Welcome to Our New School Year

Mrs. Clevenger

Room 28 Third Grade

538-2780

mclevenger@tsc.k12.in.us

https://mes.tsc.k12.in.us/

https://sites.google.com/tsc.k12.in.us/mclevenger

My Family

I am beginning my 31st year of teaching. My husband, Chad, is the Director of Academic Advising office at Ivy Tech. My son, Lane, teaches in Michigan. My daughter, Audrey, attends college in Illinois. My son, Royce, is a Junior at McCutcheon. My son, Cason, is a sophomore and also attends McCutcheon High School. Our dogs,

Ginger and Parker, are a

five year old

Goldendoodle and a twelve

year old Schnoodle.

​

Teacher Expectations

• Positive attitude
• Respect for oneself as well as others
• Goal setting and completion
• Self-discipline
• Always doing personal best

​

​

Classroom Guidelines

• Respect other people
• Respect school rules
• Respect property
• Respect yourself
• Always do your personal best

Clip Up, Clip Down System

• Outstanding
• Great Job
• Good Day
• Ready to Learn (**all students begin here)
• Think About It
• Teacher’s Choice
• Parent Contact

Positive Reinforcement

I believe very strongly in positive reinforcement. Throughout the school year, the children are rewarded in many different ways for exhibiting expected behavior, such as verbal and written praise, clipping up, choosing from the reward box, earning a Pioneer Pride pass, choosing from the Prize Cart, class cheers and round of applause, earning a small piece of candy or gum, earning a classroom coupon, eating lunch in the classroom, earning a quarterly Citizenship award, earning extra recess, earning Mintonye money, earning a celebratory party, or another positive support chosen by the class or individual students.

Our Curriculum: Reading

We are using a new reading series called “Magnetic Reading” and this program places an emphasis on developing reading comprehension using “cold read” texts so students will not be bringing a reading book home on a nightly basis. Instead, students will practice vocabulary words and meanings from each unit as needed. They will also read nightly for Accelerated Reader (15 min./night 1st nine weeks, 20 min./night 2nd nine weeks, 25 min./night 3rd nine weeks, 30 min./night 4th nine weeks). After the first few weeks of school, other nightly homework assignments will be added to practice the skills we are working on during the reading unit and additional information about those assignments will be communicated at that time.

Accelerated Reader

• Students are involved in setting goals
• New goals are set every nine weeks
• The students are expected to work toward reading chapter books at their “comfort zone”
• At the end of each nine weeks there is a celebration for all students achieving their goals
• By the end of the school year, the students are expected to read an AR book for at least an hour each day
• At least one library book should be an AR book

Our Curriculum: Spelling

Monday--Pretest in class, new list for the week is given, students should begin studying at home

Tuesday and Wednesday--Practice assignments are given, students should continue practicing words at home

​

Our Curriculum: Spelling

Thursday--Spelling practice test taken at school and home. Please note: the practice test Thursday night is NOT an optional assignment. The students are expected to take the practice test at home with their parent, and also to have their parent sign the test. The practice test should be returned to school Friday morning for a grade.

Friday--Test given in class

Our Curriculum: Language

• The students will concentrate on one new skill each week
• Each skill builds on previous skills
• Skills such as subject/predicate nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, plural, singular and possessive pronouns are taught
• Writing paragraphs and stories
• Mountain Language

Writing Rubric

• All Mintonye students are evaluated in their writing based on the state rubric.
• This rubric is a tool that is utilized to track the writing progress of your child throughout their years at Mintonye.
• The rubric is designed to provide a more consistent assessment of your child’s writing.
• The rubric allows the parent to see how they can help their child at home with their writing skills.

Our Curriculum: Handwriting

• The students are expected to eventually write everything in cursive
• As we learn our letters we will “ease” into writing everything in cursive
• The students will learn a few new letters each week
• Practice at home will help improve cursive writing

Our Curriculum: Math

• Your child should have their addition and subtraction facts memorized (without using fingers). Later this school year we will memorize multiplication facts.
• Weekly drill with flashcards generally makes students more successful in math.
• We use the “Ready Math” series that targets “real world” problem solving.

Our Curriculum: Math

• Addition skills (single, double, triple, regrouping)
• Subtraction with regrouping (borrowing)
• Money
• Time
• Estimation, rounding
• Multiplication (single, double)

Our Curriculum: Math

• Division (single, remainders)
• Geometry (area, perimeter, volume, solids, congruent, symmetry, lines)
• Fractions
• Decimals
• Critical thinking to solve word problems (story problems) is a part of our daily assignment
• Mental Math

Our Curriculum: Health

• Our Body
• Nutrition
• Physical Fitness
• Safety
• Disease
• Medicines
• Our Family

Our Curriculum: Social Studies

• Mapping Our World & US Geography
• The First People & Settling the Land
• How America Works & American Heritage & Culture
• Culture: Expressions Around the World & Ancient Civilizations
• Role of Citizens & Communities
• Communities Change
• Protecting Resources & People & Environment
• Amazing Inventions
• Producers & Consumers
• Saving & Spending

Our Curriculum: Science

• Forces Around Us (Forces, Motion, Electricity, Magnetism)
• Observing Weather (Weather Impacts, Weather Patterns, Weather and Seasons, Natural Hazards and the Environment, Prepare for Natural Hazards)
• Life Cycles and Traits (Animals, Animal Life Cycles, Animal Traits, Plants, Plant Life Cycles, Plant Traits)

• Different Environments (Survive the Environment, Survival of Organisms, Adaptations and Variations, Change the Environment, Fossils, Changes Affect Organisms)
• We experience our science curriculum through reading and answering questions in our “book”, reading additional magazine articles or books on our topics of learning, performing experiments as a class, as well as completing projects.

Our Curriculum: Specials

• P.E.

Monday 1:15-1:45

• Music

Tuesday 1:15-1:45

• Computer Lab

Wednesday 1:15-1:45

• Library

Thursday 1:15-1:45

• Art

Friday 1:15-1:45

Our Curriculum: Specials

​

• Lunch

11:55-12:45

• Morning Recess

10:45-11:00

Our Curriculum: Field Trips

• Community Field Trip-trip taken in the fall to downtown Lafayette to tour the Tippecanoe County Courthouse and other historic buildings, Happy Hollow Park, Purdue Airport, and/or Fort Ouiatenon to supplement our social studies curriculum.

​

• Children’s Museum-trip taken in the spring to the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis to supplement our science curriculum.

Classroom Parties

• Fall Party

Friday, October 17

​

• Winter Party

Friday, December 19

​

• Valentine Party

Friday, February 13

Illness

Contact the school office regarding your child’s absence. Arrangements may be made to pick up homework by calling before noon. If you plan to be gone on vacation, please inform the school and make arrangements to get your child’s homework in advance.

Birthday Treats

Birthday treats may be sent to school to celebrate your child’s birthday if you choose. They should be store bought and may either be sent to school with your child in the morning or dropped off at the main office before 1:45 PM. Birthday treats will be eaten in the afternoon. We do have a student who is allergic to cheese and also a student who is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts so all treats should not contain those items and should be manufactured in a nut free facility.

Classroom Snacks

Each student may bring their own individually packaged healthy snack to eat in the morning to tide them over until lunch. This snack may either be store bought or prepared at home but should not be candy.

Assignment Books

Third graders begin writing assignments in these books. Your child is expected to write down all homework assignments before leaving at the end of the day. I will periodically check their assignment book before they leave in the afternoon. It is most beneficial to your child if you also check their assignment book at home each evening and sign your initials.

Folders

• Homework Folder

Homework is taken home in this folder each day.

• Friday Folder

On Friday, all graded papers from the week will appear in this folder for parent inspection. Parents are asked to remove the papers and discuss them with your child before signing their folder so it may be returned to school on Monday.

​

Communication

I would like you to feel free to call (538-2780) or email me (mclevenger@tsc.k12.in.us) at school, or send me a note if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s performance. Together, we can make this a wonderful school year for your child.