Mrs. Morris’s Class

Classroom Management There are 4 possible colors each day: Ocean of Good Behavior= Green, good behavior all day Yellow- 1 warning for behavior Blue- 2 warnings for behavior, 5 minute time out Red- 3 warnings for behavior, 10 minute time out, yellow slip/ red slip, parent contact Assignment notebooks need to be checked daily and signed only if your student is not on green

Panther Paw Rooms Students will be given a panther paw when they are seen doing something good or being a good role model to their classmates. They may save up their paws to pay to get into one of the fun Panther Paw rooms on Panther Paw Friday (3 rd Friday of every month)

Specials Schedule P.E. = Monday and Wednesday- Be sure your student wears P.E. friendly shoes to school Music= Tuesday and Thursday Library= Friday Computer= Friday

Thursday Folders Thursday folders are sent home with notes, newsletters and graded homework every Thursday. All papers, unless otherwise noted, are yours to keep.

Lunch drop offs All lunches must be dropped off by 11:00 daily

School Visitors If you need to enter the school building for any reason, you will be asked to go to door 1 (the main door). Students and staff are not permitted to let parents or other adults into the building. This is for our safety and we thank you for your understanding. All visitors must also stop at the office, sign in and receive a visitor’s pass. Adults without a pass will be asked to go to the office to obtain one.

School Start Time School begins at 8:30. Students who arrive after 8:35 are considered tardy and must stop by the office to get a tardy pass. Please do your best to drop your child off by 8:20. If students are consistently tardy or absent, Mrs. Prentiss and Mrs. DeMar plan on doing home visits

Homework Students will receive a homework 4 days a week. There is no homework on Fridays. Homework is a review of the days lessons and should be able to be done fairly independently. Homework is graded on completion and makes up 20% of their grade Students should also be read to/ read at least 30 minutes a night Book It Spelling Lists and some homework will be available on Mrs. Morris’s Webpage D131.org → elementary schools → Hermes → Teacher pages → Morris, Karen → downloads

Math We have begun a new series this year in math. It is called Envision, and it is full of some very cool activities. You can also access the entire student book, along with e-tools and reteaching lessons. Some of the information is even available in Spanish. If your student forgets their homework and they have on-line access, students may complete the independent practice instead and turn that in. Please look in the newsletter for ways to practice the different skills with your student

Reading We will be reading out of the reading series. These are stories that students will be able to read on their own and get harder as the year goes on We are using the Daily 5-5 sessions of 20 min each in which students will Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Word Work and Writing Students will need HEADPHONES Individual student reading conferences begin in October Students are expected to read 30 minutes a night Book-It will start in October-students can earn a free pizza for reading Book Orders are a great way to get low cost, 3 rd grade books for your student

Science/Social Studies We will study different units of Science and Social Studies throughout the year. They include Government, Economics, The Environment, Maps, World Cultures, etc.

PTO What can YOU do to help our school? Join the PTO- the Parent Teacher Organization. Through the PTO, we can raise money for different school improvements, items for our classrooms, and improve the school for our students. We NEED you!! Please sign up today!

Birthdays Students will celebrate their birthdays on the stated day. Birthdays that fall over Winter and Spring break will be celebrated when students return. Birthdays that fall over summer break will be celebrated at the end of the year. Birthdays are celebrated at 2:15. They are welcome to bring a snack or parents/guardians may bring a snack and celebrate with us. Snacks must be Peanut Free. Acceptable snacks include- Skittles Starburst Suckers Licorice Wrapped Hard Candy NO CUPCAKES PLEASE (they are processed in a place that also processes peanuts)

Water Bottles Students may bring a water bottle that have a pop up sports cap They will be allowed to fill them once per day

Video Games I would like to ask you to please monitor the ratings on the games your students may be playing. I attended a seminar by a leading brain researcher regarding the effect of video games on children’s developing brains. Video games that involve solving a problem or a puzzle can enhance brain development. Violent video games (Call of Duty, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, etc) have actually been shown to be damaging to developing brains. Violent video games have also been shown to increase behavior problems in students. I have personally seen the effects of these games over the years. Students of this age should be playing/watching games that are rated: EC (Early Childhood), E (Everyone), and possibly 10+ E Ratings to Avoid: T (teen), M (mature), AO (adults only)

Time for a Scavenger Hunt!