A New School Year

Third graders can look forward to an exciting school year. I have adopted a new learning plan called "cooperative learning". As part of the plan, the children will sit at tables instead of desks. They will work with three other children on many projects throughout the year. The objective for cooperative learning groups is for the children to learn how to get along while working together.

Every afternoon, the children will use planners to record their homework assignments. I will write the information on the board. The children then copy the information into their planners. At first, I will check each student's planner to make sure all the infomation has been copied. Eventually, I will expect the children to be responsible to copy the infomation without my help.

ISTEP+ testing is scheduled the week of September 14. Please help me help the children remain stress-free during this process. I will have more information to share about ISTEP+ at our Back to School Night.

As a class, we will read at least four different Accelerated Reader chapter books, beginning with Sarah, Plain and Tall. The children will have an opportunity to discuss each chapter, as well as learn new vocabulary words.

Third graders will be Reading Buddies to the children in our Pre-K program. Participating in the Reading Buddies program has shown to improve both reading comprehension and vocabulary of the older student readers . It also gives young readers the chance to develop a love of reading as they begin taking Accelerated Reader tests.

Third grade will follow the same new writing and grammar program as fourth through eighth grades. In adddition, we will use a vocabulary book on a weekly basis, rather than a spelling book with a weekly spelling test.

Please look for an information letter in your child's new red homework folder on the first day of school, Tuesday, August 19.

I look forward to meeting you at our ice cream social. As you can see, we are going to have an exciting year with many new experiences.

Mrs. Sue Schneider