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Reading 20 Minutes at Home


Dear Parents,

Up until now, a large part of your child's school day has been spent learning to read. In third grade, a shift occurs where your child will begin reading to learn. Meaning now that your child can skillfully read books, they will start getting more enjoyment and information from reading.

In our classroom we spend about an hour each day doing Reader's Workshop. At this time your child will be reading their leveled book from the library, reflecting or responding to what they have read, and also conferencing with me about their reading. This is a very important part of our day and your child's library books are the key to making this time meaningful.

For this reason, I've asked that your children do not take their library books home for their 20 minutes of nightly reading. When kids take their library books home, 2 things are likely to occur which impact the effectiveness of Reader's Workshop:

1. They forget their book at home and have nothing to read during Reader's Workshop.

2. They finish their books at home and spend most of their Reader's Workshop time down in the LMC looking for new books.

Your child's nightly reading is like the icing on the cake, a bonus to all the purposeful reading they have done here at school. You're probably wondering what your child can read for their nightly 20 minutes... here are some ideas:

• They can borrow a book from our classroom library.
• They can read books that you have at home. Reading with siblings and parents is a great way to spend those 20 minutes.
• They can read books from the public library.
• They can read children's magazines that you might subscribe to.
• Anything else that you feel is appropriate reading for your child!

Please let me know if you have any questions about this change from last year! :)



Binders

This year we are staying organized with binders. 3M students will bring these to and from school every day. It's very important that they are never left at home!

Here is an overview of each binder section:


WHITE FOLDER = DOLPHIN FOLDER
The white folder is our Dolphin Folder this year. We labeled it as such this morning.

Things that are in the 'Take Home' side need to stay at home. Things that need to be completed and brought back to school are on the 'Return to School' side.


OTTER CREEK FOLDER
Your child can practice their Otter Creek level by using a dry erase marker with the plastic sleeve. The leveled pages should NOT be written on or taken out of this folder.


WTW TAB DIVIDER
Your child's spelling words will be in a baggie and stored in this pocket. They will also write their list on a piece of paper. They can use either of these to study their spelling words during the week.

Occasionally, there might be a spelling page that we are working on together in class. This is not homework, it's class work. Homework will always be in the White/Dolphin folder.


ALL OTHER TAB DIVIDERS
We will keep all of our classwork in these tabs. This work should not be completed at home or left at home.


If you have any questions, your child should be able to explain it. If they aren't sure, feel free to email me! :)





Graded Work Folders

Every week (usually on Thursday) your child will bring home a folder of the graded work they have completed.

Please remove the papers, sign the front, and return it to school the next day. These papers will give you a good idea of what to expect on your child's progress reports and report card.



Grading Scale
Third Grade is a transition year from the primary to the intermediate grades. One of the biggest differences is that you will have letter grades on your report card now. This is the grading scale that 3rd, 4th & 5th grade uses:

A    100 - 91%

B     90 - 81%

C     80 - 71%

D     70 - 65%

F      64% and below