Gearity PDS

Greetings Gearity Families:

I want to thank everyone who was able to attend the annual Ice Cream Social. We served approximately 250 attendees and we appreciated the assistance of families who helped clean up after the social ended. The next big community engagement event is the Father's Walk/Donuts with Dads on Thursday. The Father's Walk is sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Fatherhood Initiative. From 8-9 am we will have donuts, juice and water for all of the fathers or father figures (grandfather, uncles, step-fathers, or older brothers) who bring their students to school on the 17th. Weather permitting, the event will take place on the playground. If it rains, we will move the donuts into the gym so everyone stays dry. We always have a great turnout and hope you can join us!

Teaching and Learning Update: unless you attended a teacher preparation program, it can be overwhelming thinking about how to support your student at home. Becoming a strong reader requires decoding skills, development of reading fluency and finally the ability to comprehend what the text means. I have shared videos with tips for supporting decoding and fluency. Now, I have a short video that shares three strategies you can use to help your students with reading comprehension. The goal is to help them be an active reader who can interact with the text to make meaning. I will be sharing math videos in the near future as teaching today uses a different approach than what most of us experienced as students.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. Mc Nichols

Principal, Gearity Professional Development School

Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District

What did my child learn at school this week?

Dear Families,

Here is a snapshot of what students are learning across grade levels, along with simple ways you can support learning at home.

🌟 KINDERGARTEN

What We’re Learning

Reading & Writing: We are practicing sounds in words, retelling stories, and identifying what happens first, next, and last. Students are writing simple sentences.
Math: We are building number sense through counting, recognizing numbers, and representing quantities.

Try This at Home
📖 Read a story and ask, “What happened first, next, and last?”
✏️ Have your child write one or two sentences about their day.
🔢 Count everyday objects such as toys, snacks, or steps.

🌟 GRADE 1

What We’re Learning

Reading & Writing: We are describing characters and their actions, feelings, and experiences. Students are writing personal narratives about things that have happened to them.
Math: We are identifying, describing, comparing, and creating shapes.

Try This at Home
📖 Ask, “How did the character respond to what happened?”
✏️ Have your child write about a favorite memory with a beginning, middle, and end.
🔷 Find shapes around your home and describe their attributes.

🌟 GRADE 2

What We’re Learning

Reading & Writing: We are identifying the lesson or message of a story and describing how characters respond to events. Students are creating realistic fiction stories.
Math: We are using addition and subtraction strategies to solve problems and explain our thinking.

Try This at Home
📖 Ask, “What lesson did the character learn?”
✏️ Create a short story with a believable character, setting, and problem.
➕ Practice addition and subtraction through everyday activities.

🌟 GRADE 3

What We’re Learning

Reading & Writing: We are describing characters and explaining how their actions affect a story. Students are considering the narrator’s point of view and writing opinion pieces with reasons and evidence.
Math: We are practicing multiplication and division and solving problems involving measurement, time, and length.

Try This at Home
📖 Ask, “Why did the character make that choice?”
✏️ Share an opinion and support it with two or three reasons.
✖️ Practice multiplication and division facts during games or everyday activities.

🌟 GRADE 4

What We’re Learning

Reading & Writing: We are identifying main ideas, supporting details, and important information in what we read. Students are developing opinion essays using reasons and evidence.
Math: We are strengthening place-value skills and adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing larger numbers.

Try This at Home
📖 Ask, “What is the main idea, and what evidence supports it?”
✏️ Write a short opinion paragraph and support it with specific reasons.
🧮 Practice multi-digit computation using real-life situations such as shopping or comparing prices.

🌟 GRADE 5

What We’re Learning

Reading & Writing: We are examining how characters, events, and scenes develop in stories. Students are writing opinion essays supported by evidence and reasoning.
Math: We are developing place-value understanding and using strategies to multiply and divide whole numbers.

Try This at Home
📖 Ask, “How does the character change throughout the story?”
✏️ Defend an opinion using evidence from something your child has read.
🧮 Practice multi-digit multiplication and division using real-world problems.

Important Links!

School Supply Lists: Gearity Elementary

Food Service: You can see the monthly menus by clicking on this link.

Registration Information: New student registration can be completed online or in person. Find instructions, required documents, and contact information here. Please share the registration link with new neighbors or friends who may need help getting their children registered for the start of the school year.

Student Code of Conduct: Link to the Student Code of Conduct and Anti-Bully forms.

District Plan for Communications with Persons with Disabilities

The District has adopted a plan for communications with persons with disabilities, which is available at the following link: Communication Plan. The plan establishes procedures to ensure that the District's communications with persons with disabilities, including applicants, participants, members of the public, and companions with disabilities, are as effective as its communications with others.