Weekly News
10/6/25-10/10/25
During this short week, we discussed and learned about being thoughtful and showing strong leadership. We’ve started posting acts of kindness on the back of Peach’s door when we’ve seen students doing throughout the day. It might be as simple as holding the door for someone, helping them clean up, or just checking to make sure someone is okay. During Choice Time, we focused on some fairy tales (getting ready for next week’s performances!). If you would like to volunteer to help during Choice Time, please click this link and sign up: https://calendar.app.google/hiwUskQL4193MtGM7
In Literacy, first graders have been talking about ending punctuation and quotation marks. We have also been learning to identify and use our question words. In Knowledge, we concluded our body systems by making posters to highlight the important parts or functions of the systems we discussed. We have also been talking about ways to keep ourselves healthy!
Second graders got new CKLA books this week as we started into Skills 2! We reviewed our one-syllable words containing vowels: a, i, o, and u. When paired with the magic ‘e’, a_e, i_e, o_e, and u_e all produce the sound of a long-vowel sound when the magic ‘e’ is added to the end of the word. For example, the word slid has the short-vowel sound, but once the magic ‘e’ is added to the end, it changes the sound entirely and now the word (slide) has a long-vowel sound. We also began reading “Bedtime Tales.” In Knowledge, we continued learning about the Early Asian Civilizations. We learned about the geography of India and the Himalayan mountains and the Indus and Ganges Rivers. We also discussed Hinduism and read the Indian Trickster Folktale “The Tiger, the Brahman and the Jackal.” Ask your student about that tricky little jackal, or was it the tiger who was the trickster? Hmmm…. We also read a famous Indian poem called “The Blind Men and the Elephant,” where six blind men describe an elephant very differently. Ask your student which man was the most accurate.
In math, first graders focused on “partners to” different numbers. How many ways can we add two numbers to get 5? We also did 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. This fluency will help them as we move into multi-digit numbers and subtraction. The more quickly I can remember 7 + 2 = 9, the easier it will be for me to subtract 2 from 9 or 377 from 589!
Second graders had some fun this week using popsicle sticks while learning how to understand place value units! We started Topic E and learned to count efficiently by bundling the sticks by ones, tens, hundreds all the way to 1,000. Continued practice at home will help your student next week as we wrap up Topic E and move into Topic F.
Critter Corner Update!
Shadow and Mr. Fuzzy Cheeks would like to thank our parents for our new donations! They are particularly fond of the piece of “cake” they now have hanging in their cage. Ha Ha, so fun! The guineas are still a little low on bedding (paper bedding like this), and they(we) would really appreciate it if our Rainbow families would like to donate to their cozy home. Thank you, families!
Field Trip Reminders
Next Friday, Oct 17, is our first field trip of the year! We're looking forward to visiting Gateway Gardens and celebrating the end of our Castles unit. Students will enjoy a medieval picnic, act out fairy tales on a stage, and explore the gardens.
After the Lower School Halloween parade on Friday, Oct 31, Sunrise (Kindergarten) and Rainbow (grades 1-2) students will visit Friends Homes to share some cheer with the residents. They will parade through the halls and then students will receive goody bags with special treats. They will leave campus around 10 a.m. and return before lunch. This is a cherished tradition for Sunrise and Rainbow, and we are looking forward to it!