Parent Information Night –

Third Grade

2016-2017

Welcome to Third Grade

We are so excited to get to know your child! This year

students will embark on new experiences and will learn

many new skills. This orientation is intended to give you

a glimpse of the concepts and expectations that third

graders will be responsible for. We look forward to an

amazing year!

Meet Our Team….

• Cassandra Boone –Room 33

• Alicia Osen –Room 32

• Stacy Mills –Room 35

• Beth Burton –Room 37

• Stephanie McLennan -Room 36

• Jill Freel – Room 38

• Melissa Marshall – Room 39

Expectations and Take-Home Folder

• Your child will have graded papers and important SCE

information that will come home on Tuesdays.

PBIS and Discipline Management We believe strongly at Creech that desired behaviors are shaped through systematic positive reinforcement and explicit teaching of desired behaviors. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, PBIS, is a framework that focuses on teaching and reinforcing expectations for students and staff through development of a common language among all staff and students. In all areas of the building and in all settings, students at Creech are expected to BARK, as our mascot Comet barks! Creech Comets: Be Respectful Act Responsibly Ready to learn Keep Safe Students are recognized for meeting expectations in a variety of ways. In the classroom and throughout the building, students earn BARK Bucks which can be redeemed for various privileges and opportunities throughout the year. Students and staff are also encouraged to recognize each other’s acts of kindness by expressing gratitude on our Creech Kindness Tree. Each nine weeks, administrators will also host grade level assemblies to celebrate accomplishments and recognize individual students. Should a student’s behavior warrant redirection, each teacher will follow the consequence continuum

for minor infractions. Our focus is on communication with the student’s parent so that we may work

cooperatively to reinforce desired behaviors in the classroom.

Grade level Consequence

Continuum

We strive for a positive and engaging learning environment each day at Creech.

For behavior that disrupts the learning environment, the following redirections

will be provided to the student. Some infractions, however, will result in an

immediate office referral, per Katy ISD Discipline Management Plan and Student

Code of Conduct.

1st infraction: Verbal warning, redirection

2nd infraction: Individual Teacher/Student conference; reteaching of expectation

3rd infraction: Reflection Note/Stop and Think activity. Copy of completed

activity sent home to parent and parent notified.

4th infraction: Parent contact via phone, email, or conference.

5th infraction: For the same repeated behavior that is continuing despite the

redirections provided above, an office referral will result.

3rd Grade B.A.R.K. Menu

Stinky Feet 10

Stuffed Animal 10

Hat 10

No Homework Pass 15

Pick a Brain Break 20

Wall of Fame 30

No Track for a Week 30

Lunch with the Teacher 30

Token Machine 40

Extra Recess 50

Weekly 3rd Grade Weebly

Curriculum

The Katy ISD curriculum can now be accessed online via the

district website under the “PARENTS” tab – curriculum search –

Elementary, curriculum search.

This year your third grader will be building upon the skills they

learned in second grade as well as learning new material. We will be

taking the strategies they are familiar with and expanding on them to

help students tackle work of increased difficulty.

Grading Periods for the 1st Semester

Grading

Period

Date Progress

Report Goes

Home

Report Card

Goes Home

First August 22-October 14 Tuesday

Sept. 20

Friday

Oct. 21

Second October 17-December 16 Tuesday

Nov. 15

Friday

Jan. 6

Conferences

A parent conference will be held in the Fall with

your child’s teacher(s). A second conference with your

child’s homeroom teacher or switch teacher can be

scheduled if needed. We look forward to these personal

meetings and view them as an opportunity to learn

more about your child as well as celebrate his/her

progress in third grade.

Birthday Treats/Invitations

As stated in the Creech Student Handbook and also noted in the Katy ISD

Student Code of Conduct and Discipline Management Plan (available online

www.katyisd.org, under Quick Links: Policies/Code of Conduct/Forms tab),

birthday treats may be shared with the child’s classmates on his/her birth date.

These treats will be served during the last 10 minutes of the instructional day.

The treat is limited to one item per classmate and it is preferred that the treat be a

single-serve item (i.e. cupcake, cookie, etc.) so that it can be served, eaten, and

cleaned up within the 10 minutes allotted. It is strongly encouraged that the

birthday treat be store-bought with ingredient labels brought to the campus for

allergen review. Birthday treats must be delivered to the school no later than

10am to be reviewed by the nurse and delivered to the classroom.

Per GKDA (REGULATIONS), invitations for birthday parties or other

special events are defined as non-school related materials and may

not be distributed to students at school since no other flyers from

similar groups are allowed to be directly distributed to students.

MathStudents must know their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.

Students will also be working on more complex word problems:

• That often require more than one step or operation

• That will require them to always show how they solve problems in order to help

teachers to identify areas of weakness.

• Reading skills will also be very important to help them be successful in math.

Skills covered:

• Place value

• Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division

• Graphing

• Financial literacy

• Geometry

• Fractions

• Measurement

They will be responsible for taking the Math STAAR test this year.

Reading

• Student will study many different genres.

• While second grade focused primarily on fluency and finding information clearly stated in the text, 3rd graders will be focusing more on the elements of fiction:

• Author’s purpose

• Stated and unstated meanings in the text.

• Inferencing

• Character development

• Main idea and supporting details

• Point of View

• Plot

• Theme

• Setting

• Conflict (problem/solution)

• They will be exposed to a variety of novels that will both expand their knowledge base and build their stamina.

They will be responsible for taking the Reading STAAR test this year.

Writing

This year students will learn what the process is to publish a successful essay.

They will publish essays in a variety of genres including:

• narrative (personal story)

• expository (explaining something)

The language arts element is weaved into the writing process as students are responsible for:

• correctly spelling words (using the dictionary, word walls, and other resources to assist them when necessary)

• sentence structure

• capitalization

• properly paragraphing their essays

Grading Policies

The third grade teachers will implement the following late policy:

Late Class Assignments and Homework =

1 Day late = 10 points off

2 Days late = 20 points off

3 Days late = 30 points off

*After 3 days of not turning in class work or homework, the student will be asked to stay for ZAP Lab. ZAP Lab is held each Wednesday after school in the library. ZAP stands for “Zeroes Aren’t Permitted.” Please note that after ZAP lab, assignments will be collected and they will be scored based on what has been completed with the appropriate number of points taken off.

Planner

The planner is used to keep your child organized. It can

be purchased at the beginning of the school year. It is the

students’ responsibility to write homework in their planners

daily. Teachers may also write notes to parents in the

student’s planner. All students bring their planners home

each night, and we ask that parents sign to show that you

have seen the assigned homework and checked that it was

completed. If you see that assignments are not being written

in the planner please discuss the importance of this with

your child and let the teacher know.

Thank You for Coming

If you have any questions…please contact us.