Bienvenue en 3e année!

Welcome to Grade 3 French Immersion

Parent Handbook & Communication Plan

Mme. Samantha Arseneau

(902) 661- 2499

Welcome to Grade 3!

Thank you for taking the time to read this handbook. It contains information about school and classroom expectations, as well as some information about what your child will be learning this year in Grade 3. Please review this handbook with your child and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at your earliest convenience. I look forward to working together to create and maintain a positive learning environment for all students!

Contact

The main phone number for the school is (902) 661-2499 and I am able to discuss your child as needed before and after the school day. If I am unable to answer your call, please leave a voicemail message and I will return your call as soon as possible. I am also available via email at

With urgent or time sensitive matters, please leave a message with the school’s Administrative Assistant.

Arrival and Dismissal

Students are not permitted on the playground before 8:25am. The first bell that allows students to enter the school is at 8:35am. In the event of inclement weather (heavy rainfall or extreme wind chill factor), administration will use their discretion and may allow students into the school at 8:25am. This, however, is not a guarantee and your child should always be dressed appropriately for the weather. Grade 3 French Immersion students are expected to enter and leave from the doors by Charles Street at regular arrival and dismissal times.

Instructional time begins at 8:45am. If your child arrives after this time, they must report to the main office (through the main doors on Spring Street) and will be marked as late. Chronic tardiness will be addressed by school administration and may require that your child complete missed assignments at home.

School is dismissed at 2:35pm.

**Please note:Spring Street Academy offers a variety of before and after-school clubs and activities. Participation in these types of activities may require that your child be to school earlier than the regular arrival time, or may have them staying later than the regular dismissal time. The details about these clubs and activities will be communicated by the various organizers as they are offered.

Afterschool Arrangements

During the month of September, you will be given the opportunity to update your child’s information in our school’s system. Please ensure that parent/ guardian and emergency contact information is up-to-date.

We will be sending home a Student Information Sheet for use in our classroom, which requires some of the same information, but also requires information about your child’s afterschool arrangement(s). If this arrangement changes temporarily, or permanently, please send this change in writing in your child’s agenda.

Absences and Early Departures

With an unexpected absence, please call the school at (902) 661-2499 to let the Administrative Assistant know that your child will be absent. With a planned absence, please write this information in your child’s agenda in advance so their absence can be excused.

If you child must leave school early, please write this information in the agenda. Please include the expected time of departure and the name of the person who will be picking them up. Please note that nay person arriving to have your child dismissed early must report to the main office to sign them out.

Outdoor Recess and Lunch

All students will be going outside for recess and lunch everyday unless it is decided by administration that the weather is inclement. Please keep this in mind when helping your child to select weather appropriate clothing every day and to be prepared for changed in the weather. Fresh air and exercise are important to healthy development and the expectation is that your child will be outdoors during these designated times.

Shoes and Clothing

Every child must have a pair of indoor only, non-marking, athletic sneakers. These shoes should be supportive and appropriate for Physical Education (no flats or sandals please). For Physical Education it is recommended that students wear comfortable and appropriate gym clothes.Please ensure that all articles of clothing are clearly labeled with your child’s name. If your child loses or misplaces an item, they can visit the school’s lost and found before or after school.

Money

Sometimes it is necessary for your child to bring money to school. Please always send it in a sealed enveloped or bag with your child’s name, the amount of money, the purpose of the money, and the teacher’s name written on it. Not only is it extremely helpful for organizing funds, it is always very helpful if the money happens to get misplaced and needs to be returned.

Scholastic

We do participate in Scholastic Book Orders and will send home flyers periodically. There is a deadline every month for when the flyers and money must be returned. Please note that a cheque (made payable to Scholastic Canada) is the preferred method of payment.

It is not mandatory to participate; it is simply an additional way to add some great books to your home library. Spring Street Academy also puts on Scholastic Book Fairs throughout the school year in which the whole family can participate and win prizes!

Cafeteria

Each month your child will receive a copy of the cafeteria menu. The prices and menu items are listed. It is your responsibility to write your child’s order on a piece of paper and to include the money to cover the order. The order should be placed in the classroom cafeteria basket as soon as your child arrives at school.

Toys and Personal Belongings

Please do not allow your child to bring toys, trading cards, figurines, fidget spinners, or other valuables to school. They can be very distracting in the classroom and risk getting lost, broken, handled by others, or misplaced. If a toy is seen in the classroom, your child will be asked to put the item in their backpack to go home. The second time this happens we will hold the item until a parent or guardian is able to come to school to retrieve it. Thank you or your support in this matter.

Agenda

It is important for your child to come to school with their agenda every day. This is important for communication and to ensure that all school related documents are received at home. If your child misplaces or breaks their agenda or Ziplock bag, they will be responsible in covering the cost of replacement.

Parent/ Guardian Volunteering

We strongly encourage parents and guardians to volunteer and participate in their child’s educational experiences, including the various activities and fieldtrips that we will undertake. Any parent or guardian who wishes to volunteer with the school must complete a volunteer package. These packages are available through the school’s main office. The process requires a criminal record check and the time this takes varies, so please do not hesitate to start the process if you anticipate volunteering with your child’s class or within the school.

Behaviour

A positive reinforcement model is strongly present and enforced throughout Spring Street Academy as we learn about and practice virtues every day. We also follow the Restorative Approach model, which helps students think about themselves and how they relate to others all in the hopes of moving forward positively. For more information about this approach, please consult this website:

Every child has the right to feel safe in their environment. Bullying, physical and/or verbal abuse will not be tolerated and will be dealt with through the school’s administration. Reported incidences are documents and may result in suspension or expulsion from school, and could possibly have legal repercussions.

Your child should feel safe in sharing their concerns with myself or other staff members; however, if they are not, parents/ guardians also have the responsibility and ability to report incidences of severe disruptive behaviour. You may do so by contacting school administration or by using he provincial online reporting form. For more information and resources related to Nova Scotia’s Anti-Bullying campaign, please refer to this website:

For everyday behaviour tacking within the class, we will use the ClassDojo website and app. The areas being tracked complement the Learner Profile criteria listed on the first page of the report card, as well as monitoring your child’s use of the French language. Soon you will be receiving information on how to sign up for free to receive updates.

Homework

Homework is assignments at the beginning of each week and is due at the end of each week. If there is a Professional Development Day or unexpected closure, homework will be due the first day back to school.

Please see your child’s homework duotang for more detailed information.

Communication

This year, I will be communicating with you in a variety of ways. Occasionally, we will send out emails for reminders and to share photos and videos of what we are learning in class. Note will also be sent home in your child’s agenda so it is important to check it daily.

For individual academic progress, you will view your child’s “cahier d’évaluations” periodically. You may also log onto PowerSchool to view some information there. For information relating to behaviour, this will be tracked with the ClassDojo website and app and you may access this at your own convenience.

If there is an exceptional academic or behavioral concern I will attempt to contact parents/guardians personally via telephone, written note in the agenda, or email. Please feel free to contact the school by the same means if you have academic or behavioral concerns that you wish to discuss.

Learning Topics

We teach with a streamlined curriculum, meaning that many subjects are taught, practiced, and assessed at the same time. For example, students may be asked to prepare and present a poster on magnets. In doing this they are working with many of the Language Arts outcomes, as well as some Science Outcomes.

The weekly homework assignments will identify which theme(s) we are studying, as well as highlight which sounds, frequent words, and math concepts are currently being practiced. Please feel free to use this information to enrich your child’s learning experience!

Health / Students will be expected to:
  • Recognize, discuss, and identify decisions that affect physical, social, mental, and emotional health
  • Communicate ways to manage difficulties in friendship
  • Ask for help in unsafe risk scenarios

Science / Students will be expected to:
  • Investigate the properties of soil and its effect on living things
  • Explore and investigate plant growth and changes in various conditions
  • Construct a structure safely to meet certain established criteria
  • Conduct explorations about invisible forces, using magnets
  • Materials and structures

Social Studies / Students will be expected to:
  • Locate their province in the Atlantic region
  • Examine the origins of diverse peoples in their province and their expression of culture, including Acadians, African Nova Scotians, Gaels, Mi’kmaq, including treaty education, and additional cultural groups
  • Take action to promote positive interactions among people
  • Examine the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy

Visual Arts / Students will be expected to:
  • Explore and manipulate a range of materials, technologies, and processes to create a variety of artworks that express feelings, ideas, and understandings
  • Examine a range of artworks from diverse cultures and communities, including Acadians, African Nova Scotians, Gaels, and Mi’kmaq, with respect and sensitivity
  • Students will demonstrate an awareness of, reflect upon, and develop respect for art and art making

Information and Communication Technology / Students will be expected to:
  • Demonstrate safe routines for using ICT responsibly, ensuring their own and others’ health and safety
  • Use information and communication technology appropriately and responsible, with teacher assistance, to address opportunities for the development of active local and global citizenship
  • Articulate the need to take care in providing personal information online, and share personal information only with teacher approval
  • Use the intellectual property of others and write simple citations for works used
  • Select and use, with teacher support, grade-appropriate digital tools to develop and represent learning for various purposes, both individually, and collaboratively
  • Use identified ICT environments to share and exchange information and collaborate with others, for a variety of purposes
  • Demonstrate how to locate specific information, images, or other digital media
  • Create and analyze electronic charts, maps, and graphs to predict patterns and relationships in information and to support decision making
  • Use grade appropriate ICT terminology
  • Safely operate computers and digital devices

English Language Arts / Speaking and Listening:
Students will be expected to:
  • Communicate effectively and clearly and respond personally and critically
  • Interact with sensitivity and respect, considering audience, purpose, and situation
Reading and Viewing:
Students will be expected to:
  • Demonstrate a variety of ways to comprehend and select from a range of culturally relevant texts
  • Select, interpret, and combine information in multiple cultural contexts
  • Respond personally and critically to a range of diverse texts
  • Convey meaning by creating print and digital texts, collaboratively and independently, using personal experience, feelings, and imagination
Writing and Representing:
Students will be expected to:
  • Use writing and other forms of representing (including digital) to explore, clarify, and reflect on thoughts, feelings, experiences, and learnings
  • Create text (including digital), collaboratively and independently, using a variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes
  • Use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and media products to enhance their clarity, precisions, and effectiveness

French Language Arts / Speaking and Listening
Students will be expected to:
  • Communicate clearly in French in a variety of daily situations
  • Interact with sensitivity and respect, considering audience, purpose, and situation
Reading and Viewing
Students will be expected to:
  • Read and demonstrate their understanding of different texts (informative, narrative, poetry) by using a variety of strategies while respecting the cultural diversity of French-speaking countries
  • Respond personally and critically to a range of diverse texts that are read or listened to in a variety of ways, while respecting that cultural diversity includes French works (art, music, literature)
  • Select and interpret, and combine information in multiple cultural contexts (printed or otherwise)
Writing and Representing
Students will be expected to:
  • Use writing and other forms of representing, including digital, to explore, clarify, and reflect on thoughts, feelings, experiences, and learning’s
  • Create text, including digital, collaboratively and independently, using a variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.
  • Use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and media products to enhance their clarity, precision, and effectiveness

Math / Students will be expected to:
  • Say the number sequence forward and backward by
  • 1s through transition to 1000
  • 2s, 5s, 10s, or 100s using any starting point to 1000
  • 3s using starting points that are multiples of 3 up to 100
  • 4s using starting points that are multiples of 4 up to 100
  • 25s using starting points that are multiples of 25 up to 200
  • estimate quantities less than 1000 using referents
  • demonstrate an understanding of increasing patterns by describing, extending, comparing, and creating numerical (numbers to 1000) patterns and non-numerical patterns using manipulatives, diagrams, sounds, and actions
  • demonstrate an understanding of decreasing patterns by describing, extending, comparing, and creating numerical (numbers to 1000)and non-numerical patterns using manipulatives, diagrams, sounds, and actions
  • represent and partition numbers to 1000
  • compare and order numbers to 1000
  • illustrate, concretely and pictorially, the meaning of place value for numerals to 1000
  • demonstrate an understanding of fractions by
  • explaining that a fraction represents a part of a whole
  • describing situations in which fractions are used
  • comparing fractions of the same whole with like denominators
  • apply mental mathematics strategies and number properties to develop quick recall of basic addition facts to 18 and related basic subtraction facts
  • describe and apply mental mathematics strategies for adding two-digit numbers
  • describe and apply mental mathematics stratifies for subtracting two-digit numerals
  • apply estimation strategies to predict sums and differences of one, two, and three digit numerals in a problem-solving context
  • apply mental mathematics strategies and number properties to develop quick recall of basic addition facts to 18 and related basic subtraction facts
  • demonstrate an understanding of addition and subtraction of numbers (limited to 1-, 2-, and 3- digit numerals) with answers to 1000 by
  • using personal strategies for adding and subtracting with and without the support of manipulatives
  • creating and solving problems in context that involve addition and subtraction of numbers concretely, pictorially, and symbolically
  • demonstrate an understanding of multiplication to 5x5 by
  • representing and exploring multiplication using equal grouping and arrays
  • creating and solving problems in context that involves multiplication
  • modeling multiplication using concrete and visual representations and recording the process symbolically
  • relating multiplication to repeated addition
  • relating multiplication to division.
  • demonstrate an understanding of division by
  • representing and exploring division using equal grouping and arrays
  • creating and solving problems in context that involves division
  • modeling division using concrete and visual representations and recording the process symbolically
  • relating division to repeated subtraction
  • relating division to multiplication
  • solve one-step addition and subtraction equations involving symbols representing an unknown numbers
  • demonstrate an understanding of measuring length (cm, m) by
  • selecting and justifying referents for the units centimeter or metre
  • modeling and describing the relationship between the units centimeter and metre
  • estimating length using referents
  • measuring and recording length, width, and height
  • demonstrate an understanding of perimeter of regular, irregular, and composite shapes by
  • estimating perimeter using referents for cm or m
  • measuring and recording perimeter (cm, m)
  • creating different shapes for a given perimeter to demonstrate that many shapes are possible for a perimeter
  • demonstrate an understanding of measuring mass (g, kg) by
  • selecting and justifying referents for the units gram and kilogram
  • modeling and describing the relationship between the units gram and kilogram
  • estimating mass using referents
  • measuring and recording mass
  • relate the passage of time to common activities using non-standard and standard units (minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years)
  • relate the number of seconds to a minute, the number of minutes to an hour, the number of hours to a day, and the number of days to a month, in a problem-solving context.
  • Describe 3-D objects according to the sides of the faces and the number of edges and vertices
  • Name, describe, compare, create, and sort regular and irregular polygons, including triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and octagons according to the number of sides
  • Collect firsthand data and organize it using tally marks, line plots, charts, and lists to answer questions
  • Construct, label, and interpret bar graphs to solve problems

Thanks for you reading! If you have any questions about the information contained in this document, please do not hesitate to contact me at your earliest convenience. I am looking forward to working together to provide memorable learning experiences for your child and their classmates!