Elementary News – September 2023
September was packed full of new friends, new routines, and new teachers. As elementary students began their school year the second week of September, they learned about what commUNITY looks like, what the Bubble Zone is, and so much more. It was so fun to see all of the new commUNITY connections!
This month, elementary students met their lions for Bubble Day! Our elementary students (cubs) LOVE being matched up with a special big kid (lions) in our school. Bubble Day was new this year, and a big surprise for all the kids in our school. Students and staff alike had fun practicing self control, learning about how to walk quietly by the offices, and seeing our Head of Schools wearing bubble wrap. Everyone got special bubble blowers, made a beautiful decoration for our office hallway, and cooled off with a refreshing ice pop. It was quite the day!
This month, second graders focused on settling into school and routines, review work and new work to get their brains and bodies ready for being back in school. They learned math-related words like digits and comma, what these words mean, how we use a comma, and so much more. Students talked about and read numbers into the tens of thousands (45,968 and 72,951); counted by tens starting at any number between 4 and 9, talked about the ones, tens, hundreds, and ten thousands place, and worked on quickly saying the answer to 9 plus problems. Are you tired yet? They also began working on and completed Unit 1, Number Sense to 1,000, and unit 2, Two-Digit Addition. This unit focuses on important place value concepts, which help develop number sense and lay the foundation for future math work. Lastly, they begun reviewing and building further understanding with concepts of telling time and practicing their doubles facts 0 – 12.
In language arts, second grade talked about complete sentences and sentence fragments, nouns and verbs, and begun working on writing complete sentences. They worked on an All About Me poster, which was an introduction to the concept of doing multiple drafts-a skill that comes in handy in higher grades. Most exciting of all, students learned to write their names in cursive this month! Each week Mrs. Duffy introduces a few cursive letters for second grade to learn and practice in the following weeks and months.
Together, second grade read and discussed the first four chapters in The Jesus Storybook Bible. These chapters covered Genesis 1-9 and discussed how the whole Bible whispers Jesus’ name, reminds us that the Bible is the story of how God loves each one of us and came to rescue us, Creation, the Garden of Eden, the fall of man, and Noah’s Ark. Second graders also began memorizing our school verse for the year, Romans 12:12.
Third grade began the year doing a fun Mystery Science activity learning about clouds. This was a highlight for the month! They will continue their study of clouds next month.
Students worked hard practicing and relearning how to write their letters in cursive. Students learned what an opinion, reason, and conclusion is as they began learning about opinion writing. They also started their Bookworms curriculum and did a slow introduction to materials and activities.
In math, third graders dove right in to review and expand on concepts they learned last year. They learned about place value and how to round numbers to the nearest tens.
Fourth grade kicked off learning lots of new classroom routines and rules. They learned more about each other, and their new teacher. Students were introduced to a brand new game called Scoot. Scoot is a review game they will be using all year.
In language arts, fourth graders began reviewing their cursive and their new Bookworms curriculum. Math began with a review of what they learned last year, but soon they will be mastering fourth grade concepts.
Wow, elementary, you had a great start to the school year! We are so proud of you.
