Brandt's Quarterly Newsletter

ELA: Students have spent the fall reviewing kindergarten skills and then moving into first grade ELA skills. Students have focused on short vowel sounds and reading and writing words with consonant blends. Students have been reading fiction and non-fiction books and are able to describe the difference. Students worked on responding to a text with a written response using text evidence. First Grade has also been implementing Orton Gillingham practices by incorporating the routines into our ILP and ELA blocks.

Math: Students have learned many strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems. They have practiced the strategies and are using the one that works best for them to solve addition and subtraction equations and story problems up to 20. Students have also studied 2D shapes. They are able to describe 2D shapes according to the number of sides and vertices.

Social Studies: Students learned about different cultures as they learned about Diwali and Rosh Hashanah. Students participated in different activities and read alouds for the Week of Respect. Students read, discussed, and wrote how they can be respectful at home, in school, and in the world. Students are learning how to appreciate others’ differences through short video activities with our Move This World curriculum. They also learned about Native American heritage and used Model Magic to create and decorate traditional pinch pots!

ELA: In Language Arts students have been working hard on various fronts! In Reading, students have reviewed story elements and have been able to retell stories using different strategies that include Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then, and using story maps. Students have also been working on their reading comprehension skills by answering comprehension questions throughout their reading journey. In Writing, students are learning all about fictional narrative writing and how to engage the reader! We have worked on our engaging opening and closing, how to include strong details, and sentence structure and writing mechanics. Students have also been reviewing their spelling patterns and learning to decode various 2nd grade phonics patterns.

Math: In 2nd grade math this quarter, students have been working really hard to complete unit 1. During this unit of study, students strengthened their base 10 number sense, fluency with addition and subtraction, and how to break down, take apart and put together story problems. Students used their skills that they learned about base ten and addition and subtraction to apply to story problems later on in the unit. We have also worked very hard on understanding the concept of money and the value of coins!

Social Studies: Lastly, in Social Studies, we have continued to engage in activities to help our awareness of who we are in the world as well as how our actions can impact our own world and the world around us on a larger scale. Students also spent the month of September getting to know each other and learning and talking about being a good friend and making good choices. Students have also engaged in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by learning about different Latin communities and individuals that have made impacts on the world through their perspective in the world. Currently, students are engaging in Native American Heritage Month to learn about this nations' past, and compare it to the world around them now, while acknowledging those that came before us and the importance of remembering those individuals. Second Grade is off to an excellent start-as we enter the next marking period students will begin to learn about holidays around the world, different traditions and celebrations and more about how we can become active citizens in our school community!

ELA: This quarter students in Third Grade took a deep dive into their third grade Reading Wonders curriculum. Through a variety of books and articles, students explored several different themes including: What can stories teach you? What can traditions teach you about cultures? How do people from different cultures contribute to a community? How can problem solving lead to new ideas? and How do landmarks help us to understand our country's story?

Students also conducted their very first novel study, The Littles. Students went on a literary adventure with the Little family as they tried to survive a summer with the Newcombs. Through our first novel study, students showed off all of their amazing second grade literacy skills such as character, plot, theme, setting. In this unit students practiced doing work as careful readers who honed in on these elements as a method to create meaning.

Math: This quarter students in Third Grade focused on understanding and extending knowledge of place value and the number system to 1,000, and adding and subtracting accurately and efficiently.

Students also focused on developing ideas about adding up, subtracting back, rounding and estimating. Students use number lines, create equations using order of operations and compare categorical and numerical data. They solved one- and two-step "how many more" and "how many less" problems using information from real world story problems.

1. Location

2. Place

3. Human-environment interaction

4. Movement

5. Regions

ELA: In the first marking period, students read our first core novel, a biography called Who is Sonia Sotomayor? The biography highlights the challenges and accomplishments of Sonia. They learned about her childhood, youth, career as a DA, and about cases she took on as a prosecutor. The text was used to enhance reading comprehension using the reread strategy. After read alouds, independent reading and class discussions, students answered comprehension questions to show their understanding of the text. They practiced skills like responding to reading using text evidence, sequencing, and summarizing. To conclude the novel study, students made "comic strips" as a final project to highlight important events in Sonia's life.

For the Reading Wonders curriculum, students dived deep into reading informational text in Unit 1. With a variety of books and stories, students' outcomes were to identify the text structure of compare and contrast, explain an author's perspective on a topic in an informational text, explain how diagrams and heading contribute to understanding of the text, and summarize a text to enhance comprehension. These foundational skills will help them throughout the year.

In writing, students wrote/edited several Research Simulation Task essays using information from 2 different texts to prove their thesis. They have worked on the elements that go into each paragraph, and focused on the RACE strategy (restate question, answer question, cite evidence, explain your quote). They reviewed their own work by looking at a rubric to become our own editors.

Math: In this first marking period, our fourth graders launched the first unit of Math Investigations Arrays, Factors and Multiplicative Comparison which focused on building arrays to help students visualize multiplication and understanding multiplicative comparison problems. Students became familiar with number relationships that can be used to determine the factors and multiples of numbers. Next concept was to identify prime and composite numbers by using array models and multiplication factor pairs. We used manipulatives to model arrays in pairs.This helped our visual learners understand equal groups. Students created a project in which they broke apart one big array into two smaller ones and found the product by solving two simpler multiplication problems. The tail end of our unit was to break down multi-step word problems and find out which keywords tell us which operation to use in our equations.

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, students read about Hispanic personalities which enabled them to understand the contributions of various people that have added so much to the richness of Hispanic culture. Students focused on an influential Hispanic/Latinx person to complete a presentation to show where they are from, why they’re important, their accomplishments and struggles, and a quote to inspire others. They also finalized their posters or presentations commemorating Hispanic Heritage Month; they presented their work to their peers and asked insightful questions about one another’s work.

We then dove into the Age of Exploration unit. Students learned why the Europeans came to the Americas in the 1400s. We learned that European countries wanted to find new trade routes with other countries and to gain land and power. As travel got quicker and easier with these new routes, trade became even bigger and demand for items was higher.

Students celebrated the Week of Respect by engaging in several community building activities: writing thank you notes to friends and classmates and identifying specific ways they could be respectful in and out of the classroom.

ELA: Fifth graders have been improving their writing and reading skills since the beginning of the year! Starting off the year, students began reading Esperanza Rising by Pam Muonoz Ryan. This novel allowed our students to understand key reading components such as problem and solution, central idea, and figurative language. Students completed a compare and contrast writing task while reading this novel.

As we continue to grow in ELA, our 5th graders are now reading Coraline by Neil Gailman. Coraline is a wonderful novel to unpack fantasy elements such as tone, word choice, and mood. Students are loving this novel to emphasize their creative side. Creating these fantasy novels have been such a joy for our 5th graders. As they include other fantasy elements such as magic, unknown worlds, and talking animals, they are also focusing on strong skills such as transition words and grammar skills.

Once closing Coraline, our 5th graders will transition into Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson. Students will be exploring reading skills such as analyzing sources,making connections, story mapping, and understanding visuals. As for writers' workshops, our students will be creating a breaking news story by providing a written script and video. Students will be working in groups to create their breaking news story on the scene from the story.

Math: Fifth graders were hard at work this marking period, refining previously learned skills and taking on new challenges in mathematics. Beginning with our first unit, Puzzles, Clusters, and Towers, students continued learning and applying new strategies for long division, multiplication, and order of operations. Through multisensory experiences, they were able to represent these mathematical concepts in concrete ways to deepen their understanding. By the end of the unit, students had mastered several new multiplication and division strategies to add to their mathematical toolbox!

During 5th graders’ investigations of Unit 2, Prisms and Solids, they were able to discover the formulas for calculating the volume of rectangular prisms through various mathematical explorations and hands-on experiences. Building boxes, utilizing virtual cubes, and applying measurement strategies to real life situations provided students with unique opportunities to practice calculating volume. As the unit closed, students were eager to demonstrate mastery of these measurement concepts through their unit assessment.

Students are looking forward to the next unit, Rectangles, Clocks, and Towers, where they will focus on advancing their skills related to fractions. Investigation 1 begins with a look into fraction equivalencies as well as comparing and ordering fractions. Through the use of fraction manipulatives, students will explore the how and why of these mathematical concepts to solidify their understanding and prepare for adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. Fifth grade mathematicians are eagerly waiting to take on this next challenge!

Social Studies: Fifth graders began the year with the Industrial Revolution Unit. As we began the year we focused on the different types of inventions introduced during the time period. Students were eager to learn more about the inventions as they had to create their own invention for a Shark Tank presentation. As students continued exploring the Industrial Revolution, students created an outlined map of the evolution of the time period. As they created their outline, they were able to see the increase of factories, houses, and other productions produced. As we continued on in the unit, we explored the importance of the transcontinental railroad and the rise of advertisements.

As we wrap up the Industrial Revolution, students will create an end of the unit project with team members. Each student is responsible for writing an article on a topic of their choice from the Industrial Revolution. Students are then required to design a visual. This includes a wanted poster, advertisement, or a comic strip relating to the Industrial Revolution. Students are eager to finish and share their final piece with their classmates.

As we look ahead to the next unit, students will be analyzing key events in our Divisions of National Perspectives Unit. A few key terms and concepts we will focus on are slavery, the underground railroad, and abolitionists. Students will end the unit with events leading to the road to war.

During the first marking period our first graders learned about the basics of structure and function. By doing independent projects and working in small groups they studied the five steps of the engineering design process and learned how the process helps them to design and create structures that help solve problems. They also began their units on light and sound and how we can use them to communicate.

We completed units two and three in Science Dimensions and used different items to create light reflection and light refraction. To bend the light and create a rainbow we used a flashlight and let it shine on a CD. The results were some beautiful rainbows. We also experimented with prisms. We have now moved on to module one in PLTW, Light and Sound. The students will be challenged to use what they have learned to create something that will use both light and sound to communicate over a distance. They will use flashlights, empty, metal water bottles, string, bandanas and flashlights. Each class will be broken down into small groups as they work together to plan and build.

We are also taking part in a year long activity with Discover Dairy. We have adopted a calf named Mootilda. Every two weeks we receive pictures and updates to let us know how our calf is doing. We are learning about what she eats and how she lives. We are encouraged to come up with questions to ask the farmer and send them in an email. We are looking forward to watching Mootilda become the newest dairy cow on the farm.

In this opening quarter of the school year, Phys Ed eased in with cooperative activities to establish routines. This year we started off with cooperative education. Students played leapfrog, flat log, or were challenged with a hula hoop activity. Our kindergarten friends learned where their attendance spots were through locomotor movements.

We continued with a second week of cooperative activities. Grades 2-5 students were challenged as a large group. Students had to connect together in one large circle. On opposite sides of the circle two hula hoops were positioned. The students were challenged to move the hula hoop around the circle and back to where they started. Once successful our 4th and 5th graders were challenged with island adventure. Each class was challenged to move from one “island” to another on the other side of the gym only using a few items.

Our first

After the cooperative activity weeks, it was time to fall back into fitness, where all grades were split up into groups and engaged in 12 different fitness stations, focusing on muscular strength, muscular endurance, and cardiovascular endurance. Students were introduced to a variety of exercise equipment, such as resistance bands, dumbbells, and exercise balls. This led up to our first fitness test (pacer test) of the year.

The first sports/skill unit of the year for grades 1-5 was Futbol/Soccer. Students learned and reviewed the basic skills in soccer. Grade 1-5 students demonstrated their skills in dribbling and passing while learning the “Step and Plant” cues. Students learned which parts of the foot should be making contact with the ball, how far the ball should be from their body, and lastly how to ensure they can control the ball. At the end of the unit, students played a game called island hop. Each student was given a ball to dribble around open space. As they hopped from island to island they had to ensure they controlled the ball so a pirate did not take their treasure (the soccer ball). If a pirate gets control of the ball they then become an island hopper and the island hopper becomes a pirate. The students also engaged in Numbered Soccer (small sided games).

The first skills unit for kindergarten was Locomotor movements. Students worked on movement and space awareness while working together to attain a goal. Students moved about the gymnasium in different pathways covering all the movements.

All grades engaged in our throwing and catching unit. Football throwing at targets was the main idea for grades 2-5. Students used targets on the wall, hula hoops placed high to throw through, Angry Bird pigs, dice, and large exercise balls are just some examples of the targets students were using. Students throw using the following cues. Grades K and 1 used regular balls to throw. Students in our lower grades emphasized on the cues above and ensuring balance of their body. Students used either an overhand or underhand throw to achieve their goal.

Looking forward to the start of the 2nd quarter!

Please take a look at the attached Boo to the Flu! document to help combat the flu this fall/winter season!

Warmly,

Cassandra Nuovo, BSN, RN

School Nurse

Joseph F. Brandt. Elementary School

201-356-3697