To: Third Grade Parents of St. Joseph School

Date: August 4, 2021

RE: Policies and Procedures

Due to new regulations and safety precautions, school doors will open at 7:30. All students will go directly to their classroom. Breakfast will be available beginning at 7:30 in the cafeteria.

Each student is required to keep a book for silent reading in his/her desk at all times. Books may be “checked out” from the classroom or brought from home. Based on your child’s needs and reading level, he/she will be required to take an AR test once a book is completed.

Assignment Notebooks are distributed to each child. Assignments are to be written down each day as well as any upcoming events and tests. Your initials are requested for each day that assignments are brought home and completed. When the child brings back their assignment notebook with your initials and completed work, he/she receives a sticker. After ten stickers are earned, the student will be rewarded with a treat from the treasure chest. This is a tool used to motivate and encourage responsibility.

Students are encouraged to bring a healthy snack and water bottle to school daily.

Your child will continue learning cursive writing. Handwriting Without Tears is designed to make cursive writing easier for students. Each child will have their own Cursive Success book and will participate in multi sensory lessons which are built into the program to enhance the child's ability to write the letters correctly. Please provide opportunities for your child to practice cursive writing at home.

Spelling Words are from the third grade curriculum guide. The students will be expected to define the words, sort the words with similar patterns, use the words in sentences, etc…

Make – Up Work: If your child is absent, please contact the school office by 9:00 am and let someone know you are requesting your child’s work for that day. You may pick up the missed assignments in the afternoon or we can send the work home with a sibling. If you would rather the student get his/her work the next day, no contact in needed.

If you would like to have lunch with your child, please call the school by 9:00 to allow the cafeteria time to prepare your meal. *Due to new regulations, parents are not allowed to eat with the students until further notice.

Birthdays may be celebrated by sending in a snack to be shared during lunch or in the classroom. Please pre-cut large cookie cakes.

Parent Communication: School to Home Envelopes will be sent home on Wednesday. It will contain any papers that have been graded or checked from the previous week. Please take time to sit down with your child and go over their work. This is one way in which you are able to see how your child is doing. Please make sure the envelope is sent back to school the next day.

The daily communicator is a blue folder. This is sent home each night with homework, notes, special event reminders, etc... If you send lunch money to school, SACC money to school, notes to the teacher, etc… please put them in this blue folder.

Third Grade News: (Field trips, assignments, deadlines, reminders, etc…) can be viewed on the St. Joseph Website. Please go to www.stjosephschoolbg.org and click on the Staff button. Find the correct teacher and click. Once you are on my web page you will be able to send me an e-mail and view the information I have posted. Please e-mail me if you have any questions or concerns about the web page. If you do not have access to the internet, please let me know and I will provide you with a printed copy.

• Students will continue to learn the multiplication facts 0-12. Please encourage your child to study the facts daily in order to master them quickly. Students will be rewarded after they have completed all levels of multiplication (including the bonus round). *Please ask your child about the “Multiplication is Sweet” interactive bulletin board. My goal is to have every student master the multiplication facts before they enter 4^th grade (and not forget them over the summer)!

• Your child should spend no more than 30 min. a night on homework (more time may be needed if other tests are given in the same week). Homework will usually consist of studying spelling words, grammar, math, and studying for other content area tests. Any unfinished work may also be sent home as homework or completed during recess if your child is not using his/her time wisely. Please encourage your child to read 30 min. per night.

Friday Tests:The students will take a Grammar Assessment and Spelling Test every Friday unless otherwise noted on the web page. The tests are graded and sent home in their “school to home” envelopes the following Wednesday. The students will have the opportunity to correct and return any test grade which is 70% or lower. A parent signature is required. They will earn points for each correction.

Reading assessments will be on Thursday.

If you would like to have a conference, please feel free to contact me and I would be happy to set up a time to meet with you. My e-mail address is sovermohle@stjosephschool.org. I check my e-mail at least once per day, usually in the afternoon!!

My goal is to encourage your child to do his/her best and be proud of the person God intended them to be!

I hope this gives you a good overview of what to expect in third grade. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me. I am looking forward to a great year!