◼︎ ANCiENT HISTORY

▶︎ AT AGE 10, Dr. Cat —

  • Moved from California to England

  • Was challenged academically for the first time

  • Discovered that challenging academic work was deeply satisfying! Joyful in fact!

  • Thrived — “I am eternally grateful" to those masters (teachers) who expected — demanded — my very best.”

 ◼︎ RECENT HISTORY

▶︎ AT his now ancient age, Dr. Cat —

  • Noticed how much the HNS 6G students matured in SY 2024-2025

  • Was truly impressed at their academic & emotional growth — as well as their leadership

  • Wished to actively support HNS’s life-enhancing upper-elementary offering

  • Moved from 2G to 5G

  • Believes every 5G student should stay through 6G & take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime trajectory

 ◼︎ BIG PICTURE 1.0

▶︎ WE WILL BE DOING A LOT OF —

  • Reading (fiction & non-fiction books & articles)

  • Writing (including writing about science, social studies & more)

  • Mathematics

◼︎ BIG PICTURE 2.0

▶︎ WE WILL ALSO FOCUS ON —

  • STEM Coding (aka planning, thinking logically, problem-solving, etc.)

  • STEM Oceanography

  • HNS Maui May 2026

▶︎ PLEASE NOTE —

  • Science ≠ entertainment

  • Science ≠ “doing experiments” (it’s so much more)

◼︎ BIG PICTURE 3.0

▶︎ WE WILL ALSO FOCUS ON history

  • “History is who we are and why we are the way we are” — David McCullough, American historian 

  • “History gives answers only to those who know how to ask questions" — Hajo Holborn, German-American historian

  • "A generation which ignores history has no past and no future" — Robert Heinlein, American author

  • “If you want to understand today you have to search yesterday" — Pearl S. Buck, American novelist

  • “History is a vast early warning system" — Norman Cousins, American journalist

  • “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it" — George Santayana, American philosopher 

  • “If you don’t know history, it’s as if you were born yesterday. If you were born yesterday then any leader can tell you anything" — Howard Zinn, American historian

  • “History is wrtten by the victors” — debated origins

  • “There is no history of mankind, there is only an indefinite number of histories of all kinds of aspects of human life” — Karl Popper, Austrian-British philosopher

  • “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it" – Edmund Burke, an Anglo-Irish politician, journalist & philosopher

◼︎ BIG PICTURE 4.0

▶︎ WE WILL EMPHASIZE —

  • Thinking

    • From either/or > to > both/and

    • From right/wrong > to > creative perspectives & solutions

◼︎ BIG PICTURE 5.0

▶︎ THE DEAL

▶︎ Home WORK —

  • 1.5 hours of homework Monday - Thursday

    • 60 min reading + writing (topics will include science, social studies & more)

    • 30 min mathematics

▶︎ Home REWARD —

  • No homework Friday, weekends, holidays or breaks

 ◼︎ 5G: A YEAR FULL OF CHANGES

▶︎ Physical Growth & Hormonal Shifts

  • Children may begin early signs of puberty, especially girls

  • Both sexes may experience growth spurts, acne, and/or changes in sleep patterns

• Mo’ 5G CHANGES •

▶︎ Brain Development & Neurology

  • The 5G brain is undergoing a “second wave” of remodeling

    • White matter (nerve insulation) increases steadily

    • Gray matter peaks & then refines through pruning

  • Executive function gains

    • Growth in the prefrontal cortex

    • Better attention, planning & impulse control emerge

  • The balance between emotional drives (from the limbic system) & rational thought is still maturing

    • This may lead to impulsive or emotional moments

• Mo’ 5G CHANGES •

▶︎ Hormonal & Social Influences

  • Rising puberty hormones heighten brain sensitivity

    • This “node of new plasticity” makes children more responsive to learning

    • But also more vulnerable to stress or negative experiences

  • Friend groups, peer acceptance & social norms grow in importance.

  • Children become more self-aware, emotionally sensitive & may begin romantic or platonic relational experiments.

• Mo’ 5G CHANGES •

▶︎ Cognitive Shifts & Thinking Patterns

  • Growing ability to think logically and use rules for planning, classification, analogies & early abstract reasoning

  • Improved metacognition

    • Children begin to monitor their own learning & reflect on how they solve problems

  • Yet abstract thought is still developing

    • Purely symbolic or hypothetical thinking can still feel unfamiliar or uncomfortable

• Mo’ 5G CHANGES •

▶︎ Emotional & Psychological Development

  • “Teens in the making”: children may display —

    • Emotional intensity, mood swings

    • Stronger reactions to peer approval/disapproval

  • Self-concept grows sharper

    • Children assess their own strengths & weaknesses across academic, social & personal domains

  • Increased ability to use emotion regulation strategies—both problem-focused & emotion-focused coping

• Mo’ 5G CHANGES •

▶︎ Interpersonal & Social World

  • Relationships shift

    • Peer friendships become deeper

    • Platonic loyalty, teasing & inclusion/exclusion dynamics may emerge

    • Cliques may form & social acceptance carries emotional weight

  • Children begin exploring identity

    • Hobbies, group identities, interests

    • Beliefs about faith & right/wrong may emerge and/or evolve

• Mo’ 5G CHANGES •

▶︎ COMMON 5G ACADEMIC STRENGTHS & CHALLENGES

• Mo’ 5G CHANGES •

▶︎ What This Means for Parents

  • Support autonomy

  • Model self-regulation

  • Prioritize sleep — see below

  • Watch social dynamics

  • Encourage emotional expression

  • Engage with learning

  • Explore meaning & values

◼︎ WE WILL READ A LOT

▶︎ RESEARCH SUGGESTS READING IS —

  • The foundation for all academic success

  • Fuels cognitive growth & critical thinking

  • Nurtures emotional well-being & empathy

  • The pathway to lifelong learning & future success

• READ! •

▶︎ upper elementary reading

• READ! •

▶︎ “Fourth grade slump”

• READ! •

While students may have been reading fluently in the early grades they may
suddenly begin to struggle as the reading demands change.

▶︎ WHAT CAUSES “Fourth grade slump”?

  • Increased text complexity

  • Greater vocabulary demands

  • Shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”

  • Students must now:

    • Understand more academic language

    • Engage more abstract & nonfiction texts

    • Infer meaning (instead of relying on pictures or simple decoding)

    • Read independently across many content areas

  • For students who haven’t built a deep enough vocabulary or background knowledge, comprehension suffers—even if their decoding skills are solid.

• READ! •

▶︎ 5G INITIATIVES to counter slumps

  • Build vocabulary

  • Teach comprehension strategies

  • Grow background knowledge in science, history & the arts

  • Keep students motivated & engaged with texts they enjoy & understand

  • Support transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”

  • Support transition from “more concrete” to “more abstract” thinking

• READ! •

▶︎ SUPPORT TRANSITION FROM “LEARNING TO READ” TO “READING TO LEARN”

• READ! •

▶︎ SUPPORT TRANSITION FROM “MORE CONCRETE” TO “MORE ABSTRACT” THINKING

• READ! •

▶︎ stretch goals

  • 6 class books this year

  • Many varied non-fiction text

• Long Range Plan (stretch goals)

  ◼︎ WE WILL WRITE A LOT

▶︎ BRAIN MATURATION & WRITING

  • Between the ages of 8 & 18, the prefrontal cortex—the brain's executive control center—undergoes its most rapid phase of maturation

  • The act of writing serves as an intensive training ground for executive functions:

    • judgment

    • critical analysis

    • inductive & deductive reasoning

    • the ability to delay immediate gratification for long-term goals

    • recognizing complex relationships

    • prioritizing tasks

    • assessing risks

    • organizing thoughts

    • creative problem-solving

  • These are the high-level cognitive abilities that enable individuals to navigate life's complexities, make informed decisions & adapt to new situations

• WRITE! •

▶︎ Writing is not just a “subject”—it’s how children learn to organize thought

  • In 5G, children are transitioning from basic literacy to advanced reasoning

  • Writing enables the brain to

    • structure information

    • distinguish main ideas from details

    • ecognize logic versus opinion

▶︎ WRITING IS GOOD FOR THE BRAIN —

  • Proficiency in writing is a cornerstone of academic excellence across all subjects

  • Strong writing skills do not merely improve communication

    • They act as a "multiplier" for success across diverse domains

  • The act of writing brings profound, multifaceted benefits to young, developing brains

• WRITE! •

▶︎ Writing: the Opposite of Scrolling—And Kids Need More of IT

  • The average preteen now spends 4–5 hours a day on a screen, mostly consuming short, fast-moving content

  • Writing slows the mind down

  • Writing builds attention, memory & metacognition—all weakened by hyper-digital media exposure.

• WRITE! •

▶︎ Writing will keep developing brains active!

• WRITE! •

"If kids don’t learn to write now, they’ll either use AI poorly or become dependent on it.
That’s not using technology—that’s being replaced by it."

▶︎ WE WILL NOT RELY ON A.I. —

• WRITE! •

Given the enhanced cognitive engagement and memory retention associated with handwriting,
it is vital to reconsider its role in the learning process


▶︎ IN FACT… we will write by hand!

• WRITE! •

▶︎ FROM “THE NEUROSCIENCE BEHIND WRITING: HANDWRITING VS. TYPING—WHO WINS THE BATTLE?


  • Handwriting activates a broader network of brain regions involved in motor, sensory, and cognitive processing, contributing to

    • deeper learning

    • enhanced memory retention

    • more effective engagement with written material

  • Research suggests that the act of handwriting may be particularly beneficial for tasks requiring

    • critical thinking, analysis

    • long-term retention of information

  • The entire brain was active during handwriting, while much smaller areas were active during typing

  •  Handwriting is associated with greater fluency of communication and higher-quality written output

  • Children who have not learned to write well may experience difficulties in

    • reading

    • comprehending the overall meaning of a text

    • understanding the context of words and phrases

    • mastering spelling

• WRITE! •

▶︎ Writing stretch goals

  • 1 hour of writing by hand each day (classwork + homework)

• Long Range Plan (stretch goals)

◼︎ LOTS OF MATH

5G represents a significant escalation in mathematical complexity.
Students move beyond the foundational arithmetic of earlier grades
to engage with more abstract ideas & multi-step problems.

▶︎ MATH IN 5g: a pivotal, often challenging YEAR

  • The curriculum introduces increasingly abstract concepts such as —

    • addition & subtraction, multiplication & division of fractions — with unlike denominators

    • decimals

    • ratios & percentages

    • volume

    • early algebraic expressions

    • graphing to solve real-world problems

  • … which demand a significant cognitive leap for many students

  • Often math problems are presented in more complex ways, requiring a wide math vocabulary

• MATH! •

The sheer breadth and increased abstraction of the 5G math curriculum
means that any pre-existing foundational gaps from earlier grades will be significantly amplified.

▶︎ fifth-graders (TYPICALLY) have mixed readiness:

  • Cognitively they are improving in logic and classification

  • Motivationally they respond well to engaging, meaningful tasks

  • But they are still vulnerable to cognitive overload, social pressures & math anxiety

▶︎ OUR GOAL:

  • To not hit, but leap over, any “fraction walls”

  • To not be stopped by, but fly from, any “algebra cliffs”

• MATH! •

▶︎ RESEARCH SUGGESTS —

  • Students who fail to develop a deep conceptual understanding in 5G are likely to fall further behind as mathematics becomes increasingly cumulative & abstract in subsequent grades

  • The cumulative nature of math means that foundational gaps from 5G, particularly in areas like fractions & decimals, become critical barriers to understanding middle school algebra & geometry

• Long Range Plan (stretch goals)

◼︎ SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

▶︎ our science & technology initiatiVes will focus on

  • Core 5G-curricula science (essential background knowledge for life!)

  • Oceanography (we will go to Maui in May 2026)

  • Coding (aka critical thinking, planning, problem-solving, etc.)

  • Current events (e.g., Why wasn’t the recent tsunami larger than it might have been?)

• Long Range Plan (stretch goals)

◼︎ SOCIAL STUDIES

▶︎ our social studies initiatiVes will focus on

  • History

  • Geography

◼︎ leadership development

▶︎ opportunities for leadership development

  • Book Buddies with 1G

  • Project Partners with 2G

  • Student Countil

  • 5G Singers (supporting Thursday chapels)

  • Welcoming family-style-lunch guests from other grades

◼︎ PREPARING FOR THE POST-HNS FUTURE

▶︎ 6G provides extensive support for the big transition!

▶︎ 6G includes an intentional “transition curriculum”

  • The 6G year begins with a goal-setting conference

  • Students’ learning profiles are studied

  • Students learn to articulate their strengths & growth edges

  • During the first semester, students engage in one-on-one counseling, planning, practice interviews & application-focused writing assignments

  • Dialogue continues throughout the receiver-school-admissions process

◼︎ PREPARING FOR THE POST-HNS FUTURE

▶︎ The transition curriculum includes:

  • The ins & outs of the admissions process

  • In-class time to research receiver schools

  • Practice interviews

  • SSAT preparation

  • Providing information for the administrative reference report

  • Crafting, drafting & writing the personal essay

  • Learning how to listen to, integrate & constructively use feedback

◼︎ PREPARING FOR THE POST-HNS FUTURE

▶︎ if you’d like a copy of the 2025-2026 6G handbook…