Beta

2nd: Week of Oct 27

This week in Math we focused on strategies that we can use when adding numbers. After reviewing “Friends of 10” and the zero rule, we moved on to doubles and doubles +1. The aim is twofold: for Betas to understand the relationships between numbers in fact families and to develop fact fluency with addition and subtraction facts to 20 so that they don’t have to exhaust their brainpower solving smaller problems. Soon, we’ll learn to solve more complex problems and it will be beneficial for students to be able to draw on their fact knowledge or use mental math. In […]

2nd: Week of Oct 27 Read More »

Three elementary students pose for halloween picture at school with small class sizes.

2nd: Week of Oct 20

We kicked off our Addition & Subtraction Unit by learning about (and using snap cubes to create models of) fact families! We reviewed the commutative property of addition – it does not matter which addend comes first. We then used our sum to create matching subtraction sentences within the same fact family. On Thursday we worked so hard flipping addition problems to create groups of ten. 10 is such a friendly number to work with that once we formed a group of ten, adding the leftovers to it is easy peasy. In phonics this week we studied possessives. We learned

2nd: Week of Oct 20 Read More »

Two elementary students display math work at STEM school.

2nd: Week of Sept 29

We are closing in on Quarter 1! In math we continue to compose, decompose, and compare numbers to the thousandth place. Next week will be a mix of skip counting practice, game days to reinforce place value concepts, and our second unit assessment! Here we come!! It was a busy week in phonics this week! We learned about twin letters: consonants that are doubled following syllables with short vowel sounds. Which consonants should we double, you ask? Silly Zebras Love Fries (s, z, l, f). We also learned that if twin letters come after an “a,” the vowel sound is

2nd: Week of Sept 29 Read More »

Elementary student points to white board at private school in Austin.

2nd: Week of Sept 22

What a week! In math we are deep into our unit on Place Value. We’ve been representing and comparing numbers in the thousands! We’re also pushing our skip counting skills to their limits and extending them. Along the way we’ve been learning new math games and enjoying playing them with friends. In phonics this week we learned several letter combinations that create sounds that are GLUED together. That means we count them as 1 sound (ang, ing, ong, ung, ank, ink, onk, unk). We practiced building words, sounding out and spelling words with glued sounds, played a couple new games

2nd: Week of Sept 22 Read More »

Elementary student molds clay at private school in Austin.

2nd: Week of Sept 15

The Betas had a very full week! In math we began a new unit focusing on Place Value. We reviewed the importance of the placement of digits within a number and how it affects their value. These kids already know so much! When we finish our work early, we learn a new game to play to help reinforce skills. This week we used base ten blocks often to build numbers, so that the Betas have a good, concrete understanding of the quantities that various numbers represent. In phonics this week we reviewed blends commonly found at the end of words

2nd: Week of Sept 15 Read More »

Elementary student reads comfortably on floor at private school in Austin.