Welcome to Mrs. Clark's Third Grade class website for 2016-2017!
Upcoming dates:
May 2nd- Interims
May 11th: Chorus Concert @6:30
May 12th: Early Dismissal @12:00
May 18th: Talent Show @ 6:30
May 29th: Memorial Day
June 1: Third Grade Fun Day
June 2: Class party day
June 5: Electronics and Bounce house fun
June 7th: Last day of school- Early dismissal @12
Purple Up for Military Kids is April 21st. This is a day that we encourage all students to wear purple to support our military kids.
Field Trip is April 6th to Sweet Pete's in Downtown Jacksonville. We will leave the school at approx. 9:45 and arrive back at school by 1:15. We will eat pizza when we get back to the school.
Friday is Fair Day so there will no school this Friday.
Next week will also be a four day week due to Good Friday, however, it is still really important that we stay focused due to the Math portion of the FSA being Wednesday and Thursday (April 12 & 13).
We have been working hard this year but even extra hard the last few weeks to prepare for the tests coming up. I believe your child is ready as long as they focus during the test and use all the strategies we have learned throughout the year. We have been practicing all these strategies the last few weeks on the reading passages you have seen come home. Please review them with your child, especially if you see that they are graded. If they are not graded, then we have done them together or in small groups and they have been checked. Have them share with you the way that we break down our passages using the UNWRAP strategy.
The students have been working on explaining why they chose the answer they did and why the other answers do not make sense. Have your child do this with you at home as well. I have modeled and modeled for them and then they have practiced and practiced doing this on their own.
FIELD DAY- March 17th- Please be sure your child dresses appropriately for our Florida weather that is obviously confused. Better to have a jacket/hoodie and be able to tie it around your waist than to be freezing. Parents are welcomed to come out and enjoy the fun. Our day will look like this:
8:30- Tug-O-War
9:30-10:45- Movie
10:49- 11:19- Lunch with Mrs. Clark
11:25- 11:50- Continue movie
12:00-2:15- Field Day Stations
FSA is right around the corner for us. Please be sure that you visit the website fsassessments.org to see what format the questions will be in. Walk your child through them to help them feel more comfortable.
Please be sure to spend some time with your child learning the FSA Vocabulary that we have been testing on. These are words that your child will see on the FSA and will need to know what they mean in order to answer questions accurately.
Poem reciting will be on January 26th! Be sure to study your Shel Silverstein poem!!
Please be sure to join our Facebook page! Search us by "MrsClark's ThirdGrade". I send out post for reminders and upcoming events throughout the week as well as post pictures of stuff we do at school.
You will be receiving in the Friday Folder on December 2nd a letter explaining our Winter Celebration before we leave for Christmas break. Please respond as soon as possible.
Holiday Shoppe is open week of November 28th. Our class will visit the shop on Friday, December 2nd.
Santa Breakfast will be Saturday, December 3rd. Please come out and support our PFA, which they have worked so hard this year in raising money and supporting our teachers.
FSA testing will start the Tuesday after Spring Break. Please be sure that you arrange any vacation plans for your child to be back in their routine at home by that Sunday with getting plenty of sleep. The first day back from a break is always a long, exhausting day for the students, however, we can not afford to not be focused on this day as it is the ELA portion of the test.
If you are on Facebook, our class now has a Facebook page that is private to only parents in our class.. You can find us by searching "MrsClark's ThirdGrade". Please do not use the Messenger part of this page. I do not have it set up, nor will I due to the fact that we still have email, phone and Focus Messenger as a way to contact me. I hope to be able to post pictures throughout the week so you can see what we are up to throughout the week.
Red Ribbon Week- October 24-28
Monday- Wear mismatched clothes
Tuesday- Wear neon colors
Wednesday- Wear crazy socks
Thursday- Wear favorite sports team
Friday- Wear as much red as possible
If your child is absent or tardy on Monday's, he or she is responsible to get the homework and spelling words for the week. Please be sure to remind them to ask for it.
If you want to order books throughout the school year, you can do so at any time. You will find a HUGE selection and each book will have either an AR level or IRL book level. Your child knows which level they are on.
Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: GR7RH
The Slush Puppy machine is back up and running finally! These are $1.00 each and proceeds go towards buying Chromebooks for classrooms. Students will be allowed to go at the end of the day (ONLY ON WEDNESDAY'S) after they are packed up. However, if behavior is not up to par in the classroom during the week, they will not be allowed to purchase one that week. It is a privilege to purchase one, not mandatory.
Interims will be officially posted on September 13th. Be sure to look at your child's progress. FSA test prep is already underway. Be sure to look at their Friday Folders each week and go over any graded papers with your child.
Open House has been changed to September 6th at 6:30. Please meet in the cafeteria to get information from Mr. Gerds.
Take a look around in all the pages located at the top. You will find our class schedule, resource schedule, and our lunch time. Note: All schedules are subject to change. You will also find any other class information you may need to know, including my grading system, homework for the week, information for each subject and important dates to remember.
Please feel free to contact me via email or phone with any questions or concerns. Return phone calls will be made between 2:50-3:10. Emails will be answered throughout the day. Please remember to sign the school's email release form that is located in the front office. I will not discuss specific grades via email, this will need to be done over telephone or in person at a scheduled conference time.
Also, be sure that you have access to our FOCUS Parent Portal that allows you to view your child's grades anytime. See front office staff for access.
I will use a CCSB approved reminder app this year to send text messages out that will remind you of important dates, schedule changes, project due dates, big test dates, etc... The app is called REMIND. If you text 81010 and send the message "@clclark15", it will set you up to be included in the group text. You are not able to reply to these messages and no one will be able to see your number or my number. All information will be kept confidential. You can also set it up to send it to your email as well. I used this app last year and it is AMAZING! It keeps the parents informed throughout the year when I have important information, deadlines or last minute classroom needs.
Please start helping your child to learn their multiplication times tables. We will start with 2's, then move into 5's. Your child will be expected to record their answers within seconds of being given the problem orally. Speed is also a factor!!! This skill is something that your child will need to work on at home. We will not be able to work on rote memorization and speed in class. All facts need to be memorized by Christmas break.
Have you thought about adopting our class???? Have you thought about getting a local business to donate to our classroom???? We would love some new books on CD for our Listening center and some new chair pockets (they go on the back of the chairs to hold books) and other supplies we may need later in the year. If you need more information or need an application, please go to the DIS website and click on Adopt-a-Classroom. Thank you for considering supporting our classroom!!
PLEASE BE SURE THAT YOUR CHILD WRITES THEIR NAME ON ALL HOMEWORK PAPERS. ANY HOMEWORK TURNED IN THAT DOES NOT HAVE A NAME ON IT WILL FIND ITS WAY IN THE TRASH (after the first 5 weeks). I WILL DEDUCT 5 POINTS FROM ANY GRADED PAPERS IF THERE IS NO NAME.. AS YOU CAN SEE, THIS IS A HUGE PET PEEVE OF MINE. I ALWAYS TELL THE STUDENTS AT LEAST TWICE, IF NOT THREE TIMES TO PUT THEIR NAME AND DATE ON THEIR PAPER BEFORE WE BEGIN. SOMETIMES I EVEN HAVE THEM REPEAT IT TO ME. SO THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSES!