Fourth Grade

You’ve heard English teachers talk about passive and active voice, but people don’t often pay the same attention to passive and active listening. As humans, we each experience passive and active listening every day, and both play important roles in our lives. People often assume that passive listening is a bad thing, but it’s not, and it occurs often. Whether you’re humming along absentmindedly to music while driving, or zoning out while smiling and nodding at an acquaintance who’s telling a long-winded tale, there will always be moments of passive listening in your day. Everyone is a...Read more

Rossman faculty have been taking extra steps to learn about executive functioning throughout this school year. We began our year learning from an outside professional, who is a licensed professional counselor, about different areas of executive functioning. Recently, many teachers stayed after school to view a webinar from Dr. Peg Dawson, who is one of the authors of Smart but Scattered. As the learning consultant for Rossman, and in my other professional role as a trained school psychologist who conducts...Read more

Comprehension is an essential part of the learning process. This constructive process is one that requires students to make connections in order to understand what they are hearing and reading. Comprehension should be interactive between teachers and students. This is where students learn to become problem solvers, infer, compare and contrast, relate what they are learning to background knowledge, among many other meaning-making benefits.

Comprehension is a vital skill to one’s everyday life no matter what walk of life he or she is in. Students must be able to make connections in...Read more

Thinking about elementary school may bring up memories of multiplication facts, phonics, or memorizing state capitals. But what about research projects? For Rossman students, research projects are a core component of education. Surprisingly, the experience may not be all that different from your own experience in middle or high school, with a few modifications to ensure that it’s safe and developmentally appropriate for our students....Read more

What do you think about when you hear the word dance? Most likely, half of you smile ear to ear and the other half cringe at the thought. That is pretty close to the reaction our Upper School students have when we announce our dance unit each year.

The first week of the unit is spent listening to music, learning to find the beat and practicing setting each move or combination of moves to an eight-count. Each year, we also study a specific dance style, so students have at least four different types of dance in their repertoire upon graduating.

After this introduction, students...Read more

Have you ever given any thought to how you learn? In social studies, students were asked to complete a questionnaire to see what learning style best describes them. The goal was to provide students the opportunity to reflect and see how they learn in hopes they would use that information to help them study for a test or complete their homework.

A learning style is an individual’s approach to learning based on strengths, weaknesses and preferences. And knowing yourself as a learner is important if you want to achieve to the best of your ability. When it comes to processing...Read more

Did you know that all independent schools have an Annual Fund – elementary schools, secondary schools and even colleges? While public schools rely on support from the government and taxes, private schools rely solely on tuition, income from their endowment and Annual Fund gifts.

Parent support of Rossman’s Annual Fund is vital to the success of the school. You might ask, “How does my Annual Fund gift affect my child, his classmates, the faculty and staff, or the school?” A few of our faculty and staff reflected on some of the ways the Annual Fund enhances learning in and out of the...Read more

When integrated in intentional and meaningful ways, technology goes hand in hand with the 6 C’s of education: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, communication, citizenship, and character education. These life skills are critical for success in our ever-changing world, and Rossman educators cultivate each of them on a daily basis by enhancing students’ learning through technology that is visible in many forms. By giving our students accessibility to technology when needed, we give them a choice in their voice to the world.

This summer, Rossman was able...Read more