Third Grade

Arrival

It is important that your child arrives on time to school every day. The children are picked up from the Auditorium at 8:00 AM. First period begins promptly at 8:00 AM. Lateness will result in missing instructional time.

Dismissal

Students will be dismissed from the main entrance at 2:20 PM.

Important: If there will be a change in your child’s regular dismissal procedure, please notify the teacher in writing. We cannot accept changes to dismissal through ClassDojo messages.

Absent Days

If your child is absent, please send in a note on the day they return to school. The note should include the date(s) of absence and reason. If your child went to the doctor, please get a note from the doctor.

Birthday Parties

• Please provide notice to the teacher one week in advance.
• Parties will be celebrated in the classroom, in the afternoons, at 1:30 when possible. They should last about 20 minutes.
• Any food provided must be individually wrapped.
• Goody bags may not be distributed.
• Parents may attend, but siblings of any age may not attend.
• We are a NUT FREE classroom. All food items must be labeled with ingredients.

School Uniform

P.S. 52 follows the School Uniform Policy. Students are required to wear their school uniform Monday-Thursday.

We will have gym on Monday and Wednesday. On these Gym Days, students may wear PS 52 Phys Ed pants or shorts. Sneakers must be worn.

Homework

Homework will be assigned Monday - Thursday. It will be posted on ClassDojo and students will have a paper copy glued into their Homework Notebook (green).

Please make sure to initial their homework sheet. This assures us that your child’s homework was reviewed by a parent.

State Tests

This year in 3rd grade, there are 2 New York State Exams that your child will be taking for the first time. They will be on the computer.

• ELA - TBA
• Math - TBA

Our Daily Schedule

• Morning Work/Orton-Gillingham
• ELA Instruction
• Reading Stations
• Lunch
• Math Instruction
• Writing

A “Specialty Class” at some point in the day.

Specialty Classes

Your child will have specialized teachers for the following subjects:

• Science - Mrs. Olivieri (Tuesday & Thursday)
• Gym - Mr. Caputo/Ms. Arteaga (Monday & Friday)
• Social Studies - Ms. Tufte (Thursday)
• Music - Mr. Savage (Wednesday)

Please be sure that your child is prepared with gym clothes and sneakers.

Literacy - HMH Into Reading

HMH Into Reading will be our reading program this year. It helps students develop reading skills, writing, discussion, and builds their academic vocabulary.

How the Assessments Work

• HOW: ALL of the assessments are scored based on the END of the year standards.
• WHY: In order to properly show growth, ALL of the module assessments compare your child’s ability within the same repeating standards THROUGHOUT the year.
• WHAT: It will measure the growth OVER TIME. The earlier assessments to the later assessments will show growth over time within specific categories.

Into Reading Focus Wall

• Big Idea Words: individuality, unique, feature, personality
• Essential Question: What makes a character interesting?
• Reading Skill - Theme: The main message, moral, or lesson in a text

Featured Books

• Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match
• Zach Jumps In!
• Judy Moody, Mood Martian
• Stink and the Freaky Frog Freakout
• Scaredy Squirrel

The Orton-Gillingham Approach

We will be using the “OG” program daily to help students become better readers by connecting letters with their sounds.

Writing Workshop

Writing is based on the HMH Writing Workshop. We will be working on different types of writing pieces throughout the year. Each writing piece will revolve around a 3 week cycle. All lessons will build upon one another so that students can achieve success.

Module 1: Personal Narrative

Zearn

Assignments are aligned with Eureka lessons. Zearn reinforces class lessons and challenges your child’s thinking.

www.zearn.org

Measuring Student Learning

Math

• Pre-Assessments (Topic Quiz, MAP Assessment)
• Mid-Module Task Assessments
• End Module Task Assessments
• Informal Observation during small group instruction
• Exit/Entrance Tickets

Reading

• MAP Assessments
• HMH Week 1 and Week 3 Assessments
• Edmentum
• Writing Tasks
• Informal Observations during small group instruction
• Guided Reading Instruction

Grading System

• ME - Exceeds Standards (Pass | 95-100 | Rubric 5): Passing with distinction in this particular area. Student excels in grade-level standards independently without teacher support.
• MA - Above Standards (Pass | 85-94 | Rubric 4): Passing in this particular area. Student needs little teacher support to excel in grade-level standards taught thus far.
• MT - Meeting Standards (Pass | 75-84 | Rubric 3): Passing in this particular area. Student requires more teacher support yet shows mastery in grade-level standards taught thus far.
• MP - Approaching Standards (Pass | 65-74 | Rubric 2): Passing in this particular area. Student requires frequent support. Student does not show mastery of grade-level standards taught thus far. Student is working within grade-level standards but falls slightly behind.
• MB - Below Standards (Fail | 64 and below | Rubric 1): Failing in this particular area. Student requires frequent support and has no mastery in the particular area. Student is working on standards one or more grade levels below the student’s current grade level.

Report Card Grades (Grades 3-5)

Students will receive a STARS report card that will report mastery-based grades only (ME, MA, MT, MP, MB) for OVERALL grades and for each competency indicator. OVERALL grades are based on the following percentages.

• Classwork: Completion of tasks; stamina; articulation of thinking, conference notes, checklists, exit slips, self-assessment, peer-assessment, progress notes, etc.
• Participation: Turn & talk, peer assessment, group work
• Effort: Tries to the best of their ability

Reading

• 40% Module, Selection, Weekly Assessments
• 20% Formative Assessments
• 20% Classwork
• 20% Participation

Writing

• 20% Word Work
• 40% Published Writing
• 20% Classwork
• 20% Participation

Math

• 30% End-Module Assessments
• 30% Mid-Module/Topic Quizzes
• 20% Classwork
• 20% Participation

Social Studies/Science/Music

• 20% Projects/Assessments
• 30% Formative Assessments
• 25% Classwork
• 25% Participation

Reward Systems

• School-Wide Individual Yellow Tickets = School Store Purchases
• 25 ⭐ Table Points = Fun Lunch for the Table

Class Dojo

We will be using ClassDojo for communication purposes.

Please know that we cannot check messages while we are teaching, but will check them on our preps, so if there is something we need to know immediately, please call the school at 718-351-5454.

We cannot accept messages about a change in dismissal through Dojo. Please write a note, if you know in advance, or call the main office, if it is a spur of the moment change.