3rd Grade Blog

Dear Third Grade Parents,

Welcome to Third Grade.  I am so excited to be here and working with your children. I have been teaching for 24 years and 22 of these years overseas. I have worked in Canada, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Korea. Busan has delighted me at every turn. I have my Master of Science in International Learning Styles and love learning myself, so I have completed many online courses and attended conferences to stay up to date with the best teaching practices from around the world.

As we know from last year anything can and will happen. Last year was a unique year with virtual learning for only a couple of weeks for Elementary School. This year promises to be just as changeable as COVID cases flair and recede. We need to be ready for anything. No matter what happens I will do my part to make sure your child exits grade three with the skills and knowledge they need but also with the sense of closeness that comes with shared adventures and successes.

As we have been informed, grade 3-5 will be starting the first three weeks of school virtually. While this is not the ideal, we will make it work for your children and families to stay safe and still begin building our classroom community of learning. With this in mind, Grade 3 will begin each day with a morning meeting at 8:30. All students are expected to attend, ready to start their school day, at this time. On school days, I will be available on zoom for any questions or problems from 9-11am and again from 12:00 – 1:30. https://zoom.us/j/2516575746 is my instant meeting link and https://zoom.us/my/pboettcher is my personal ID. All of the material sent home during virtual school needs to be returned to school with the students when they return in person.

I’m sure that many of you are familiar with most of the routines and policies as outlined in the Student Handbook. There are a few items that are related to the classroom that I wish to make clear particularly for any new families for when we are back in person.

Snacks- There is a time set aside in the afternoon for students to have a snack in grade three. These snacks are not provided by the school and students must bring one to school if they wish to eat a snack that day. Throughout the day, I also allow students to eat healthy snacks at their desk if they wish to. The snacks need to be healthy, neat, low scented and for personal consumption during seat work time. They should also keep a water bottle at their desk as well.

Homework – Homework will not begin for third grade for the first few weeks. Reading and writing about reading is the usual homework in third grade. Students are generally expected to read for 20 minutes and then write about what they read. Occasionally, your child may have another assignment that they didn’t finish in class that they need to finish at home but this will not be usual. There will be a spelling list going home on Mondays of high frequency words that every grade three student should try their best to memorise for Friday. In math, I do expect each child to be able to rapidly recall their multiplication and division facts. In unit one, we will be covering 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 times tables. You can help out by practicing these at home.  

I am sure more items will arise as we head into the school year.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me at pboettcher@bfs.or.kr 

Miss Patti-Jo Boettcher