Week ending 09.05.25
Week ending 09.05.25
◼︎ Back in the Academic Groove!
After the 3-day Labor Day Weekend, 5G wasted no time getting back in the academic groove:
Extreme Writing — one personal best achieved
Holes — 2 chapters
Math — 15-question equivalent fractions quiz
◼︎ New Rubric Metrics
Take a look at (a fake page from) Dr. Cat’s all-subjects Reading/Writing gradebook.
It’s impressive how much work 5G has achieved since the beginning of school year 2025-2026.
Given that students are reading and writing well, the time has come to raise the bar!
Enter… “minus” metrics!
Capitalization — We reviewed when, in English, capitalizing letters is a must. Minus one point for missed capitalizations!
Misspelled words found in the text — If words written in answers are in the text—be that text a Wordly Wise text, a science article or the Holes questions—students should be able to spell them with 100% accuracy. All that’s required is attention. Minus one for every misspelled word which could have been spelled correctly by looking at the text!
(A joke exam question from Dr. Cat’s past: “How do you spell Rhododendron?”)
Punctuation — right now we’re focused on missing periods, question marks and exclamation marks. Minus one for every “obvious” missing ., ? or !
◼︎ Jumping Spiders!
After a 10-minute nap and 15-minutes D.E.A.R. or D.E.W., 5G dived into a little zoology + brain science!
If you think brain size automatically relates to intelligence, consider the Poertia jumping spider!
These little gals and guys can problem solve, plan ahead, strategize and return their taxes on time. Amazing.
Students worked in three groups of three. ‘Twas a pleasure watching them work together, watch the videos and read the text together, and help each other to an A or A+ for their afternoon of hard work!
If you’re interested in the phenomenal brain power of the Portia jumping spider, check out the Texts+ text here!
◼︎ Rubber Hits Road at 8am!
While 1/9th our members enjoyed yet another media appearance as an important player in a winning baseball team, the remaining 8/9ths of the class dived into:
Extreme writing — yet more personal bests!
Challenging chapters in Holes
Equivalent fractions
A difficult fractions challenge
◼︎ The Fractions Challenge
While the Reading groups read two chapters of Holes…
… the math groups shored up their equivalent-fractions competencies
… and then dived into a fractions challenge:
Students worked in pairs. They were to develop their own methodology, carry it out, and produce two fractions at the end!
◼︎ Personal Narratives
After Reading and Math we dived into one of the main writing forms at the core of the 5G Language Arts curriculum: the Personal Narrative.
We tackled Brainstorming first:
Then, after lunch came planning.
Then we tackled the rough draft — aka the zero-, first-, scratch- draft — as an Extreme Writing exercise.
We were most impressed with what our 5G writers accomplished.
We look forward to the final drafts: homework tonight; to be read aloud tomorrow !
◼︎ Religion with Rev. Jenn
Rev. Jenn had 5G write responses to Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night while listening to a cover of Don McClean’s Vincent:
Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soulShadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land
If only we’d had video cameras rolling we could have captured some of the truly side-splitting responses!
◼︎ A Gift for Ms. McGraw
5G completed and delivered to the gym a sign for Ms. McGraw’s office door!
◼︎ Exhausted!
For the second week in a row, all of 5G volunteered for the “Thursday Morning Chapel Singers.” Together with singers from 3G and 4G, they sang their hearts out!
So after 3 chapels — PreK & K, !G-3G, and their own, 4G-6G — 5G was too tired to run out any “energy” on the makai playground!
• “Let’s see you sing for an hour and a half!”
• “Joseph in Egypt. I think we’ve got this. Sold into slavery by his brothers. He interprets the pharaoh’s dream…”
◼︎ Reading Personal Narratives
On Wednesday, 5G students brainstormed personal narrative ideas, planned their narratives, and wrote a “zero draft.” For homework they wrote up their final drafts.
(You can find details about the process and all final drafts here.)
Today, students read their personal narratives aloud to their teachers and classmates.
◼︎ GaGa Ball’s Back!
Mr. Skye and Mr. Reyn removed the roots from the GaGa Ball pit, so it was back in the arena!
5G students rescued a gecko from the pit and made sure no one kicked or stepped on her as she clung to the outside boards of the GaGa Ball pit!
◼︎ Reading Personal Narratives, continued
Remarkable stories all around, and this is just our first “outing.”
Imagine what 5G will be writing come May 2026!
Again, the process and personal narratives can be found here.
◼︎ If we’ve not mentioned this before…
This is a happy class.
◼︎ Innovation & Robotics
Thursday finished up with 5G & 6G working on their innovation research and continuing to master the complexities of getting small robots to do what you want them to do, all in preparation for having them simulate solutions to the research issues.
◼︎ “Slow Down!”
Our Friday began with a Road Safety turnout on Nenue Place. Mahalo to the HPD for supporting us!
◼︎ Reading & Math
5G students are SO into Holes they almost can’t put the book down!
We are asking students not to read ahead, not to listen ahead with audiobooks, and not to find the film and watch it!
We will watch the movie after we finish the text!
In one group, they had to prove how Zero (one of the characters) knew there were 45 days between May 24 and July 8.
Out came the calenedars!
Then came the question: How did Zero know there were 45 days between May 24 and July 8 without a calendar to look at?
◼︎ Expectations
What are expectations?
What expectations do teachers and admin have of 5G students — 5G leaders?
After our traditional 10 minutes of “body stillness & mental silence” — aka, a “nap”! — we had a heartfelt and productive class discussion about what we expect of our young people, our “upper classfolk” so to speak.
Dr. Cat shared a set of Executive Function scales he and Ms. Cunningham will share with parents a week today.
• A few of the scales
Next week, students will have the opportunity to indicate where they feel they fall on the various scales. Dr. Cat and Ms. Cunningham will share where they feel things are.
And if our amazing afternoon discussion is anything to go by, a productive conversation will ensue!
◼︎ Library
Research suggests regular library visits promotes literacy — as though this 5G class needs any literacy promotion! They love the library!
Some of our 5G students just can’t stop writing!
◼︎ The Olmec Civilization
We finished up the day with our fist (of three) deep dives into the Olmec civilization, learning how archeologists at first thought they were contemporary with the Mayans, only to discover that the Olme civilization preceded the Mayan civilization by thousands of years.
Students also learned that it was the Olmec who first brought chocolate to the world!
At the end of the day, a quick test as to what our mneumonic “OM A.I.!” tells us.
Dr. Cat: “What does the O stand for?”
Student: “Omelette!”
So, it seems, we are learning now about the ancient Omelette Civilization. It seems they brought us not only eggs, but chickens too!
: )
Be aware of where Hurricane Kiko may, or may not wander, and when!
If we’re lucky, Pele will push destructive winds to the north, but simultaneously-miraculously ensure we get much needed rain!
Our first Parent-Teacher conference is Friday, September 12th.
If you’ve not yet signed up or need to change your time, the link is in the 5G calendar.
Don’t forget, HNS Family Kickball is on the same day! 6pm.
