Kindergarten Orientation for Incoming 2025-2026 Kindergarten Families
Families with a child turning five years old on or before December 1, 2025 are invited to attend our Kindergarten Orientation, held at IMES on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at 7 p.m.
Snow Date: Wednesday, March 12. Information about Kindergarten Registration will be provided.
This evening presentation is for parents/caregivers only.
K-5 March Curriculum Highlights
Kindergarten: In reading, students will continue to build upon their reading Super Powers by "boosting" those powers to tackle texts with greater complexity. At this point, many children will be reading phonetically regular decodable texts, driven mostly by VC and CVC words as well as leveled books with simple, accessible sentences. In these texts, much of the story is held in the illustrations so in order to truly understand what is happening, students will need to read the words and study the pictures to both confirm the text and learn more. In writing, students will study mentor texts and try out techniques from authors to help develop their How-To books and go back and revise prior books. In math, students will continue their study of addition and subtraction by decomposing numbers up to 9 to solve problems, studying related facts, and practicing fact fluency to 5.
Grade 1: During reading workshops, readers will be focusing on further developing their fluency, phonics and comprehension skills as their books become more complex. Students will work on monitoring their reading to notice problems and use their knowledge of phonics, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary to smooth out their reading. This month in writing, we will begin reviews. Thinking about reasons to convince readers will be an important focus of this unit. In Fundations, students will learn the concept of a closed syllable which ends in a consonant and only has one vowel. Students will also practice reading words with vowel teams ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, oi and oy. Mathematicians are developing their knowledge of tens and ones. This topic strengthens their understanding of place-value, which is necessary for 2-digit addition and subtraction. Students will learn different ways to model and write the same number. They will also use their understanding of place value to compare 2-digit numbers. In Science we have begun our next unit on Light and Sound. We are looking forward to learning about how light interacts with different materials on our field trip this month!
Grade 2: Second graders at IMES love the current science unit which focuses on landforms and how they change over time due to erosion. This hands-on unit allows for students to use models to investigate how wind and water can cause changes to landforms. In math students are learning to tell time in 5-minute intervals and to identify and count coins and bills. R-controlled vowels and vowel teams are the focus during phonics, while we work with adjectives during word work. Second graders are finishing up opinion writing and are getting ready for the next unit of study in reading and writing, Growing Knowledge Together and Writing Research Based Non-fiction respectively. The topic of our study in both units is insects. Budding etymologists will create nonfiction books about the insect of their choice.
Grade 3: In math, our focus will be on extending students’ understanding of time and solving problems involving estimation and measurement of time intervals, liquid volume, and mass. During our reading and writing workshop, students will apply the skills they've learned in all our previous ELA units as they practice close reading and answering text-based questions with supporting evidence. They will analyze characters and themes and consider how different parts of a passage relate to one another. In Fundations, our focus around suffixes continues as students learn a new spelling rule for words ending in ‘y’. Finally, in social studies, we will focus on understanding our economy. Students will learn how goods and services are bought and sold at market and explain the effects of supply and demand.
Grade 4: Fourth grade students will focus on revisiting both fictional and informational texts in March. Their goal is to practice close reading, answer text-dependent questions, form literary essays, and draw conclusions and inferences grounded in text evidence. In math, students will explore decimals and understand their connection to fractions and place value, recognizing that each decimal digit represents a fraction with a denominator of 10, 100. In addition, they will focus on converting measurements from larger to smaller units within one system of measurement, customary or metric. This involves solving real-world problems involving distance or area and perimeter. Finally, in social studies, students will study the perspectives of patriots and loyalists as they dealt with the changing atmosphere in the colonies after the French and Indian War (Seven Years War). Students will learn about New York’s crucial role in the American Revolution, discovering how its strategic location, key battles, and influential leaders shaped the fight for independence.
Grade 5: The month of March finds 5th graders continuing to study matter in their science unit Modeling Matter. In this study, students take on the role of food scientists. They engage in two investigations, one to identify a potentially hazardous food dye in a mixture, and the other to create a good-tasting and visually appealing salad dressing that does not separate into layers and contains no sediment. Both investigations offer the opportunity for students to delve into understanding the particulate nature of matter. In math, students will continue to work on multiplying and dividing fractions and mixed numbers. Along with using context clues and word parts to determine word meaning in non-fiction texts, students will focus on close reading, writing about reading, making inferences about texts, and drawing conclusions with supporting evidence in reading and writing workshop.
March: PARP: Pick a Reading Partner!
In celebration of Pick a Reading Partner (PARP) month this March, Increase Miller is embracing the theme "The World Belongs to Those Who Read" with an exciting whole-school book bracket! Over the course of the month, all K-5 students will enjoy being read aloud 12 different narrative nonfiction books, each carefully selected to inspire curiosity about these TRUE stories, as well as a love for reading. Classes will vote on their favorite reads after each book is shared, narrowing down the bracket until only one book remains. Parents are invited to join in the fun by following the progress of the bracket online, where they can stay up-to-date on each round and celebrate the joy of reading with us!
Belonging at IMES
March is Women's History Month and Irish Heritage Month. We will recognize the contributions that women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields. During our March sharing assemblies, we will welcome musicians (one of the bagpipers is one of our parents!) who will teach us about Irish music and perform traditional songs.
Social Emotional Learning
The focus for March is leadership!
We are connecting this work to our March common read The Power of One by by Trudy Ludwig
The Power of One is a picture book that focuses on the impact one person can have in creating change. The story follows a young boy who witnesses a peer being bullied and feels powerless to stop it. As the narrative unfolds, the boy realizes that even small actions, like standing up for someone or showing kindness, can have a profound impact. The book emphasizes the importance of empathy, courage, and the power of one individual to make a difference in the face of injustice or cruelty. Through simple yet impactful illustrations, The Power of One encourages young readers to be proactive in spreading kindness and standing up for others.
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.
Introducing the Program: Start with Hello
We are excited to share that during the month of March, our school will be introducing the Start With Hello program as part of our ongoing commitment to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment of belonging for all of our students.
Start With Hello is a nationwide initiative designed by the Sandy Hook Promise, to empower students to recognize and address feelings of social isolation. Through this program, we aim to encourage kindness and empathy by teaching students the simple but powerful act of greeting others. By learning to reach out with a simple “Hello,” students can make a positive difference in each other’s lives and help foster a school community where every student feels valued and supported.
During morning meeting time this month, our Psychologist Dr. Schwartz, Social Worker, Ms. Ryan, and Assistant Principal Dr. Weschler, will introduce the three-step Start with Hello Program to all students in Grades K-4. This week, we trained our fifth-grade students, and we will continue to work with fifth grade students to facilitate Start with Hello activities, lessons, and events for younger students. This will provide valuable leadership experience for our fifth graders, as they help to create a more connected and caring school environment.
We encourage you to talk with your child about this initiative and support them as they take part in these activities.
Thank you for your continued support as we work together to build a Kind, Responsible, and Safe school community.
Shout Outs!
Thank you to our music teachers, Mrs. Higgins and Mr. Vazquez, for the Kindergarten Kindness Concert!
Thank you to the PTO's Bulletin Board Team and IMpact committee for creating beautiful boards!
Thank you to our Instrumental Music Teachers, Mr. Oriani and Ms. Willett, for amazing Winter Concerts!
Thank you to Mrs. Higgins for our Chorus Concert!
Thank you to our students for demonstrating Kind, Responsible, and Safe behaviors and for working hard each day!
