Ms. Brandle’s 
Third-Grade 
Handbook! 
 
Everything you need to know about third-grade at Horizon!
 Ms. Brandle’s Third-Grade Handbook Procedures 
Attendance​:​ ​Students are required to be in their seats by 8:15 a.m. Students will be counted 
tardy if they are not seated by 8:15a.m. Please have your student go to the office for a 
tardy slip if your student arrives after 8:15a.m. If your student becomes ill or is going to be 
absent for an unusual circumstance, please contact the school office so your student’s 
absence can be recorded correctly in our attendance system. If there are extenuating 
circumstances regarding your student’s absence or tardiness, please notify the office. 

Absences/Tardies​:​ ​Tardies will be marked in the student record as either excused or 
unexcused. 

→ Excused Tardies: ​doctor’s appointments, family emergency, severe road & weather 
conditions, illness/ nurse’s office or stopped or held by another teacher. 

→ Unexcused Tardies​: oversleeping, forgetting something at home, traffic, failure to 

plan ahead (ran out of gas, scraping icy windows, trains) parents running late, etc. 

Attendance records are kept as part of the student’s permanent record. Excessive 
absences due to special circumstances will be evaluated individually. An unexcused absence 
is any absence not covered under the definition of excused or exempt. Please see the 
school-wide handbook for further specifics on absences.  

Accreditation​:​ ​ Horizon Christian School is ACSI and Indiana State accredited. We base our 
lessons off of the Indiana State Standards. 

Agendas​: ​ ​Students are given an agenda at the beginning of the year. This is a good way to 
help teach students organization. Especially for our third-graders, this is an important part 
of their first school year with the responsibility of homework. At the end of the school day, 
Ms. Brandle has the students fill out their agenda with the day’s assignments. On Monday 
students will highlight or otherwise indicate all quizzes and/or tests. ​Parents, please make 
it a priority to check and sign your student’s agenda every night.​ This is how homework 
and test dates are communicated. There is a spot next to each day for a parent’s 
signature. Every morning, Ms. Brandle will check to make sure that students are getting 
their agenda signed each evening. Agendas are also a good place to write a quick note to 
Ms. Brandle if you have anything that needs to be communicated quickly. 

Birthdays​: ​As much as we love to celebrate birthdays in our class, due to ​COVID​, birthday 
treats will not be permitted. Teachers are getting creative with ways to celebrate in class.   

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Bravo​:​ ​B.R.A.V.O (Building Relationships Around Valuing Others) is the classroom management 
and discipline system adopted by the Pre-K through 5th grade classrooms. It was important 
to streamline the disciplinary procedures throughout the elementary and to effectively 
maintain consistency throughout the school day and year. As Christians, we are called to 
love one another, and when students value their peers and teachers, they are honoring this 
commandment. It is with this focus we have decided to implement B.R.A.V.O. In an effort to 
improve communication, each classroom has its own clipboard that travels with the class to 
lunch and specials. This way, if specials teachers and/or lunch helpers have any issues with 
a student, they can be quickly disciplined and corrected in the same way they would be in 
the classroom.  

This image resembles our BRAVO charts. Every child starts out 
“Ready to Learn” at the start of the school day (color green). 
Green means a student is having a good day; they are following 
directions, being a good listener, and getting along well with 
others. As it is important to reward those students who are doing 
their personal best every day and who are valuing others in all 
they do, students have an opportunity to move ABOVE “Ready to 
Learn”. When a student is caught going above and beyond, 
helping others, being kind to others, and seeking to honor the 
Lord with their behavior, they can move up on the B.R.A.V.O chart 
to the colors above, blue, purple, pink. These may result in a 
Behavior Communication Link (BCL) to let parents know how 
fantastic their kiddo is doing! 

While we hope all children stay on “Ready to Learn” or move up throughout a given day, we 
all make mistakes. If a child has needed several reminders throughout the day to stay on 
task, follow directions, keep their hands to themselves, etc., they may be asked to move to 
the “Think About It” section on the clipboard (yellow). At this point, the student is still 
having a good day; they have just needed to be reminded to follow procedures, etc. In 
addition, if a child lands on yellow three times in a week period, he/she will talk to Mr. Faust 
regarding the consistent behavior.  

If after several reminders, a student is still struggling, they will move themselves to 
“Contact Home” (orange) on the clipboard. When a child moves to “Contact Home” a 
Behavior Communication Link (BCL) is sent home. This allows for written communication 
between home and school and will better help both parents and teachers stay on top of any 
potential problems and/or patterns that may occur throughout the school year. The BCL 
indicates what the issue was during the day and ​MUST be signed​ by a parent and returned 
the following school day. If a child continues the misbehavior, they will move their check to 
“Office” on the clipboard. At this point, the issue has probably gotten out of hand and the 
child is blatantly choosing to disrespect his or her peers and teacher. Therefore, the 
student will take a trip to the principal’s office, receive a phone call home, and a BCL sent 

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home. Further consequences may be added by the teacher/principal depending on the 
misbehavior. Please understand that BCLs might be sent home for extraordinary behavior as 
well. 

Students have the opportunity to move up and down on the behavior chart each day. 
Just as God has grace on ALL his children, we wanted to give an opportunity for students to 
be shown that same grace after correcting their behavior. As a Christian school the 
spiritual growth of our students is our main focus. (Train a child in the way he should go, and 
when he is old he will not turn from it. ~Proverbs 22:6) Ongoing documentation is a 
necessary component of any behavioral plans that may need to be established. 

In summary, the B.R.A.V.O. system aims to reinforce those students who are doing the 
right thing and striving to honor God in all they do. ​When students have consistent 
Christ-like behavior, they earn a series of prizes from their teacher and are commended 
for their efforts in building relationships around valuing others!​ Students who have not 
ended the day on green will be reminded that God makes each day new and that they have 
the choice to make tomorrow a better day. 

Our classroom, in particular, will use the BRAVO chart along with a classroom 
economy, of sorts. Each color on the chart indicates earnings or “fines” each day equivalent 
to monetary value. Earning these “Brandle Bucks” will allow students to purchase in-class 
rewards. My hope is that this further emphasizes the celebration of good behavior, while 
still following through with fair and natural consequences. At this time, the only other way to 
earn money is by serving the class through classroom jobs. All students will have the 
opportunity to work these jobs throughout the school year.  

Chapel​: ​ Elementary chapel meets in the youth room every Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 
p.m. for a time of praise and worship as well as Bible Truth teaching. Normally, parents are 
always welcome to attend chapel with their student; however, this, too, will be impacted by 
COVID​ changes. Visitors are being strictly limited. 

Field trips​:​ ​ 3rd graders normally take at least two educational field trips and one service 
field trip throughout the school year. These field trips are designed to reinforce 
information taught in class. Parent chaperones are highly encouraged at HCS. All parent 
helpers must complete a background check through the school office to be able to volunteer 
in any school event. ​However, due to ​COVID-19​, field trips are on hold. The fall semester 
will not have a field trip and we will assess the spring semester when the time comes. 

Grading​: ​ ​Horizon Christian School operates on a 10 point grading scale. 

90-100=A; 80-89=B; 70-79=C; 60-69=D; <60=F 

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Homework Policy​:
● Students receive daily homework assignments with the exception of Wednesday evenings 
(to allow families to attend church) and Friday evenings/over the weekend. The only 
exception to this is that spelling practice-related homework can be started over the 
weekend. Student will record homework assignments in their agendas ​and t​ hese homework 
assignments should be listed in the weekly newsletter (found in their take home 
folders--see following section). 
● Homework assignments are given to reinforce what is being taught in class. It also assists 
parents in the understanding of what their student does and does not comprehend. As we 
continue to strive to be independent learners, please do not hesitate to assist your 
students with their assignments.    
● Homework is due at the beginning of the day. Students place their completed homework in 
the designated tray each morning unless there are specific directions to keep their 
homework assignments at their desk. 
● Homework is always checked first thing in the morning. If a student is present in class and 
has failed to turn in an assignment, on the day it is due, they will be reminded by the 
teacher. 
● One day late= 10% off, two days late=20% off, 3 days late=50% off, 4 days or later the 
student will receive a ZERO for that assignment (the assignment will no longer be 
accepted.)  
● Assignments not turned in because of an ​excused ​absence are expected to be turned in 
the day the student returns to school. Assignments that need to be made up because of 
an absence (​excused​) should be made up according to the number of days the student was 
absent. For example, a student absent on Monday and Tuesday will have two days to make 
up the assignments for those two days. If an unexcused absence occurs all homework and 
classwork will receive a zero! 

Homework/Class Folders​:​ ​Students have a blue folder labeled with “left at home” and “right 
back to school” on each pocket. This is the only folder that should be coming and going 
between school and home. They are to place their homework on the right side (right back to 
school) to take home that evening and bring back the following school day. Other items that 
might go on this side of the folder are papers requiring parent action (ie signatures), 
papers or tools that need to be brought back to school each 
day, or notes for Ms. Brandle. ​Please do not empty the right 
side of the folder. ​Graded homework, notes to parents, and 
flyers are examples of things that might come home on the 
left side of the folder (left at home). This pocket needs to be 
emptied every evening and the contents must be reviewed by 
parents. The newsletter for each week will be inserted into a 
clear sleeve held in the folder by prongs. The folder will look something like this ^ 

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Newsletter​: ​ ​Some Fridays, parents might receive an email with general updates. At least, a 
monthly overview will go out around the beginning of each month. I try to make all emails 
clear to be as concise as possible. These email communications contain important 
information about our classroom and school. If you do not have internet access, please be 
sure to make Ms. Brandle aware of that. Additionally, each week, a physical newsletter will 
be sent home in your student’s blue take-home folder. This newsletter must be kept inside 
the folder. It will be removed and replaced by Ms. Brandle on Fridays (Mondays if I run into 
any hiccups!). This paper is VERY important; it will contain our weekly memory verse, spelling 
list, vocabulary words, homework assignments and more.  

To contact Ms. Brandle, you may call the ​school office​ at ​317.823.4538​ or email her at 
mbrandle@hcsindy.org 

Projects​: ​ ​We will be working on several academic projects throughout the school year to 
further enforce what we are learning in class. Late projects will receive no credit! 
Communication is key for these larger assignments. Information will be sent home with ample 
time to make decisions, ask questions, and complete assignments.  

Ren-web​: ​Parents may access student’s current grades via Ren-web. First time Ren-web 
users may make a Ren-web account by going to ​www.renweb.com​. Hover the cursor over 
Logins and then Parentsweb Logins. Click on Parentsweb Logins, and then click on “Create 
New Parentsweb Account” located underneath the Login button. Use the district code 
HOR-IN to make your account. Renweb is also accessible on horizonindy.org/school/ listed 
under the renweb tab. This is another place to find directions for renweb.  

Snacks/Lunch​: ​ Students should pack a ​HEALTHY​ snack such as fruit, veggies, or a granola 
bar in their lunchbox to eat in the morning. If you are going to pack something that 
requires a utensil, please be sure to pack one with your snack. We allow approximately 
fifteen minutes in the morning to take a break for a snack. ​Please do not pack sweets or 
foods with lots of sugar to help the brain stay focused for the rest of our morning.​ Pop is 
not permitted at snack time or at lunch. Colored juices are not to be packed in lunch boxes 
either. We just ask you to use your own discretion in choosing an appropriate snack! This is 
a boost to get students through the morning. This is especially important for third-graders, 
as they are transitioning out of morning recesses. 

Students are responsible for making arrangements for their own lunches. Students 
may bring a lunch or order (in advance) the catered lunch offered 5 days a week. Lunches 
may be ordered on a monthly basis. Lunch orders are placed online and are due the last 
Wednesday of the month and costs $3.75 a day. Emergency lunches are available and will be 
charged to their school account. Lunch is to be eaten in the cafeteria. No food may be 
taken outside of the cafeteria. Although lunch is an informal time for visiting and relaxing, it 
is not a time for wild, out of control behavior, and we ask that students behave accordingly. 
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Students must keep the table and floor clean. It is important to demonstrate care for the 
building while in the cafeteria. Various students will be chosen to help clean up the lunch 
room by the cafeteria monitors. 

Subjects​:
Bible​: ​ACSI curriculum. 3rd graders study important fundamental concepts relating to 
the Christian faith. We will tackle questions such as, “Why is the Bible important?” and 
“Who is God?” Students have a Bible workbook that is kept in their desk for classwork 
and homework assignments. Students are given character type grades in Bible. 
Students should make it a habit to practice their memory verses at home each evening. 
They are graded on class participation and verse memory. 

Math​: ​Saxon Math curriculum. We will have math lessons from the curriculum daily. We 
will also be continuing to practice our multiplication and division facts using the “Rocket” 
math program. Students have a math journal/workbook that they will use in class. Math 
homework will come from the hardback Saxon books. The children will answer the 
questions on a separate sheet of lined paper. Showing work for math problems is a ​BIG 
part of math for third-grade! Students are normally required to take home their 
hardback books for math homework. These books are brand new and have been 
numbered. If the books come back damaged there will be a fine to replace them. 
However, due to ​COVID​, Ms. Brandle is exploring alternatives to taking books home.  

English​: ​Shurley English curriculum. Students have a workbook and a student textbook 
for them to reference for homework assistance and studying purposes.   

Writing​: ​Scholastic and Shurley English curriculum. We will begin the year learning 
about the 6+1 writing traits. Then we will focus on different types of writing. Students 
have a composition notebook as their journal which they will use in class to brainstorm 
and write about a variety of topics. Additionally, Ms. Brandle is a huge fan of teaching 
the writing process. To do this, students will have a multi-colored set of folders to 
distinguish their writing between the prewriting stage, the drafting stage, the revision 
stage, the editing stage, and publishing stage. Students will be given as much freedom as 
possible as they practice their writing skills throughout the year. 

Literature​: ​We have adopted Houghton Mifflin for our reading curriculum. This is very 
exciting! Ms. Brandle is a big fan of this curriculum. Each week, we will read a story 
together as a class. Your child will be tested over the story and the strategies we have 
been focusing on. Ms. Brandle is eager to share her classroom library with the class. 
Students are also welcome to bring books from home. Please have your child’s name 
written in any books from home (or a post-it note for library books). Reading logs will not 
be a required part of homework. However, please encourage your student to read daily 

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 and even read aloud to you, a family member, or a pet! Talk to your child about the book 
he/she is reading and ask questions to further their understanding. 

Penmanship​: ​Cursive writing has been proven to help the mind make connections in 
reading and writing. We will be practicing writing with excellence. There are no grades 
taken on penmanship specifically, however, cursive will be required in some final pieces 
of writing. 

Spelling​: ​Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) Into Reading. Spelling and vocabulary comes 
from our new reading curriculum. Students study various spelling patterns and 
strategies. A spelling test will be given on Fridays. Students’ spelling homework 
assignments are typically completed on notebook paper. They will have some freedom of 
choice in their spelling homework. No homework is assigned on Fridays; however, 
students can [optionally] begin over the weekend, provided the list comes home on 
Friday. Additionally, there will be a variety of spelling activities to choose from for their 
homework. 

Science​: ​ This year, your child will be studying life science. He/she will explore 
ecosystems and plant varieties. They also will be introduced to simple physics. Your child 
will investigate motion and force, along with electricity and magnets. Additionally, we will 
learn basic earth science. This will include the solar system and rocks. I encourage you 
to ask your child about their science explorations and challenge them to investigate the 
science that is all around them.  

History​: ​Weekly Studies. We will be studying about the state of Indiana through Weekly 
Studies. Students will be assigned homework based on information in the Weekly Studies 
newspapers. Tests and quizzes will also be given relating to information from the Weekly 
Studies.  

Specials​:   
Monday- ​Music 

Tuesday- ​PE​ (please make sure students are wearing tennis shoes on these days) 

Wednesday- ​Computer 

Thursday- ​Art 

Friday- ​Library​* 

*Students may check out two library books for two weeks at a time. Fines will incur for lost 
or damaged books.​ ​COVID​ ​impact is unknown at this point. 

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Tests and Quizzes​: ​Tests and quizzes are given periodically to check the students’ 
understanding of classroom objectives. Students will be informed of when a test is coming 
up via the classroom calendar. Students are responsible for studying and keeping track of 
when tests will occur. Students will write all tests and quizzes in their agenda and 
emphasize them with ink or highlighter. Tests/quizzes will also be indicated on the weekly 
newsletter. 

If a student is absent (excused) on the day a test is given, he will typically make up any 
missed tests and quizzes the day he returns to school. If a student is unprepared for a test 
because of an absence, arrangements to make up the test or quiz will be made with the 
teacher. If your student is unexcused they will receive a zero. 

Textbooks​: ​ Students may take home textbooks to study at any time. Students are 
responsible to take care of their textbooks. Fines will incur for lost or damaged books. 
Students are to take home books that correspond to their classroom number.   

Visitors​: ​Normally, parents who wish to visit our class must first make an appointment with 
Ms. Brandle and then sign in at the office. Parents are not permitted in school hallways 
without a visitor pass. Parents must complete a background check through the school office 
in order to volunteer in any classroom activity. However, ​because of ​COVID​, visitors will be 
strictly limited. Please see the informational video on our ​COVID​ response from the 
administration. 

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After reading the information contained in this handbook, complete the section below and 
return to your child’s teacher physically or digitally. 

My child and I have read and reviewed ​Miss Brandle’s classroom handbook. 

We understand the contents and expectations of the handbook. 

Parent’s Name/ Signature 

____________________________/_________________________________ 

Student's Name/ Signature 

____________________________/________________________________