Elementary

K/1st: Week of 9/9

A lovey can be a pumpkin! This week in Our Big Backyard… When your friends and family ask what you did at school all week you can honestly tell them you played in the dirt. Boy, did we EVER! Alphas LOVED seeing where all our friends live around Austin (and beyond). This place we live supports life of many people and creatures. We have a big river that gives us water, we have plenty of sunlight, and air so we wanted to explore the world below our feet that provided people with everything they needed to eat and use for […]

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Kindergarten student looks with magnifying glass at project based school.

2nd/3rd: Week of 9/9

Math – Our math groups are building numerical reasoning. Numerical reasoning involves processing numerical patterns logically and easily. People with strong numerical reasoning excel at more than addition, multiplication, and division. They easily process, analyze and interpret numerical charts, trends, and relationships. We know it is key to place an emphasis on deep conceptual understanding through open-ended problem solving where the focus is on explaining strategies rather than just focusing on finding the correct answer. But we also know that learning your math facts is crucial because they act as the foundation for more advanced math concepts, allowing students to

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Two third graders work together on circuit at STEM school.

4th/5th: Week of 9/9

General News ELA Update This was an extra fun week in ELA! In addition to our usual Monday P&P recap and literature discussion circle, we also split our time between persuasive writing about the benefits of spending time in nature and crafting hornbooks (like the kind Kit gives to Prudence to teach her how to read in our book). A classic Puritan hornbook is very simple and no frills – not very fun to craft – so many chose to make fancy ones that would have been more likely to be owned by wealthy Loyalists or people living in England.

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Fifth grader presents with fourth grader at school with mixed ages.

4th/5th: Week of 9/2

General News Operation Ms. Lorrie’s Birthday Surprise was a huge success! There were cookies, cupcakes, cards, and more! We worked in secret on an interactive writing exercise throughout the past two weeks during ELA class and presented her with a “spooky” and hilarious story about sardines (complete with illustrations) during her “unbirthday” ceremony, as well as a framed poster that she loved. You can read the story here! ELA Update For a short week we sure packed a lot in! In addition to working on our interactive writing piece for Ms. Lorrie this week, we also worked on our class

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Fourth grade student works on computer at STEM school.

2nd/3rd: Week of 9/2

Math – Ms. Andrea’s math group continued working on ordering numbers in the hundreds. We talked about the clues that help you find the bigger or smaller number (hint, hint: we used place value!). Then we reviewed tally marks and practiced making tallies for some numbers past 100! On Wednesday we tallied the classroom!! (Almost) EVERYTHING! On Thursday the Beta 1s did an excellent job of figuring out various skip count rules (ex: +2, +5 or +10) for many series of numbers and continued the pattern. Then, we played a new game called Fill to 100 that involved a spinner

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Third grade student tests static electricity at project based school.