1. SOMERSET SILVER PALMS WELCOME
To Reading, Language Arts, & Social Studies
Mrs. Taylor’s 3rd Grade Class

2. Getting to know your child’s teachers…
Mrs. Taylor
Teaching for eighteen years 
Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education K-6
Master’s Degree in Reading Education
ESOL Endorsed
Teacher of the Year

3. Important Rules
Students must be in class, seated and working on their warm up by 8:15 am.
Students must bring their book bags, materials, agenda, and homework to school everyday.
Students cannot bring toys, trading cards, hats, I-pods, electronic games, sharpies, etc. to school.
If your child is absent, send an ANF with him/her stating the reason for the absence and the date(s) they were absent. Absences will not be excused without the Absence Notification Form. If absences are NOT excused within 72 hours the child will still be given the work to make up but will not receive a grade for missed work, instead they will earn a Z for the missed graded assignments.
(The ANF can be found in the front office and on the school website

4. Mrs. Taylor Classroom Management
Each student manages his/her own behavior.
Each time a rule is broken, the student must move his/her pin to the next color and/or consequence. Each color has a different consequence.
* Students with incomplete or missing homework will move down their pin and will be issued a No Homework Slip.
Consequences/Warnings:
1. First- Verbal warning
2. Second –move pin to “Stop the llama drama”& note home to parents in agenda.
3. Third- move pin to“Llama llama call your mama” & sit out for PE & note home to parents in agenda
4. Fourth- Assigned detention before school
Please check agenda on a daily basis, every time a student changes his/her card you will be notified as to what occurred in the students agenda.
Positive notes will also be added to the agenda 

5. Important 3rd Grade Reading Benchmarks
Context Clues
Affixes (prefixes, suffixes & base words)
Synonyms, Antonyms
Multiple Meaning Words
Author’s Purpose/Author’s Viewpoint
Sequence of Events, Drawling Conclusions, Main Idea, Making Inferences, Noting Details
Cause & Effect
Text Structures (How is the story organized?)
Compare & Contrast
Theme
Story Structure (characters, setting, plot)
Figurative Language (similes, metaphors, idioms, etc)
Text Features in Informational Test
(bold words, captions, headings, etc)

6. Home Learning
Students are responsible for copying their homework & spelling/vocab. words daily
Four missed or incomplete homework assignments will result in a detention. Each 9 weeks grading period, students start with a clean slate.
onto their agenda.
Home-learning is checked daily.
After 3rd detention for missed homework in the school year, student will loss privileges such as field trips, field day, class parties, etc.
Home-learning must be completed entirely, neatly, and in pencil, in your child’s own handwriting in order to receive full credit.
Special projects will be assigned periodically throughout the year, specifically in Social Studies.
Home-learning MUST be done completely (meaning nothing must be left blank). They are ALWAYS encouraged to TRY their BEST!
Students are given 20 minutes to copy homework in agenda. They can always access homework on our webpages if they run out time.
Students must always attempt to find an answer or the assignment is incomplete. Homework is NOT checked for accuracy or perfection. Is it checked to assess understanding.
Students are required to complete 2 lessons AND 45 minutes of I-Ready weekly. I-Ready will be graded every Monday. Students will earn a weekly participation grade for completing I-Ready.

7. Technology Programs
* All 3rd grade Somerset students will be using I-Ready for both
reading and math.
* Students will work on the program at school on a weekly basis.
* Students must be able to access the program from home.
* Students must work on program independently as the levels of
difficulty are based on the students needs and performance on the program.
Weekly Requirement:
45 minutes a week per subject
2 lessons completed per subject

8. Grading Policy Percentages 90-100 = A 80-89 = B 70-79 = C 60-69 = D
59 and below = F
Grade Weights
Tests: 60%
Class work: 30 %
Participation, Technology, & Projects 10%
Spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and grammar tests are administered biweekly.
Social Studies test days vary, but we are aiming to administer them on Mondays.
Social Studies tests will be approximately every 2 weeks.
Reviews are done in class prior to the test. Study guides will be provided for Social Studies tests.

9. Make-Up Work
All students will make up all missed assignments due to an absence, regardless if it is excused or unexcused.
Students will be scheduled to come in before school to complete make up work.
As per school policy, if the student’s absence is UNEXCUSED, the student will receive a zero (0%) on all graded missed assignments during their absence.

10. Volunteer Policy Must complete a total of 30 volunteer hours
An additional 15 hours per child
Must be cleared by the county and school (finger printing and ID# must be given) in order to attend field trips & school activities.
Items from Wish List (gift cards welcomed!) 
All donations must be turned in with a receipt in order to receive credit, as per school policy. (1 hour will be given for every $3.33 spent.)

11. Payments
All payments will be made online via the school store. *** No cash payments will be accepted by the teacher as per school policy, with the exception of jean day.***
Jean Day: Don’t forget…students are required to bring $1.00 on jean days.
Directions for paying online for school items:
Go to
Click on Elementary, and then School Store

12. Dismissal
Please notify us ASAP through your child's agenda or if your child’s dismissal procedure changes. ***We will not change any student’s regular dismissal without an or written note from parent prior to the dismissal. This is for your child’s safety.***
Parent Pick-Up will be through the parking lot Driveway, please have your Teacher Tag when picking up through the driveway.
Wednesday Dismissal: At the class room door. We cannot discuss specific information regarding students grades and behavior as per confidentiality rules and laws in effect. Please feel free to me or request a conference.

13. Contact Information
Mrs. Taylor-
VISIT OUR WEBSITES!!!!
You can find important announcements/information, CURRICULUM, homework, FSA Information, wish list, and much more.
Directions to log on are as follows:
Go to
Click on Elementary, About Us, Staff Directory and then
the teacher’s name 
Our Teacher Web will be updated biweekly.

14. How can YOU help? * Make sure homework is completed daily.
* Make sure students are SHOWING THEIR WORK
Underlining in story, identifying key words in the question
* Be their biggest cheerleader! Push them to be the GREATEST version of themselves! Motivate them and praise their successes.
* Ensure they are in class [on time] every day 
* Check their grades biweekly and reinforce skills you see they struggled on
Ex: Skills test: Cause & Effect (D 60%)
Run a quick google search for resources
on 3rd grade cause & effect activities.

15. 3rd Grade Key Points Homework Completed entirely
Looking for effort and checking for understanding NOT 100% accuracy
Homework not meeting this criteria will be issued a No Homework Slip (consequence)
Absences
Must submit ANF form to homeroom teacher (found in office or school webpage)
Make ups will be given to all students (scheduled by teacher before school)
Grade depends on whether the absence is excused- (grade student earned) or unexcused (Z)
Teacher Webpage
Check every 2 weeks the curriculum page (skills, spelling and vocab words, and test dates)
I-Ready
45 minutes AND 2 lessons completed weekly
Lessons checked every Monday
Weekly participation grade given
& Gradebook
for questions regarding Reading, Language Arts, & Social Studies
Monitor grades via parent or student portal
3rd Grade Key Points

16. Thank you for choosing Somerset Academy Silver Palms to meet the needs of your child.
Don’t forget to sign in 