Third Grade

Hello Families

Please read this message to you!


Starting this week, Zoom Meetings will be mandatory for all students. This is required by the state. It is how we will take attendance. ELA/Social Studies Zooms will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays, Math/Science Zooms will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We will have shorter Social-Emotional check-in Zooms on Fridays. Each day will offer you an AM session at 9:00, and a PM session at 1:00. You only have to attend one session a day. We will teach the exact same thing in AM and PM sessions; we made two just for the convenience everyone’s individual needs. If you for any reason need to miss a Zoom Meeting, you need to contact us so that your student can fill-out a form that proves they watched a Zoom recording for that day. This is your responsibility. If the student misses Zoom that day, and you did not check-in with us, they will be marked absent. Students who attend the meetings later than 10 minutes after the start time of the Zoom will be marked tardy. Students will also need to follow Zoom Etiquette rules while in Zoom with us. If they repeatedly disrespect the Zoom space, ignore the teachers’ warnings, we will have to remove them from the Meeting, and they will have to watch the recording to get the full lesson on their own. We only have one hour a day with them, and we need to get as much done as possible with the least amount of distractions. This ensures all students receive the education they need. These are the rules, and we need to stay in line with them. Again, Fridays will be a more appropriate time to socialize, and we created the Student Chat Room (a Google Classroom) so that they can stay connected with each other. We cannot tolerate disruptive or distracting behavior when our learning time is so limited and precious.


Students must complete online work daily. This is how we will be grading them. Assignments on Wonders and Studies Weekly will expire a week after they are due. Assignments on Google Classroom will not disappear, but will be counted as late if they are not turned in on the due date. In order to keep students’ grades up, the schedule needs to be followed, and the assignments need to be completed on the same dates they are assigned. The only exceptions to this are the Morning Journals, which will be submitted on the last week day of each month, and the Typing.com lessons, which need to be submitted every Friday.


Students need to follow a logical order of getting work done daily. They will need to either watch video lessons or attend Zoom Meetings (depending on the day) BEFORE they attempt to complete the work. These video lessons and the Zoom Meetings will teach them what they need to know before they do independent work to practice the skills and prove mastery. Video lessons for Math will be posted on Mondays and Wednesdays (since these days are ELA Zoom days), and video lessons for ELA will be posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays (since these days are Math Zoom days). We may also post videos on Fridays, should that be called for. After they watch the videos or attend Zoom, they will need to do the paperwork before the online assignments. They need the practice. This is how we would do it in the classroom, and we would all really like to see kids succeeding with their Distance Learning. Videos/Zoom, practice pages on paper, online assignments, in that order.


We will no longer be sending out a printed schedule. I will post a link to the Google Doc schedule on the 3rd Grade Website and in Class Dojo. You are welcome to print your own copy if that makes sense to you. Daily schedules will also be posted in The Classroom. We need flexibility with the schedule week by week, and we also don’t want you running back and forth to drop off materials and collect new ones.


Thank you for all that you are doing! We know that it is a lot, and we are grateful. We appreciate your diligent efforts to make this year a great success!



Sincerely,

Sequoia Union’s 3rd Grade Teachers



3rd Grade Website: www.sites.google.com/sequoiaunion.org/3rd-grade


Google Classrooms:


  • The Classroom: jmoqw4t


  • Question Box: 6wxtljd


  • Student Chat Room: 2a23ebd


Miss O’Brien’s email address: aobrien@sequoiaunion.org



Welcome Back! Welcome to 3rd Grade!


Dear Parents,

We are so excited to start back to school. Even though it is starting in a different manner than most of us had hoped; we will make it a great year. We have lots to do and lots to learn.

We will be with you every step of the way!

Miss O’Brien and Mrs. Foley will work closely together to make this a wonderful year for your child. Thank you for being a vital part of your child’s education. We could not do it without you!

Mrs. Foley has taught at Sequoia Union for several years in the Learning Lab. I will bring my best skills and patience to help our third graders perform up to grade level.

Miss O’Brien taught third grade at Sequoia Union last year and is ready to take on this moment in history called “Distance Learning” with heart!

Thank you again for entrusting your child to us!

Class DOJO

Information that you need to know will be communicated and updated regularly using Class DOJO. If we have major announcements, we will message you all. This ensures you are receiving information, even if you are not active on the 3rd Grade Website. We will need to get you logged on with us, which means we need your current email address. Please get this to us as soon as possible. If you do not have an email address, we will set you up with one at Orientation.

Clever

The Clever Portal is where your child will go to log in to their Sequoia Union websites. You can sign-in to Google Classroom, Moby Max, Nitro Type, and all sorts of other wonderful sites, all without needing the student’s log-in credentials. Pretty convenient, right? Get familiar with this icon. It is a blue square with a “C,” and it is found in the top right-hand corner of the Chrome Browser.

3rd Grade Website

https://sites.google.com/sequoiaunion.org/3rd-grade/home

This is where you will find a weekly schedule and materials that we will need your student to engage in while Distance Learning (such as educational videos, websites, and games). Our Zoom Meeting links can also be found here.

Google Classrooms

We have three Google Classrooms that you may use while we are Distance Learning:

  • The Classroom code: jmoqw4t

    • This is where all the digital assignments will be posted. Any assignment found on the schedule will be here. All of the subjects are separated into different topics under the “Classwork” tab. I will walk you all through how to navigate this page during a Zoom Meeting.

  • Question Box code: 6wxtljd

    • This is a space designated for all of your questions or comments about Distance Learning. You may ask all questions here. We will check the Question Box regularly to make sure all of your questions are answered (which also means you’ll need to check back for answers). Since we have this space designated for all your questions, you should not post any questions you have in “The Classroom.” Questions asked in “The Classroom” will make our work space messy and disorganized. If you put questions anywhere outside of “Question Box,” they will not be answered and will be deleted.

  • Student Chat Room code: 2a23ebd

    • This is where you are allowed to chat with each other, sort of like a digital recess. You can say, “Hi!” to your friends or share pictures and personal stories here. You must still be respectful and kind with your words. If you are unkind, you will be muted for a week or more. Have fun in “Student Chat Room” and stay connected to your friends.

Zoom

When we are on our regular schedule we will have daily ELA and Math lessons on Zoom.

We will have our first Welcome Back Zoom meeting Friday, August 7, at 10:00 A.M. We will have in-person Orientation Meetings the week of August 10th for Miss O’Brien, and the week of August 17th for Mrs. Foley. Our regular schedule will commence on August 24th.

We are still figuring a lot of this out, and really appreciate your patience. We would really love your input, too! How did Distance Learning work for you last year? How do you feel about paper packets? How do you feel about technology? Please, share your thoughts and feelings about this experience with us. We are happy to consider all your suggestions, comments, and concerns.

Best of luck, and please, let’s stay connected!

Kindly,

Ariane O’Brien