The FRYSC will be collaborating with the Jefferson County 4-H Extension Office to provide an after school cooking club for 4th and 5th grade students later this month.  Check the Bear Essentials for details.

Is your student on social media? Does your student play Roblox? Minecraft? Fortnite?  Cybersafeschools.org is a great resource for families to learn about internet safety. Click here for parent guides to online programs that your students may be utilizing. These guides provide helpful tips on how to keep your student safe from online predators. 

🩷 If you need holiday assistance for your student, the Salvation Army Angel Tree program will begin accepting registrations on September 2. 

To register, go to angeltreeregistration.com.

In October, we will continue working on letter sounds during our skills block, start our study of weather with Module 2 in reading, and complete a study of comparing numbers in Unit 2 of Math. We are excited about a field trip to Derby Dinner Playhouse to see the play based on the book Spookley the Square Pumpkin. October will wrap up with a fun activity with our Moonbeams.

Jenna & Cheri

Firefly Newsletter LINK

In ELA, we are moving on to Module 2: Learning Through Science and Story.  In this module, students build their literacy and science skills as they engage in a study of the sun, moon, and stars.  In Unit 1, students study the sun, moon, and stars through various narrative texts and begin to understand how and why the sun, moon, and stars inspire authors. Students respond to texts through role-play and written responses.  In Unit 2, students focus their study on the science concepts of observable patterns in the sky as they relate to the sun, moon, and stars. Students track their observations of the sun, moon, and stars in pictures and videos in a Sky notebook.

In math, we are continuing with Unit 2: Adding and Subtracting Story Problems.  In section C, students solve compare, difference unknown problems, reinforcing their understanding of the relationship between addition and subtraction.  In section D, students bring together the work of the unit to solve and compare a variety of problem types, write equations to represent problems, and make sense of equations with a symbol for the unknown.   Students also reason in the other direction: writing stories and questions that correspond to given equations, and using drawings, numbers, and words to find the answers.

Eriauna & Jennifer

Dear 2nd Grade Families,

Your child has enjoyed learning about schools from around the world in our EL Module 1 Unit 3.  Please ask them to share with you about boat schools, tent schools, and doorstep schools. We are learning to compare and contrast these schools with Brown School. We will begin EL Module 2: Fossils Tell of the Earth’s Changes. We are so looking forward to our field trip to the Falls of the Ohio on Friday, October 24! 

Thanks for reading!

Ms. Mayra & Ms. Susan

In Unit 3, students shift from analyzing challenges faced by others to exploring their own reading challenges. This is centered around the book More Than Anything Else by Marie Bradby, which details the reading difficulties Booker T. Washington experienced. Students listen to the entire book read aloud and closely analyze an excerpt rich in figurative language that describes the challenges Booker faced. 

In the second half of the unit, students identify their own reading challenges and develop strategies to overcome them. They use The Painted Essay(r) structure to create a reading contract that outlines two key challenges and two strategies for each. Throughout this part, students practice reading excerpts from Nasreen's Secret School and Rain School to improve fluency. For the performance task, students design a reading strategies bookmark to quickly reference the strategies outlined in their reading contract.

In third-grade math lessons, we will also explore Unit 2, where students learn about the concept of area and how it relates to multiplication and addition. 

Andrew and Samantha

Math: 

• Multiply whole numbers and a fraction.

• Solve problems with fractions.

• Write fractions as sums.

• Show sums and differences of fractions on number lines.

• Subtract fractions from whole numbers.

Literacy:

• Write a presentation about what inspired me to write my poem.

• Read a new poem aloud fluently.

• Kindly analyze someone’s reading fluency.

• New Unit on Animal Defense Mechanisms:

• Record what I know about animal defense mechanisms.

• Cite evidence from the text to support the answers to my questions.

• Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details.

Science/Social Studies:

• Explore natural resources.

• Explore fossils and tell how they relate to rock layers.

• Examine why people settled in North America.

Christie & Jamie

Math: We started Unit 2: Fractions as Quotients

In this unit, students solve problems involving division of whole numbers, with answers that are fractions (which could be in the form of mixed numbers). They develop an understanding of fractions as the division of the numerator by the denominator, that is, a ÷ b = a/b.

They then solve problems that involve multiplying a whole number by a fraction or a mixed number. The following links will give you a better understanding of what we are doing in class.

• Section A: Fractions as Quotients

• Section B: Fractions of Whole Numbers

• Section C: Area and Fractional Side Lengths

Social Studies and Science: In Social Studies, we will be looking at primary and secondary sources, discussing why they are important and what we can learn from them. We will also study the causes of the American Revolution and how they impacted the colonists. In Science, we are studying Unit 1: Weather on Earth. This unit allows students the opportunity to explore the Earth’s four main systems and how they interact. Students investigate the properties of the atmosphere and how energy from the Sun transfers to Earth. They will also examine the water cycle and various climates around the world. We will finish by discussing the impact humans have on different climates.

Reading/Writing: We are deep into Esperanza Rising. Our character is developing and hitting some major challenges in her life. This is a great time to ask students what they think of the book, what might happen next, and what they would do if they were in her position. Students are creating character interaction maps while we read the chapter, which helps them organize their thoughts and stay engaged with the story. Text-based responses have been a focus and will be assessed again soon. Rubrics went home with students regarding their previous attempt at explaining the structure of a story. We will continue to work on this skill. The new skill we will start this week or next is analyzing interactions and reactions between characters within specific events in the book. We will begin writing interaction and reaction paragraphs, eventually culminating in an essay that analyzes how different characters respond to the same or similar events.

Tyler & Randy

This month, we're excited to explore Responsibility together. Think of Responsibility as “taking action and understanding how our choices matter.' When we take action, it could mean doing the right thing or completing our tasks with care. Knowing the impact of our choices reminds us that what we do can affect others. Nice and responsible actions can make a positive difference, while irresponsible ones might cause hurt. Responsibility is one of the three important traits we'll focus on this year to help students Be Strong. No matter the grade, students will grow in skills like staying focused, getting organized, and setting goals. We're here to support them every step of the way!

Please use the Student Support Request Form to get assistance. 

Cross-Country concludes its season on October 6th and has had a great year. Thanks to the coaches, parents, and athletes. Basketball will have tryouts in October. Please watch your emails and the Bear Essentials for announcements. There will be one girls and one boys' team this year, but unfortunately not a developmental team. Basketball tryouts are open to students in 3rd through 5th grade. Cheerleading has already begun practice and is looking really good. 

Please check the Bear Essentials and www.brownbearathletics.com for coaching contact, as well as other news and information about elementary athletics.