News and Events

Weekly View of Why Students Love Learning at AHB

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.

Middle School: Week of 9/9

Math: Marionettes completed their first check-in on Monday and then continued onto their next unit: Positive Rational Numbers! They completed 4 lessons in two days over adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals. Wednesday was a particularly impressive day. All Marionettes worked diligently on long dividing decimals. I was so proud they earned Division Champ badges! On Thursday, they made a graphic organizer to remember the different rules for each operation and started an error analysis. They will finish finding the mistakes in pretend student work next week. The Saplings reviewed for their check in on Monday and Tuesday and took

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Head of private school in Austin looks over shoulders of sixth graders working on computers.

Middle School: Week of 9/2

Math: The Marionettes started the week with a cut and paste activity to help practice the difference between opposites and an absolute value. That was their final topic for this unit, so they moved onto a review packet and then a final project. The final project involved making a timeline of their life with the year they were born being year zero. The Saplings extended their rational number operations to multiplying and dividing. They started with multiplying and dividing integers, then moved onto fractions and decimals. They ended the week by finding errors in pretend student’s work and correcting the

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Sixth grade girls work together at private middle school in Austin.