Gearity PDS

Mr. Mc Nichols

Principal, Gearity Professional Development School

Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District

• • Kindergarten

    • Reading – Students are learning to identify the main topic and key details in informational texts.

    • Writing – Writing focuses on personal narratives using pictures and simple sentences.

    • Math – instruction emphasizes addition and subtraction within 10.

    Parent Tips

    • Ask your child to share one important fact from a book.

    • Encourage drawing and telling about something that happened to them.

    • Practice adding and subtracting with toys or household objects.

    
    

    Grade 1

    • Reading – Students are comparing and contrasting information across texts on the same topic.

    • Writing – emphasizes nonfiction pieces that share information.

    • Math – Math instruction focuses on understanding place value and numbers within 100.

    Parent Tips

    • Read two books on the same topic and discuss how they are alike or different.

    • Encourage writing facts using words and pictures.

    • Practice counting and grouping objects into tens and ones.

    Grade 2

    • Reading – Students are asking and answering questions about stories and explaining how characters respond to events.

    • Writing – Writing focuses on realistic fiction with clear story elements.

    • Math – instruction strengthens place value understanding and number relationships.

    Parent Tips

    • Ask questions like “Why did the character do that?”

    • Encourage writing stories that could happen in real life.

    • Practice comparing numbers and explaining which is greater and why.

    
    

    Grade 3

    • Reading – Students are analyzing characters, vocabulary, and story structure.

    • Writing – emphasizes clear expository pieces with facts and explanations.

    • Math –instruction focuses on fractions and representing data.

    Parent Tips

    • Discuss how characters’ actions affect the story.

    • Encourage explaining a topic using facts and details.

    • Use real-life situations (charts, graphs, measuring) to talk about data and fractions.

    
    

    Grade 4

    • Reading – Students are identifying themes, analyzing characters, and comparing points of view in texts.

    • Writing –focuses on well-organized explanatory pieces.

    • Math – instruction emphasizes fraction equivalence and solving multi-step problems.

    Parent Tips

    • Ask your child to explain the theme and how characters change.

    • Encourage organizing writing with clear paragraphs.

    • Practice fraction problems using everyday examples like cooking or shopping.

    Grade 5

    • Reading – Students are citing evidence from informational texts, summarizing key ideas, and analyzing text structure.

    • Writing – emphasizes argumentative pieces with clear claims and supporting evidence.

    • Math – instruction focuses on place value and numerical reasoning.

    Parent Tips

    • Ask your child to support answers with evidence from the text.

    • Encourage explaining opinions using facts and reasons.

    • Practice working with decimals and explaining math thinking aloud.