Giddens School produces long form articles multiple times a year focused on aspects of our program, strategic inititives, and community endeavors.

Illustrative Math at Giddens

Why Illustrative Math? 
Many considerations go into selecting a curriculum. At Giddens, we want to first and foremost make sure it aligns with our mission and values. For us, this means several things:

• We want our students to experience joy in learning. This means providing opportunities to explore math content through play and investigation. 
• We want a curriculum that honors the diverse ways children learn and engage with content. For our auditory learners, this means opportunities to engage in math conversations. For our visual learners, this means the inclusion of visual aids such as charts, graphs, and diagrams. For our kinesthetic learners, this means providing access to manipulatives, such as blocks and beads, to help them learn a math problem. For our social learners, providing opportunities for discussions, group projects, and collaborative activities, are important.
• We want a curriculum that aligns with our student-centered approach to learning, which includes connecting learning to students’ interests, experiences, and real-life connections.
• And we want a curriculum that aligns with our whole child commitment that every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

What is Illustrative Math?

Illustrative Mathematics, or IM,  is Giddens’ core math curriculum for kindergarten through 5th grade. IM was designed to support inclusive, engaging mathematical discussions driven by relevant tasks. As part of this inquiry-based approach, students are encouraged to use their current understanding of math, their lived experiences, and the world around them as resources for problem-solving. 

Illustrative Math:

• provides a consistent problem-based lesson structure, ensuring coherence within and across all grade levels
• includes thoughtfully designed instructional routines that promote interaction, inviting all students to engage in every lesson
• helps students develop strong, positive identities as math learners
• promotes working with others for higher engagement and more complex and diverse thinking
• meets the highest standards for mathematical practice

Lesson Structure

Each math lesson includes a warm-up, 2 activities, and a cool-down. 

Example from 1st grade:

Warm-up: Students are shown 3 bar graphs and asked to notice and wonder about these.

Activity #1: Students are given a pile of pattern blocks and are asked to create bar graphs that represent their pattern blocks

Activity #2: Students create a bar graph showing their classmates’ favorite time of year. 

Cool down: Students practice and show their learning by answering a set of questions about a new bar graph.

Differentiation

Giddens is committed to helping students build on their math knowledge, skills, and understanding wherever they’re at with their learning. Teachers work collaboratively with Katie Billings, our Math Specialist, to implement, adapt, and extend the curriculum to meet all students' needs. For children needing more rigor, this approach will include providing more investigative open-ended tasks. Katie also supports small groups and one-on-one instruction to provide “just right” practice. 

What Parents/Caregivers Like About Illustrative Math

• Features engaging math activities
• Promotes deep conceptual understanding
• Prepares students well for middle school

• Includes lots of visual models
• Supports students with learning differences in mathematics

Assessment

Cool-down activities are a daily opportunity for teachers to gauge students’ understanding of math content informally. Illustrative Math also provides section checkpoints for teachers to use with their students. Additionally, teachers will engage their students in unit assessments and a comprehensive end-of-year assessment.

This year at Giddens, we are also using the Universal Screener for Number Sense in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Teachers will give this series of interview-based and written screener assessments in fall, winter, and spring in order to inform their planning and instruction and to measure students' growth over time. You will receive information about your child's fall number sense screener at your fall conference. If your student needs additional support in math, Katie will reach out to you regarding the nature of that support. 

Each time your student starts a new math unit, your classroom teacher will include information about the upcoming unit in their weekly newsletter. This is an ongoing invitation to deepen your understanding of math instruction at Giddens.  IM’s Family Support Hub is a resource where you can learn more about Illustrative Math and find educational resources to support your child’s math journey. 

 

Social-Emotional Learning at Giddens

Why Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Is Essential 

Kindness, compassion, and empathy are three prosocial behaviors we explicitly develop and support students with at Giddens because we know they correlate to a greater sense of belonging and connection and improve student experience and engagement. We also know that effective social and emotional learning must be modeled and practiced daily, and involves coordinated classroom, schoolwide, and family alignment. In other words, SEL  is an integral part of education and human development and essential for learning communities to be healthy and thriving.

Our Approach to Social-Emotional Learning

Giddens School uses the CASEL Framework and Restorative Practices to deliver high-quality, evidence-based strategies aligned with our mission and values. 

The CASEL Framework

The CASEL Framework emphasizes the importance of equitable learning environments and coordination of SEL practices between school and home. At Giddens School, these coordinated efforts are most effective when student voice, agency, and engagement are central. This includes establishing supportive classroom and school culture and approaches to discipline, as well as establishing authentic family and community partnerships.

CASEL Wheel

Restorative Practices

Restorative Practices when applied effectively in schools, promote a school culture and environment that is safe and equitable by building relationships and repairing harm. At Giddens, some of these practices include:

• Using ‘I’ statements–to make someone aware of their behavior (positive or negative). Ex. “A bug and a wish”
• Active Listening–to focus attention on the speaker and demonstrate that they and what they are saying is valued and matters
• School and Classroom Agreements–to collectively develop student-driven values that align with our school’s values and lead to increased by-in
• Daily Morning Meetings–to develop and strengthen relationships, and assess students' social and emotional thinking and well-being
• Restorative Chats–to be used when students do not meet agreements that were established in the classroom or by the school

Giddens’ Social-Emotional Skill-Building Toolkit

At Giddens, we are using two programs/curricula to engage students in social-emotional skill-building.

Changemakers

In grades ECE through 2nd, we use a program and curriculum called Changemakers, which focuses on developing skills focused on safe relationships, self-regulation, awareness of self, understanding others, and advocacy. Each topic includes an "Equity Lens” and "Mental Health Lens,” acknowledging students' past experiences and unique identities. 

Example Lessons 

In our ECE classrooms this year, one area of SEL focuses on friendship skills and strategies for fostering healthy peer-to-peer relationships. Students were introduced to Friend Patrol, lessons that help them solve their own problems, as well as helping others solve theirs. Friend Patrol gives them practice

"using their words," boosts independence, and conveys to each child that everyone in the class is important and valued. Stated goals include students being able to recognize a problem and offer strategies to help solve the problem……and that friends don’t always agree, but they can be problem solvers.

Another area of focus is on the brain. In a lesson about the amygdala, children learn that the amygdala is located in the center of the brain at the sides of the head. It helps keep them safe and allows them to feel emotions. Goals include children understanding that they have a brain that allows them to think, feel, and make decisions. Much of this learning is experienced through songs and stories. 

#WinAtSocial

In grades 3rd-5th, we use a program called #WinAtSocial, which provides interactive “meet-the-moment” lessons and resources designed to engage students in open-ended questions about different topics and current events impacting learning and student well-being. These lessons teach modern-day life skills, including navigating common yet challenging social situations and inspiring positive decision-making. They include both group and individual work and incorporate technology.

Example Lessons 

In the 3/4 grades, students engaged in a lesson focused on helping people in need, nearby and around the world. They learned that tough things happen around the world that make life hard for people, including losing their homes, schools, or even places to get food and clean water. They explored actions they can take to work together to help those in need. They also explored questions such as, what is a crisis?....why is it important for people to help others when there is a crisis?.....why is it important to tell our families how we feel if we see or hear about something scary on the news? Goals included exploring how school communities can support others after a major disaster like a hurricane. 

 

Another lesson focused on understanding the good and bad sides of ‘anxiety’, inside and out. Students explored feelings experienced when they’re worried or nervous about something in the future. Goals included reflecting on what makes us feel worried, stressed, or anxious, discovering strategies for managing anxiety, and considering who we can lean on for support when we’re struggling. 

Additional Resources

Additionally, we use practices from Positive Discipline, which is designed to be a compassionate method emphasizing mutual respect, understanding, and guidance, and Responsive Classroom, an ‘evidence-based approach to teaching and discipline that creates safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities’ to supplement and support our SEL program.