Dear Family, Welcome to our third grade classroom! It is indeed a pleasure to have your child in my class.

To start off the year right, I am giving you the ABCs of Third Grade that has been assembled to help you understand our homework requirements in conjunction with other vital information that will enable us to make this a very positive and rewarding year. I feel as though open lines of communication between the parent, student, and teacher are the key to promoting an educational climate that is conducive to learning. I am looking forward to working with you and your child. We are a team. Together we can make a difference! You can help by sending well-rested children with full tummies and a hug and a kiss still fresh on their minds to school. This sets the stage for a great day. You may also help by reviewing your childs homework at night. Hopefully they can do the practice independently, but its always nice for parents to review as well. Please feel free to contact me at any time if there is a question or situation you would like to discuss. You will receive additional communication throughout the school year. I look forward to building a relationship with you and your child and thus providing the best education that we are capable of giving. Thank you for your support. I cant do it without you! Sincerely, XXX

The ABCS of Third Grade

A is for Absences: You must provide a written excuse or doctors note for all absences. Absences without an excuse will be counted as unexcused. Written excuses must be turned in within three days. Agenda: Agendas need to be reviewed nightly. Words to know will be written in the agendas. Check the agendas for homework that may be added in addition to the homework ticket. Please check the agendas for important information. Attendance: Perfect Attendance will be recognized at the end of each grading period as well as the end of the year. Lets strive for perfect attendance. Allergies: Please notify me of any allergies your child might have. AR (Accelerated Reader): Accelerated Reader is a reading program designed to encourage students to read each night. AR is a requirement in third grade. Students will read AR books and take the tests to earn points. Most library books and most of the stories out of the reading book are AR books. Your child will set a personal goal for each nine weeks. Books are worth a variety of points (.5 to 5 points). Your child will have numerous opportunities to read and earn his or her points for the nine-weeks. Please encourage your child to use reading time wisely. This is a great way to make sure your child is increasing his/her reading level. I will encourage your child to read at his/her level and a little above. Students are expected to read at least one Accelerated Reader each week. B if for Behavior Log: In order for our classroom to run smoothly, certain behaviors are expected. There is a sheet in the front of the communicator folder for you to review daily that will let you know of times your childs behavior did not meet our schools expectations. Bookbags: Please have your child bring his/her bookbag every day. Please check them every night and take out any papers that should stay home. Birthdays: Birthdays will be recognized in class. You are permitted to send in small

treats for your childs birthday if you would like. We will enjoy them at lunch time. Please notify me in advance if you will be sending in treats. Birthday Invitations: Birthday invitations may be passed out at school if EVERY student in the room will be receiving an invitation. Many students were upset last year when they did not receive an invitation. (The only exception to the rule is if you are only inviting all the boys or all the girls!) Breakfast: It is very important that your child eat a good breakfast every morning. Students have the option of eating breakfast in the cafeteria. Student breakfast costs $0.75. C is for Car riders: If you choose to pick up your child they will be dismissed from the cafeteria starting at 3:15. You will need a sign for your car. These are available in the front office. Caught Being Good: I catch students being good all day. When caught they are to fill out a strip and place it in the container. Two or three of these are drawn each day. Students drawn receive a treat from the basket. I try to keep a variety of prizes in the basket (candy and noncandy treats). Celebrations: We are allowed two celebrations each year. We will have a party to celebrate winter holidays and the end of the school year. More information will be sent home as we approach the dates for these occasions. Checking out a child: You must go to the office to check out your child. Children checked out before 11:30 a.m. will be counted absent for the day. There will be no check outs of children between 3:00 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. We have so many children moving through the building for dismissal at this time that we cannot do individual check outs. Checking Pen: We practice throughout the week on many various skills. We go over as much as possible in class. When we do go over practice material your child is given a pen to check his/her work as we go over it. They are supposed to give themselves a check if they got the correct answer. If they got an incorrect answer, they are to write the correct answer with their pen. If you see a lot of ink on their paper, either they made quite a few mistakes or they did not do their work at the appropriate time and they are filling it in as we go. There is no reason for their practice work to be blank, especially if we review it in class. Please watch for this when you review your childs work on Friday.

Conferences: We will have two scheduled conferences this year that are mandatory. One will be held in October and the other in March. I am available for additional conferences at your request. Please let me know, and we will work out a convenient time. I will also let you know if I need to schedule an additional conference with you. Communication: It is very important for us to communicate with each other about your child. I welcome you to contact me by whatever means is most convenient for you. You may come by or call the school, email me at HYPERLINK "mailto:dana.kitchens@walton.k12.ga.us" XXXXXXX, or send a note in the homework folder. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Emailing me is great because I check it before school and after school each day. Communicator folders: Folders will be sent home daily and should be reviewed for notes, announcements, etc. This is where I will look for lunch money, bus notes, excuses, permission slips, notes from you, etc. Each Friday, the folder will contain student work from the week, next weeks homework ticket, information from the administration, and your class newsletter. Please look through your childs work to see if he/she had a difficult time on any topic. Go over the papers with your child and help him/her understand the importance of trying hard and doing his/her best. Keep all papers at home. Also, folders will contain weekly newsletters. The newsletter will let you know the information needed for the upcoming week. CRCT: Your child will take the CRCT in April. Third grade is a benchmark year for this test. In order to pass third grade, your child must pass the reading portion of the CRCT. The student must read the entire test by himself/herself and answer the questions. I will not be allowed to read any portion of the test. D is for Discipline: The rules and discipline plan for our school are located in the agenda. The rules are strictly enforced, and you will be notified if your child is having a difficult time with any rules. Please check the behavior chart in front of the homework folder for daily updates. Hopefully, your childs behavior log will come home with very few marks each day! E is for Early arrivals: School doors open at 8:00 to admit children. Teachers and other staff are preparing for class, in meetings, or having conferences before this time. F is for Field Trips: As field trips are planned an information letter/permission slip will be sent

home. Please return these as soon as possible. Children may not attend field trips without guardian permission. As space allows, we will need adult family members to help chaperone these trips. If you agree to chaperone, you will be assigned a small group of students to supervise throughout the trip. Please do not plan to bring younger children with you. We want to focus on the students enjoyment and learning during the experience. Food: We do not have snack time. Please do not send any food with your child.

G is for Gum and candy: Candy is not permitted at school. Please have your child enjoy this at home. There are times these are used as a reward, but I will supply it on those occasions. H is for Homework: Homework tickets will be included in communicator folders each Friday for the following week. This work will be due the following Friday morning. Please see that all homework is turned in by the due date. Reading will need to be done every night. On average, homework for each night should never take your child more than thirty minutes. If it is taking longer for any reasons please let me know. I do not want homework to be a burden. I is for Ice cream: Each Monday your child may purchase as many ice-cream tickets as he/she would like for the week. Ice cream is $0.50. Please send money in an envelope or plastic baggie with your childs name on it and designate what the money is for ice cream. I am sorry, but I am unable to make change for you. J is for Jackets: The temperature in our room is often hard to regulate. Please send a light jacket or sweater with your child if they are easily chilled. K is for Kindness: All children at XXXX will be treated with kindness. We encourage the children to treat friends with kindness. L is for Late arrivals: After 8:30 a student is considered late and needs to be escorted in to the office by a parent. He/she must have a tardy slip to enter class.

Lunch: Lunch is served daily in the cafeteria and costs $1.50. You may send in money daily, or prepay on a weekly or monthly basis. PLEASE send money in an envelope or plastic baggie with the childs name and student number on it. Students have two choices on most days. Please check the lunch menu before your child comes to school to make sure he/she can make their selection. We eat lunch at 11:37. Please feel free to join your child for lunch.

M is for Math: Please look over your childs math and read notes that go home about how to solve problems. You will see that your child is completing math differently than the way you may have learned. Medicines: Medicine can be administered to your child if all of the following conditions are met: Signed permission to administer medicine is on file. The medicine must be delivered to school nurse by parent. The medicine must be in the original container. Money: Lunch money needs to be put in an envelope and labeled with: your childs name, teachers name, and lunch number. All other money needs to be put in an envelope and labeled for its purpose. (field trip, t-shirt, etc.) You do not have to put ice cream money in an envelope. When we have book orders, only checks will be accepted. These checks need to be made out to the company. Each order form will require separate checks because I will mail them to separate places. (example: Scholastic, Lucky, etc.) I am sorry, but I am unable to make change for you. N is for Names: Please put your childs name on ALL items brought to school (lunch boxes, jackets, backpacks, etc.) Newsletter: A newsletter will be sent home each Friday with the upcoming weeks events. Please read the newsletter and keep it at home in a safe place. The newsletter will need to be easily accessed throughout the week. O is for Open door: There is an open door policy in our classroom. Please sign in at the office whenever you come to our room and wear a visitors pass. This is for the safety of both the children and teachers. When visiting please try to avoid disrupting the learning

taking place in the classroom. P is for Pictures: Individual and class pictures will be taken during the school year. Information will be sent home at the appropriate time. P.E.: Students must wear rubber soled tennis shoes in order to participate in the new gym. The gym has hardwood floors, and other shoes will damage the floor. P.T.O.: Please join PTO! Meetings are held monthly in the evening. This is a great way to be involved in your childs school. Q is for Quiet: During the morning pledge and announcements, everyone is quiet. Students, teachers, and parents in the building stop what they are doing and listen quietly to all announcements before continuing to their destination. R is for Reading: It is so important for your child to read every night. Your children are not too old to still enjoy you reading to them! Report cards: Report cards are sent home at the end of each nine week period. Please review the report card and sign the report card envelope. You may keep the report card. Recess: Students are taken outside for recess when weather permits. S is for School hours: Our school day begins at 8:30. Your child will be marked tardy after 8:30. Our day ends at 3:15. Schedule: Third grade has a very busy schedule. Please review the schedule when making any type of appointments for your child. SCHEDULE POSTED HERE

Specials Schedule:

T is for

Transportation: You must notify me in writing if your child is not going home the way he/she usually does. For safety reasons, I cannot accept the word of your child. If I do not receive a note, I will send your child home his/her usual way. In order for a child to leave school with an adult, their name must be on the approved list. Make sure the person you send to pick your child up is on the list. You may go to the office and add or delete at any point in the year. Tests: There are several assessments given most every Friday. Words to Know Test: Please help your child prepare for this test. Reading Comprehension/ Vocabulary Test: There is a test for each story testing how well students remember what they have read. Children may use their books. Grade Level Passage: This is a third grade reading passage students have not seen before, and they must answer comprehension questions with no assistance. Grammar: The weekly grammar skill will be listed in the newsletter. Toys: Students are not allowed to bring toys to school. Toys will be taken up a parent can come to the school and collects the toy. U is for Unexcused absences: Absences will be unexcused if a written explanation is not turned in within three days. Please see agendas for the Walton County policy on excused and unexcused absences. V is for Volunteers: Volunteers are always welcome! We need people to help out in all areas of our school. Visitor pass: When visiting or volunteering in the school, you must go to the office, sign in, and get a name tag. Please wear this where it is visible. If you do not have one, you will be asked to go to the office to get one. Again, this is for the safety of our students and staff.

W is for Water Bottles: I encourage children to bring in a water bottle to keep on their desks at school. It is very important to keep hydrated, especially during this hot weather! I do prefer either a squirt bottle or flip top to minimize spills. PLEASE have your child bring in water and not tea, soda, juice, etc. This includes flavored waters.

Weather: Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather. Wish lists: A list of items needed in the room will be sent home periodically throughout the year. You are not required to buy any of the items. Please only send in what you want and do not feel like you must send in every item. All items donated to our class are appreciated. Thank you!

XYZ is for We are very happy to have your child in Third grade this year. It will be an exciting year and will zoom by!!