FPO, AE 09645
Mr. DeMelos Third Grade
silverio.demelo@eu.dodea.edu
Vision
Our vision is to provide a standards-based educational program in a safe, caring, and respectful
environment. We are working to develop lifelong learners and responsible citizens.
Mission
Our mission is to provide an exemplary education that inspires and prepares all DoDEA students
for success in a dynamic, global environment
Goals
Goal 1: All Rota Elementary students will increase in communicating their understanding in all
curricular areas by demonstrating improved ability to gather, organize, and compose
information in both oral and written formats as measured by system-wide and school-based
assessments.
Goal 2: All Rota Elementary students will increase in their ability to demonstrate an
understanding of number sense and number relations as measured by system-wide and schoolbased assessments. Such as: ordering numbers, representing numbers in equivalent forms,
identifying relationships and interpreting numbers in real-world situations.
Arrival Time:
Instruction starts at 8:30 sharp. Students are not to come to school before
8:10 A.M. At the sound of the whistle, third graders line up at the assigned
line up area. They are to stand in a straight line on the Red Circles for our
class when is time to do so. There should be no running, loud talk or
playing while they wait. By inclement weather, they will be directed to
come in. There is no walking around the hallways before school starts.
Lunchtime:
Our class has been assigned the following time for lunch 11:35-12:20 P.M. If
your child is purchasing a hot lunch they will need to have an account set up
at the NEX and then they will have a pin number that they will use to
purchase a lunch. If they bring their own lunch, it should be packed up in a
labeled lunchbox or lunch sack to avoid confusion. The cafeteria will not
accept any money.
Dismissal Time:
Class is dismissed at 15:00. They will be accompanied to the lower level and
then dismissed. Students are to walk in an orderly fashion and go directly to
where they need to go after school. Bus riders should go directly to the bus
and wait to be allowed into the buses. Any student who rides a bus will need
a note in case of a change of plans for any given day i.e. if they are to walk
or to go anywhere else instead.
Meeting Brothers, Sisters, and Friends
Students who are being picked up or are picking up siblings will be waiting
by the multi-purpose room or some other meeting place arranged by a
parent, teacher or the student, but outside the school building, not at
classroom doors or hallways.
Conferences:
I will ask you to drop in for a conference. We want to be in touch.
Communication between school and the home is very important for
students progress and development. We will start with a beginning of the
year Get-to-Know-You conference. I plan to meet with everyone the first
two weeks of school. I appreciate your participation and support in this
effort to get to know everyone.
Email/Internet Communication
I will be sending home by email a copy of the homework and any other
classroom correspondence by email, on weekly basis. For that purpose, we
ask that you share your email addresses with me.
STARS SHEET/BINDER:
Each day, your child will bring home his/her binder. Inside the binder will
be a STARS, (Students Training for Achievement, Responsibility and
Success) sheet. This STARS binder will have a list of the weekly
homework assignments, any special news of events coming up that week,
and a quality check sheet. This sheet needs to be signed each night by a
parent. It is to remain inside the binder each week until the end of the each
quarter. Please, make sure your check this sheet nightly. This is one form of
quick communication from me to you that is sent home every day.
That along with emailing and conferencing will be a way to keep in touch,
and thus optimize your childs academic performance. Please make an
effort to read and to respond, whenever necessary, to any and all
correspondence being sent home. Remember, home/school communication
is an important factor to your childs own success and motivation to do well.
He/She will care about his/her progress, if we all show that we care about
their efforts and achievements.
Early Student Pick Up:
If you need to pick up your child during the school day, you need to go to
the main office and sign them out first. The office will then call my room
and I will send your child down to the office. Please do not come to the
classroom and ask to pick up your child. If possible send a note or an email
to me so that we will be prepared for the early pick-up. If your child is going
to return to class afterwards, you will need to go to the office and sign them
back in and then they can walk back to the classroom themselves.
Visitor Passes:
All visitors to the school, anyone coming into the school, will need to stop
by the main office first in order to pick up a visitors pass. Anyone walking
the hallways without a pass may be asked to go back and geet the visitors
pass. This is done for reasons of school security.
Nutrition Break:
Students will be allowed a nutrition break at 10:25 each day. This is just a
small healthy snack, like a granola bar, an apple (slices), some grapes,
raisins, a small package of fruit chews, etc. it needs to be something that can
be eaten in 10 minutes. This is not a meal. Please, dont have them bring
extra drinks, cookies, chips, etc. They may have a water bottle at all time. I
suggest that the water bottle be one with a sippy pull up top on it. This is
so that if the bottle tips over, the water doesnt spill out on everything.
Homework:
Your child will have a reasonable amount of homework, Monday through
Thursday, and writing journals for weekend writing. Homework will be sent
home via e-mail over the weekend and a hard copy will be handed out to
your child on Monday morning at school. I appreciate parent feedback on
homework volume. We do not want homework to be a torture for children.
Let me know at any time if there is too much or too little, so that I can adjust
accordingly. Different students are paced differently. The intent is to have
students practice, prepare and generate some learning on their own. A
parents job is to allow them to work independently, guide, orient, and offer
help only if needed. If a student is having problems engaging; is taking too
long to complete the assignment, but have done the best they could to tackle
the homework, just sign the homework logbook as proof that they were
engaged in the homework, but did not have the time to finish everything, or
something else happened that prevented them from completing the
assignment.
Homework will not be given out over an extended holiday recess; however,
there may be some type of challenge work that students may want to take
part in for extra credit.
Any student going on a family trip will write a report about their trip and
share that in class. Students will be expected to make up any missed work
upon coming back. We discourage traveling during Testing time, i.e.
beginning of the year, for the SRI, BAS, pearsonsuccess reading and math
series diagnostic and beginning of-the-year, end-of-the-year tests and Terra
Nova week in March.
Students will also be involved in turning in book reports, and engaging in
special projects. Your support at having students turn in quality work is
much appreciated.
Composition Notebooks
We will use 5 composition notebooks. They will be used as logbooks for
reading, writing, quizzes, math, homework and social studies/science. They
will be kept in the classroom and shared with parents at conference times.
Binders:
Each student needs to have 2 3ring binders ( not the bulky kind). One of
those binders will be used as their Take-Home binder, which will contain the
STARS sheet, Homework Log, and other information that is being sent
home.
The other binder is the Data Binder that will be kept at school and sent home
periodically for parents to review with the child and comment on.
Pocket Folders:
This is an important supply for your child to have. All correspondence goes
home in these folders such as homework, notes to parents, school
newsletters, fundraiser activities, field trip permission forms, etc. If you have
a note for us, it should be put into this folder. Completed homework goes in
the folder and then the folder is turned in the following day. These folders
keep the papers given to the students organized. This folder is to be kept in
the childs binder.
Homework logbook:
Students will be expected to keep all written homework assignments in a
homework notebook/logbook. Loose leave written assignments are
discouraged.
Grading Rubric:
When correcting, I use a rubric where one indicates excellent quality work
or A. A two or B indicates very good work, but some mistakes or better
quality was expected, and three or C indicates a poor quality work, where
more effort and application was needed. I will also write comments like
excellent, very good, good, could be better or more effort needed, and poor
quality work. Other times I will use four stars to indicate excellent work,
three stars to indicate good work and two stars to indicate adequate to
satisfying work quality. Occasionally, I will use a happy face, a straight face
or a sad face to show corresponding work quality. You will also see grades
like 7/10 or 28/30 and so on, indicating how many correct responses there
were out of whatever numbers of questions in any given assignment. I also
use a Capital letter C that stands for Correct and a cross or a line through
the answer to indicate wrong.
At the end of the quarter, students will receive a report card. The grades that
they receive each quarter will not correlate to any letter or academic grade.
CD shows that student has mastered or is consistently displaying any third
grade concept. P is for progressing, and N is for any concept not yet
evident.
I believe that students work should be neat and reflect their best work.
Students should strive to turn in topnotch quality work as an exercise in
excellence. We will be learning keyboarding and cursive writing and they
will be expected to write complete or meaningful sentences and be able to
summarize and do reports on stories and books read. Students will be asked
to keep logbooks neat and to practice organizational skills.
Supplies:
1 pencil set (12) of #2 pencils to be shared with the class. Special pencils,
eraser, etc. are kept as the students personal property in their cubbies.
1 glue stick
1 small bottle of Elmers glue
1 pair of scissors
2 two-pocket folders (plain)
1 set of crayons or colored pencils
1 supply pouch for keeping pencils
5 one-subject notebooks or ring notebooks
1 small pencil sharpener
1 eraser
1 ruler
1 box 9 not small pack) of tissues
(No bulky notebooks or trapper keepers, please)
These items should be replenished whenever needed. Other items may be
necessary as the school year goes by. Please keep all valuable/more expensive
and eye catching items at home. We will not be responsible
`
TIME
MONDAY
TUESDAY
8:30-8:35
Attendance
Specials
8:35-9:25
0930-0940
9:4511:05
Specials
Opening
activities
Opening
activities
Opening
activities
*Reading/L
A/Guided
reading/Wo
rk Areas
*Reading/LA
0925/Guided
1020:Comput
reading/Wor
er Lab
*Reading/LA/
k Areas
Opening
activities
*Reading/LA/
Guided
reading/
Work Areas
Guided
reading/Work
Areas
11:0511:35
Intro
spelling
Writing
Workshop
Opening
activities
*Reading/L
A/Guided
reading/
Work
Areas
Writing
Workshop
Writing
Workshop
Writing
Workshop
Recess/
Lunch
Recess/
Lunch
Recess/
Lunch
Math
Math
Math
Math
Math
FLES
Math
words/
spelling games
1135-1220
Recess/
Lunch
122012:50
Math
12:50-13:30
FLES
13:30-14:05
Math
Recess/
Lunch
Math
Math
1405-1445 *Science/Soc
. St./Health
*Science/Soc.
St./Health
*Science/Soc.
St./Health
*Science/Soc.
St./Health
1445-1500
SSR (sustained
SSR (sustained
SSR (sustained
silent reading)
silent reading)
silent reading)
SSR
(sustained
FLES
silent reading)
*Science/So
c.
St./Health
SSR
(sustained
silent
reading)
Dismissal
Specials Schedule
15:00
Day One
Art
Day Two
Day Three
HN
Music
Day Four
P.E.
FLES
12:50-13:30
Here is a little gift for you as you leave your precious one
with me on the first day of school.
A cotton ball ( as you hold this cotton ball in your hand, the
softness will help you to remember the gentle spirit of your
child)
Kleenex ( to use to dry your tears after you have gone home)
Tea Bag ( make yourself a cup of tea, put your feet up and
relax)
A stick of gum (to remind you that you and I must stick
together as we work for your child to be the best they can
be)
Thank you for entrusting your child to me for the coming school
year. I will do my very best every day to be your childs guide in
learning and exploring.
Sincerely,
S.G.DeMelo
--Leah Becks
Weekly STARS
4- Strong 5-
topnotch
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
HW:
HW:
HW:
HW:
HW:
Initial:
Initial:
Initial:
Initial:
Initial: