End of April 2026

 End of April!

Hello families, I can not believe we are already at the end of April and starting May.

The past couple weeks of April have been busy with the students writing their monster story, creating fractions, learning angles, estimating the type of angle; and are enjoying writing poetry in different styles.

Celebration of Earth Day - planting seeds, discussing the 3 R's and taking a hike along the GHCDS nature path. Students enjoyed planting seeds with the Upper School students along with working with one another to help rejoice about the planet we live on.

The students are still able to visit the Curioso website that allows them to pick books to read for free. The student code is qiw596. 

Announcements - 

• 5/25 - No School - Memorial Day
• 6/2 - Lower School Concert - will update with time
• 6/5 - No School faculty workshop
• 6/9 - 3rd Grade Beach Day at Cramer's Park
• 6/10 - 1pm Lower School field day
• 6/11 - Last Day! (full day of school)

Ask Your Child About - 

Community Building

• Morning Meeting, wellness/personal growth
• Earth Day and Arbor Day discussions: cutting down on waste from our snacks/meals, deforestation (nature path walk) and 3R's.

Math.

• Fractions - part of a whole, numerator, denominator
• Angles - acute, right, obtuse and straight. Estimating the degrees of an angle.
• Continuation of multiplication, as students are learning their facts of 1 - 12. (Math facts should be practiced daily with the "Training Wheel" game boards).

Literacy (Read Aloud, Word Study, Reading, Writing)

• Fundations - Unit 11 - contractions - is, not, are and there, their, they're.
• Monster Story: Finish writing the story and illustrating the cover with certain elements about the monster of their design.
• Strengthening reading stamina with daily reading in the classroom - individually, as a small group or as a whole class.
• Weekend news

• Continually learning cursive

Science/Social Studies/Global Perspectives

• Earth day and how to conserve, recycle, reduce and reuse on island.
• Continuing working together to get along, work together and compromising. 

Homework 

• Nightly reading log - 20+ minutes

• Math Games - homework folder - practicing multiplication math facts whenever and wherever you can - games, cards, or just give verbal checks. Need to build a strong math foundation for upcoming years. 

Happy Easter Weekend!

Hello families, I hope that all are enjoying the extra long weekend.

I would like to extend a huge Thank you to Lujain's mom for her generous gift of a happy meal for each student along with Amira and Ayat's families for giving candy that was shared to all student and Kitami's family for letting us borrow the movie DVD of "My Neighbor Totoro". 

Wednesday was a fun day as students wore pj's, brought in pillows, stuffed animals and blankets. We had a morning of sharing and finding plastic eggs filled with math review questions and an afternoon of watching a movie together. 

The students are still able to visit the Curioso website that allows them to pick books to read for free. The student code is qiw596. 

Announcements - 

• 5/25 - No School - Memorial Day

Ask Your Child About - 

Community Building

• Game playing at recess time.

• Coloring page and puzzle building
• Reading Buddies continues every Friday as the class meets up with their buddy for a chance to share a book with one another.

Math.

• Polygons and symmetry.
• Continuation of multiplication, as students are learning their facts of 1 - 12. They continue to use arrays, equal groups, skip counting, and repeated addition. (Math facts should be practiced daily with the "Training Wheel" game boards).

Literacy (Read Aloud, Word Study, Reading, Writing)

• Fundations - Unit 10
• Creating a story with certain elements about a monster of their design.
• Strengthening reading stamina with daily reading in the classroom - individually, as a small group or as a whole class.
• Weekend news

• Continually learning cursive

Science/Social Studies/Global Perspectives

• Dinosaurs? What did they look like and how do we know - exploration.
• Continuing working together to discuss happiness and how others find it.

Homework 

• Nightly reading log - 20+ minutes

• Math Games - homework folder - practicing multiplication math facts whenever and wherever you can - games, cards, or just give verbal checks. Need to build a strong math foundation for upcoming years. 

Good day and Happy Eid Weekend!

Hello families, yesterday was the last day of Ramadan! Thank you to Zayn's family and their generous gifts for each student. 

We all shared about Spring Break this past week and even a couple students brought in traps to catch a leprechaun. It seemed as though everyone had an adventure to share about their week away from school. 

We started our return back to school with a few reminders of how we share with one another and how we present our "best self" on campus. 

The students are still able to visit the Curioso website that allows them to pick books to read for free. The student code is qiw596. 

Announcements - 

• 3/26 - Lower School Celebration of Eid.
• 4/2  - No School (Conferences: I will reach out to some of you for conferences, but feel free to go ahead and contact me about scheduling one if you'd like)
• 4/3 and 4/6  -  No School - Easter Weekend
• 5/25 - No School - Memorial Day

Ask Your Child About - 

Community Building

• SEL - Ms. Bird discussed the difference of individuals  and students created flowers that had a leaf stating the child's strengths.  Everyone had fun making them. 

• Coloring page and puzzle building
• Reading Buddies continues every Friday as the class meets up with their buddy for a chance to share a book with one another.

Math.

• Multiplication is in full swing as students are learning their facts of 1 - 12. They have been working with arrays, equal groups, skip counting, and repeated addition. (Math facts should be practiced daily with the "Training Wheel" game boards).

Literacy (Read Aloud, Word Study, Reading, Writing)

• Fundations - Unit 9: that introduces the "double rr" words and revisiting the "bossy r".  
• Strengthening reading stamina with daily reading in the classroom - individually, as a small group or as a whole class.
• Weekend news

• Continually learning cursive

Science/Social Studies/Global Perspectives

• Starting the discovery of fossils and how they are created.
• Continuing working together to discuss happiness and how others find it.

Homework 

• Nightly reading log - 20+ minutes

• Math Games - homework folder - practicing multiplication math facts whenever and wherever you can - games, cards, or just give verbal checks. Need to build a strong math foundation for upcoming years. 

  

March 7th - Beginning of Spring Break!

Good day!

Hello families, it is the beginning of Spring Break! I am sure that plans are afoot to do plenty before returning to school. I do know that there may be times that you'll hear - I have nothing to do or I am bored. The kids signed on to a web site on Friday called Curioso that allows them to pick books to read for free. The student code is qiw596. There is a wide selection that your child can choose from and read at their own leisure. 

Also St. Patrick's day is the day to catch a Leprechaun - your child is more then welcome to create a trap with recycled goods during the break. It is just a fun project that should be full of imagination and creativity. I hope they enjoy making and they can bring it in on St. Patrick's day the week we return.

The month of February flew by with the class working on plenty of projects and learning. AgFair (link goes to the students work) was full of research and sculpting for local fruit seeds. Students worked on 7 different local fruits and managed to present seed shaped out of air dry clay at the AgFair. Please take the time to check out their work from informational slides to pictures of the seeds they created. (The seeds were also displayed at our recent Science Fair projects that the Upper School participated in). The end of February came with Indigo's birthday and March began with Kitami's birthday - we had fun celebrating! 

We ended our school week of "Read Across America" with a whole lower school drop everything and read. It was a pleasant experience for all as they were engaged with a book and a comfortable spot to enjoy. 

Announcements - 

• 3/9-13 - Spring Break week, no school
• 4/2  - No School (Conferences: I will reach out to some of you for conferences, but feel free to go ahead and contact me about scheduling one if you'd like)
• 4/3 and 4/6  -  No School - Easter Weekend
• 5/25 - No School - Memorial Day

Ask Your Child About - 

Community Building

• Celebrating Indigo and Kitami's birthdays
• SEL - Ms. Bird discussed the difference of individuals and how even though we have differences we are all the same, human beings looking for acceptance and peace.

• Coloring page and puzzle building
• Reading Buddies continues every Friday as the class meets up with their buddy for a chance to share a book with one another.

Math.

• Multiplication is in full swing as students are learning their facts of 1 - 12. They have been working with arrays, equal groups, skip counting, and repeated addition. 

Literacy (Read Aloud, Word Study, Reading, Writing)

• Fundations - Unit 8: words that end in -stle, -tion, -sion along with dealing with -le and -el words. Starting Unit 9: that introduces the double rr words.  

• Classroom read of The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson - Historical Fiction about Jackie Robinson.
• Strengthening reading stamina
• Weekend news

• Continually learning cursive

Science/Social Studies/Global Perspectives

• Working together to discuss Happiness and how others find it.
• Discussing how animals "communicate" within their groups

Homework 

• Nightly reading log - 20+ minutes

• Math Games - homework folder - practicing multiplication math facts whenever and wherever you can - games, cards, or just 
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Good day!

Hello families, I hope that all have been enjoying our rainy days these past few weeks. The water is always needed. We have had a busy few weeks. We have been working on an AgFair project doing research on different fruit plants from our island. Math has moved from adding and subtracting along with probability to multiplications with arrays, skip counting and grouping. Reading buddies started and we have met two times with Mrs. Lake and Ms. Jasmine's students. Ask your child about their new little friend. 

We also had a fun celebration for Michael's birthday with pizza and brownies.

Looking forward to celebrating this upcoming Friday an early Valentine's day. Students are welcome to bring valentine cards for classmates - please make sure that all receive one as we do not want to leave anyone out - "give to one, give to all". Students can bring in boxes or containers to decorate.

Class list: Kitami, Amira, Quin, Milo, Ares, Timothy, Angelica, Indigo, Ayat, Lujain, Isla, Destiny, Zayn, Michael, Rodney, Zaina

Announcements - 

• 2/13 - Valentine's day a day early :)

• 2/14 - 16 - Agriculture Fair

• 2/16 - No School - Presidents Day

• 3/9-13 - Spring Break week, no school

Ask Your Child About - 

Community Building

• Celebrating Michael's birthday
• SEL - Ms. Bird was in our classroom discussing how our decisions in life affect what different reactions may happen or even consequences. 

• Discussing how to act in our classrooms and with others

• Coloring page and puzzle building
• Reading Buddies has begun - Every Friday the students meet with their buddy for a chance to share time with one another.

Math

• Adding and Subtracting of double and triple digit numbers

• Different strategies to get the same answer
• Working with probability - no chance, certain, poor chance, likely.
• Starting multiplication with arrays - learning numbers 1 - 6 - exploring how to group them in different sets. 

Literacy (Read Aloud, Word Study, Reading, Writing)

• Fundations - continuing to work with prefix/suffix and understanding the meaning with the root word.

• Classroom read of The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson - Historical Fiction about Jackie Robinson.
• Strengthening reading stamina
• Weekend news

• Continually learning cursive

Science/Social Studies/Global Perspectives

• Civil Rights Movement

• Black History

• Discussing Traits in plants and animals

• Learning about island fruits and the trees that they come from - how long does it take for a seed to germinate compared to grafting a tree limb.
• We had a guest speaker - Ms. Olivia - who spoke with the students about the island seeds and how they can be: native, non-native, evasive, endemic, and medicinal.

Homework 

• Nightly reading log - 20+ minutes

• Math Games - Math Fluency 

Welcome Back All!  Happy 2026! I thank you all for the generous gift that I received from you. I am looking forward to using it when all my children come home this summer. Thank you for your generosity as I love teaching your children. I hope you all had a relaxing and delightful winter break wherever you may have been.  I had a joyful time staying put right here on STX; relaxing, hiking and reading. We had a chance as a class to share our adventures that took place over the couple weeks and it was great to hear the variety of ways the students spent their time. 

Homework change - no more Fundations, as I am doing the extension in class. Students should continue reading for 20 minutes or more along with the math games that are being sent home. The work should not take more then 30 minutes a night. Thank you so much. Maureen Gwilliam - Ms. Mo

Announcements - 

• 1/19 - No School - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• 2/14 - 16 - Agriculture Fair
• 2/16 - No School - Presidents Day
• 3/9-13 - Spring Break week, no school

Ask Your Child About - 

• Community Building
• Morning discussions about returning to school and expectations; lining up quietly, being mindful during transitions in the classroom and on campus.
• Sharing about winter break and all that we did on and off island.
• Coloring page and puzzle building

• Math
• Review of math topic of lapsed time
• Word problems about time/lapsed time
• Adding and Subtracting of double digit numbers

• Literacy (Read Aloud, Word Study, Reading, Writing)
• Fundations - working with prefixes and understanding the meaning with the root word.
• Reading and writing about the upcoming holiday of Dr. MLK Jr.
• Classroom read of The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson
• Continually learning cursive

• Science/Social Studies/Global Perspectives
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
• Civil Rights Movement
• Discussing Traits in plants and animals
• Learning about island fruits and the trees that they come from.

• Homework 
• Nightly reading log - 20+ minutes
• Math Games - Math Fluency 

Announcements - 

• 12/18 - Lower School Winter Concert 8:45 am 
• 12/19 - Classroom Winter Celebration
• 12/21-1/6 - Winter Break
• 1/7 - School resumes
• 1/19 - No School Dr. MLK Jr Day

Ask Your Child About - 

• Community Building
• Morning discussions on the holidays, winter months, and family traditions.
• Book report share - giving new ideas to new books to read.
• Worked with the 4th grade for the upcoming concert

• Math
• Elapsed Time - quarter past, half past, quarter till
• Military Time - the full 24 hours
• Hours, Days, Months, and Years

• Literacy (Read Aloud, Word Study, Reading, Writing)
• Classroom share of Newspaper article.
• Students presented their Book Project - what a great job everyone did! Such wonderful work! I am looking forward to another one!
• Mr. Popper's Penguins by Florence and Richard Atwater 
• Fundations - y as a vowel, schwa in an open syllable with a and i, open syllable exception, and soft c and g in reading.
• Cursive writing.

• Science/Social Studies/Global Perspectives
• Working on listening skills, following instructions and comparing to the final project.
  

• Homework 
• Nightly reading log - 20+ minutes
• Fundations worksheets
• Math Games