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Fox Book Club

Some of our younger students have been participating in their first book club. We have been reading several of the Fox books by Edward Marshall, including Fox On Wheels, Fox and His Friends, Fox On the Job, Fox Be Nimble, Fox On Stage, and Fox Outfoxed. Each book is divided into three chapters, each a humorous story about Fox and his family, friends, Read More >>

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Explorers

Students in grades K-2 started a social students unit this fall on explorers.  Students were first asked to explain the difference between an Explorer and Exploring and came up with statements such as: Explore means to look for things and Explorer is something or someone that discovers things; Explore means to find things and Explorer is someone that Read More >>

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Layers of the Earth

The youngest group of students has been learning about the layers of the earth.  We started off our unit by reading parts of Gail Gibbon’s bookPlanet Earth/Inside Out and How to Dig a Hole to the Otherside of the World by Faith McNulty.  As we learned about the many layers, we made small models out of clay and Read More >>

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Multiplication and Division

Students in the middle grades have been working on division and multiplication using our TERC series of Investigations books.  We’ve explored the number chart with skip counting, played games like Tricky Triangles, written riddles for our classmates to solve and completed worksheets on arrays.  We even read and solved riddles from the book Each Orange Read More >>

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Lewis and Clark

Our Lewis and Clark unit began with a Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) exercise using a map showing the Louisiana Purchase. Then we discussed President Thomas Jefferson’s instructions to Lewis & Clark before they set off on their mission. Students had to take on the role of Meriwether Lewis or William Clark and write a letter Read More >>

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Mesopotamia

This fall, the middle group of students studied Mesopotamia. They began their study by looking at the differences between settled and nomadic people. Outdoors, they participated in a role play scenario in which they were nomadic Sumerians hunting and gathering food, creating shelter, and making clothes, tools and weapons. In small groups they read “If Read More >>

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New and Goods for Capitals and Punctuation

This year we have a group of children in the 2nd and 3rd grades that were ready to develop a better awareness of the conventions of writing, including capitals and punctuation. We decided that we would use the familiar format of New and Goods but with a different focus. The first session showed what we Read More >>

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Xerox

To assist children learning how to read, we offer small group instruction that focuses on the six syllable types. Using Road to Reading, and Wilson Language, each week children receive instruction that meets them at their instructional level. Typically children meet in small groups with a teacher four times a week for 20 – 30 Read More >>

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Coins Coupons and Combinations

Students in grade 1 and 2, explored the number system using Terc’s Investigations: Coins, Coupons and Combinations. First they worked with combinations of 10, making their own Book of 10, which listed all the possible combinations of 10. To further practice this skill they played games such as Turn Over 10 and Tens Go Fish. Read More >>

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Wishes, Lies and Dreams

Inspired by Kenneth Koch’s book, Wishes, Lies and Dreams children in second and third grade spent six weeks writing poems about sounds, dreams, colors, comparisons, and lies. They were most intrigued and excited about writing about lies! White Mitten by Syris I had a white mitten As white as the snow I did snow angels Read More >>