name is on it and that the lid of the water bottle is secure. Your child will be able to refill his/her water bottle at the water fountains if need be.

Birthday Treats

Your child is welcome to bring in treats for his/her birthday. We do have children within our classroom with some medical conditions/allergies to be aware of so I do recommend letting me know what you are planning on bringing ahead of time.

Assignment Notebooks and Take Home Folders:

Please check your child’s assignment notebook and take home folder nightly. We ask that you sign your child’s assignment notebook EVERY DAY! This will be a daily communication tool for important information for school as well as any assignments your child needs to complete. The assignment notebooks will be valuable tools in teaching your child organization and responsibility. Two very important life long skills.

Homework

**Your child should be reading at home at least 10 minutes daily.

**We will also be working on learning our multiplication and division facts. Your child will be bringing home flashcards to practice nightly.

**Vocabulary- Your child should practice his/her vocabulary words every night. Every two weeks your child will be assessed on the vocabulary words. Each week your child will learn five new words. They should practice reading the word, knowing the definition of the word, being able to tell a synonym (word that means the same) and an antonym (word that means the opposite).

**Your child should not have any homework other than the above mentioned items. However, there may be instances that if your child chooses to not utilize their time wisely he/she may bring home items to finish.

**Throughout the year there may be some projects that will need to be completed at home. Information regarding these projects would be coming home as the projects come around

Grading

To begin the year this will be the grading scale that will be used on daily work and tests:

80-100% Proficient

60-79% Developing

59% and below- Minimal

Third grade is a transitional period for their upper elementary/junior high experiences. So midway through the year we will be transitioning into letter grades. Here are the letter grade scores we will be using:

90-100%- A

80-89%- B

70-79%- C

60-69%- D

59%- Below- F

Testing

Your child will engage in the following tests throughout the school year: AIMSWeb testing for Math and Reading (three times a year: September, January, April or May). They will also take the Wisconsin State test called the FORWARD exam in the spring.

Students will also be taking bi-weekly Vocabulary tests. The students will be tested on 10 vocabulary words knowing their definitions, synonyms/antonyms for each word, and will be tested on the ability to use the vocabulary words in a sentence correctly. At the end of each Vocabulary unit they will be tested on all of the words in the unit.

Fast Fact Friday’s

Once a week children will be given ONE MINUTE TIMED math fact tests. If your child scores 80% or higher he/she will move on to the next level of math timed tests. These math fact timed tests will correlate with the flash cards your child will be bringing home daily to work on. To begin the year we will be working on multiplication facts and will have math timed tests from letters A-W to pass. After your child passes all of the multiplication fact tests they will advance on to division facts.

Dismissal Time

Our school day ends at 3:10 p.m. On Wednesday's we will be dismissed at 2:05. If your child’s regular dismissal routine changes for some please either send a note in the morning in their take home folders or send me and Karen Garrels our school secretary an email stating what your child’s plans are and if he/she will need a bus pass. You can also call the school 715-884-2517

My email: niehasus@pittsville.k12.wi.us

Karen Garrels email: garrekar@pittsville.k12.wi.us

COVID/QUARANTINE HOMEWORK PROCEDURES FOR THIRD GRADE