District Curriculum Team Update

Engaging standards-based teaching and learning is happening across the district everyday!

The district curriculum team invites you to explore highlighted learning opportunities within our Unified Arts, STEM, and Humanities classes.

Please make sure to view the entire newsletter by clicking at the bottom to open the entire publication.

A huge thanks goes to the district curriculum team for documenting all of the examples below: Leah Barton (HHS STEM), Ashley Bouchard (Miller STEM), Kasey Conahan (RAMS Humanities), Carla Krause (RAMS STEM), Jenny Mann (Placentino Humanities), Kristin Marino (Placentino STEM), Ilse O'Brien (Miller Humanities), Dr. Ida Pappas (District Unified Arts), and Joel Stembridge (HHS Humanities).

Enjoy,

Dr. Joanne Menard

The district had a robust concert season between December and January with performances for all Band and Chorus ensembles. Above is Director George Weithman with his elementary band. Please enjoy this highlight of the 7/8 Jazz Ensemble playing "Come Fly With Me"

Performing

Tuesday, March 18th was also a high school concert for the Jazz Band, Concert Band and Chorus. This concert featured senior, Griffin Godfrey, an ubiquitous member of the music community. Griffin plays multiple instruments in each band, helps students learn their instruments in elementary and middle school, and here he is conducting a movie score that he transcribed by ear, notated and then taught to the concert band. Griffin will attend Berklee College of Music in the fall

Music teachers, Lori York Anderson and Christine Petersen, presented the first of two Miller grade level concerts. Students in third grade performed on Wednesday, March 19th to an enthusiastic audience of family, friends and teachers. The theme was "Trains" and there was a mix music literacy with singing, instrument playing, dancing, composition and arranging on classroom instruments.

Performing

6. Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work. Sing and play in groups responding to cues from a conductor exhibiting stylistic elements. (5-6.M.P.06)

Congratulations to Holliston 9th graders, Naomi Cong & Sachika Modi, for their Scholastic Art Awards. We are so proud of these students!

Creativity is basically the training of our minds to problem-solve and use critical thinking, while engaging in self-expression and reflection. These are skills at the core of all innovation and industry.

Creating

3. Refine and complete artistic work. Refine an artistic work that builds on previous work by incorporating new materials, constraints, genres, or styles. (P.V.Cr.03)

Students across the district are inspired in their artwork by studying famous artists.

At RAMS, students are inspired by the glass artist, Dale Chihuly. They are applying lessons on color theory through a collaborative project, “Chandelier,” made with salvaged recycled clear plastics.

Georgia O'Keeffe, with her close-up, large scale flowers of the 1920s -1950s, inspired this collaboration of close observation at the elementary level.

Creating

1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. Generate artistic ideas that demonstrate differences in composition principles (e.g., balance, proportion, emphasis) and push the boundaries of what materials can do. (7-8.V.Cr.01)

French Immersion students at the High School, RAMS, and Miller are participating in La Manie Musicale 2025, which is an annual bracket-style competition for students and teachers of French. Similar to March Madness basketball in the United States, participants try to predict which of 16 francophone songs will be the most popular. Once the tournament starts, voters decide which song will advance to the next round until we have a champion. The best part? Students learn French while having fun with students from all over the world since there are close to 7,000 schools across 35 countries participating in La Manie Musicale. Joie, Diversité, Inclusivité et Communauté avec la Manie Musicale!

8. Communities - In a wide variety of settings, using the target language to the greatest appropriate extent for the community-based situation, with appropriate linguistic scaffolding, students most often succeed but sometimes need help to:

Throughout the day, students across the district are engaging in all modes of communication in their World Language: reading, writing, speaking, listening.

Here Mr. O'Connell's 5th grade French Immersion class demonstrate their presentation skills with their yearly Frenchuary Project.

3. Presentational Communication - In presentations on topics that relate to students and their immediate environment in a variety of settings,creating unconnected simple sentences, sometimes relying upon clarification and circumlocution, in such a way that speakers/signers of the language who are accustomed to engaging with language learners understand, students:

b. Present information, raise awareness, and express personal preferences in culturally appropriate ways. (IL.3.b)

c. Explain their own authentic thoughts in culturally appropriate ways. (IL.3.c)

Grade 2 Spanish students are "traveling the world" via a passport project of Senora Bernal. Students are introduced to Spanish speaking countries around the globe, their culture, flag and how to locate them on a map. Students remain excited to see and hear about the music, food and special cultural sites of each country.

Linguistic Cultures Standards

5. Cultures - In settings that students would find familiar and highly predictable, using the target language exclusively or almost exclusively, with appropriate linguistic scaffolding, students fully and consistently:

b. Recognize and identify factors that contribute to individual and cultural identities. (NM.5.b)

Holliston approaches Wellness as a symbiotic relationship between mind and body. The MA DESE new standards balance the need for building students' social-emotional self-awareness and their physical competence.

Practice 1: Decision-making and Problem-Solving. Make health-promoting, informed, responsible decisions, and solve problems, in a variety of health-related situations.

Practice 4: Movement Skills. Demonstrate competence in, and knowledge of, a variety of movement forms, motor skills, physical fitness components, and principles in order to engage in purposeful and health-promoting physical activity, including sports and games.

The libraries across the district not only build our students' love and excitement around reading, but they are also places that guide important life-long skills: researching, ethical use of resources, cyber safety, collaboration and critical thinking.

The elementary and middle schools held their Scholastic Book Fair, which provide a portion of the sales in dollars to purchase new books for their collections.

Standard 4. Use Information

4a. evaluate resources for their appropriateness

4b. select the best and most relevant information

4c. practice ethical behavior and respect for intellectual property rights

Standard 8. Appreciate Literature

Students will gain an increased enjoyment of literature and grow in their abilities to locate and select appropriate reading material independently.

The PreK-5 classrooms continue to grow their math knowledge utilizing the new Eureka Math Squared Curriculum.

In our last curriculum newsletter, we shared how Placentino students are strengthening their counting skills. Counting is an essential foundation for all math learning! It even helps students develop a strong understanding of place value, which they’ll use when adding and subtracting.

Below, you’ll find a video of second-grade students using their counting and place value skills to add and subtract with number discs—one of the hands-on tools from Eureka Math Squared. These discs help bridge the gap between base ten blocks and using digits alone, supporting students as they build abstract math understanding.

The great news? You can practice similar activities at home with just simple paper circles! Here are some fun, age-appropriate ways to reinforce counting skills at home:

• Preschoolers – Use any objects around the house! Have your child line them up and count or move them one by one while counting.
• Kindergarteners – Continue counting with real-life objects, but also introduce simple paper circles labeled with a “1” to build early counting skills in a more abstract way.
• First Graders – Try using circles labeled with “10” and “1” to help them explore teen numbers and beyond, reinforcing place value understanding.
• Second Graders (like in the video!) – Use circles labeled with “100,” “10,” and “1” to create three-digit numbers, then add and subtract with them. Encourage your child to explain their thinking as they work—it’s a great way to strengthen their place value skills!

Counting is a powerful tool at every stage of learning. We hope this gives you some easy and fun ways to support your child’s math journey at home!

Placentino students continue to work hard to build their strong number sense through the use of hands-on instruction. Below are some pictures from around Placentino and the number sense work helping to grow students brains!

Place value disks are a powerful hands-on tool for helping young learners develop a strong understanding of addition and subtraction. These manipulatives visually represent ones, tens, hundreds, and beyond, allowing children to physically group, exchange, and manipulate values. By using place value disks, students can better grasp key concepts like regrouping (borrowing and carrying) in a concrete way before transitioning to abstract algorithms. This interactive approach builds number sense, fosters confidence, and makes learning addition and subtraction more engaging and meaningful. Below are some second graders from Mrs. Creonte's room building their place value fluency in this hands-on, multisensory style of learning math!

Miller’s Grade Leaders have been working closely with ALN this year to support teachers in incorporating game play into the classroom in order to build students’ fluency and number sense. Ms. Flannery’s 4th grade class had a blast testing out some of these new games including Treasure Hunt and Quick Draw. (4.OA.A, 4.OA.B, 4.OA.C)

Christi Phipps and Sandra Dowling lead Miller’s Math Club, a group of aspiring 4th and 5th grade mathematicians. Miller’s Math Club runs two dynamic sessions after winter break. They engage in creative problem-solving and critical thinking skills using a variety of math concepts. Their first session focused on a dynamic Spy School Activity. During this activity students worked in teams to crack codes and ciphers. (4.OA, 4.NBT, 5.OA, 5.NBT)

Science is important to elementary students because it sparks curiosity, helps them understand the world around them, and encourages critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are essential for their growth and future learning.

Students in Kindergarten have explored the four seasons while observing weather conditions to describe patterns over time. They created their own paper bag bird nest to understand why birds lay eggs in the spring. Students looked at leaves changing and patterns over the course of the four seasons in New England (k-ESS2-1).

Students have been observing the sun, moon and stars and are able to describe patterns of change during the day and night. Students created models of the moon phases and constellations using playdoh and worked collaboratively to match puzzle pieces for the four seasons. (1-ESS1-1)

Students have been learning about erosion and landforms and the impact of severe weather on land. Students experimented with solutions to slow or prevent water from changing the shape of the land and how water around the world can be solid or liquid. (2-ESS2-1,2-ESS2-3)

Mrs. Dennison and Mrs. DeRoy’s 5th grade science class held a science showcase demonstrating their deep understanding of the earth's water cycle for their peers at Miller. Students showed off their knowledge in small group teams and prepared their own mini-lessons, delivering instruction in various styles. Some groups performed skits, others created dioramas, slideshows, posters and so much more! It was a wonderful experience for both the student presenters and peers to learn about the water cycle in a fun and engaging way! (5-ESS2-1,5-ESS2-2)

On February 10th, we celebrated the 100th day of school with a variety of fun, 100-themed activities. Students engaged in creative challenges, counting games, and special projects, all focused on the number 100, making the day both exciting and educational!

At Placentino, students participated in STEM stations around the building where they were tasked with using their imagination to create something given a specific building tool. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, and it encourages hands-on learning and problem-solving. Engineering is especially important for growing brains because it helps students think critically, design solutions, and understand how things work, fostering creativity and innovation for the future.

Miller Elementary School rocked the 100th Day in style with our new 100 Day pencils sponsored by the Holliston PTO, thank you! Students had fun engaging in 100 day challenges such as guessing which jars contained exactly 100 items and so much more! Congratulations to our 5th graders who celebrated their 1,000th day of school! (MP2, MP4, MP7)

Students at RAMS are exploring exciting concepts through activities at every grade level. Our Science program is focusing on the move toward Performance Based Assessments in line with the change in the Science MCAS . Students are transferring their learning to new tasks to solidify their understanding in all our Science classes.

Our hope is that student's curiosity about the natural world is ignited and their desire for inquiry and problem solving stays with them long into the future.

Students are building their understanding from "Cells to Self". Our bodies and their makeup are the focus of students in 6th grade.

7th grade is bustling as students tackle experiments and inquiry around the topic of "Energy".

8th graders just transitioned from Climate and Chemistry to Genetics.

The Math program at RAMS is undergoing some exciting changes as we prepare to add a full High School level Algebra 1 course to 8th grade next year. If you have a 7th grader going into 8th, be sure to check PowerSchool to see what the recommended placement for your student is.

Math continues to be a place at RAMS where we challenge students while making the learning engaging and fun. 6th Grade is diving into expressions and working on their Algebraic thinking, while 7th and 8th have started their Geometry units exploring all the angles!

7th Grade Students Take on MIT App Inventor!

Our 7th-grade students have officially begun their MIT App Inventor unit, where they are learning to design and build their very own mobile apps! Throughout this unit, students will explore key programming concepts like variables, conditionals, loops, and user interactions, all while developing creative and functional apps.

This hands-on experience helps students develop problem-solving skills, computational thinking, and digital creativity—all essential for today’s tech-driven world. We encourage parents to ask their students about their app ideas and the exciting projects they’re working on!

8th Graders Designing Their Own Games!

Our 8th-grade students are diving into game development by creating their own games using Python, Scratch, and Micro:bit! This project encourages creativity, problem-solving, and coding skills as students design interactive experiences for players to enjoy. Whether it's a classic arcade game, a storytelling adventure, or a Micro:bit-powered physical game, they are bringing their ideas to life through code.

Looking ahead, our next unit will explore the exciting world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), where students will learn how AI works and even experiment with building their own intelligent programs!

6th Graders Becoming Digital Citizens!

Our 6th-grade students are in their Web Unit, where they are learning essential online skills to navigate the digital world safely and responsibly. Right now, they are wrapping up their Digital Citizenship Projects, where they are teaching their classmates about important topics like copyright, avoiding online scams, internet safety, and protecting personal privacy.

Through research and presentations, students are gaining a deeper understanding of how to be responsible digital citizens. Up next, they will take their skills even further by coding their own websites using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript! We can’t wait to see their creativity come to life on the web!

In HHS’s construction technology program, students applied their knowledge of safety, tools and design to create a wooden box project. Students started by crafting an orthographic drawing, which served as a detailed blueprint throughout the build. With enthusiasm and perseverance, the students learned essential techniques such as miter cuts, bevel cuts, and even mastered using a dadostack saw to execute a precise rabbit joint. One student shared, "I cut that rabbit joint incorrectly about 4 times; however, I kept trying to figure it out and eventually I did," showcasing a true growth mindset. This hands-on experience not only honed their technical skills but also taught them how to select the right tools and processes for each task. The course emphasizes that creating useful products from wood or other materials involves a blend of creativity, functionality, and durability. Through projects like these, students gain the confidence to independently learn new skills and tackle future challenges head-on.

In HHS marine science class, students explore the world of marine animals, ocean ecosystems, and environmental challenges. Each class begins with 20 minutes dedicated to applying their classroom knowledge by caring for the fish tanks. Working as a team, they create detailed binders that include logs for monitoring water quality parameters like pH, nitrate, nitrite, and specific gravity. This hands-on routine not only reinforces theoretical learning but also instills practical skills such as performing water changes and timely feedings. Collaboration is emphasized as an essential trait for any budding scientist, with students supporting each other throughout the process. One student explained, "it shows me why you have to run a test multiple times, sometimes I get a result that would be deadly level to the fish and re-test to make sure it is accurate before I move forward in fixing the issue." Such experiences are shaping our students into conscientious and precise scientists, ready to address issues through the lens of careful analysis and teamwork.

This new course equips students with the essential skills of a data scientist which include data collection, cleanup, transformation, analysis, and visualization. Students will develop algorithms, tell data stories, and build statistical models using Python libraries. They will learn and apply Python programming tools used in industry by data scientists to draw meaningful insights and solve organizational problems. Students will be given opportunities to explore data in their own areas of interest, such as climate change, sports, finance, social media, health and wellness to name a few. Students will publicly present their work in a variety of formats.

In Grade 1, students have been studying complex phonics patterns such as vowel teams and r-controlled vowels. Students can recognize these patterns in isolation, or in 1-2 syllable words, allowing for differentiation for all learners. First graders are wrapping up their unit on opinion writing, during which they wrote about their favorite dessert, favorite color, as well as their opinion about several read alouds (Hey, Little Ant and Duck! Rabbit!) Their next writing genre is informational writing, where students will engage in a research project on an ocean animal of their choice.

In Grade 2, students also completed an opinion writing unit where they took a stance on complex questions such as “How much screen time should kids have?” Social studies and literacy intersected as students learned about what it means to be a “good citizen” in different settings: at home, at school and in our town. As developing writers, they have been working on their editing skills, and completed several drafts of a writing piece called “I Am a Good Citizen”. As second graders become more proficient independent readers, their focus shifts towards comprehension. Students have been practicing several strategies to determine the main idea. Students also studied nonfiction text features and completed a shared research project with a partner about a chosen animal. They presented their project to the class as a celebration of their learning.

This sampling of work in Grades 3 to 5 highlights the progression of writing and reading skills across the grades and subject areas at Miller.

Third-grade students have been learning about the purpose and function of nonfiction text features as they read about the Titanic, and apply their understanding of these text features to a text they wrote about themselves. They also wrote informative captions about the Titanic to accompany their original illustrations, and created sequential timelines of the Titanic’s historic sailing and sinking.

Fourth graders learned and practiced research skills to investigate animals of their choice. Using this research, they crafted nonfiction articles that focused on organization and providing detailed information to their audience. After wrapping up their animal research, Grade 4 students shifted to narrative writing. They studied the narrative techniques writers use – such as action, description, dialogue, and inner thinking – and then wrote narratives to extend the story of a shared picture book narrative.

Grade 5 students have many opportunities to integrate literacy and social studies. As they study the Revolutionary War, they examine primary sources, such as those related to The Boston Massacre, to consider different points of view. They also practice writing from the point of view of the colonists. As they learn about this time period, they create an American Revolution scrapbook to highlight key events, figures, outcomes, and vocabulary.

Fifth graders have been reading and discussing historical fiction novels in book groups, covering a range of historical events from early colonization to the Revolutionary War to World War II. They have also been crafting their essay-writing skills with a focus on clear introduction paragraphs with thesis statements, developing detailed main ideas, and conclusion paragraphs that restate the thesis or main ideas.

Grade 6 English has been busy! In January, students organized a fundraiser supporting Water for South Sudan, inspired by their reading of Linda Sue Park's novel, A Long Walk to Water. They raised over $1,700 which will be used to help provide the South Sudanese people with access to clean water and hygiene education. More recently, students wrote riddle poems full of figurative language, and research-based argumentative essays to submit to the school newspaper. Just this month, sixth graders wrapped up their Novels-in-Verse book clubs. All book choices show middle schoolers overcoming obstacles and themes of perseverance. Students worked on their discussion skills in small groups to analyze character, conflict and theme. (Standards: RL6.1-5; W6.1a-e, 4, 5, 7-9; L6.5)

In Grade 6 Social Studies, classes just finished up their study of Ancient Egypt, including a King Tut “Crime Scene Investigation” activity in which students used clues from the mummification process and hieroglyphics to learn about the individual’s life and death. Students are now moving on to study the origins of monotheism. (Standards: HSS6.T3.c-e)

Speaking to the themes of choice, individuality, and emotions, 7th grade English classes have just completed a thorough study of the dystopian novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry. While analyzing the reading, students also showcased their writing abilities through “exploding a moment” of their own memories. Students also completed a variety of creative assignments along the way, like quick writes, personal silhouettes of their own attributes, and vocabulary studies. To finish the unit, students are writing their own “24th Chapter,” picking up from where the author left to answer the question “What would happen next?” (Standards: RL7.1-6; W7.3a-e, 7.4, 7.5; L7.4a-d)

Seventh grade historians just completed their unit on Greek Mythology and celebrated the end of the unit by researching a Greek god/goddess and creating a Body Biography Poster. Students are now working on comparing and contrasting the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta. Additionally, students recently attended a Culture Connection performance titled "Chariot of the Sun," presented by Jeff Benoit, who acted out various Greek myths with the help of students. (Standards: HSS7.T4.a-b)

Pictured below: Greek god/goddess Body Biography Posters adorn the seventh grade halls and social studies classrooms.

Additionally, Grade 8 English classes work collaboratively with Civics teachers to prepare for the Civics Action Project. In English students research an important issue of their choosing and write a research paper. This work will serve as the foundational learning that students apply to create their projects in Civics class later this spring. (Standards: W8.7-9)

Team 3 has also squeezed in a "Voice and Choice" multi-genre portfolio project, where students will explore a single theme of their choosing through several written pieces: a narrative, a persuasive appeal, and poetry. One activity they completed was to analyze the word of poet Amanda Gorman and model their own work after hers. Students then drafted visual poetry displays that they brought to life as sidewalk art outside of our RAMS entrance. (Standards: W8.1, 8.3, 8.4-6)

All students will be wrapping up current projects across teams as they prepare for MCAS and then delve into Shakespeare in May!

HHS AP Language students created messaging campaigns that included appeals to Logos (logic), Pathos (emotion) and Ethos (the speaker's authority).

On March 14, HPS educators gathered to collaborate and learn...