September 2025 at GAP School!

Yellow Superstars with Emily

The month of September has been magical with the Yellow Superstars! Learning has been led with passion and excitement as our curious learners tackle new ideas and lessons. 

In math, learners mastered number formation as we learned how to write numbers! Through rhymes, practice, and dedication the Superstars are independently writing numbers on their own. Skip counting by 10's has been an active and fun way to count to 100! Superstars clap, skip and hop as they skip count from 10-100. Hopscotch has also been a fun way to visualize and move our bodies as we learn these new numbers. Number Lines help us see number order while we put flashcards in number order. While learning how to nature journal, learners have shown amazing progress in copywork with metadata. 

In ELA, learners have been involved in a book study! We call it 'book club' because we discuss our story while we eat snacks, just like an adult book club. Our book study is on The Kingdom of Wrenly book series. As we read about the adventures of prince Lucas and his best friend, Clara, we have learned to identify the front cover, title, illustrations, back cover, and title page of our book. We are learning to recall that the author writes the words of the story and the illustrator draws the pictures. Superstars have learned that the people in our story are called characters.

In ELA, learners have a new letter that they focus on each week. So far, we have gone over Mm, Tt, Ff, Nn, Hh and Aa. Sensory stations are a fun way to practice letter identification and formation. Phonemic awareness is also practiced weekly. Sight words "I", "am", "we", "are", & "and" have been practiced through reading simple sentences, sensory stations, and sentence writing. 

In science, learners have been learning about changes over space in time as we watch summer transition into fall! Books like Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn were a flock favorite as we searched for signs of fall around us. Monitoring the change in weather is a daily occurrence for learners. This month, we participated in  a water cycle experiment on our first rainy day at GAP School! The states of matter, solids, liquids and gasses, have also been introduced in an experiment combining baking soda with vinegar to create the gas, carbon dioxide. Practicing the thinking strategies of 'I notice' 'I wonder' and 'It reminds me of' is practiced through our nature journal entries and our everyday observations!

Red Rubies with Virginia and Sapna

It has been a very busy September for the Red Rubies. We have continued to work on and solidify our routines, and have gotten back in the groove of school! We have split into two groups for Brain Blast, and they enjoyed coming up with their names: the Red Komodo Dragons and the Green Gavials! As the weather starts to get colder, make sure to send your learner with plenty of layers to keep warm!

In ELA, the Rubies have been working hard on their Community Day projects! Each learner is writing about a tradition at home that they value, and we will compile all the traditions into a book, as all of our traditions and values at home contribute to the culture here at school. We are loving reading Edward Tulane, and the learners are always curious to find out where Edward will go next! We continue to incorporate structured literacy into our day, including phonemic awareness and decodable passages. Continue reading with your learner at home, as that is crucial to their development in reading.

In math, we have been working on counting the wonderful world around us. Each week, for our math warm-up, we have focused on skip counting by moving our bodies. On Monday, we do hopscotch where they can read the numbers and notice patterns. On Tuesday, we move into passing the ball around the circle with their friends. On Wednesday, they practice independently with jump ropes and skip-its. Finally on Thursday, they show what they know by writing the sentence “I can skip count by ___” with the numbers up to so high. Learners have done a great job challenging themselves by going above and beyond. We began with 2s and made it all the way to 100s this week! Along the way, we have done 5s,10s, and 25s. As numbers are all around us, we have counted everything from birds to bugs. When we hiked Kinsers, we counted 1,144 steps to get to the top! Now, we are starting to practice and use different strategies to solve addition problems.

In science, we are learning all about the native trees around us. We brainstormed all the gifts that trees provide for us and are thinking of ways we can give back to them. We began by learning about the plant life cycle, and moved into exploring each stage through various activities. We learned about the different ways seeds disperse, dug underground to look at roots, germinated paw paw seeds (which we hope to see grow any day now), and are exploring leaves through identification and colorful leaf rubbings. Science has been full of hands-on activities and curious questions!

Silver Sparrows with Furn and Elijah

Our first full month of school together as Silver Sparrows has been a phenomenal time of culture building, routine setting, and community creating. Each of your learners should feel so proud of all the work they’ve put into our class so far.

In ELA, we’ve focused on building our word reference and vocabulary skills. Key questions we’ve been investigating are: How do we use a dictionary? How do we grow our vocabulary by understanding prefixes, suffixes, and root words? How can we make use of reference texts to help expand our descriptive writing skills? Together, we looked at many common Latin root words to decode deeper meanings of both common and technical words. We stretched our understanding of how we use and change words by defining and applying prefixes and suffixes to different root words. This practice allowed us to set foundations for critical skills that accelerate and support our reading comprehension. We also started "word study Wednesday" as a way to target and reinforce vocabulary skills.

In SEL, we covered a breadth of topics focused around building community. In these first weeks of school, having a grasp on these topics supports overall class culture, self-awareness, and community oriented behavior. To name a few, we discussed the difference between teasing and bullying, how to respond respectfully to bids for attention, the connection-creating power of compliments and gratitude, as well as our perspectives on our degree of control in different situations.

In geography, we worked intensely on maps and map making skills! We practiced decoding map features, using maps to answer questions, and even making fantasy maps! Next, we will start diving into the regions of Virginia! 

This month has been full of exciting learning and discoveries in the Silver Sparrows! In math, we explored place value, and learned how to read and write large numbers with correct comma placement. Learners practiced rounding up to the nearest hundred-thousand and strengthened their skills with addition and subtraction, including regrouping and borrowing. These foundational skills are setting us up for success as we prepare to dive into multiplication next month! In science, our focus has been on understanding watersheds, weathering, erosion, and deposition. We’ve been asking big questions about how natural forces shape our world and how human activity impacts local ecosystems. Our learners have been hard at work on a special project: researching and mapping human impacts right here at GAP School. As we move into October, we’ll continue to build our math skills with multiplication while deepening our understanding of ecosystems and their changes over time. We’re excited to keep exploring how we can care for and positively impact the world around us!

Emerald Eagles with Lauren

The Emerald Eagles have been learning more about the power of words and how they can affect a community. We’ve been practicing ways to build community, in and outside of our flock, through intentional choices that make others feel both welcome and appreciated. 

In language, the Emeralds have begun to focus in on what makes a good thesis statement. Everyone has selected a series of topics that they feel passionate about and are developing their writing into five paragraph essays! We’re continuing to identify the parts of speech and refine our word choices along the way. We’ve finished our first read aloud, Hatchet, and have decided to begin the sequel, Winter. These two books have prompted many big conversations and we’ve begun to explore survival skills as a flock. 

In math, the Emeralds have been working with place values, decimals, and adding and subtracting fractions and integers. We are continuing to work on word problems and practicing calculating elapsed time. 

In cultural studies, we’re exploring concepts of light, color, and food web relationships. The Emeralds are learning the power of perspective in their nature journals and they've worked collectively to help show new views of familiar scenes. The learners have also made big strides in putting together a play space that feels like “theirs” and we’ve been thoroughly enjoying the fairy village and mud kitchen creations, along with the addition of two slides! One of our big initial stewardship projects was to organize heaps of fabric for sewing projects this year, and we’ve nearly completed our goal! The sewing space is looking extra inviting for all of the making that’s to come!

SEL with Janelle

September and the arrival of fall reminds us of how important respect is in our classrooms and friendships. Just like the leaves change and pumpkins grow, we can grow too—by showing kindness, listening carefully, and taking care of one another. Respect means treating people the way we want to be treated, valuing differences, and being responsible for our choices. It means treating people, places, and things with kindness. The learners have been diving into mindful moments, creating ways to bring calm to their classroom environments. They are embracing teamwork as they grow new ways to work together and communicate through scavenger hunts and human knot challenges. Whether we are sharing supplies, helping a friend, or listening to new ideas, respect makes our classroom feel safe, warm, and welcoming—just like the cozy season of fall. 

Projects with Max

Our Projects time this fall has been all about growing school culture and practicing the systems that make this time successful. Learners have worked together through team challenges, explored the woods, and stretched their design skills.

A highlight each year is the Triple C Camp challenge course, where the Silver and Emerald flocks take on the climbing tower and zip line. All flocks also practice teamwork on the low ropes course, a long-standing GAP tradition. These experiences push Learners to do hard things in a way that feels safe, supportive, and fun. We look forward to seeing their continued growth when we return to the climbing tower in the spring.

We have deepened our relationship with the land by foraging and experimenting with useful plants. Learners harvested jewelweed to process into oil for an anti-itch salve, gathered Autumn Olive berries to make jam, and have been keeping watch on ripening pawpaws, hoping for enough to turn into ice cream for all.

Design and engineering skills came alive through our marble run challenge. Starting with KEVA blocks and moving on to a giant marble run, Learners experimented, iterated, and refined their ideas. The large marble run now lives in our play space, ready for further exploration.

To close September, we launched an inquiry into how cultures around the world use masks. This investigation will culminate with Learners creating their own masks for October’s Community Day, symbols of our growing GAP School culture. Alongside this, Learners are practicing how to use Project Proposals and GAP money, skills that will support high-quality maker projects as we transition into Maker Days.