If you couldn't make it tonight, here are my brief notes:
Who am I?
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- I graduated with a masters from UVa with a dual
endorsement in elementary and special education.
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- My daughter, Bree, is also a 3rd grader
this year. Her favorite things this year
are writing and math.
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- My husband, Michael, teaches Chemistry at UVa
once per year, but his main focus is to help professors teach better. He helps me often!
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I have 2 year old golden retriever, Fergus. He really is a sibling to Bree, as they fight very similarly to me and my sisters!
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- This is my fourth year teaching third grade.
How do I manage the classroom?
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- We spend a great deal of time becoming a
community of learners. We are always reminding,
modeling, and showing each other the “how to’s” rather than focusing on “not”
behaviors.
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I use visual and auditory signals to get
attention.
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- I believe in positive reinforcement, so I award
students with pencils, erasers, notebooks, lunch with me, etc. for those
students who have done very well in class.
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- Each day, students are working towards a class
reward. This places a little peer
pressure on students who are not quite following directions.
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I believe that students should be in control of
their actions and be held responsible. I
ask students to monitor their own behavior in a variety of ways, which might be
different from student to student. Some
need a simple reminder of how to act appropriately. Others need to take a break to think about
behaviors.
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- I don’t automatically send students to the
principal for misbehavior. I prefer to
handle issues in my room, rather than sending them out.
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- I also don’t automatically send students to the
nurse. If they are complaining of a
headache, I ask them to drink 10 gulps of water and rest their eyes for a
moment. If they have a tummy ache, I ask
them what they ate and how fast. This
tends to stop any unnecessary nurse visits.
What are student expectations?
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- I expect students to come to school prepared to
learn. I realize there are circumstances
that prevent full participation, but I expect students to try their best.
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- If there are situations at home, please
communicate those to me. You wouldn’t
believe how something so simple bothers them.
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- As you may have noticed, I use the planner EVERY
day to write down homework. If you have
questions, please look at the planner, as it is modeled where and what to write
each day.
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- Our homework packet is due each Friday. There may be times when I give a piece of
homework outside of this packet, but that will be listed in the planner. I try to cover the material the week before
so they have had exposure to the information before practicing. That said, there are times when we are
covering the material that week, so this might be a time to wait until
Wednesday or Thursday night before doing that piece of the homework.
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- On Friday, students will gather with a friend or
two to check their homework, so you may or may not see my checkmarks.
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- As previously mentioned, if homework is not
completed, there will be a natural consequence.
For instance, students will do their homework while others participate
in free choice activities, Innovation Lounge, technology, etc.
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- Homework is the responsibility of your child…not
you! Give them a space in which to work
and 30-45 minutes each night. They will
be able to get everything done in that amount of time. Because this should be previously covered
material, they should have minimal questions.
I urge you to ask them to think about it before just diving in with help
and answers. Let them show you what they
know and then help. I am happy to answer
questions about homework anytime.
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- Look at my blog, if you have questions! I try to “teach” the parents the strategies
or information on my blog in case there are questions.
Misc:
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- We have a peanut allergy in the
class, so when planning treats, please plan appropriately. A simple popsicle works great!
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- If your child’s birthday is coming up, you will
likely get an email from me about any special “something” you would like to
do. Our time is quite limited, but we do
have a very small chunk of time between specials and lunch where we can
celebrate for 10 minutes.
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- Grading (80-100 is a 3 on a report card, which
means they are getting it), I try to review tests immediately afterwards. Notes will be sent home telling them and you
how they did. I also try re-teaching the
areas of problems…
- Groupings for extension and intervention are not taken lightly. The third grade team works together to determine who is in most need of both of these services. Second grade sends quite a few kiddos out of the room each day, but third grade is a little different. The academic requirements are so extensive that we need to make sure that those who do leave the room are getting exactly what they need in order to succeed.
A normal day:
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Review schedule
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Morning Meeting (discuss RC and MM components)
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LA – word study and reading groups
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Writing – begin the year with characters, then
setting, then problem and solution
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Science/SS
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Specials
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Callirobics/Cursive
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Math
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