All About Academics: K-8
June Updates from Academic Curriculum Coordinators
Welcome to our final installment of All About Academics for the 2021-2022 School Year!
We have included spring and summer updates about each content area, some dates to remember, and loads of clickables for more information. Enjoy!
Seamless Summer Learning
Click below to help your child take advantage of learning opportunities at home this summer!
---------------------------- Content Area Updates ----------------------------
English Language Arts and Social Studies
Elementary: Now that Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA) are over, students are excited about sharing their reading, writing, and social studies progress. Teachers have infused the curriculum with an integrated approach to reading and writing. Students are excited and look forward to sharing their progress at home. Please make sure to check in to see what books they are reading and engage them in their work.
Kindergarten: Giving the Gift of Reading (If...then) books, My Place and Me
Grade 1: Reading Fiction - Meeting Characters and Writing From Scenes to Series, Our Needs as a Community
Grade 2: Writing Fiction and Series Books, Remembering the Past
Grade 3: Social Issues Book Clubs, Colonial Connecticut & Indigenous People
Grade 4: Power and Perspective, Social Responsibility
Grade 5: Fantasy Book Clubs - Shaping Texts from Essay and Narrative to Memoir, The American Revolutionary War
Middle School: Middle school students in Grades 6-8 are completing English Language Arts units on social issues, poetry, and dystopian book clubs. Please make sure to review the eighth grade capstone project. In Social Studies, our middle school students in Grades 6-8 are completing units of study on The Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, The Early American Republic, Expansion, Sectionalism, and Reconstruction.
Want to learn more about what your child is learning in ELA or Social Studies?
Contact Dr. Markus: benjamin_markus@greenwich.k12.ct.us, head to our website, or click on the banner below.
Mathematics
Elementary: SBA testing is over, and buildings are back to regular routines. When walking through buildings, math vocabulary continues to be evident across the board. Our K-5 math students are finishing up the third trimester and working on all sorts of great concepts:
Kindergarten: Identifying two and three-dimensional shapes and measuring objects
Grade 1: Identifying two and three-dimensional shapes and telling time
Grade 2: Measuring lengths, representing data, and working with money and time
Grade 3: Classifying two-dimensional shapes, representing and interpreting data
Grade 4: Using area and perimeter formulas and drawing lines and angles
Grade 5: Patterns and the coordinate plane and understanding volume
Middle School: Students and teachers are finishing the year strong. Here are the topics to end the school year:
Course 6: Integers, numbers, the coordinate plane, and statistical measures
Course 6A: Surface area, volume, and statistical measures
Course 7: Geometric shapes, angles, surface area, and volume
Pre-Algebra 6 & 7: Exponents, scientific notation, and Pythagorean Theorem
Pre-Algebra 8: Functions, exponents, and scientific notation
Algebra: Solving quadratic equations, radical functions, and equations
Geometry: Circumference, area, surface area, and volume
Want to learn more about what your child is learning in math?
Contact Mike Reid: mike_reid@greenwich.k12.ct.us, head to our website, or click the banner below.
Science
Elementary: We are so proud of our fifth-grade scholars for the determination and perseverance they displayed on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) assessments in April and May. Our students showed what they know and worked hard to make their thinking visible! Currently, students in the K-5 classroom are on their final unit of the school year. Students are still modeling, collecting data, and engaging in scientific explanations based on evidence.
In the grades listed below, students are working on topics related to:
- Kindergarten: Weather
- Grade 1: Sun, Moon, and Stars
- Grade 2: Land and Water
- Grade 3: Earth's Materials
- Grade 4: Magnetism and Electricity
- Grade 5: Natural Resources
Middle School: Similar to our fifth-graders, the eighth-grade students across the District completed their NGSS assessments in May. Across all three schools, students, and teachers were excited to share pride in their hard work on the challenging test. As we wind down the year, our middle school students are also entering their final units, all of which are focused on hands-on engineering. These activity-based units are centered around student experience and engagement.
- Grade 6: Designing Solutions
- Grade 7: Cycles of Energy and Matter
- Grade 8: Using Technology to Sustain Our World
Science Spotlight: Growing Green this Spring
Want to learn more about what your child is learning in science?
Contact Tara Fogel: tara_fogel@greenwich.k12.ct.us, head to our website, or click on the banner below.
K-8 ESOL, FLES & WORLD LANGUAGES
K-8 ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages):
The ESOL Program spent this past spring hosting family engagement sessions. Our schools have hosted sessions on topics such as the importance of oral language as a stepping stone to learning literacy; the magic of Haiku, metaphor and personification poems, a Wax museum of students acting as significant historical figures, a picnic peppered with delectable international foods trivia, engaging book talks and an evening focused on transitioning to the middle school ESOL program.
All families whose students are enrolled in the ESOL program will receive email communication this month from our ESOL specialists regarding the status of their English language instruction for next year.
Make sure to read the June 4 edition of the Greenwich Time, because the success of our K-2 multilingual learners participating in bilingual programs at New Lebanon and Hamilton Avenue with instruction by former Teacher of the Year Ana Chejin is highlighted.
K-8 Foreign Language in Elementary Schools (FLES) and World Language (WL):
In K-2 FLES, students are completing units of language study on topics such as pets/farm animals, animal survival, as well as the natural life, respectively.
In 3-5 FLES, students are participating in units of language study on topics such as life in school, biographies of famous people in the Spanish-speaking world, as well as travel. In addition, all fifth-grade FLES students receive confirmation of their Spanish and French World Language placements this month.
In grades 3-5 Native Spanish Language Arts, students are exploring topics such as the habitats of land and sea animals in the U.S and Mexico, and the power of storytelling in the target language.
We have many suggestions how your children can continue building and refreshing their World language skills at home this summer. Make sure to head to the list!
At the middle school level, students are also completing units of language study about a variety of communicative topics in order to prepare for the next level of spoken and written Spanish and French.
Want to learn more about what your child is learning in English for Speakers of Other Languages and World Language?
Contact Adriane Hirsch-Klein: adriane_hirsch-klein@greenwich.k12.ct.us, head to our ESOL or FLES websites, or click on the banner below.
K-8 Arts: Visual Arts & Music
It has been an exciting District concert season with all the performances where students displayed all the hard work they have been doing since the beginning of the school year! With a tricky start to the school year due to COVID, students have risen to the challenge of the curriculum and displayed the outcomes in each school spring concert. Congratulations to our performers and looking forward to the work that they will continue to do over the summer!
Spring is also an exciting time for student art shows! The young artists in the District have been hard at work in their classes, using their creativity to demonstrate the various skills outlined in our curriculum. Your child's artwork will eventually be making its way home. This will be a perfect opportunity to discuss the skills that they learned in creating the work, what inspired the work, and even encouraging your child to create a new piece of artwork from what they have learned throughout the year. Materials found at home are perfect tools to inspire creativity! I have included some examples of the outstanding artwork hanging in the District.
If you have not already, please take some time to come and visit the District Art Show which opened on Tuesday, June 14 at the Greenwich Arts Council space located at 299 Greenwich Avenue (second floor). This is a special event that features works from selected student artists from every school in the district. The show will be up until June 20. Do not miss your chance to see the remarkable talents of some of our students!
Summer Learning
It is very important for students to continue being creative during the summer months. Creative play and music making reinforce brain development in identifying and creating patterns, recognizing emotions, word decoding and phonological skills, and much more! This is a perfect time to share these moments with your child and highlight how music and art surround them in our world.
The music and art teachers in the District have compiled a variety of activities that can assist you and your child to continue their learning in summer:
Seamless Summer Learning: MUSIC (including Instrumental)
These activities are simple suggestions on how to maintain and support music and art making during the summer months.
Another wonderful option to continue playing and art making throughout the summer is to take advantage of the Town of Greenwich Music & Art Camp. This camp runs for five weeks at Eastern Middle School for students starting in Grade 4 for music and students, starting Grade 1 for the art experience. There are several options for your child! More information can be found on the Town's website.
I am looking forward to hearing and seeing the artwork and music our students return with in the Fall!
Advanced Learning Program (ALP)
We have completed all testing, analysis, and placement decisions for Grades 2, 3, and 4. Parents received notification letters Thursday, June 9 through Monday, June 13.
Ms. Bonnie O'Regan and the ALP Leadership team held two parent webinars to explain scores, results, and placement decisions. Click the dates below to watch the recordings. The slides are available on our ALP Website.
The ALP Leadership team is happy to answer any questions you have that were not addressed during the webinars. To facilitate a timely response to your questions please complete the following inquiry form https://forms.gle/jSLPw7M1BJWznNAW6. All inquiries concerning ALP placements made by June 24 will be addressed within one school day of receipt of the request. Requests made over the summer recess will be responded to on a case-by-case basis dependent on the staff available.
Want to learn more about Advanced Learning? Get in touch with our team at
advancedlearning@greenwich.k12.ct.us, head to our website, or click on the banner below.
Looking to continue to practice reading, math, science, and social studies over the summer? Visit the Seamless Summer Learning website. Your learner can continue to practice and deepen their understanding of reading skills, math concepts, and science topics.
Academic Curriculum Coordinators
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Website: https://www.greenwichschools.org/teaching-learning/k-8-curriculum
Location: 290 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT, USA