Welcome to Mr. Sweeney's Page
 Welcome to Mr. Sweeney's Third Grade Class website.  Indian Fields Belief Statement I'll be trying to update this page all year so check back often and let me know what you think. If your child is in my class please send an email to donald.sweeney@sbschools.org so I can add you to my address book for this year. If you need to reach me before or after school hours, please Email me here To sign up for our emergency mailing list, please click here School Supplies What to buy and what not to buy These are the following supplies your child will need for the start of the new school year: 2 marble composition books 2 pencils 2 colored 2 pocket folders Please, no spiral notebooks. The spirals unwind and get caught on clothes and can become dangerous as the year goes on. Please do not buy anything else until the school year starts. I will supply necessary folders, rulers, scissors, glue, crayons and other supplies that the children will need. Those SpaceSavers do not save space, they just make things more cluttered. Save your money! If I need you to purchase anything during the year I'll let you know. Monthly Reports Your reports are due on your attendance number day of each month. For example, Jeffrey’s report is due on the first of each month, Hafsa’s is due on the second of each month, etc. The topic for November's report is “My Autobiography”. With each report you must have a written report to hand in to me. A visual report is something you need to make, buy or find to bring to class that goes along with your report. This could be any number of things. Use your great imaginations to come up with something amazing. As long as we can see it and it has something to do with your report, it will be acceptable. An oral report will have to be given by you in front of the class. In the beginning this may mean reading from the written report. As the year goes on there should be less reading and more talking. Always remember that if you try your best it will be good enough for me. My job is to help make each report better than the last one. Monthly report topics: November - Autobiography December - Book Report January - Your Choice - Any Topic February - Animal or Plant March - Fruit or Vegetable April - Flower May - State or Country Resources for Parents: Your Third Grader href="http://www.bookadventure.com/pa/index.asp/" target="_blank">Book Adventure Parent Resources Family Education Things to Remember Throughout the Year TRIP MONEY When sending in money to me for a trip or other event, please send in the exact change in an envelope with your child's name on it along with the purpose of the money. SNACKS Snacks should be healthy snacks only, low in sugar. We will be discussing in class how to read the labels to determine if a snack is healthy or not. Please encourage your child to eat healthy foods at home as well. HOMEWORK  Homework is the student's responsibility in third grade. In order to instill a sense of responsibility and a feeling of accomplishment your child is responsible for writing down their homework, taking what they need home to complete their homework, and returning homework when the assignment is due. Parents are not allowed to return with or without their child after school hours to pick up homework assignments or materials and should not call friends to get the assignment. In this way your child will learn that it is their responsibility, not yours, to remember all they need to bring home. If you have difficulty with this policy please contact me as soon as possible. Email me hereNO HOMEWORK? DONE EARLY? UNBELIEVABLE! Except on Fridays and special occasions, students should spend at least 45 minutes on homework. If a no homework day has not been given, students should still read and practice another skill - possibly math facts or word study. See website links at the bottom of this page for some ideas. TOO HARD? If students have significant difficulty completing an assignment, or if it takes much longer than the expected time, please DO NOT AGONIZE FOR HOURS OVER IT. Simply stop the assignment and write a note to me or Email me here. Additional instruction will be given as needed. If this is a regular occurrence, other strategies might need to be explored. Arrangements can be made to meet with me to discuss possibilities. Your child is not the first one to have this happen and there are lots of things we can try. WHAT IF IT ISN'T DONE? Students will write a note home to you letting you know it was not completed and will be required to make up the assignment, either at recess or at home, my choice for now. Late projects will result in lower project grades. It pays just to do it on time! Indian Fields Birthday Celebration Policy from Student Handbook BIRTHDAY RECOGNITION If you would like to have a short class birthday acknowledgement for your child, please speak with your child’s teacher in advance. Parents should be mindful of the district’s nutritional policy as well as the dietary restrictions of students in the classroom. These birthday recognitions are short (ten minutes) and limited to the classroom community. Parents are asked to drop off the treats in the main office, and these treats will be delivered to the classroom. Goody bags are not allowed. The school will not permit bouquets of balloons and other celebratory decorations to be sent to the classrooms. These can be distracting to students’ learning. Birthday party invitations are not to be distributed at school. Please use your PTA/PTO Class Directory in order to send such invitations via the U.S. Mail system. And In Addition to Our Official School Policy In class we celebrate with the birthday song, sometime in the afternoon usually at the end of the day. If you wish, you may also send in a special treat. We have 26 students in our class. Students will not be permitted to distribute extra snacks around the school. Please stick to these guidelines: 1. Send in a treat, anytime before lunch, enough for 26 students to share. Finger foods are best since they are easiest to serve, eat, and clean up. 2. Send any plastic utensils, napkins and serving utensils needed. I do not always have extras of these supplies on hand in the classroom. 3. If a birthday falls on the weekend, we will celebrate it on the Monday or Friday of that weekend, your choice. Please jot me a note or Email me here to make sure we do not have another birthday celebration on that day. 4. Students with summer birthdays are invited to celebrate on their half-birthday, which is 6 months before (or after) their actual birthday or some day at the end of the school year in June. Thank you for your help in making your child's birthday special! Things to Donate To Our Classroom tissues paper towels ziploc bags (gallon and sandwich size) sanitizing wipes (not baby wipes) loose leaf paper child appropriate magazines books that are not needed at home anymore (in fairly good condition) cardboard (not styrofoam) egg crates Integrated Arts Schedule This year we will again be on a six day Integrated Arts Schedule. Here is the schedule for 2008 - 2009 Day 1 World Language (Spanish) Day 2 Physical Education Day 3 World Language (Spanish) Day 4 Music Day 5 Physical Education Day 6 Art  Click here to view Indian Fields Students' Artwork  In third grade your children will learn how to play the recorder and will have the opportunity to learn to play a string instrument as well. More to come about this at a later date.  Students are responsible to have appropriate shoes for gym class on Physical Education days, Day 2 and Day 5. We will be using Study Island this year. Study Island is a web-based state assessment preparation program. All third grade students will have their own user names and passwords and will be working with this program at school from time to time until I'm sure they are comfortable doing it on their own at home. After that they will be encouraged to work on this site at home. This will be a chance for the students to practice the format that is used on the state tests. However, please DO NOT have students do numerous pages a day. Please spread out the usage of this website over the course of the year. I will have access to your students scores and will try to check in regularly to see how they are doing. I will send you an email when they have received their usernames and passwords.  Students will be required to read for 15 minutes a day Monday through Thursday nights. They will use their B.E.R.I (Books to Encourage Reading Independently) logs to keep track of this reading. If you are having trouble getting your child to complete this every night (this should not be a battle) please contact me as soon as possible. Email me hereREADING and RESEARCH LINKS Suggested Reading Newberry Award and Honor Books Caldecott Medal and Honor Books For Kids InfoBits and other databases that can help you with homework assignments and research projects, please click here Password: remote MATH LINKS Math worksheets Math Flashcards Math Flashcards Math Flashcards Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division Math Drills Addition Table Multiplication Table FunBrain.com Fun Math games - uses a variety of skills and Math topics. Multiplication Mystery Multiplication game using the multiplication grid. SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES LINKS Healthy Body and Mind Website SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES LINKS Landforms and Bodies of Water Glossary Continents and Oceans Websites Labeled World Map If you can drag it to your desktop you can print it out. Continents and Oceans Tutorial and Quiz This one is probably the best in this category. Continents and Oceans Labeled Map and Quiz Continents and Oceans Quiz Continents and Oceans Game |