Special Areas

All grades are working hard on their fire safety posters! Every year we collaborate with the EQ Fire Department to do a fire safety poster contest aligning with the theme of the National Fire Prevention Association’s Fire Safety week. This year the theme is “Charge into fire safety.” It focuses on fire prevention regarding the rechargeable electronics in our homes. Each student is working on drawing cartoons, comics, and other infographics to teach people about the importance of fire safety. The firefighters will judge the poster contest and will be coming to school this month to award students in each grade with the “Most Original Poster,” “Best Craftsmanship,” and “Most Informative.”

In Spanish class, for the month of October students will be :

6th grade: Recognizing and retelling several forms of greetings and farewells. Also presenting an unknown person, asking and answering how someone is doing, asking where someone is from and utilizing expressions of courtesy such as “es un placer” (it's a pleasure to meet you).

5th grade: Locating and recalling questions words.  Analyzing and interpreting authentic Spanish invitations  for who, what, when and where.

4th grade: Listing, matching, recognizing number 0-10. Composing telephone numbers verbally using numbers 0-10. 

3rd grade: Identifying days of the week. Differentiating between a traditional Spanish Calendar and an American calendar. Constructing written and verbal sentences stating days of the week using a Spanish calendar

2nd grade: Identifying 11 colors. Recognizing colors and repeating words to “Oso Pardo, Oso Pardo, ¿Qué ves allí? 

1st grade: Identifying and using appropriately “feliz (happy), triste (sad), cansado (tired), enfermo (sick) when asked ¿Cómo estás?   

Kindergarten:  Memorizing and using appropriately,” the following phrases Adiós, muy bien, hola, and ¿Cómo estás?   Reciting words to the Hola Hola Hola song by Mariana Mallol. 

This month in our garden we have begun seed saving and the final harvests.  Students have been learning about the upcoming cool weather seasons and what we can grow even when the winter is almost here. We have planted arugula, radish and lettuce.  All classes have visited our newly improved greenhouse space and are loving how easy it is to work in now.  This Friday October 9th is our rescheduled Harvest Moon Celebration from 5:30-7, hope to see you there!

Kindergarten was introduced to all of the wonderful things about STEAM! They are learning the meaning of each letter in STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

First graders are reviewing the meaning of each letter in STEAM and completing a corresponding activity. 

Second Graders are learning about coding Algorithms and using Beebots to practice!

Our Third Grade engineers are using Legos and household materials to build pulleys that pull a spider up to their web.

Fourth Graders eased into the STEAM year by practicing typing and creating typing Mystery Art. 

Fifth graders are learning about iteration and iterating on a formula to try to create the perfect bouncy ball using Borax, water, and school glue!

Sixth graders are learning about iteration and polymers while iterating on a formula to try to create the perfect bouncy ball using Borax, water, and school glue!

This month, students are participating in soccer and football units. Older students are applying their skills in small-sided games, while primary grades are focusing on lead up skills through small-group stations. We also extend a sincere thank-you to the PTA and the other special area teachers for organizing a wonderful Fall Frenzy!

All grades have been reading stories about influential people and stories centered around Latin cultures as a way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month! Grades K-2 are reading stories to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month before moving on to Fall stories and learning about story elements. Grades 3-4 are focusing on Hispanic Folktales and strengthening their research skills in the library this month, while grades 5 and 6 are focusing on learning the elements of fictional narratives through. 

We’ve had a great start to the school year with the PTA’s Fall Frenzy fundraiser! Thank you for another wonderful year!

Our Senior Chorus has also started up, and the kids are excited to be singing together again!

In grades K–2, students are singing, playing instruments, and enjoying a variety of music games. Students in the upper grades are building their music literacy and fluency skills to support their work with recorders and band instruments.

It’s great to see our students making music, learning new skills, and having fun along the way!

Advanced band has been in full rehearsal mode since 9/15/26 and it’s full steam ahead as we prepare for the November Veterans Day Celebrations, the Holiday on Main Tree Lighting, AND our annual Holiday Concert!!

Instrumental Music Lessons for beginning and advanced instrumental students began their lessons to learn their chosen instruments since 9/19/26 and beginning students are now focusing on reading music from their lesson books and mastering a good sound.

Perhaps the biggest news is our Drama Club “Big Reveal” week; we start with a daily social media AND classroom morning meeting video clip that contains “hidden clues” to learn what musical production our drama team is planning to perform this school year. A new video clue each day will be sent to classroom teachers and posted on social media, until everyone meets up together at our Friday, October 9th Whole School meeting to see the presentation and the FINAL REVEAL!! Meanwhile, our talented Wildcat actors will be auditioning WITHOUT knowing what the musical actually is- it is truly SUCH an exciting time in the Drama Club this year and we cannot wait to see what are wildcat actors will bring to their auditions and we are looking forward to getting it all started so we can have our Drama rehearsals underway!

In our Classroom music scene: Our fifth graders are beginning to learn about the foundational “elements of music” and how they are used to create their favorite genres of music; while our 6th graders started the year celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month as they learned of the musical contributions of great latino musicians like Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, and Gloria Estefan to name a few. Currently, our 6th Graders are beginning to apply their prior music knowledge toward analyzing music selections and getting familiar with listening maps to help guide their music dissections.