K-5 May Curriculum Highlights
Kindergarten: Now that our Kindergartners have learned so much about reading, they are ready to become avid readers - people who love reading so much they can barely stop! Our avid readers will work collaboratively with their reading buddies and explore playful and creative ways to read their books. While focusing on phonics and decoding in word work, our kindergartners will continue to explore digraphs and blends as they build and read longer stronger words. They will also listen to add, delete, and substitute phonemes or sounds in words. Our kindergarten writers will explore persuasive writing and how they can use their words to make a change. In math, kindergartners will compose and decompose numbers to 20. They will then learn about the decade numbers and count the decade numbers in order. In Science, our scientists are excited to start our last unit – Sunlight and Weather. This unit provides the foundation for understanding the mechanism underlying all weather—how the sun warms Earth’s surface. In their role as weather scientists, students are driven to understand this phenomenon as they solve the problem of why students at one fictional school are too cold during morning recess while students at another school are too hot during afternoon recess, which serves as the anchor phenomenon of this unit. Stay tuned to find out what they discover!
Grade 1: May brings lots of new learning for first graders! As books become longer, students will develop their comprehension skills by retelling the most important details in order. They will work on paying attention to the shifts in setting and the different events characters experience. Readers will also be studying characters and relationships, learning all they can about what they do and say. They then will be able to infer how the characters are feeling and practice reading in a way that reflects those feelings, bringing their stories to life. During word work students will learn how Silent E changes a word. Silent E makes the vowel say its name, like changing "cap" to "cape." Students practice reading and spelling words with Silent E. Through hands-on activities, tapping, and word building, students strengthen their understanding of this spelling pattern, helping them become more confident readers and writers. In Writing Workshop, first graders will be writing realistic fiction stories. This unit is designed to teach students how to tell and plan stories. They will develop their own characters that will go on different adventures across multiple stories. In math, students will be subtracting multiples of 10 from two-digit numbers. Mathematicians will use various strategies to explain their thinking for how they solved. The second half of the month will focus on measurement. Students will develop an understanding of length by using different measuring tools and comparing and ordering objects to determine which is shortest and which is longest. In science, children are developing an explanation of why we experience daytime and nighttime.
Grade 2: May brings lots of new learning for first graders! As books become longer, students will develop their comprehension skills by retelling the most important details in order. They will work on paying attention to the shifts in setting and the different events characters experience. Readers will also be studying characters and relationships, learning all they can about what they do and say. They then will be able to infer how the characters are feeling and practice reading in a way that reflects those feelings, bringing their stories to life. During word work students will learn how Silent E changes a word. Silent E makes the vowel say its name, like changing "cap" to "cape." Students practice reading and spelling words with Silent E. Through hands-on activities, tapping, and word building, students strengthen their understanding of this spelling pattern, helping them become more confident readers and writers. In Writing Workshop, first graders will be writing realistic fiction stories. This unit is designed to teach students how to tell and plan stories. They will develop their own characters that will go on different adventures across multiple stories. In math, students will be subtracting multiples of 10 from two-digit numbers. Mathematicians will use various strategies to explain their thinking for how they solved. The second half of the month will focus on measurement. Students will develop an understanding of length by using different measuring tools and comparing and ordering objects to determine which is shortest and which is longest. In science, children are developing an explanation of why we experience daytime and nighttime.
Grade 3: This month, our third-grade students will engage in a dynamic, cross-curricular exploration that bridges Science and English Language Arts. In Science, we are diving into the unit "Inheritance and Traits," where students are learning how animals inherit characteristics from their parents and how these traits support survival in their environments. To deepen their understanding, this unit is integrated with our ELA focus on animal research. Each student will choose an animal to study, using informational texts and digital resources to investigate the animal’s inherited traits and the ways those traits help it adapt and thrive in its habitat. Additionally, in Fundations, the final stable syllable will remain a focus as students identify words with consonant –le. Finally, our next math unit focuses on recognizing perimeter as an attribute of polygons, finding perimeter using addition and multiplication, and finding an unknown side length.
Grade 4: In May, fourth graders will embark on a historical journey through the lenses of power and perspective. To build background knowledge, students will explore the post-war era, Industrial Revolution, women’s suffrage, and immigration during social studies. Through informational texts and historical fiction, students will use their critical reading skills to explore how viewing stories and events through different lenses, such as those of power and perspective, can deepen their understanding and spark thoughtful discussion. In math, students will continue their study of geometry and measurement. They'll explore the relationships between lines, angles, and shapes, as well as convert between customary and metric units of measurement. In science, students will begin their next unit: vision and light. They’ll investigate how both animals and plants collect information from their environments using sensory structures, with a focus on how animals gather visual information through light for survival.
Grade 5: Wow! No one in 5th grade is sure how we got to the end of the year so quickly! Things are winding up to winding down for the 5th graders and there are many exciting special events. Keeping our learning in the forefront, 5th grade readers will be immersed in the inventive and amazing world of fantasy fiction. Through book groups, students will look at literary devices such as hero’s quest. They will also discuss the importance of setting in this genre. This work will center on determining not only where the story takes place but also who has the power and the impact this power has on the main character. Also in May, students will hone their non-fiction, research reading and writing skills through the lens of Civil Rights. As a cumulative project, students will choose a civil rights movement of interest to them. Some of the topics the students can choose from are Title IX, Americans with Disabilities Act, Immigration, LGBTQ+, Indigenous People, Black Lives Matter, and Mexican American Civil Rights. In addition to the amazing ELA work students will be doing, they will also be studying geometry and measurement conversions in math. They will learn to convert metric and customary units of measurement. In addition, they will learn the attributes of various types of triangles and quadrilaterals.
Social Emotional Learning: Resilience
In April, our School Social Worker, Ms. Ryan, taught SEL lessons related to responsible decision making and learning to handle difficult feelings such as anger (think the Red Zone in Zones of Regulation!).
K-2 students read A Little Spot of Anger by Diane Alber and our students in Grades 3-5 watched a video titled Anger Management and had a whole class discussion.
The focus for May is resilience.
We are connecting this work to our May common read: How to Solve a Problem: The Rise (and Falls) of a Rock-Climbing Champion
Students from each class will continue to receive Eagle Eye Awards! Students who demonstrate Kind, Responsible, and Safe expectations will be recognized and their group photos will be shared on our digital board! Bringing students together at our school assemblies to share experiences and celebrate each other is just one way we create a sense of belonging at IMES.
Belonging at IMES
In May, we will be highlighting Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month. Reading books, recognizing the heritage months at our sharing assemblies, highlighting role models in our daily morning announcements, and creating learning boards are just some of the ways we acknowledge heritage months as part of our ongoing belonging work.
By embracing diversity and creating a mirror and window for students, we foster an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcomed and valued.
Start with Hello Program Update
This month, our fifth-grade leaders took the lead in sharing the important Start With Hello program with students in grades K-4. Through role-playing, brainstorming, and watching a video about a child feeling lonely at lunch, our students learned powerful ways to reach out, make new friends, and ensure no one feels left out. It was an inspiring experience that encouraged empathy and kindness, as our fifth graders guided younger students in practicing ways to make everyone feel included. We're proud of our student leaders and excited to see these important lessons make a difference in our school community!
Our Buddy Program
Our buddy program continues to create a sense of belonging at IMES. Each class is paired with an older or younger buddy class: kindergarten with third grade, first grade with fourth, and second grade with fifth. Throughout the year, these buddy classes meet to read together, work on fun projects, share what they are learning, and build friendships. These special connections help students feel seen, supported, and valued while contributing to a greater sense of belonging and school spirit at IMES. The program also creates meaningful leadership opportunities for our older students, who become role models and mentors, while inspiring younger students to look forward to the years ahead in elementary school with excitement. Each month, we highlight buddy classes at our sharing assemblies, and students enjoy sharing what they have worked on together and what they have learned from their buddies.
Shout Outs!
Thank you to our Green Team students for promoting Waste Free Wednesday and participating in the Arbor Day poster contest!
Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Almstead for leading the Arbor Day assemblies, helping Grade 5 students plant a tree, and donating a tree sapling to each and every student and staff member!
Thank you to Mrs. Ryan and Dr. Schwartz for introducing our Start with Hello (Sandy Hook Promise) Program.
Thank you to our students for demonstrating Kind, Responsible, and Safe behaviors and for working hard each day!
