Grade Newsletters

Monthly Grade Newsletters

October 2024

Coming Soon

October 2024

Coming Soon

October 2024

Coming Soon

October 2024

October 2024 


Reminders 


*Check your student’s homework notebook, homework folder and Konstella daily 


*Encourage your child to try their best 


*Make sure your students come to school prepared 


Reading  


Our class will continue to learn about examining the world around us and about making new discoveries. We will read books about different kinds of matter, explore things that are new and unusual, and even notice things about fine art! After, our class will be learning about working out conflicts and disagreeing with others in a respectful way. We will read about how to get along and compromise, and even learn tips about settling differences from a conflict-solving superhero.  


Writing 


As the children continue to explore and examine the world around them they write a descriptive essay about a place they want to visit! Children will also write a persuasive essay about an issue that may cause disagreement. 


Math 


During October, we will focus on understanding even and odd numbers.  We will also skip to TOPIC 9 which introduces them to understanding place value of 3-digit numbers.  Please make sure to continue to review adding and subtracting up to 20. 


Science 


Our 2nd grade scientists are continuing their 1st unit called "Plant and Animal Relationships." They will further discover how plants and animals need each other to survive in each of their habitats. They will be using text, video, and hands-on investigations to explore and expand their knowledge of new science vocabulary and the plant and animal relationship. 


Social Studies 


Students will be using what we learned in writing and reading to do a Soapbox Challenge on how they can be a better citizen and how they help make their community a better place. 


Upcoming Events 


Oct. 3 –4 Rosh Hashanah No school 


Oct. 9 and 11- Fall Picture Day 


Oct. 14- Indigenous’ People’s Day – No School 


Oct. 16 - Spirit Day – Sports Day Wear your favorite sports team shirt or jersey 


Oct. 31- Spirit Day- Costume, PTA Halloween Festival and Parade 


SEL/Equity Corner 


Second grade classes will be reading books about how we can be optimistic even when things become difficult.   


September


Reminders 


*Check your student’s take home/homework folder and Konstella daily 


*Encourage your child to try their best 


*Make sure your students comes to school prepared  


Reading  


Second grade will explore the essential question: How does exploring help us understand the world around us? Through listening to and reading stories about exploration, we will focus on identifying the author’s purpose, understanding the central idea, and making inferences and connections. Additionally, we will work on developing reading stamina and improving fluency. 


Writing 


We will focus on descriptive writing by encouraging students to explore the world around them. They will learn how to describe what they see, hear, and experience using detailed, sensory language. In this unit, we will introduce the writing process, guiding students through setting up their writing, drafting their ideas, revising for clarity and detail, and finally publishing their work. Through this process, students will gain a strong foundation in organizing their thoughts and expressing their ideas clearly. 


Math 


During the month of September, we will add and subtract within 20. 


Science 


Our 2nd grade scientists have started our 1st unit called "Plant and Animal Relationships." They will discover and plant and animals need each other to survive in each of their habitats. They will be using text, video and hands-on investigations as they explore this relationship. 


Social Studies 


Students will begin our geography and maps.  We will explore how geography influences where people live.   


SEL/Equity Corner 


Second grade classes will continue to get to know each other.  We will learn more about our peers, as well as our teachers.  In addition, we will monitor our emotions and learn how to identify our feeling.  Classrooms will be working on their classroom charters.  


October 2024

Coming Soon

October 2024

Reminders

School starts at 8:00 A.M. Please have your child in the building at 8:00 A.M, ready for 1st period to begin.


Students receive homework Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. No homework on Fridays! 


Reading Workshop

Students are finishing up the 1st module of the new HMH Reading curriculum. Students focused on reading skills, such as central idea, asking and answering questions, author’s purpose, text and graphic features, and figurative language.  Students have also learned a ton of new vocabulary words…just ask them!  In Module 3 of the new HMH Reading curriculum, students will build their knowledge about the qualities needed to rise to the occasion, with a focus on the genre of historical fiction. We will read texts and view videos about what it takes to meet a challenge.  We are continuing to learn a lot of new vocabulary.  The essential question for this module is: What does it take to meet a challenge?


Writing

Students are finishing up writing their personal narratives…we are so excited to read their stories! In Module 3, students will write an Opinion Essay about why it’s important to rely on friends when faced with a challenge.  The focus statement for this module is: Friends and family can work together to overcome challenges. In this module, students will set goals for their writing to help guide the writing process.  They will then draft, edit, revise, and publish their opinion essays using the focal text, Kite Fighters, as their guide.


Math

Students will work on Topics 2 and 3 in Envisions 2.0.  Topic 2 focuses on Adding and Subtracting Multi-Digit Whole Numbers and Topic 3 focuses on Using Strategies and Properties to Multiply by 1-Digit Numbers.  Students will be completing their math homework online this year!  Homework will be a review of what was covered in class, so they are expected to complete it independently.  Remember…homework and math tests are digital!


Science

In the Energy Conversions unit, students take on the role of systems engineers for Ergstown, a fictional town that experiences frequent blackouts, the anchor phenomenon for the unit. They will explore reasons why an electrical system may fail. Through firsthand experiences, reading, writing, and digital simulations, students make discoveries about the way electrical systems work. Students will apply what they have learned to choose new energy sources for the town, using evidence to explain why their choices will make the electrical system more reliable. 


Social Studies

Students are continuing their work of unit 1 of our Passport program focusing on the Geography of New York State. Students are studying different kinds of maps and will then learn the different features of New York including its geographical regions, waterways, mountains, and population.  Students have also been working on their speeches for Soapbox.


SEL/Equity Corner

In class, students will continue to develop their growth mindset.  Students will also learn about optimism and read books about accepting ourselves and loving ourselves exactly the way we are.


Upcoming Events

October 3rd and 4th: No School (Rosh Hashanah)

October 9th: Photo Day 

October 14th: No School (Italian Heritage/Indigenous Peoples' Day)

October 16th: Wear PINK day!

October 18th: Sports Day: Wear your favorite sports team shirt or jersey!

October 31st: Halloween/Costume Day


September 2024


Reminders

School starts at 8:00 A.M. Please have your child in the building by 8:00 A.M, ready for 1st period to begin.


Students receive homework each day from Monday through Thursday. Please make sure that your child is completing their daily homework which includes digital math homework and 20-30 minutes of reading each day. No homework on Fridays! 


Please make sure you check your child’s folder each night for notices.

Please send in a charged device daily for the students to use!


Reading Workshop

We have just launched Module 1 of the new HMH Reading curriculum!  This module’s essential question is: How do your experiences help shape your identity?  Students will focus on reading skills, such as central idea, asking and answering questions, author’s purpose, text and graphic features, and figurative language.  Students will also be learning critical vocabulary throughout the module.  We are encouraging students to read for at least 20 minutes each night for homework.  The number of minutes will gradually increase throughout the year as the students improve their stamina.  


Writing

We have just kicked off our new Writing curriculum with Personal Narrative.  The focus statement for this module is: All of our experiences help us grow and learn.  In this module, students will set goals for their writing to help guide the writing process.  They will then draft, edit, revise, and publish their personal narratives using the focal text, La Mariposa, as their guide.  We are looking forward to enjoying their stories!


Math

Students will work on Topics 1 and 2 in Envisions 2.0.  Topic 1 focuses on Place Value and Topic 2 focuses on Adding and Subtracting Multi-Digit Whole Numbers.  Students will be completing their math homework online this year!  Homework will be a review of what was covered in class, so they are expected to complete it independently. Math homework and tests will be digital this year!


Science

In the Energy Conversions unit, students take on the role of systems engineers for Ergstown, a fictional town that experiences frequent blackouts, the anchor phenomenon for the unit. They will explore reasons why an electrical system may fail. Through firsthand experiences, reading, writing, and digital simulations, students make discoveries about the way electrical systems work. Students will apply what they have learned to choose new energy sources for the town, using evidence to explain why their choices will make the electrical system more reliable. 


Social Studies

We will begin unit 1 of our Passport program focusing on the Geography of New York State. Students study different kinds of maps as well.  Students will then learn the different features of New York, including its geographical regions, waterways, mountains, and population.  As always, we will teach important non-fiction reading skills while students are navigating through their social studies resources and texts. For Civics, students will participate in Soapbox and will write about an issue they feel strongly about. They will then have a chance to present their speeches to the class and to the school.


SEL/Equity Corner

We will work hard this year to build a classroom community and support each other’s emotions through books, community building activities, morning meetings, and videos. We will talk to the children about their feelings and how we can make this year the best it can be!  We encourage you to talk to your children about their feelings each day.  



Important Dates

September 12th: Meet the Teacher Night

September 20th: First Day of Autumn: Wear colors that represent Fall!

September & October 2024

October


Reminders 


Please check Konstella for important messages from the school and your student’s teacher. 


Students should have sharpened pencils daily. 


Students should have fully charged device. 


Students are encouraged to bring a sweater or sweatshirt if they are cold and a water bottle daily.   

 

Reading Workshop 


In October, Fifth graders will continue to build their knowledge about inventors, with a focus on the informational text genre. We will read texts and view videos about how people can create amazing things through innovation, perseverance, and the desire to solve problems. 


Writing 


For the month of October, students will continue reading informational text to create an expository essay. Their goal is to think about an inventor they have learned about and write an essay about how the inventor had to work hard to make the idea for an invention a reality.  


Math 


Topic 2-Add and Subtract Decimals to Hundredths  


Students will develop proficiency with adding and subtracting decimals. These skills will enable your child to solve mathematical and real-world problems efficiently. These skills will also help your child estimate sums and differences in order to determine the reasonableness of solutions.  


Topic 3- Fluently Multiply Multi-Digit Whole Numbers  


Students will learn to explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10. Your child will also apply his or her understanding of place value to estimate products.  


Science 


Science- "Patterns of Earth and Sky." 


In this unit, students take on the role of astronomers, helping a team of archaeologists at the fictional Museum of Archaeology. Students are asked to figure out and explain the significance of the illustrations on a recently discovered thousand-year-old artifact with a missing piece, the anchor phenomenon for the unit. Students observe and investigate patterns in the sky by day and by night with kinesthetic models, as well as using a digital simulation, and informational text. They learn that stars are all around us in space, develop an understanding of scale and distance in the universe, and discover how the spin and orbit of our planet causes us to observe daily and yearly patterns of stars. Students apply their understanding of why we see different stars at different times to explain what is shown on the artifact, and what might be on the missing piece. 


Social Studies 


CIVICS: 


Students will continue to work on Project Soapbox. Students will gather evidence using note-taking skills. In addition, students will take their notes from their planning page and start to put their speeches together as draft. 


Upcoming Events 


10/2/24 Class 5-301 Trip to Bayside Historical Society 


10/3/24- 10/4/24 No School- Rosh Hashanah Observed  


10/7/24 Class 5-311 Trip to Bayside Historical Society 


10/9/24 Class 5-305 Trip to Bayside Historical Society 


10/9/24 or 10/11/24 Fall Picture Day 


10/14/24 Indigenous People’s Day Observed 


10/16/24 Class 5-303 Trip to Bayside Historical Society 


10/18/24 Classes 5-307 and 5-314 Trip to Bayside Historical Society  


10/31/24 Spirit Day-Come to school in costume  


SEL/Equity Corner 


Latinx Heritage Month 


Students will learn the influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements for the United States.  


Social Emotional Learning 


Growth Mindset- Power of Yet 


How can we show optimism? 


Self Affirmations: Student will create “I AM Statements” 


September


Reminders / Updates

  • Please check Konstella for important messages from the school and your student’s teacher.
  • Students should have sharpened pencils daily.
  • Students are encouraged to bring a sweater or sweatshirt if they are cold and a water bottle daily.
  • Student’s NEED to bring fully charged device daily.

Reading Workshop


In September, we are introducing the Fifth-Grade students to our HMH ELA curriculum. In Reading this month, the focus will be the informational genre. The students will read texts and watch videos to build their knowledge about inventors! They will be engaged in learning all about the amazing things inventors create using innovation and perseverance, with a focus on finding solutions to problems they notice in the world. Some learning objectives in this module include identifying the author's purpose, central (or main) ideas in a text, and text structure in order to better understand the texts they are reading.


Writing


Our fifth graders will be introduced to their HMH writing curriculum. It goes hand and hand with the HMH reading curriculum. For the first module, our students will be reading an informational text and create an expository essay. Their goal is to think about an inventor they have learned about and write an essay about how the inventor had to work hard to make the idea for an invention a reality. Some learning objectives in this module include: understanding what an expository essay or informational text is, discussing the features of an expository essay, understanding and discussing that expository essays can be organized in many ways, and using instructional vocabulary.


Math


Topic 1- Understand Place Value


Students will learn about place value- the idea that the value of a digit de-pends on the place in a number- for whole numbers to hundred millions and decimals to thousandths. Students will also learn that a digit in any place has 10 times the value it would have in the place to its right and 110

to the value it would have in the place to its left.


Science


"Patterns of Earth and Sky."


In this unit, students take on the role of astronomers, helping a team of archaeologists at the fictional Museum of Archaeology. Students are asked to figure out and explain the significance of the illustrations on a recently discovered thousand-year-old artifact with a missing piece, the anchor phenomenon for the unit. Students observe and inves-tigate patterns in the sky by day and by night with kinesthetic models, as well as using a digital simulation, and informational text. They learn that stars are all around us in space, develop an understanding of scale and distance in the universe, and discover how the spin and orbit of our planet causes us to observe daily and yearly patterns of stars. Students apply their understanding of why we see different stars at different times to explain what is shown on the artifact, and what might be on the missing piece


Social Studies


Students will participate in Project Soapbox over the next few months! Students will begin by brainstorming issues that exist within the community and globally. Each student will choose one issue that is important to them to eventually write a speech about. In September, students will be introduced to Project Soapbox and choose their specific issue. Students will learn the important parts of a speech and the types of evidence they can include (both facts and personal stories) to persuade their listeners to agree with them


SEL/Equity Corner


· Hispanic Heritage Month : Students will learn the influence of Hispanic Ameri-cans to the history, culture, and achievements for the United States.


Upcoming Events


September 12th- Back to School Night (Virtual)


September 20th- School Spirit Day- Hello Fall: Wear colors that represent Autumn

PRE-KINDERGARTEN


In September, we learned about routines, the people in our class and the people in our school community.


In October, we will focus on teaching the children about The Five Senses.  In this Unit of Study, we will work on developing children’s abilities to take in information about the world through sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.  We will engage in many activities where children use their five senses.   


Fall Reminders: Please send your child with a labelled water bottle each day.  Our Pre-K children will go outside twice each day, every day unless the weather is dangerous.  Please send your child in sneakers every day.  Please have your child practice rolling up their nap mat.


Suggested Reading: My Five Senses by Akili; Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? By Bill Marin Jr.; Tap, Tap, Boom, Boom by Elizabeth Bluemle


Focus Vocabulary: senses, eyesight, vision, blind, shiny, volume, deaf, listen, flavor, tongue, rough and smooth. 


At School – 

  • We will learn about the importance of washing our hands properly.
  • We will take walks around the playground and use our senses to make observations.
  • We will talk about and draw things that we see, hear, smell and touch.
  • We will learn how to use our senses to stay safe and healthy.
  • We will talk about things that are sharp, too hot, very dirty and things that might make us sick.

Parent Involvement At Home – 

  • Practice proper hand washing at home.  You can try using the song Tops And Bottoms.
  • Please take walks around the neighborhood and encourage your child to use their senses to make observations.
  • Please take time to talk to your children about things that may be dangerous in your home to touch.

SEL Corner – Some books you might want to read with your child to discuss feelings are: The Feelings Book by Todd Parr, On Monday When It Rained by Cherryl Kachenmeister, The Color Monster by Anna LLenas, Glad Monster Sad Monster by Ed Emberly.

KINDERGARTEN


Reminders

The weather is changing and it’s getting cooler by the day. Please remember to send your child to school with a light coat or sweater. If your child doesn’t know already, please have them practice tying their shoes and zipping coats. Pack an extra mask in their backpack and bring a water bottle too! Please label all clothing, lunch bags and snacks! Remember to check your child’s folders every night.  Please be sure to sign up on their Google Classroom and Konstella if you have not already done so.



Reading Workshop

In Reading Workshop, we will continue our first reading unit called “We Are Readers.” We’re learning to read the environment around us. We’re noticing signs and labels around the classroom and community. By the end of October, we will begin reading emergent storybooks. These are books that we have been reading since the beginning of school. Your child will be so familiar with each story, they’ll practice reading” them and acting them out!


Writing

This first Writers Workshop unit is designed to help your students work with independence, confidence, and stamina. Routines and procedures will be taught. The importance of drawing for planning will be stressed in this unit.


Math

In math we are continuing our work comparing and ordering numbers from 0-5 and learning to read, write and count through 10. Please take any real world opportunity to help your child to count objects up to and including 10.


Science

Kindergarten scientists will investigate the needs of plants and animals.


Social Studies

All Kindergarten classes will create a Class Charter. This will help develop an understanding of why classrooms have rules to help maintain happy, healthy, and safe learning environments.


Upcoming Events 

Oct 1-School Photos 

Oct 11-No School

Oct 29- Halloween classroom celebration


SEL/Equity Corner

Kindergartener classes will be exploring different cultures and ethnicities through read alouds in the classroom.  Students will try to identify themselves in these texts.  They will also be identifying their own emotions on our classroom mood meter and looking for these emotions in the diverse text we read.


FIRST GRADE


Reminders: 

  • Remember to check your child’s folder every day for important notices and empty it out. 
  • Be sure your child completes all the assignments and return it back to school in their homework folder. Your child should be reading every night and practicing their sight words for the week.
  • Please check Konstella for any school-wide updates.
  • Please pack a healthy snack for your child to eat in school.

Reading Workshop

This month, we will be learning how to become a better reader in first grade by building good reading habits like rereading and retelling. We will also be learning how to build good habits for solving tricky words in our just right books. 


Writing

This month, we will be starting our narrative unit. We will think about true events that happened in our lives to write a true story about. We will write across three pages, learning how to use transition words like first, then, and last. We will learn how to sound out and spell many words for our story.


Math

In Math, we will be working on understanding addition and subtraction. We will also be working on finding combinations for different numbers.


Science

In Science, we will be investigating a sea turtle’s body parts and how it helps them to get food, air, and water. We will observe videos, read, and do different hands-on experiments to learn!


Social Studies

We will discuss why families are important and how they influence who we are.  


Upcoming Events

10/11 – No school for Italian Heritage and Indigenous People Day


SEL/Equity Corner

In class, we have all been brainstorming and coming up with our class charter or class promise. For our class charter, we discussed the different types of feelings that we want to feel in school like happy, calm, and safe (just to name a few). We will continue to help each other and work hard to keep our class promise to make sure our first grade year shines!

SECOND GRADE


Reminders

  • Check your student’s take home folder and Konstella daily
  • Encourage your child to try their best
  • Make sure your students comes to school prepared including having sharpen pencils
  • Review with your child proper mask etiquette 

Reading Workshop

Second grade will begin the year working toward the big work of reading with fluency, stamina, and comprehension.  We will also explore different ways to tackle hard words and be able to pay attention to an author’s craft and lessons they are teaching the reader.  


Writing

We will begin the year with writing small moment stories.  Throughout the unit students will learn different craft moves to help bring their stories to life.  


Math

During the month of October, second graders will finish learning different strategies to help both add and subtract numbers within 20.  In addition, they will begin working with equal groups.  They will explore even and odd numbers and using arrays to find totals


Science

Plant and animal relationship – how plants and animals help each other to live and grow.  


Social Studies

Students will continue our unit on geography.  We will explore how geography influences where people live.  


Upcoming Events

October 1, 2021 – picture day

October 11, 2021 – No School 


SEL/Equity Corner

Second grade classes will continue to get to know each other.  We will learn more about our peers, as well as, our teachers.  In addition, we will continue to monitor our emotions and learn different strategies to help us be our best self.  


THIRD GRADE


Reminders

  • Check your child’s homework folder daily
  • Please bring in one healthy snack per day
  • Please send in any missing supplies

Reading Workshop

We are starting the school year with the unit Building a Reading Life. In this unit, we are focusing on setting routines and tracking our reading habits with reading logs. During this unit, students will be focusing on developing their literal skills and inferential skills such as monitoring for sense, envisioning, retelling, predicting, and basic theory work. As the unit progresses, we will work on skills and strategies to understand hard words and parts.  We will also begin our second unit, which is an informational unit called Reading to Learn: Grasping Main Ideas and Text Structures.  We will focus on strengthening our nonfiction reading skills across different types of informational texts, including expository and narrative nonfiction.


Writing

The third grade is making their way through the writing process to develop true small moment stories.  Students are learning how to form a seed idea and develop it into a story that has a beginning, middle, and end.  Students will learn how to go through the writing process of (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing). Additionally, students will learn how to incorporate writer’s craft into their writing. Students will add craft by making their characters come to life, and by adding dialogue, action, feelings, and tension.  We will also begin our second writing unit, The Art of Information Writing.  Students will be learning strategies to help them write nonfiction books on different topics and strengthen these writing skills.


Math

Students are learning many different strategies for solving multiplication problems such as repeated addition, using a number line, and creating an array. Additionally students will practice fluency with their multiplication facts. Besides working on key skills and strategies throughout the week, students will strengthen their problem solving skills through math discussions.


Science

Scientists and engineers have figured out a way to build a train that actually floats on air as it goes cruising down the track at high speeds. Using similar principles, engineers have created a hoverboard—a device-like a skateboard that floats above a track rather than rolling along the ground. In the Balancing Forces unit, students work to investigate and then explain how these inventions seem to defy logic. Over the course of the unit, through firsthand experiences, discourse, and reading and writing informational text, students will come to understand how forces can cause stability or change in an object’s motion. They will discover how magnetic force can be used to counterbalance the force of gravity. They will create physical models, diagram models, and write, and present scientific explanations detailing how the maglev (magnetic levitation) train appears to defy gravity by floating.


Social Studies

Students have been learning about the study of World Geography. Students will learn how to identify oceans and continents. Additionally, students will learn about compass directions and map skills. We will learn how to use compass directions to describe the different locations of continents and oceans.


Upcoming Events

October 11 – Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day, schools closed


SEL/Equity Corner

In honor of our Homecoming Theme, Our Identity and Pride of “Self,” and our 9 Days of Love, we have been engaging in many read alouds, activities, and discussions that allow students to get to know each other and to show each other pride of who we each are. Students are also becoming quite familiar with the mood meter and how to use it in order to identify our emotions, as well as how to regulate our emotions.  We have also been working on creating our classroom charters in order for us to have a mutual class understanding and agreement on how we want to feel and what behaviors we can exhibit in order for us to feel these ways.  We are really enjoying all of the SEL/Equity work we are engaging in throughout each day!


FOURTH GRADE


Reminders

  • School starts at 8:00 A.M. Please have your child in the building at 8:00 A.M, ready for 1st period to begin.
  • Students receive homework Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. No homework on Fridays! 
  • Please fill out the School Policies Google Form LINK, found on Konstella, as soon as possible (digital).
  • Please sign and return the Media Consent Form (sent home in backpack).

Reading Workshop

Right from the start, the students will focus on comprehension strategies such as monitoring for sense, envisioning, and inferring. We are excited to place some brand new books in the hands of our students! Students will work towards understanding character traits, motivations, and struggles.  They will also strengthen their reading stamina and fluency.  As the weeks go by please take a peek into their Reading Notebooks for evidence of their thinking!  


Writing

We will begin our writing unit by giving the children a quick pre-assessment to see what writing skills they have maintained since third grade.  Then, we will quickly move into the writing process with our first unit, narrative writing.  The students will use past strategies, as well as learn new ones to generate ideas for realistic stories.  We will teach the children to nurture their writing ideas with lots of detail including dialogue, thought, and action.  After drafting, the students will learn revision and editing strategies to make their writing pieces appealing to their readers.  Finally, they will end the unit with publishing the piece and celebrating their hard work!


Math

For the months of September and October, the students will work on Topics 1 and 2 in Envisions 2.0.  These topics focus on place value, number relationships, addition and subtraction strategies, as well as mental math strategies.  Please encourage your child to complete the daily homework and to advocate for themselves if there are any misunderstandings. We will go over the homework in class the following day and we value participation. 


Science

In the Energy Conversions unit, students take on the role of systems engineers for Ergstown, a fictional town that experiences frequent blackouts, the anchor phenomenon for the unit. They will explore reasons why an electrical system may fail. Through firsthand experiences, reading, writing, and digital simulations, students make discoveries about the way electrical systems work. Students will apply what they have learned to choose new energy sources for the town, using evidence to explain why their choices will make the electrical system more reliable. 


Social Studies

We begin unit 1 of our Passport program focusing on the Geography of New York State. Students study different kinds of maps as well.  Students will then learn the different features of New York including its geographical regions, waterways, mountains, and population.  As always, we will teach important non-fiction reading skills while students are navigating through social studies resources and texts. 


SEL/Equity Corner

We are here for our students!  It has been a long time since we have all walked the hallways of PS173, but we’re back. We will work hard this year to build classroom community and support each other’s emotions and uncertainties through books, community building activities, morning meetings, and videos. We will talk to the children about their feelings and how we can make this year the best it can be!  We encourage you to talk to your children about their feelings each day. 

FIFTH GRADE


Reminders

  • Please check Konstella for important messages from the school and your student’s teacher.
  • Students should have sharpened pencils daily.
  • Students are encouraged to bring a sweater or sweatshirt if they are cold and a water bottle daily.  

Reading Workshop

For the months of September and October, students will read series books to support them in the foundational work of studying characters and growing ideas.  We know that series reading can help to develop a lifelong love of reading and support reading with increased volume and engagement.  Please help students create a reading environment at home so they can read 30 minutes. 


Writing

For the month of September, we will launch the Writing Workshop by writing personal narratives. The focus of this first unit will be to help students be reflective of their own lives and write about what matters to them. Through this unit, the students are encouraged to be independent with their writing and to use strategies they’ve learned in previous years.  

  

In October, students will continue to draft their personal narratives, in addition to expanding their repertoire of strategies and working with independence. Students will be challenging themselves by going through the writing process (drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) with strong story structure.  


Please encourage your child to add various entries into his/her Writer’s Notebook. 


Math

Topic 1- Understand Place Value 

Students will learn about place value- the idea that the value of a digit depends on the place in a number- for whole numbers to hundred millions and decimals to thousandths. Students will also learn that a digit in any place has 10 times the value it would have in the place to its right and  1/10 to the value it would have in the place to its left. 

 

Topic 2-Add and Subtract Decimals to Hundredths 

Students will develop proficiency with adding and subtracting decimals. These skills will enable your child to solve mathematical and real-world problems efficiently. These skills will also help your child estimate sums and differences in order to determine the reasonableness of solutions. 

 

Topic 3- Fluently Multiply Multi-Digit Whole Numbers 

Students will learn to explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10. Your child will also apply his or her understanding of place value to estimate products. 


Science

In this unit, students take on the role of astronomers, helping a team of archaeologists at the fictional Museum of Archaeology. Students are asked to figure out and explain the significance of the illustrations on a recently discovered thousand-year-old artifact with a missing piece, the anchor phenomenon for the unit. Students observe and investigate patterns in the sky by day and by night with kinesthetic models, as well as using a digital simulation, and informational text. They learn that stars are all around us in space, develop an understanding of scale and distance in the universe, and discover how the spin and orbit of our planet causes us to observe daily and yearly patterns of stars. Students apply their understanding of why we see different stars at different times to explain what is shown on the artifact, and what might be on the missing piece.


Social Studies

Unit 1: Geography and Early and Societies of the Western Hemisphere 

 

This unit provides students to explore various early civilizations of Canadian region, Inuit society, and early Americans. Students will learn how early people adapted to their environment and how they contribute to the development of the Western Hemisphere. 



Upcoming Events

10/1/21 School Picture Day (Including Class Photos)

10/11/21 Columbus Day- No School

 

SEL/Equity Corner

Latinx Heritage Month


Social Emotional Learning

  1. Create a welcoming and affirming environment
  2. Getting to Know each other
  3. Learning each other’s names and what they mean to us

Principal Tweedy’s Message:

Principal Tweedy October 2021

Happy Fall Chameleons!  Can you believe it’s already been a month since we returned to school? The school year is off to a great start. It has been great seeing our students return to school.


I have been so impressed with the progress the children are making, their overall behavior, and positive attitudes about learning, especially coming off the year we have all had. I would like to thank you, the families, for all that you have done to make this year a success so far.


Our 9 Days of Love was a huge success! Teachers and students engaged in tasks and activities focusing around identity, to support getting to know each student. We will continue our focus on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) throughout the school year.


As we finish off the month, we are excited to bring back our annual PTA Halloween celebration as well as our monthly spirit days! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays...hope to see you there!


As always, I thank you for your continued support. My door is always open!
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