Kindergarten students have begun the year by learning to generate topics for writing while also illustrating pieces of writing. Recently, they have begun labeling their pictures using letters-sound correspondence. Students have been working on phonics, identifying letters, using their names to notice letters and sounds, and seeing patterns in words while they read and write! Counting is a focus in Kindergarten! The students have been working on counting to 20 and recognizing quantities. We are working with numbers to make combinations of 5 and comparing quantities within 10. We encourage practicing counting at home! They are off to a great start in the first few months of school!
Grade 1: Students have begun to generate topics by thinking about small moments in writing, taking one moment in their life, writing about it, and illustrating it. Students have paper choices when writing and they have learned how to write a story across several pages. In reading, students have been building good habits as readers and are also thinking about how sounds in words help them to problem-solve when they come to words they don’t know. In Math, our first graders are developing strategies with dice and dominoes! They are learning to count on, combine small groups of numbers with larger numbers, using fact strategies to solve addition problems, and counting by 5s and 10s.
Grade 2: Second grade students have discussed moments in their life, illustrated the moment(s), and then written about the moment during writing. They have learned how to add details and feelings to their writing. In reading, students have learned about reading with fluency, discussed reading series books, and become flexible word problem solvers. 2nd graders are working on developing their place value skills. Students are practicing by identifying the place value of a 3-digit number. They are reading, writing, and comparing numbers, comparing lengths of objects, and modeling problem-solving strategies. We will continue to work on thinking about different ways to add and subtract 2-digit numbers.
Grade 3: Math: Learning multiplication is the focus of our 3rd graders in November. They have been working on solving multiplication word problems using skip counting, number lines, arrays, and ratio tables. We are working with the students to develop efficient strategies for multiplication facts through 10 x 10. Strategies build students’ understanding of the properties of multiplication to allow students to quickly compute answers.
ELA: During the first few months, 3rd graders have built their reading stamina. They have learned how to choose “roughly right” books that peak their interests and engage them as readers. Students have also learned how reading a specific genre (mysteries) can help them read any type of fiction by applying the skills they learned in the Mystery Unit in reading. Third grade readers have studied characters, character traits, and have come to understand how characters change over time. While doing this work, students have also learned how to work with partners and in small groups during reading. Lastly, they have also learned how to respond to reading by writing in their reading notebooks.
Grade 4: Math: 4th grade students are learning about place value relationships to multiply by 10, 100, and 1,000. They are learning strategies on multiplying 2-digit numbers using arrays and ratio tables. They continue to work on solving multiplication and division word problems. Ask your child to talk about the different strategies they learned in class!
ELA:Our 4th grade students started the year with establishing a reading life, learning how to book shop and how to find books they are interested in reading. They have learned about characters and have studied how to understand texts by interpreting elements of the story (part-to-whole, plot, setting, and recurring objects or images…). Students enjoyed reading “Tiger Rising”, while also reading a variety of other books within their book clubs. Fourth grade readers have set up their reading notebooks and learned how to respond to reading by writing in their reading notebooks.
Grade 5: Math: Adding and subtraction fractions have been the focus this month. 5th graders are solving word problems with unlike denominators as well as exploring finding common denominators from fractions with unlike denominators. Many of the fraction problems involve time and money - a natural model to help students think about adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.
ELA: 5th grade students have begun the year by establishing readers notebooks. They have responded to texts in writing by focusing on topics such as understanding the text through the perspective of others, using two texts with one theme as a way to compare texts, and they are beginning to understand how characters are connected to the theme of a story in a complex way. Students have worked in book clubs with other students to engage in discussion around a common book. Additionally, 5th graders have enjoyed reading “Home of the Brave” within their ELA classes.
