Dear Third Grade Families, I would like to welcome you to Burnett Creek Elementary for another great school

year! My name is Chelsea Lilly and I am very excited to be your childs teacher. Ill start by telling you a little about myself. This is my first year teaching at Burnett C reek Elementary and I must admit--I am extremely excited! Prior to this year, I attended the Purdue University where I received a Bachelors degree in Law and Society. I am originally from Cleveland, Ohio and had been living in West Lafayette for the past four years. Your third grader is in store for many meaningful and challenging experiences. I feel strongly that in order for the school year to be successful, it is necessary for the child, teacher, and parent(s)/guardian(s) to work closely together throughout the school year. I would like you to know that I have high expectations for each student. I want to nurture each students love of learning. I will strive to provide a positive and safe environment that is conducive to learning. Because communication between school and home is extremely important for your childs success, your child will bring home a Friday folder each Friday that will contain imp ortant notes, graded schoolwork, weekly homework, and a weekly checklist of behaviors observed in the classroom. Each Friday when it is sent home, I ask that you review the contents of the folder, sign our weekly communication form and have your child return it on Monday. The weekly homework assignments are not due until the following Friday. They will be stapled in a packet and contain concepts and objectives that were taught previously inside our classroom. These assignments will not be graded, however; it is necessary for your child to complete these assignments in order for them to practice previous concepts. Your child will also be bringing home a daily agenda that serves as a homework log. Please review it nightly to see if your child does/doesnt have homework and sign/initial that you have seen it. This agenda will travel from school to home and vice versa everyday. Besides building on previous knowledge this year we will be introducing a lot of new topics. A few of our main math topics are multiplication, counting change, telling time, and identifying graphs and patterns. In reading we will focus on our fluency, comprehension, writing summaries, identifying main ideas, as well as reading non-fiction text. For writing we will focus on cursive, sentence structure, the parts of a story, and the writing process. Our science is incorporated a lot into our reading and will touch base on the parts of matter, lifecycles, forces and motion, Earth and space, and the classification of living things. For social studies we will learn about the American government, geographical features, and many people and communities that have influenced our world today. We have a lot of great activities planned for this year so I hope you are ready to jump right in!

Please remember that your thoughts, concerns and questions are always important to me. Please do not hesitate to call me at school (765-0101) or at home in the evenings until 9:00pm (216-509-7316). If I am unavailable, I will do my best to return your call in a timely manner. For those of you who use e-mail, I check my e-mail several times throughout the day therefore this would be the quickest and most efficient way to contact me. Please add me to your address book (clilly@purdue.edu). I am excited to help your child grow as a learner and cant wait to see what exciting experiences this year holds fo r us! I am looking forward to getting to know you and your family.

Sincerely, Chelsea Lilly