Welcome, finally!  I experienced some technical difficulties with my webpage, so if you checked and saw only last year's information, that's the reason.  But, hopefully, we're back on track!

     It was good to see you at Open House and I will be contacting you soon to schedule 1st quarter conferences.   Please feel free to contact me via phone (704) 857-3400 or via email @ sloopjt@rss.k12.nc.us.

     I've highlighted some things below to update you on our classroom. Some points remain on this page as they are continually important throughout the school year.

•   Your support at home is valued GREATLY ! It takes two components (home support and school support) to have a successful school year.

• Please make sure to look over and return your student's weekly work folders. Ask them about their work and go over any weak areas that you may notice.

• READ, READ, READ!!! Vocabulary development is so important not only in the primary grades, but also in the intermediate grades as students begin to develop more enhanced reading and writing skills. Exposure to varied text and frequent reading is key to developing these literacy skills.  Students are responsible for 20 entries in a reading log per month (at least 10 min/day). 

• HOMEWORK: We try not to overload students with homework. However homework is essential for practice and repetition, especially in math. Please make sure to go over your child's homework and make sure they understand the assignments. A good way to monitor understanding is to ask your child to explain their work or the process that they followed to arrive at their answer. You should expect a reading log assignment on Mon., Wed., and Fri.  Daily HW will be given in math, reading and spelling 

• MATH:  We've covered rounding numbers and will begin estimating numbers and working on addition and math skills.  And of course we always do daily work that encompasses all math areas to keep our math skills sharp.  Please work on math facts at home, these are very important in building number sense and a good foundation for future learning.

• LANGUAGE ARTS:  We use a variety of reading text to cover our 3rd grade curriculum.  We have just finished units on Adventure and Poetry and will soon be starting a unit on Family Tradition.  We are doing inclusion with our Reading Specialist this year and small groups as well.  

• SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:  These content areas are integrated into our Language Arts and Math curriculum  We will be covering government, citizenship (especially  as related to the upcoming election), cultures and family structure in Social Studies.  Our science curriculum will cover planets, the human body, plants, and soils.  We really enjoy these units and often utilize Fabulous Fridays (last Friday of every month) for great hands on learning in these areas.  

• TECHNOLOGY: Take time to check out the links below. I've listed a couple websites that have math games for your student to play. You'll be hearing lots about technology this year as Knollwood is an IMPACT school.  That means that we'll be integrating technology into our lessons and creating some really cool projects to showcase our learning.  Later in the year we'll be starting Type To Learn, a technology program that teaches proper keyboarding skills. As your youngster is at home using the computer, please encourage use of "home keys" (a,s,d,f,j,k,l,;).

Again, thanks for all you do at home to support your student's academic progress. I look forward to your continued support throughout the school year.

Mrs. Sloop