Sussex School

Language Arts | Math | Spanish | Music | PE

LANGUAGE ARTS

The second and third grade reading program is designed to reinforce skills learned in the first grade, further developing reading comprehension and higher level thinking skills. Writing is an integral part of our reading program as students learn to access information and communicate ideas clearly in their writing.

Each year students:

• Research a topic of interest. They read non-fiction, identify important information, and paraphrase the information. They write facts on note cards and, finally, devise a game, model, or display through which to teach the information to parents.
• Write and illustrate short stories. Holidays and special occasions are opportunities to integrate writing into class activities. Some examples are: Halloween cauldron books, season celebrations, bone poems, wishes to make the world a better place, letters to presidents, etc.
• Creatively express their ideas about books by creating “alternative” book reports. These projects include time lines, postcards to authors and characters, posters, and hanging spheres.
• Read and share a diverse collection of poetry. Students write poems and collect their poems in a beautifully illustrated book.
• Integrate many writing and reading projects into units. Some examples are: reading myths, writing myths, and performing a Greek play while studying Ancient Greece; reading U.S. history and writing journal entries from the point of view of an immigrant or a pioneer while studying the United States; selecting a state, writing to the Chamber of Commerce of each state to obtain information, and writing a research report about the state; studying Missoula, taking numerous field trips into the city, and recording the information we learn.

In 2/3, we focus on helping students develop a love and appreciation of reading. As they learn to read silently for increasing periods of time, they develop the ability to use multiple strategies to decode words and read orally with fluency. Students will increase their abilities to recall a story’s main idea, details, and the sequence of story, and will further their ability to analyze character traits, feelings, relationships, and changes. Students will also increase their ability to:

• Use prior knowledge and experience to make sense of text
• Take risks during discussions
• Learn, understand, and use new vocabulary
• Generate questions and make predictions about content of text
• Use a dictionary and other reference materials to gain new information
• Share their understanding and love of books
• Experience a wide and rich range of literature
• Develop the confidence to analyze a book and communicate these ideas to others
• Self-select literature in addition to reading teacher-guided selections
• Learn to choose appropriate books
• Have opportunities to share their love of books with others

We often use teacher read-aloud or whole class guided reading which:

• Gives the group an opportunity to share a book with the entire class;
• Models the teacher's enthusiasm for reading;
• Helps the students develop critical thinking skills by "thinking aloud" about the book and asking questions that promote reflection, prediction, and critical thinking skills

Quiet independent reading time is another effective approach in 2/3 because it:

• Gives students the opportunity to choose appropriate interest- and ability-level books;
• Provides daily, uninterrupted reading time for students of all levels;
• Gives emergent readers a chance to read silently or aloud to a teacher or other adult and to get help developing reading strategies;
• Provides an opportunity for the teacher to discuss books and ascertain students’ comprehension levels

We also love to form independent small literature groups in which:

• Students share the same book (they may read silently or aloud to each other)
• Students discuss the story using teacher-developed questions and/or open-ended discussion ideas.

Students in 2/3 learn a great deal about words and spelling as well. Skills such as breaking words into syllables, identifying smaller words inside larger words, and learning vowel and consonant sounds, are integral to the growth of readers. By using rhyming patterns to identify repeating parts of words and understanding the roles of verbs, adjectives, and nouns in the English language, students can quickly increase their fluency. Other acquired skills include: Recognizing homonyms; learning to spell and recognize sight words; recognizing vowel blends; learning consonant blends, etc.

What follows is a list of language arts skills students in 2/3 are expected to attain:

•Reading

Decoding words
Using context clues
Using picture clues
Breaking words into smaller parts
Saying the beginning sound, then making a good guess
Skipping the word and reading to the end of the sentence

•Discussing and writing about literature

Identifying a "just right" reading level book
Making predictions
Identifying character traits
Formulating questions
Critiquing a book
Rating
Identifying elements of a good story
Writing a book review/creating a book project

•Writing

Pre-writing activities/brainstorming/web diagramming
Identifying and using nouns, verbs, and adjectives
Using correct punctuation
Using capitals
Developing writing logically
Working with beginning, middle, and end
Writing a letter
Writing a story
Developing characters
Developing narrative
Using alliteration
Using personification
Writing a poem, including acrostic, haiku, diamonte, limerick, and rhyming

•Using Reference Materials

Using a dictionary
Reading non-fiction
Identifying the main ideas
Paraphrasing information

•Handwriting

Holding a pencil correctly
Forming letters
Sizing upper and lower case appropriately
Increasing writing speed

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MATH

Mathematical concepts are introduced by using concrete materials. Students manipulate concrete materials to play, practice, and learn the concepts. Next, students illustrate the concepts using pictures. Students demonstrate their mathematical understanding by drawing coins, shapes, clocks, base ten blocks, etc. Students connect numbers to pictures. Finally, students are ready to solve problems at a symbolic level, completing worksheets and learning strategies to accurately solve problems.

Students work individually, with partners, in small groups, and, occasionally, as a whole class. Pre-tests, informal observations, and student readiness are factors that determine each student's math materials.

In addition, each student is exposed to various problem solving strategies, including using a list, making the problem simpler, working backwards, using “guess and check”, acting the problem out, building a model, and drawing a picture. Individual problem solving folders provide each child with specific problems appropriate to their learning needs.

Exciting children about numbers and teaching children to think creatively are two important goals of the program. We build polyhedra cities, graph sums and products, survey students and graph the information learned, build boxes and find the surface area, design tessellations, explore numbers in magazines and newspapers, and cut and compare angles from various polyhedra.

Math Skills Explored in the 2/3 Class Include:

• Adding and subtracting numbers to 10,000
• Using words to explain how a math problem is solved
• Using measuring tools to calculate volume, area, length, and height
• Analyzing and graphing data
• Rounding to the nearest whole number
• Predicting patterns in shapes and numbers
• Understanding the place value of whole numbers
• Counting, reading, and writing whole numbers to 10,000
• Comparing and ordering whole numbers to 10,000
• Identifying the place value for each digit in numbers to 10,000
• Rounding numbers to the nearest ten, hundred, and thousand
• Calculating and solving problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
• Finding the sum or difference of two whole numbers with and without regrouping
• Memorizing the multiplication table for numbers between 1 and 10
• Using the inverse relationship of multiplication and division fact families to compute and check results
• Solving simple problems involving multiplication of multi-digit numbers by one-digit numbers
• Understanding the special properties of 0 and 1 in multiplication and division
• Determining the unit cost when given the total cost and the number of units
• Solving problems that require two or more of the skills mentioned above
• Comparing fractions represented by drawings or concrete materials to show equivalency; adding and subtracting simple fractions in context
• Adding and subtracting simple fractions in the same fraction family
• Solving problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of money amounts
• Choosing the appropriate tools and units (metric and U.S.) to estimate and measure the length, liquid volume/capacity, and weight/mass of given objects
• Estimating or determining the area and volume of solid figures by covering them with squares or by counting the number of cubes that would fill them
• Finding the perimeter of a polygon
• Telling time to the nearest minute
• Determining elapsed time to the nearest quarter hour
• Identifying, describing, and classifying polygons (including pentagons, hexagons, and octagons)
• Identifying attributes of triangles
• Identifying attributes of quadrilaterals
• Identifying right angles in geometric figures or in appropriate objects and determining whether other angles are greater or less than a right angle
• Identifying, describing, and classifying common three-dimensional geometric objects (e.g., cube, rectangular solid, sphere, prism, pyramid, cone, cylinder)

Students conduct simple probability experiments by determining the number of possible outcomes and making simple predictions such as:

• Identifying whether common events are certain, likely, unlikely, or impossible
• Recording the possible outcomes for a simple event (e.g., tossing a coin) and systematically keeping track of the outcomes when the event is repeated many times
• Summarizing and displaying the results of probability experiments and data collection in a clear and organized way
• Using the results of probability experiments to predict future events

Students make decisions about how to approach problems by:

• Determining when and how to break a problem into simpler parts

Students use strategies, skills, and concepts in finding solutions by:

• Using estimation to verify the reasonableness of calculated results
• Applying strategies and results from simpler problems to more complex problems
• Using a variety of methods, such as words, numbers, symbols, charts, graphs, tables, diagrams, and models, to solve problems
• Making precise calculations and checking the validity of the results from the context of the problem

Students move beyond a particular problem by generalizing to other situations.

Students select appropriate symbols, operations, and properties to represent, describe, simplify, and solve simple number relationships.

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SPANISH

The Sussex Spanish program spans Kindergarten through 8th grade, and strives to teach children skills ranging from understanding isolated, concrete vocabulary to having conversations and completing detailed written projects. The hope is that all students will develop a love for and comfort with other languages and cultures, while taking the risks that are inherent in learning a second language and supporting each other new language practice. Most goals stated at each grade level are intended to carry over to subsequent grades.

Goals for K/1 Students are the following:

•To enjoy learning Spanish
•To feel comfortable hearing Spanish
•To recognize familiar words and some letter sounds
•To identify objects described in Spanish
•To follow simple commands
•To respond to greetings
•To be able to ask and answer a few rehearsed questions
•To name nouns, verbs, and adjectives practiced in Spanish class
•To develop native-like pronunciation habits

Kindergarten/1st Grade Units and Methods:

•Las manzanas: Every other year, the K/1 class begins the year with an apple unit, which fits in with the fall harvest time. We discuss different colors of apples and which ones are our favorites (after a taste test), and the class makes a graph of our preferences. We learn two songs about apples. The first, “Me gusta comer…,” allows us to practice the sounds of the vowels in Spanish. The second song is one written by Anne Graham, which reinforces the Spanish words for “orchard,” “apple tree,” and “worm.” In the apple books that we make, we paint an illustration on the cover page, fill out a page about our favorite apple, draw an apple orchard, and make an apple tree using tear art, after which we label the parts of the apple tree. Usually, the apple unit leads into a mini-unit about loose teeth.
•“De colores”: The well-known and loved folk song, “De colores”, makes a wonderful starting point for a unit about springtime and animals on the farm. In addition to learning and singing the song itself, we learn the words for animals and the sounds that they make in Spanish, as well as the colors of the rainbow. Animal name are practiced through Bingo, a board game, and by matching animal sounds with each animal in an interactive game. Students practice reading Spanish words by gluing cut-outs of animals onto a farm scene, according to where the word for each animal is printed. In order to practice colors, we make a large “arcoiris” (rainbow) on butcher paper and label the colors in Spanish. Each student illustrates the different lines of “De colores” with appropriate drawings in a small book.
•Los copos de nieve: This is a short unit on snowflakes, which allows us to focus on the beauty of snowflakes during a long, cold winter. The unit centers on a small play written for primary students in Spanish. Students discuss the characteristics of snowflakes and the possible shapes that they take on (star, flower, wheel, etc.), and then make their own snowflakes to place around the room. Through the play, students are exposed to the structures “soy” (I am) and “me parezco a” (I look like). At the end of the unit we perform the play either for an individual class or in Samling.
•Other K/1 units may include: Oso pardo, oso pardo, ¿Qué ves ahí? (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?); Myself; Spain; Fruit Salad; Bread; My Pet; and Carnaval.

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MUSIC

Music Skills Explored in the K/1 Class Include:

•Pitch Identification: The teacher will help kids see the patterns of high/low pitches through voice and harmonica playing. Sound wave patterns and vibration will be explained through magic and song. The students will sing many songs, mostly related to the homeroom teachers' curriculum, in order to reinforce and accelerate learning. Students will learn songs from around the world and compare them to songs from the tradition of western music.
•Music Vocabulary: Students will be introduced to many musical words such as dynamics (piano and forte, crescendo and decrescendo), rhythm, tempo, pitch, and song form. They will learn to use musical language in the correct context.
•Introduction to Instruments: The class will use many small percussion instruments: hand drums, guiro, maracas, triangles, cabasa, and cowbell just to name a few. Students will start to recognize that each instrument has a different timbre and voice, just like they do!
•Movement: The teacher will incorporate body movement into almost every song in order to identify different parts of the song by introducing appropriate movement, depending on the song style. Movement really gives the kids a chance to be creative and “own” part of the music.
•Improvisation: The students have plenty of opportunities to help write sections of songs and rhythm pieces, which reinforce musical concepts.
•Singing with their “Bigs”: The K/1 class will have the opportunity to visit the music room in the Zap building and have one or two music classes with their “Bigs” to sing songs, perform, and enjoy music together.
•Performance: The K/1’s will be a part of two performances during the school year: The Holiday Concert and the Spring Community Meeting. The students will also have opportunities throughout the year to perform as a group or individually at Samling to get them feeling comfortable in front of an audience.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

General Goals for Students in Physical Education at Sussex School are the following:

•To be passionate about health enhancement
•To be aware of the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle
•To follow community agreements
•To be prepared for class
•To challenge themselves to work hard each time they have P.E.

We warm up for class by playing tag, running, and doing fitness activities. The younger students play more tag than the older students, who are often involved in running and more intense fitness activities. We learn and review basic psychomotor skills designed to enhance fitness and hand-eye coordination. We play small-sided games with the other students in class where we focus on positive interactions, and on learning how to win and lose with class. Above all, we attempt to expose the students to a variety of activities that will help them live an active and healthy life.

When introducing a new skill, we use the “whole-part-whole” method of demonstrating the skill. For example, if teaching them to throw a ball, we will first demonstrate the full method of throwing, then break it into smaller parts, and then show again the full method of throwing. Secondly, we use teaching cues to demonstrate many skills. For instance, when learning how to catch a Frisbee with two hands we tell the kids that their hands are the jaws of an alligator trying to eat a pancake.

Goals for K/1 Students are the following:
•To be prepared for class with clothes designed for active play. With the younger students this primarily means wearing proper shoes.
•To follow our community agreements
•To have fun while they are in class
•To be prepared for class
•To be respectful towards everyone in class
•To challenge themselves during class

The P.E. program consists of the following:

• Tag games: The first activity we do in P.E. class is to play tag. Goals for tag games are that students learn to run, dodge others, and elude another runner who is coming after them. While games can be altered slightly, they fall into these two categories: Freeze tag: In this game there is one student who is the tagger. The tagger’s objective is to tag as many students as possible during a specified amount of time. When students are tagged, they must “freeze” or stay where they are on the playing field. The other students are encouraged to “free” frozen class members by crawling under their legs, giving them a jumping hi ten, or putting a hoop over their heads. After a minute or so, another student gets to be the tagger. We play until everyone has had a chance to be the tagger. Rainbow tag: This type of tag game starts with one tagger, with the rest of the class attempting to elude this person. When a student gets tagged, that student becomes a tagger as well, and the tagging group gets bigger. The game continues until everyone has been tagged. Traditionally, the last person tagged is the first person to be “it” for the next game.
• Frisbee: With the K/1 grade, the goal for the Frisbee unit is that the students become comfortable throwing and catching a Frisbee. The students learn the cues for throwing the traditional backhand throw, as well as the side arm or fore hand throw. Students are taught how to catch with two hands like an “alligator eats a pancake”. After the children are comfortable throwing and catching the Frisbee, they play various non-competitive games that are designed to reinforce their skills as well as to be fun. “Hit the cone”: In this game, two students are paired up with one Frisbee and one cone. They put the cone somewhere on the field, taking turns throwing the Frisbee until they hit the cone with the Frisbee. “End to End”: In this game, two students are encouraged to throw and catch the Frisbee until they travel from one end of the gym or playing field to the other. They are not allowed to run with the Frisbee. If they do not catch a throw, they must return to the beginning end of the field. This is a particularly good activity because the students can choose to make a few longer throws or several short throws in trying to attain the goal.
• Soccer: The main goals with the soccer unit are for the students to become familiar with the basic rules of the game and to learn how to dribble the ball comfortably with both feet. During our soccer unit, each student spends a lot of class time with a soccer ball. The warm up tag games are altered to include soccer skill work. While playing freeze tag, the students will dribble around a circle with a ball. When they are tagged, they must hold their ball over their head until someone dribbles another ball under their legs. Since the basic rule of soccer is that you have to use your feet to travel with the ball, we ask the students to travel around in a circle with a ball and lightly touch the ball with the inside of their right foot every time they take a step. We then repeat this with the outside of their foot, and then with the front of their foot. We do this with both the right and left feet. After doing this, we will play various games that are designed to reinforce these skills. If the class is proficient with these skills, we play small-sided games against each other.
• Basic throwing and catching skills: The main goals here are to get the students comfortable catching an object that is thrown to them, as well as throwing the object overhand and underhand. For this unit we use beanbags and soft foam balls. We start by having the students drop a beanbag into a partner’s hand. Then students back up and see if they can complete an underhand toss. They can either clap their hands on the beanbag or trap it against their chests. After they are comfortable with this we introduce regular balls. We play various games to reinforce these skills. “4 and 2”: The children stand an arm’s length apart. They throw underhand to each other. When they make four complete catches they can take two steps backwards and continue the game. When they have gotten far enough apart, we introduce throwing overhand. “End to End”: This game is just like the game we played in our Frisbee unit except we use balls or beanbags instead of Frisbees.
• Fitness Stations: For this unit, the main goals are to get the kids to understand that fitness is important to living a healthy lifestyle and that it’s fun. We set up different stations around the gym or playing area. The students perform a different activity for 30, 60, or 90 seconds. These activities include, but are not limited to: jumping up, touching the wall, and then touching the floor; running up and down a small flight of stairs; jumping on and off a fitness step; jumping rope; doing partner push-ups; doing sit ups with a ball; and balancing on a balance board. During this unit, we keep a very friendly and fun atmosphere in class. The goal is for the students to realize that fitness is fun.
• Basketball: For the basketball unit, the primary goal is to teach the children to dribble a basketball comfortably with their dominant hand. We use small basketballs, letting the students pick which size ball they are most comfortable with. They learn how to dribble by using the tips of their fingers and by pushing down on the ball with their forearms. The students dribble around the gym freely and are encouraged to try to shoot the ball into the basket. We have one basket that can be lowered, and the students can shoot the ball any way possible in order to make a basket.
• Floor Hockey: The main goals in our floor hockey unit are for the children to be comfortable with a stick and puck and to learn how to travel around the gym with a puck. As with our soccer unit, during floor hockey, each student spends a lot of time with a stick and puck. To begin with, they learn how to travel with the puck on their stick. They begin to walk and then run around the gym while controlling the puck with the blade of their stick. We progress towards moving around cones or trying to avoid obstacles. We then play games where four sets of goals are placed around the gym; the students are encouraged to see how many different goals they can shoot the puck through.
• Volleyball: The main goals for our volleyball unit are to get the children comfortable throwing a ball over a net and then catching it and to understand the basic rules of the game. For this unit, we begin by having the kids throw a soft-touch volleyball underhand to a partner who catches the ball with palms facing up. Freeze tag games are altered so that, in order to be unfrozen, the students must throw the ball back and forth in this manner. We then introduce the net, encouraging the children to throw the ball over the net and have their partners catch it with palms facing up. If proficient enough, the students will then play modified versions of volleyball drills where they throw the ball over the net.
• Tennis: The main goal for our tennis unit is for the kiddos to become comfortable hitting the ball over the net with either a forehand or backhand stroke. We begin by giving each children a racket and a ball. The students then learn to balance the ball on the racket. We progress to bouncing the ball on the racket. We then either bounce the ball on the ground, or in the air. They are then taught the basics of the forehand and backhand strokes. We progress to playing various teacher-led games that reinforce these skills. For this unit, the students use modified tennis rackets, nets, and balls that help make it easier for smaller children to become proficient in tennis. We also try to take a field trip to a local tennis court.
• Ball and bat games: The main goals for this unit are to get the children comfortable hitting a ball that is tossed to them and to learn how to field a ball that is coming towards them on the ground. While baseball is not part of the curriculum, we do teach the basics of throwing, catching, hitting, and fielding. The children have already been exposed to throwing and catching. For learning how to field, we demonstrate how to properly stand in order to field a ground ball. The students learn how to hold a bat and how to swing it in order to hit a ball. We then play games where the students get many chances to hit a ball and then run across the field.

Shorter units: During the year, we oftentimes have guests come in and teach short units on stretching, yoga, and creative movement. We teach the children beginning skills in juggling. We jump rope and learn how to play fun playground games like “Four Square”.

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