First & Second Grade

Mrs. Sarah Jary

Mrs. Brandy Rost

Mrs. Sherrie Coon

Family 1

Family One is composed of two multiage classrooms. Our curriculum is developed with consideration for the developmental needs of our young learners. It is integrated and taught at a faster pace and with more depth. We differentiate by using a hands-on approach to learning, tiered lessons, and flexible groupings. We also include choice, movement and complexity.

Language arts is taught using a workshop approach. In Reader’s Workshop we study comprehension strategies for both narrative and expository text. In Writer’s Workshop we use a notebook to collect ideas and write about them. We study the craft of writing by looking at favorite authors and genres. We practice four types of writing: technical, narrative, informational and response. Word study rounds out our curriculum.

Mathematics is taught using Everyday Mathematics, a curriculum developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, and published by Wright Group/McGraw-Hill. Students are assessed in the fall and then either put into their grade level or a grade level above based on the assessment. Beyond our daily experience with Everyday Mathematics, we provide opportunities for additional problem solving and logic activities. Mathematical concepts are also integrated into our science and social studies units. 

Social Studies is taught on a two-year rotation. Year one is American History. We compare life in Colonial and Pioneer times with our lives today. This is done through activities and teacher directed lessons. During year two we study Ancient Egypt and Medieval Times. Geography and biomes are explored. During both years, we teach what it means to live in a community. Beginning with our Webster community, we focus on respect for each other, ourselves, and our environment.

Science topics are based on the district requirements and enriched with topics of high student interest. Typically these would include: the human body, simple machines, deserts and forests, magnets, insects, sea life, birds, plants and animals. 

Click here for more Everyday Math Family activities, then locate the "Free Resources" icon on the lower right hand corner of the page. Not all resources on this page are free; some require an account/login. 

Third & Fourth Grade

• Mrs. Rebecca Gezahegan
• Mrs. Katherine Barnes
• Mrs. Katie Tullio
• Mr. Steven Pascoe
• Mr. David Zyczynski                

Social Studies and Science

This year, your child will engage in social studies and science learning opportunities through a workshop. During workshop, your child will participate in expository reading activities, group lessons and discussion, hands-on activities, and centers. Through this format, we can provide for a variety of learning styles.

Math

Isn't our world changing fast? As teachers, the challenge to prepare our students to embrace change and to find new ways to solve new problems is sometimes daunting, always exciting. It also is the heart and soul of our mathematics curriculum.

Knowing mathematics means being able to use it in purposeful ways. In our classrooms, teacher performance shifts from authoritarian models based on the transmission of knowledge and only drill and practice to student-centered methods featuring stimulation of learning and active exploration. Teachers will help students learn how to verbalize their mathematical ideas, explore mathematical questions with careful reasoning and disciplined understanding, and understand that some mathematical questions have more than one right answer (Standards, 1989). 

Inspired by Standards and related thinking and research on mathematics instruction and gifted education, our mathematics curriculum is a differentiated one. Students will have the opportunity to actively explore mathematical topics, practice basic skills, master grade level requirements as aligned with the Common Core standards. Students work at a level that is both challenging and comfortable during mathematics instruction. Students will have opportunities to work independently at their own level, be part of cooperative groups for problem-solving, receive individual instruction or will be part of as mall or whole group lesson.

Reading and Writing Workshop

This year your child will have opportunities to grow as a reader and writer through a workshop format. Through this format, each child makes purposeful choices as to how they will use their reading and writing time. As teachers, we hope the workshop format will provide more time for small group lessons and conferencing with individuals. 

During the reading workshop, students will be encouraged to choose 'just right' challenges as reading choices. Your child might read to learn more about a particular area of interest, study a genre, analyze a character or to enjoy a really good story. Students will make note of their observations and insights in a reading response journal. In addition to pursuing personal projects and interests, we will have on-going units of study. We'll begin the year with a close look at the kind of thinking readers do as they read. We'll pay particularly close attention to how good readers connect what they read to their own experiences.

During the writing workshop, students plan their own writing projects to pursue. A student might choose to write a story,journal, report, poem, or letter. Students will monitor their progress on writing projects in a log. As is the case in the reading workshop, we will also have on-going units of study. Our first writing project will be a personal narrative or memoir. Our goal in offering a reading and writing workshop is to encourage children to discover ways to use reading and writing to do powerful things in the world in which they live. Reading and writing are more meaningful experiences when the purpose begins with the individual. The opportunity for choice also allows each child to discover his/her own challenge at a more individualized pace. The results should prove to be satisfying for all.Through a workshop format we hope to create a love for reading and writing that lasts a lifetime.

Spelling

In our classrooms, your child will have the opportunity to practice,reflect upon, and learn new strategies for spelling. As teachers, we are very excited about research conducted on spelling and spelling instruction and the understandings that this research affords us. These new understandings help us place children, not methods, at the heart of our spelling curriculum. We now know that spelling is better taught within the context of writing. Spelling is a complex cognitive process rather than a memorization task. A crucial skill in spelling is visual memory—a skill you are born with. Additionally, research tells us that there is no relationship between spelling ability and I.Q. Some of our students are already natural spellers and spell most words conventionally. Most still need strategies to help them with their spelling.

Fifth & Sixth Grade

• Mrs. Jackie Vine
• Mrs. Terry Macek
• Mrs. Lorna Rootare
• Mrs. Kathy Frame
• Mrs. Natalie Wahl

Family Three is composed of students ranging from 9-11 years in age. A Family Three student is considered to be a 5th or 6th grader in the regular classroom.

Family Three consists of four classrooms that are multiage. The four teachers are Mrs. Terry Macek, Ms. Kathy Frame, Mrs. Lorna Rootare, and Mrs. Jackie Vine. These four teachers are part of a four-person team that works and strives to create a curriculum and working environment for the gifted child. We make sure all benchmarks in the Michigan Curriculum and Framework have been met by the time your child has left our school. We work with middle school objectives and add creative spins and twists to satisfy the needs of our gifted students

Our students go beyond lower levels of basic knowledge and comprehension. The students in our program and in our classroom work more at the higher levels of application, analysis, creative thinking and critical thinking.

Choice and differentiation are important to Family Three teachers. We offer many choices for students in our literature and language arts program as well as in other subject areas. We also make a point to use differentiation since children in our program come to us with different backgrounds and foundations in the academic subjects. Some students are at higher levels in math, some are artistic in their presentations, others are natural writers while some may be hands-on learners. With all of these unique qualities each of our students possess, it only makes sense to differentiate and offer choices.

We believe our students need to be challenged. We also believe students need to have fun. Academics and their connection to real life are so valuable and will go with students a long way when they can see these connections. But there also needs to be humor and fun so students will continue to stay engaged in the learning. Family Three offers all of these to our students.

Responsibility is a big part of Family Three. For some it has already been acquired and for others it is a learning process. Our goal is for our students to leave Family Three with a variety of strategies for completing work, turning it in, filling out a “Student Assignment Book,” using time wisely, setting priorities and managing their time. These are all a part of our “Life Long Learning Skills” which will help students be successful as they continue on in their education and in life.

We have a variety of units and topics covered in Family Three over the course of two years:

Social Studies

• Election Units
• Principals of Democracy
• Western Europe
• Canada
• Latin America
• Citizenship and the Common Good
• Explorers
• Native Americans
• Colonial Times
• The New Country
• Westward Expansion
• Current Events

Science

• Forms of Matter
• Cells and Heredity
• Electricity and Magnetism
• Vertebrates and Invertebrates
• Environmental Studies
• Near Earth and Space
• Human Growth
• Forces
• Physical and Chemical Properties of Matter
• Endangered Species
• Sound and Light

Math

• Fractions
• Decimals
• Percents
• Factors
• Multiples
• Geometry
• Probability
• Statistics
• Data
• Mental Math
• Math Magazines
• Prime and Composite
• Pre-Algebra 

Language Arts

• Journaling
• Reader's Response Journal
• Vocabulary Enrichment
• Grammar, Spelling
• Literature Novels relevant to our Social Studies theme
• Poetry