Elementary

2nd/3rd: Week of Jan 13

Math – Ms. Andrea’s math group reviewed telling time: to the hour, half hour, quarter past, quarter till, in 5 minute increments and down to the exact minute! We learned new time games and created a “Day in the Life of a Beta” schedule as well as a dream schedule! This week was full of lots of practice telling time to the minute WITH PRECISION for the Beta 1s! Ms. Kelly’s math group began the week working so hard on one and two step word problems that incorporate addition, subtraction and multiplication, moved into reviewing all of our multiplication strategies, […]

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Second grade students create circle on rug at private school in Austin.

5th/6th: Week of Jan 13

General News ELA Update This week in ELA we continued to toggle between typing up our fiction stories and discussing our novel study of Freewater. We sandwiched our publishing in the middle of the week with Freewater discussion on Monday and Thursday. On Monday we went over our homework and discussed many of the twists and turns of the novel so far. Those first chapters are action packed and introduce many new characters quickly! On Thursday we were able to slow down and make connections between the characters by breaking apart the two major worlds of the book: Freewater and

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Two fourth grade students work together at computer at STEM school in Austin.

Kinder/1st: Week of 1/6

This week in Our Big Backyard… We’ve learned so much about our Backyards. Now it’s time to head in different directions to explore our BIGGER backyard of Texas. First, we needed to learn which direction we were going…North, South, East or West. We got out compasses and our peeps and traveled in each of the cardinal directions. We talked about how useful maps are and how most maps have a feature called a compass rose. We crafted our own. Then we thought about what’s important for all living things in our State so we looked at where the rivers flow

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Half day kindergarten student proudly displays an owl he sewed at a part time school.

2nd/3rd: Week of 1/6

Math – Ms. Andrea’s math group launched into a new math unit on time! We created a large clock together, then each made our own with moveable hands. These Betas remember so much from last year! This year we will focus on precision. We practiced reading clocks and drawing hands on analog clocks to the hour, half hour, quarter hour and every 5 minutes. We also learned a new game, sorting activities based on when we do them (AM/PM). Next week our discussion of time and schedules will continue, along with practice telling time down to the exact minute! Ms.

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Two second grade students work together at non-religious school in Austin.

4th/5th: Week of 1/6

General News We had a wonderful first week back from break! The Gamma class was hardworking, thoughtful, kind, and enthusiastic – as always! ELA Update This week we began by introducing our new novel study. We are reading Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson. This story is set pre-civil war, during the Antebellum era. It is a story of friendship and community. We started the week off by exploring the setting of the novel by taking a look at the Great Dismal Swamp. This massive, forested wetland once covered millions of acres in Southwest Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina. We read an

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Two fourth graders work on couch at micro school in Austin