Ross Rockets Newsletter - February 2026

Miss Krol’s class has been working hard! We have been learning new ways to use our coping skills and communicate our needs! We had so much fun in January learning new topics and the way things work. We have been learning how to set SMART goals for ourselves to achieve. We have been working hard to meet our goals and earn our next class party! In February, we will be voting on our next party to earn. Our students are having fun learning and gaining new skills! 

In February, our awesome 3rd-grade Ross Rockets just wrapped up our research projects about weather and have moved into our traditional tales unit. We will be reading and analyzing fairy tales, legends, tall tales, folktales, and mythology. We will wrap up the unit by having students create their own fairy tales. We will be finishing up our unit on measurement in a couple of weeks and returning to multiplication and division to deepen their current understanding. In social studies, we will continue our unit on Civil Rights, learning about many famous people who have helped to change our world, and continuing our project on how we can help make our world more equitable. In science, we will continue to study living things and their environment. We also continue to work on our social and emotional learning skills, developing a better understanding of our best self and the meta-moment, which helps to maintain a positive classroom community. Thank you, families, for all of your support! 

In ELA, our 4th-grade students are diving into American historical fiction and strengthening their ability to analyze story elements such as characters, setting, and plot on a deeper level. A strong emphasis is being placed on text-dependent analysis, as students practice using clear evidence from the text to support their thinking in writing. In science, we are exploring various landforms and how they shape the Earth’s surface, while in social studies, students are learning about the natural resources of the United States and why they are important to our daily lives. In math, students are building accuracy and confidence with multi-digit addition and subtraction, and toward the end of the unit, they will begin applying these skills to measurement concepts.

In February, 5th-graders will continue Unit 4 in math, building confidence with multi-digit multiplication and division and learning to multiply whole numbers by decimals and fractions. In ELA, students will be reading the novel Storm Runners during our Adventure Unit while practicing Text-Dependent Analyses (TDAs) using evidence from the text. In Science, we will explore energy and matter in ecosystems, and in Social Studies, students will begin learning about the Colonial Era.