CLASS EXPECTATIONS:

1) Be Respectful - A few ways we show respect are following directions quickly and raising our hand for permission to speak.

2) Be Responsible - We are responsible when we take ownership of our own behaviors and choices.

3) Be Safe - A few ways we stay safe are by walking in the classroom, keeping our hands to ourselves, and using classroom supplies appropriately.

4) Be a Problem Solver - We solve problems by being kind, considerate, and patient with one another.

Problems that occur continuously are solved collaboratively:

• student and teacher

• student, teacher, and parent

• student, teacher, parent, support staff

POSITIVE FOCUS  

• Class Points - the class as a whole earns points towards extra recess, free choice time, and theme days 

• Team Points - earn tickets for weekly drawing 

• Individuals - earn tickets for 100% papers, excellent effort and great citizenship 

Dear Students,

I’m Mrs. Mountain and welcome to 3rd grade!  

I hope you had a great summer and are excited and ready to get back to school and LEARN!  I have been busy planning lessons and activities that will challenge you to grow.  It’s going to be a year of fun, learning, and lots of adventures!  I look forward to getting to know you and I’m excited to be your teacher.

I thought you might want to know a little bit about me:

I am married to my wonderful husband, John, and we have three awesome kids, Nick, age 15, Natalie, age 13 and Kristina, age 11.  Our family also has a dog named Minnie, three rabbits, and two ducks!  My family and pets take up most of my free time when I am not at school.  My kids all play football, basketball, and volleyball.  We are a family that loves sports and exercise.  When I do have some time to myself, I love to read books, go to the gym and go running, cook new recipes, and work in my garden.

I have lived in El Dorado Hills for almost twelve years.  I taught 2nd grade at Green Valley School last year and prior to that I ran my own preschool for eight years. I have also been a teacher in San Jose and in Boise, Idaho. I grew up in the Bay Area and I received my teaching credential from San Jose State University. 

I am so excited to be teaching 3rd grade at Lake Forest this year! 

I love to teach all subjects, but my favorites are science and math.  I like to have my students learn by doing things, not just reading about them in a textbook.  I know lots of cool experiments and can’t wait to show them to you.  I think you will have lots of fun in my class this year. 

My goal is for you all to feel successful and happy.  I know that sometimes you will stumble, and that is OK with me. Making mistakes is how you grow as a student and as a person.  You can always come to me with any questions, comments, or concerns.  Our class is a safe place for all kids!  I know we will have an awesome year together!

Our first week of school we will review class rules and procedures.  We will work on developing a classroom community and getting to know one another.  

In closing, here are a Few of My Favorites:

Color: Red and Blue

Season: Fall

Food: Thai and Mexican

Drink: Coffee and water

Song: Dancing Queen by ABBA

Book: mystery, biography and memoir

Sport: Football - My team is the Denver Broncos

Lake Forest Elementary

Mrs. Mountain ~ 3rd grade

I would like to welcome you back to Lake Forest for another great school year!  My name is Ana Mountain and I am very excited to be your child’s teacher.  This is my first year teaching at Lake Forest Elementary.  Prior to this year, I taught 2nd grade up the hill at Green Valley Elementary and before that I ran my own preschool for eight years.  I originally began my teaching career in San Jose twenty years ago and took a break to raise my three children.  I love teaching all ages and I am thrilled to have the 3rd grade

placement here with your children this year!

Assessments -

Your child will be assessed using multiple measures to determine their progress towards trimester benchmarks on the report card.  Some of these are completed independently in class and some are done one-on-one with me.  Each week, I will send home a sampling of work completed as well as rough draft writing assignments.  Many Final draft writing pieces will be kept in your child’s scrapbook in the classroom.  

All other work will be stamped or corrected using the following marks:

A check mark - student making progress towards standard

A check mark with + - student is demonstrating mastery of the skill

A check mark with - student needs more practice/help mastering the skill

Some work will be corrected in class together and will say corrected together 

Percentages will be given on end of unit math tests and spelling tests

Writing is scored with 1 (far below standard),  2 (approaching standard) ,

or 3 ( mastery of standard).

CLASS EXPECTATIONS:

1) Be Respectful - A few ways we show respect are following directions quickly and raising our hand for permission to speak.

2) Be Responsible - We are responsible when we take ownership of our own behaviors and choices.

3) Be Safe - A few ways we stay safe are by walking in the classroom, keeping our hands to ourselves, and using classroom supplies appropriately.

4) Be a Problem Solver - We solve problems by being kind, considerate, and patient with one another.

Problems that occur continuously are solved collaboratively:

• student and teacher

• student, teacher, and parent

• student, teacher, parent, support staff

POSITIVE FOCUS  

My focus will always be to "catch the kids doing something good"  Kids can earn tickets during the week for helping others, excellent behavior, and working hard in class.  These tickets can be turned in for weekly class drawing.  

• Class Points - the class as a whole earns points towards extra recess, free choice time, and theme days

• Team Points - earn tickets for weekly drawing

• Individuals - earn tickets for 100% papers, excellent effort and great citizenship

I will make every effort to keep things positive, however kids who continually test after a warning will lose privileges and reward tickets.  

Reading Program - Benchmark Reading - whole class instruction for Benchmark.  Focus is on vocabulary, comprehension, and using a variety of text. I will also be pulling kids during Daily 5 time beginning next week for reading comprehension and fluency groups.  This is similar to a station time where the kids are encouraged to work at each station during the week.

Reading is the most important skill to master in 3rd grade.  Things you can do at home to help your reader improve:  read out loud to them, take turns reading a page from a book, ask questions while you read.  For example: “Who was sad?  Why did he do that?”  Interacting with your child while reading gets them thinking about the text.  Hearing you read out loud helps with pronunciation and fluency.  Thanks in advance for your help!

Reading Counts Program :  Children read leveled books at their specific level and taking quizzes on the computer.  Children can take quizzes before and after school in my class and during the day.  My classroom is open in the morning to kids about 15 minutes before the bell rings.  I will ask kids to take at least one quiz per week and for higher lexiles, one every two weeks.  I would like to set the class goal of reading 1 million words this year!  We will re-test lexile levels every month.  If your child’s lexile is not where it should be, please don’t panic.  Kids grow and change so much and every child is different.  We will work hard together to bring all children to grade level and beyond this year.  

Lexile levels:

Grade 1  190-450

Grade 2  450-620

Grade 3  620-790

Grade 4  770-875

Grade 5  875-990

Grade 6  955-1070

Grade 7  970-1120

Grade 8  1010-1155

Snacks - Please try to send a healthy snack with your child each day.  If your child buys lunch, they could still use a light snack at first recess.  We do have several food allergies, including two peanut and one dairy so please no sharing food.

Birthdays - You may bring in a special treat (or pencil, eraser, bookmark) to celebrate your child’s special day.  (no peanuts) Summer birthdays will be celebrated in May or you can choose to celebrate your child’s half birthday instead.  

Homework - The 3rd grade team has decided that nightly homework will begin the week of August 28th.  I will send very few homework papers home.  Most of the homework will be on the website for you to print out.  It will be spelling words and daily math review.   The Go Math will be online homework.  On Fridays, your child should turn in their homework folder with their minutes read recorded.  I am asking for minimum of 20 minutes of reading each night. Also, please have your child practice on Reflex math.  I will send more details about this the Friday before homework begins.  My philosophy on homework is that is should be a review of what is taught in school and that it should not be a struggle.  If homework is becoming a source of frustration or struggle in your family, please let me know if I can make any modifications for you.  I know most of you have many extra-curricular things to do after school and my desire is for the kids to have family time as well.  

Friday Folders - Manila envelope work folders go home every Friday.  Please take a moment to review their work and sign and return any half sheet notes about behavior or missing work.  All work stays at home.  Empty Friday folders are due back on Monday.  

Field Trips and Donation:

We will be going to the Fish Hatchery, Maidu Museum, and Farm Day this year.  All of the third grade classes are asking for a one time donation of $30 per child.  We thought this would be easier than asking for 5 to 10 dollars every few months.  We will keep this in a fund for the entire year and I am hoping it is enough to cover all costs.  You can send in a check payable to Lake Forest or cash.  Thanks in advance for your help.

Scholastic Book orders - Book orders will be sent home monthly.  There is no obligation to buy but I do encourage you to take a look at them.  These are popular books that are deeply discounted.  Many times they offer $1 chapter books.  Every time you order from Scholastic Book Club, you generate points for our class which I can redeem for books.  For this month, Scholastic is offering a one time 10,000 extra bonus points!  Would you consider ordering a book or two to help us reach our goal?  You are able to order online or on paper and I can send it in for you.  Our first order will be in Friday folders this week and will be due the following Friday.  https://clubs.scholastic.com/home and our class code is GRLBV   Thank you!!

Classroom Volunteers -  

We will need the following volunteers this year:

Two Room Parents - organize class parties for the year and emails

Two Auction Raffle Basket organizers - Put together basket for fundraider

Also, a Fall Festival volunteer, yearbook page photos and putting together our class page  and two Arts Attack docents.

In addition, I could really use some help with filing and Friday folders on Fridays and someone for helping with correcting.  Friday folders is about an hour commitment and you can come in whenever and correcting is also flexible.  Let me know if this is something you would prefer to do at home.  Once, we get reading groups going, I would be interested in having someone come in to help with guided reading.

Communication is so important to me!  I am available to talk after school most days and by appointment before school.  If you call or email me, I will always get back to you within the day.  I will update my website every weekend and will do my best to keep it current.  I also may email you to let you know about any upcoming, important events or deadlines.  

Thanks for all of your support!  I look forward to working with you and and your child this school year!

Sincerely,