| Mrs. VanDerGinst |
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Absences – When your child is absent from school please help him or her complete all make up work as soon as possible. The general rule for missed work due to an absence is that the student has one day for each day absent to make up the work. Also for an absence or a tardy, the office needs a note when your child returns to school.
Bookbags – Please check your child’s bookbag every night. There will be a weekly schedule sent home on Fridays.
Weekly Schedules – Each Friday I will be sending home a schedule for the week. This will include dates for tests, reminders to bring books home to study, and other special information. Please look for this schedule each week so that you will be aware of what we are doing in class. The weekly schedule will help you plan ahead and set aside time for your child to study. Please keep in mind these schedules may change as the week’s progress.
Homework – Personal reading, practice spelling words 5-10 minutes, and practice math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and later division) 5-10 minutes. Any incomplete work from the day will be sent home as homework. Students must study and prepare for tests. Textbooks and a study guide will be sent home a day or 2 before the test depending on the subject.
Tests – There are a few more tests this year than what your child is accustomed to. Tests for the week are listed on the weekly schedule so the students will have time to prepare for studying. Please help your child study for the tests. I will ask you to sign any test that your child scores 75% or lower. That way you will know right away if there are any problems. Please do not panic if you have to sign a test. Test taking is a new skill you child has to learn. We will be focusing on test taking all year. You should see a big difference in the way your child takes a test at the beginning of the year compared to the end of the year. It is important for you to teach your child how to study at home. Good study habits start with you. Everything on the study guide will appear on the test, but it may be worded a little differently.
Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) – The ITBS will be given to all third graders beginning Monday, September 14th and ending by Friday, September 25th. Please make sure your child has plenty of sleep during that time period, a good breakfast, and brings a healthy snack to school.
Snacks – Students may bring a nutritious snack to school daily. Snack time is around 9:20. We will continue working while as we have the snack. Recess is at 10:00 and lunch isn’t until 12:20. Because our lunchtime is so late, I encourage you to send a snack every day.
Book Orders – About once a month a book order will be sent home. Ordering is optional. Please send cash or a check in a marked envelope. Checks should be made out to Scholastic Book Club.
Library – We will be going to the library once a week on Thursdays in the middle school. Library books should be returned to school on Wednesdays. Students need a personal reading book in their desks at all times. They may read books and keep them in their desks from the classroom library.
Birthday Treats – Your child is welcome to bring a treat for his or her birthday. Please send something simple and easy to handle. Summer birthdays will be celebrated in May. I will send a schedule home then. We have 18 students in 3V at this time.
Curriculum
Religion – I will be teaching religion 5 times a week. We will attend Mass once a week. We pray four times a day, in the mornings, before lunch, after lunch, and at the end of the day. We will also have a lesson once a week about Bullying as part of a school wide effort to eliminate bullying at Seton.
Reading – We will be spending about a week on each story with a test every Friday over comprehension. I want to encourage reading every day. Students are required to have a personal reading book in their desks at all times.
Spelling – We will practice writing the words on Monday. I will also send the spelling list home on Monday and the test will be on Friday. The spelling words correspond to the story we are reading.
English – We will be working on sentence & paragraph writing, capitalization & punctuation, and parts of speech (including nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs).
Writing – The entire school will be teaching the students how to write using the 6 Trait Program.
Math – Our math series encourages THINKING, not just doing math work. The problem solving (or story problems) will be challenging for many. Students should be reviewing addition and subtraction facts now and begin working on learning the multiplication facts.
Social Studies – We have a social studies book that focuses on Illinois. There is a lot of content in the books. You will be learning some things right along with your children as you help them study for the tests.
Science – Plants, animals, ecosystems, planets, and the phases of the moon are covered this year.
Handwriting – We will be reviewing the D’Nealian cursive letters. Once we have reviewed all the lower and upper case letters, we will write in cursive most of the time. I encourage neatness and legibility.
Physical Education – We have P.E. on Tuesdays and Fridays with Mr. Paget in the middle school. Gym shoes are required.
Art – We have art on Wednesdays at 10:20 with Mrs. Burau in the middle school.
Computer Lab – We will have computer lab on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons with Mrs. Vogel.
If you have any questions or concerns, please send a note with your child, or leave a message in the office at 757-5500.
