January 2026 at GAP School

Yellow Superstars with Emily

The Yellow Superstars started the new year back in action with a lot of heart, curiosity, and determination. 

In the spirit of our big idea, "Building Blocks of Societies", the Superstars have been learning that people and their jobs play a large role in society as a whole! We have learned that each job in society plays a part for someone in need. Doctors and nurses keep us healthy and safe. Teachers help us learn so we can grow. Authors, actors, and professional sports players give us entertainment. Mayors, police officers, and garbage workers work to keep our cities safe and clean. Parents take care of us and love us. After creating a gigantic list of jobs in our society, learners chose what they wish to be when they grow up and illustrated a picture of their future self.

In ELA, learners eased back into the year by reviewing phonics, practicing phonemic awareness, and continuing to build reading fluency. We sat together, warmed by the fire, and started a new book in our book study: The Kingdom of Wrenly. We discussed unknown words, recalled what happened last in our story, and made predictions of events and outcomes the characters might endure in the coming chapters. After reviewing the difference between fiction and non-fiction, we started planning a research project on bears!

In math, learners jumped right into addition! We practiced finding the sum of two numbers when using a number line or manipulatives. Learners have also been introduced to money and are practicing coin identification and worth. We are expanding our knowledge deeper through goal setting. Similar to our marshmallow goal, learners have decided to work to earn a pizza party! Every day we have a chance to earn money through daily expectations, teamwork, stewardship, and community building. With examples of each goal given, learners are earning a daily quarter, dime, nickel and penny to add to our class piggy bank! As time continues, we will use our skip counting knowledge to count our earnings and log our data. To prepare for our pizza party, we will learn about fractions. 

In science, the Superstars embraced their inner Jedi as they learned to "use the force." We learned as a class that force comes from a push or pull, and practiced ourselves as we put balls, tires, and other objects into motion! As we played games and transitioned throughout the day, we took note of the motion created by our actions.

In exploration, this flock is a force of creativity. Learners have bound together to create a game based on predators and prey. A game they like to call "Peregrine Falcon." Each learner plays an important role which can change based on the needs of the game. Whether it be the predator in need of a meal, the prey building a shelter in a safe zone, a local news anchor reporting updates and blowing horns as a warning signal, these learners are working together in such a beautiful way!

Red Rubies with Virginia and Sapna

We have rolled into the new year with excitement and love for learning. The Red Rubies have blown us away with their ability to remember and follow GAP and class expectations. After some time away, we have been so happy to come back to school, as we learn and grow with your learners.

We have been working hard in ELA with writing, reading, and asking questions about stories! In preparation for our next community day, which has the big idea of “Building Blocks of Societies”, we have been exploring the idea of government. Why do we need a government? What different types of government do we have, and at what levels? What would happen if we did not have a government? As we continue to work through those ideas, we will eventually write letters to public officials about causes that we are passionate about. The Reds have also been working so hard on reading, sounding out words, and using their learned spelling patterns for writing and reading in their ELA notebooks and nature journals. During snack, we have almost finished the book The Mixed Up Files of Dr. Basil E Frankweiler, in which two children run away from home and live for a week in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So many of the learners are so invested in the story! It was cool to see how the two characters (named Claudia and Jamie) were able to use their resources to hide out in a major art museum for so long. We can’t wait to keep reading and writing cool stories in February!

In math, we have reviewed subtraction strategies with hands on, visual representations of problems. In one activity, we used a measuring tape as a number line. As we rolled our ten-sided/twenty-sided dice, we started with the higher number we landed on and made the number of jumps our dice gave us to move left/count backwards to find our answer. We have also worked on regrouping with subtraction using place value blocks. 10 unit cubes = a tens stick and 10 tens sticks = a hundred square. We know that when you are subtracting, you are starting with a bigger number and taking a smaller number away. When we line up our numbers according to their place value, sometimes you need to make an exchange for more ones or tens blocks. We have also been working on writing our equations on white boards. Learners are in a solid place with addition, and we will continue practicing with subtraction. With our big idea being “Building Blocks of Societies,” We have also introduced shapes and fractions! 

In science, we have explored states of matter. We have been nature journaling solids, liquids, and gases. It’s so interesting seeing how learners visualize gas when humans aren’t able to detect air with our naked eye (unless we are using light and shadows!). We have gone on scavenger hunts, done sinking and floating tests, mixed primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) together to make secondary colors (green, purple, and orange) in water and then added soap and oil to see what mixes well with and what opposes water, and we made bubbles in water as we blew air through straws. With below freezing temperatures, winter is such a great time to watch liquid water turn into solid ice. We have slid ice across flat surfaces and broken ice into pieces. With the help of our fire, we watched as we melted ice into water and then evaporate it into water vapor. We are going to build on the states of matter by learning about energy, like heat, light, and sound.

Silver Sparrows with Furn and Elijah

Though this January may have been shorter in school days than expected, the Silver Sparrows were not short of learning or excitement! 

This month in ELA, the Sparrows flew into our Literary Genres unit. We have familiarized ourselves with the main characteristics—common story elements, themes, settings, and conflicts—of two “big” genres, fiction and nonfiction. We have differentiated between “subgenres” of fiction and nonfiction, like fantasy and sci-fi or biography and informational writing. We also are incorporating genre discussion and comparison during DEAR time and throughout our day. One of the current leaders in inquiry learning, Trevor MacKenzie, often remarks on the value of “oracy,” or the act of spoken learning. Getting to hear Silvers engage in academic literary discussions in and out of class is truly joyful evidence of the value of oracy. Literacy doesn’t stick without oracy!

As we explore genres more deeply, we will investigate them through the lens of our big idea: The Building Blocks of Society. How does literature build society? What insights does studying literature and genres reveal about how our societies and communities work? Why is literature important to society? What literature do we value most? These are just a few of the questions we’ll be investigating together!

Additionally, one writing technique we will aim to develop throughout the rest of this quarter is the art of the short response. We’ve already learned basic paragraph structure, so now we’ll tackle how to craft a thorough answer to a prompt using the RACES writing strategy: Restate the question, Answer the question, Cite evidence, Explain, and Sum it up! Using this template, we’ll answer questions about passages we read together, books we read independently, and build our writing competencies. 

For Word Study Wednesdays, learners will be continuing to move full-steam ahead on their independent and collaborative activities! Word Study Wednesday has greatly supported our reading comprehension and ability to follow directions more independently. As we continue our class reading challenge, word study gives us access to new vocabulary and the confidence to step into higher-level reading!

In SEL, the Silvers have stepped to a new rung of applied social emotional skill building: the art of coming to consensus. Silvers learned about what consensus means, strategies to reach it, and then applied those strategies themselves to come up with a “reward” for their reading challenge! It is HARD to manage a group discussion with minimal educator intervention, but with proper guidelines and gentle nudges, the Silvers handled their first rounds of consensus with impressive diplomacy, understanding, and communication finesse. While they are by no means experts, it’s wonderful to witness how skilled the Silvers are at productive communication while also using SEL strategies for emotional regulation, empathy, and kindness.

In geography, the Silver Sparrows have developed a strong sense of the regions and resources of the United States. Now, we’ll be doing our best to memorize the states and take our skills as geographers into a broader understanding of continents, seas, and countries! Once we have a solid grasp on these features of the world, we will shift into more historical perspectives to investigate Virginia and US history.

This month has been full of thoughtful reflection and exciting new learning for the Silver Sparrows in math! We began by reviewing skills from the first semester and completing IXL assessments to see where everyone was at as we moved into the second half of the year. Families are always welcome to schedule conferences to talk more about learning progress, including IXL results! From there, we dove into fractions. We started by exploring what fractions really represent and naming their parts, discovering that fractions aren’t just pieces of a pie - they can describe real-life situations, like how many classmates are wearing hats or how many strawberries in a container were moldy. After building a strong conceptual foundation, Silvers practiced translating tangible examples into numbers and confidently identifying numerators and denominators. We then began working with equivalent fractions, representing and finding them both pictorially and numerically. Now, we are moving into simplifying and comparing fractions, setting students up for success as we prepare to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions next!

In science, Silvers have been deeply engaged in an inquiry-based unit all about bats. Our investigations began with curiosity—students shared what they thought they knew, questioned surprising bat facts, and generated their own wonderings to guide our learning. From there, we explored bat anatomy through hands-on comparisons, learning how structure and function help bats survive and thrive. Students practiced real scientific skills by measuring, weighing, and analyzing data during a bat identification lab, using evidence to determine different species. A shared fascination with bat flight led us into rich discussions about forces, motion, and adaptations. Students developed thoughtful questions that are now shaping our next investigations. Soon, Silvers will model bat flight through engineering challenges, testing ideas and revising designs based on their observations. We continue to be so impressed by their curiosity, independence, and growing confidence as scientists this month!

Emerald Eagles with Lauren

This month we’ve begun to make the final push with our fraction work. We will still have plenty of opportunities to use fractions in our upcoming math applications, but the focus will shift onto decimals! We are working with place value, reviewing the steps of box multiplication and cross multiplication, working with new base systems and exponents, and getting comfortable with scientific notation. 

In language, we're looking more closely at context clues and the ways that we can determine the meaning of words by looking at the words around them. The learners have crafted their own sentences with tricky words that our flock will assess to see if they give enough information while not giving away the answer! Vocabulary is the focus of our word study and we are introducing a voluntary spelling component for those who want to test their spelling skills!

In science, the Emerald Eagles have been exploring the concept of systems in many formats. They helped to formulate a definition of a system from their creating “something that works” projects with their group. We will continue to extend these concepts as we work towards a project for our Community Day. 

SEL with Janelle

The Emerald Eagles took off running with creativity and a spirit of teamwork. They were each challenged to create or modify an existing game and make it applicable to social emotional learning. After brainstorming and writing down their ideas they were tasked with leading their flock through the activity. So far, the learners have launched "Emotion Knock Out" (basketball game), "Emotion Four Square", and "Emotion Human Sculpting/Charades." As we continue, each learner will have an opportunity to modify their work based on self reflection and peer feedback.  

The Silver Sparrows have demonstrated continued growth in group discussions and reflections on empathy. This month we specifically focused on empathy through the senses in order to further cement their understanding. We tried to pinpoint the differences and similarities between empathy and compassion after listening to an audiobook about hunger and physical strength.  

The Red Rubies have also been exploring empathy. They have been enthusiastic about performing small group skits and reflecting through whole group feedback and observation. They did this to formulate responses that are both compassionate as well as what the opposite reaction could look or feel like. We have also been leaning into mindfulness and awareness for what our bodies need for learning after lunch.  Some need big movement found in running laps, some need slow movement like yoga, and others need still and quiet moments found in sit spots. Using these moments to highlight that all brains and body are different has been another way to grow their self awareness and their empathy skills. It has been so inspiring.

The Yellow Superstars have been leaning into role playing and group discussions to enhance their awareness of basic emotions and how they impact themselves and others. They have also been refining their active listening skills as they practice listening to directions, stories, and small skits. They then reflected on what feelings these things could create.  

We hope all of these experiences spark conversations and discussions at home. We would love to hear about them and support exploration of any SEL topics your learner is passionate about.

Projects with Max

Projects began the new year by diving into our big idea, Building Blocks of Societies. Across all flocks, Learners reflected on how gatherings and celebrations help connect people and strengthen communities. From there, we kicked off planning for how each flock will support the GAP Spring Formal on April 25 (save the date!). Learners mind-mapped ideas for how their flock could contribute, from decorations to activities. In February and March, Project time will be dedicated to bringing these ideas to life through hands-on design, collaboration, and creative problem-solving.

As always, maker day weeks were buzzing with Learner-created projects driven by curiosity and individual proposals. Highlights include a paper football stadium (currently under construction), as well as several Silver and Emerald Learners working through the details of planning a flock field trip. Bushcraft projects are also underway, including bamboo panpipes and a slingshot, alongside a wide variety of imaginative cardboard creations.

The end of January marked the kickoff of the annual GAP Valentine’s Mailbox Design Challenge. A beloved tradition since year one, and always a learner favorite. Each year, we see a noticeable increase in both quality and creativity, a testament to the challenge’s role as an exciting and memory-making tradition within our community.

This year, each flock co-created the parameters for the design challenge. Criteria included size expectations, types of decorations, incorporating moving parts, and adding an element that represents the Learner themselves. We are so excited for Valentine’s Day to see all the incredible mailboxes on display!