Reading

One of my favorite photos of my children has them on different levels of an interior staircase, both grasping the wooden rail, as they headed to the second floor of the London home of Benjamin Franklin. They tease me now because they say I insisted they hold the stair rail because Franklin himself touched it. They are right. Just as I insisted they touch the pew in St. Paul’s Chapel where George Washington worshiped while serving as our nation’s first president and the brass knob on the blue door to enter Vincent Van Gogh’s home.

When traveling, I love to visit places that offer a...Read more

An important component of the fifth grade reading curriculum is the book club experience. In the fall, students read one of a selection of stories from Sudan, Mexico, China, Chile and India to help them learn about different cultures around the world. In the spring, they read one of four time-tested novels for their age group that help them understand what it means for a work of literature to be considered a “classic.”

Students are expected to come to each scheduled meeting with not only their assigned chapters read but also their “job” packets completed. At every meeting, each...Read more

First grade students spend two weeks each spring learning about domestic and global poverty through a critical literacy unit. Critical literacy instruction is one way to engage students in the study of other cultures, current events and social justice in a developmentally appropriate way. The format aims to teach students how to read a text in a...Read more

Junior Kindergarten is where the foundation for all learning at Rossman School begins. We help foster the creation of readers, writers, inventors, scientists, artists, mathematicians, engineers, and more. Creating a reader begins at home by exposing your child to words in print as you snuggle together to enjoy a book. Throughout our school day, we provide as many opportunities as possible to bring good literature to your child.

“In a book, anything can happen!” Just ask anyone in Junior Kindergarten! This is just one of the many things we often talk about as we read...Read more

Rossman’s library is not your grandma’s library.

*SHHHHHH*

Pirates have invaded the Rossman Library! Aargh! Shiver Me Timbers! We are talking like pirates, reading pirate books, looking for gold and munching on goldfish. What an experience!

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It is a true blessing to bring classroom learning alive for students. Rossman School does this each spring with the sixth graders on a four-day, three-night field trip. This is often referred to as the “Space Camp Trip” as the bulk of our trip is spent in Huntsville, Alabama, but the reality is, we also experience a whole lot more!

This year the trip began on Tuesday, April 18. All students arrived at school, loaded their luggage and hopped on the bus. By Tuesday afternoon, we were at the Shiloh National Battlefield in Tennessee. When we arrived, Ranger Charlie greeted us. Ranger...Read more

Hello readers!

This has been a busy year in the Rossman Library! We’ve had visiting authors, pirates, coding, research, and tons of reading going on. All families have barcodes and book check out is recommended. Parents frequently ask for book suggestions for their children when visiting the library, and I am more than happy to help. In addition to personal recommendations there are many good websites reviewing children’s books.

• Common Sense Media — Common Sense is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping
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In 1825, a young Abraham Lincoln borrowed a book from a neighbor and while in his possession, the book was ruined due to a roof leak. Lincoln worked for his neighbor to compensate for the book’s value, thus becoming the first book Lincoln would personally own. Through this brief glimpse into our 16th president’s life, there is much to admire and learn about Lincoln’s character, his respect for learning and the responsibility he exhibited to repay his neighbor. As parents and educators, Lincoln’s life stories present many opportunities to teach the intangible, yet enduring values Rossman...Read more

What do learning the nine steps required to fire a Civil War musket, Ivy Green, Space Shot, the Multi-Axis Trainer, IMAX movies, the march in Selma, Alabama, and a really, really, really long bus ride have in common? These were the thrills that we experienced on our sixth grade class trip to the Civil War Battlefield at Shiloh, Tennessee, to Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller, to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, and then to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis Tennessee. All together, we traveled through seven states.

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