5/29/2026

                      Announcements - 

• 6/2 - Lower School Concert 8:45
• 6/2-8  LS/US Art Walk - student art will be displayed around campus. Come see the hard work and talent! (8:30 - 4pm)
• 6/5 - No School faculty workshop
• 6/8 - 6th Grade Beach Day (Cramer's Park) (9-2)
• 6/10 - 1pm Lower School field day
• 6/11 - Last Day! (HALF DAY!)

* Costume items needed!  We need a few more twin bed flat sheets that we will wrap around and secure with rope (think ancient Greek attire). Solid color if possible. They will be returned in good order.

* LEAVING the year EARLY - If your child will not be attending school through the last day, June 11, please let myself and the front office know. There are things planned, like field day and our plays, that require us to know who will be participating. Thank you for your attention and understanding.

- Ask Your Child About - 

• Morning Meeting, wellness/personal growth
• 6th Graders attended Move-Up-Day, receiving a presentation by 7th and 8th graders and a treat from Ms. Coles!
• "Would You Rather" game created by students
• Greek plays - designing costumes and props

• Math
• End of year review, STAAR math
• Ratios (reducing, equivalent ratios, allocating an amount according to ratios, using ratios to solve word problems)

• English
• STAAR reading
• Reading Groups - wrapping up group work, discussion of outcome for those that completed the reading
• Mystery stories - conferencing, story development, review rubric

• Science
• Fun with Circuits! Students explored a circuit tool, finding different ways to complete the circuit (lights blinked and it made sounds). Students found creative ways to complete a circuit - booping a partner's nose, touching the metal part of a pencil together, ET finger touch, and even all 20 holding hands while connecting to one tool!

• Social Studies/Global Perspectives
• Greece: complete and present city-state slideshows (explored using Canva to create the presentations), Greek Myth plays

PHOTOS:

5/22/2026

                     Announcements - 

• 5/25 - No School
• 5/30 - "Sweetheart Dance" (Father-daughter dance)
• 6/2 - Lower School Concert
• 6/5 - No School faculty workshop
• 6/8 - 6th Grade Beach Day (Cramer's Park)
• 6/10 - 1pm Lower School field day
• 6/11 - Last Day! (HALF DAY!)

** Costume items needed!  The class is energized about the Greek Myth Plays they will be performing in a couple weeks for their Reading Buddies (and maybe a few parents ;)) and we are in need of a few costume items. We are looking for a "female" wig or two, maybe a beard, and we will need a few more twin bed sheets that we will wrap around them and secure with rope (think ancient Greek attire).

- Ask Your Child About - 

• Morning Meeting, wellness/personal growth
• Team building mystery game - students followed clues and worked together to solve the mystery
• Continued celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by highlighting two more celebrated people, Astronaut Calpana Chawla and doctor/actor Haing Ngor.

• Math
• Graphing: reviewed concepts and learned about x,y functions, formulas, plotting lines, and interpreting graphs. Completed 2 skills assessments
• Ratios: identifying ratios from word problems, practice reducing ratios and identifying parts of a whole as ratios

• English
• Reviewed/studied Root packet #2 and tested
• Mysteries continued! We reviewed elements of mystery stories and watched Enola Holmes while spotting clues and elements of mystery stories, like "red herrings". After students received inspiration, they organized a mystery story outline of their own and began writing!

• Science
• The class enjoyed two lessons, one about the Caribbean tectonic plate and how there is land under the ocean (saw some cool images of the ridges under water), and an engineering lesson about Taipei 101, known for it's height and structural design that can withstand earthquakes and high winds.

• Social Studies/Global Perspectives
• Greece: how the geography of the land affected the people, how the city-states were organized, and how the governments changed over time (and why)
• The class learned about Greek myths and began to practice for 4 Greek Myth plays they will perform in a few weeks. This is going to be so fun!

PHOTOS:

05/15/2026

                    Announcements - 

• 5/25 - No School
• 5/30 - "Sweetheart Dance" (Father-daughter dance)
• 6/2 - Lower School Concert
• 6/5 - No School faculty workshop
• 6/8 - 6th Grade Beach Day (Cramer's Park)
• 6/10 - 1pm Lower School field day
• 6/11 - Last Day! (HALF DAY!)

** We have a student missing some swim trunks. If you think of it, please glance to see if perhaps your child brought home an extra pair. Thank you :)

- Ask Your Child About - 

• Morning Meeting, wellness/personal growth
• The class made bubble-art paintings for a mural that Ms. Bird is putting up near her office.
• Wheel of Fortune  - students worked with teammates to strategize and solve word puzzles. When one puzzle seemed tough, I loved hearing one student say, "Now, let's think about our language rules to figure out what letter might go there!"

• Math
• Percentages review and test
• Began unit on graphing: reviewed basics like x and y axis, plotting in 4 quadrants, identifying coordinates of points, creating x-y charts (calculating missing coordinates by using an algebraic equation)

• English
• Completed information EBooks! After peer review and final editing, the class enjoyed a Gallery Tour to read the amazing books the students worked so hard to write/create!
• Mystery reading - Books are now being read at the students own pace. We still have scheduled group and whole class discussion times where we continue to identify details and share predictions.

• Science
• The class enjoyed a double mini unit about electricity and magnetism. It even included a lab where they explored magnetism with great supply kits received from the Dept of Ed last year! Their investigations were fun to listen to and watch. The way they spoke like scientists making and testing theories!

• Social Studies/Global Perspectives
• Each group finalized and presented their migration topic. Some had slideshows while others created skits that helped give a real feel for what immigrants might go through when they make that big decision to leave their homes. 
• Began Greece unit with mapping!

PHOTOS:

05/09/2026

                   Announcements - 

• 5/25 - No School
• 6/2 - Lower School Concert
• 6/5 - No School faculty workshop
• 6/8 - **6th Grade Beach Day (tentative date, need chaperones)
• 6/10 - 1pm Lower School field day
• 6/11 - Last Day! (HALF DAY!)

- Ask Your Child About - 

• Morning Meeting, wellness/personal growth
• May the 4th be With You (Star Wars Day) - they had so much fun designing and running  Jedi training obstacle courses!

• Math
• Real-world "shopping" practice finding discounts and tax calculations, finding percent change, progress check, stations 
• Cinco de Mayo - celebrated with nachos :)

• English
• Final Root!  -lit-, -litera-
• Information EBooks: 3 C's - Clear, Correct, adding Complexity to sentences
• Mystery reading - Authors write with purpose, discussion share about why the authors chose to include certain elements (clues, suspects, dead ends), what makes the main sleuth a good detective

• Science
• Unit 6: Earth Physics - lunar and solar eclipses, group review (students were given a topic from the chapter to "teach" to their group through diagrams and key definitions)

• Social Studies/Global Perspectives
• Began final Global Perspectives unit - Why people migrate from their home country (skills focus is on research, reflection, and analysis)
• Groups formed and are now following a "research trail" while creating a presentation to inform the class about their topic. Some of their focus so far has been on countries where people migrate from the most and why as well as countries that are most welcoming to migrants and how.

PHOTOS:

05/01/2026

                  Announcements - 

• 5/25 - No School
• 6/2 - Lower School Concert
• 6/5 - No School faculty workshop
• 6/8 - **6th Grade Beach Day (tentative date)
• 6/10 - 1pm Lower School field day
• 6/11 - Last Day! (full day of school)

- Ask Your Child About - 

• Morning Meeting, wellness/personal growth
• Pay It Forward Day and why it's really every day! Students learned that there are 88 countries official partnered with Pay It Forward! Each student received a card that they were encouraged to pass along to someone they did something kind for. That person in turn hopefully would continue the train of good deeds. 
• The class told a collective story for National Storytelling Day :)

• Math
• Percentages (short unit, test next Thurs)- relationship of %/decimals/fractions, percentages larger that 100 and smaller than 1, some real-world application like finding out test grades (fraction to percent) and discounts on items, using calculators

• English
• Root -voc-, -voke-
• Information EBooks: using quotes in their books, transitional phrases to make sentences and ideas flow, spotting good sources (NO AI or Wiki)
• Mystery reading groups going well, great discussions so far about characters in the books as well as predictions. Groups meet every Mon, Wed, and Fri and that is when they decide what to read for the next session. Please encourage your child to be doing the assigned reading. If the pace feels like too much, let me know and I can work with the group. The goal is for them to be reading at a comfortable pace so they pick up on details in the text.

• Science
• Unit 6: Earth Physics - Sound waves, layers of the Earth, continental drift, diagrams and writing about science

• Social Studies/Global Perspectives
• China: review and test, China vases as final project
• Began final Global Perspectives unit - Why people migrate from their home country (skills focus is on research, reflection, and analysis)
• Students learned about and discussed what it means to reflect and why it is good for us. They wrote an initial reflection on their understanding and feelings about migration and people who migrate. At the end of the unit they will write a second reflection on the same question then analyze how their thoughts and opinions may have changed and why or why not.

PHOTOS: