Author: Aaron Grossman

I am a 5th grade teacher at Roy Gomm Elementary in Reno, Nevada. I started working with elementary students as part of the Montana Reads program and AmeriCorps. In 2001, after graduating from the University of Montana and moving to Reno, Nevada, I student taught at Rita Cannan Elementary before receiving a 6th grade position at Veterans Elementary. I moved out of the classroom to be a Literacy Coordinator, then an Instructional Coach, and finally a School Improvement Program Coordinator. In 2011, I began working on the Nevada Academic Content Standards in the district’s Curriculum & Instruction Department. I returned to the classroom for the 2015-2016 school year to teach 4th grade at Huffaker Elementary. Before returning to the classroom, I helped develop the Core Task Project that has been featured by National Public Radio, the Gates Foundation, American Radio Works, Eduwonk, the Fordham Institute, Vox, and the Center for American Progress. In 2014, I received the Leader to Learn From Award for my teacher-centered initiative and work to bring college, career, and civics ready outcomes into Northern Nevada classrooms (here). In 2015, I was appointed by Governor Sandoval serve on the Statewide RPDP Council. The same year, Nevada’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction Steve Canavero placed me on the state’s State Improvement Team. This year I will be part of the National Council on Teacher Quality’s Teacher Advisory Group. I am Google Certified Educator and a Nevada Teacher Ambassador. I believe strongly that teaching content is teaching reading and I make sure my students have ample opportunities to work with social studies, history, science and art outcomes. I do what I can to blend the learning for my students and this blog is part of that effort. You can contact me at coretaskproject@gmail.com

Getting Ready for Billinghurst

Pictures from our trip to Billinghurst, as the students get ready for middle school. The field trip included ice breakers, visits to multiple classrooms, a review of outdoor and indoor expectations, and work with their future principal, Mr. Mattick.

Ready for Spring Break 2023

We maximized our instructional time as we headed into Spring Break 2023. We got another visit from Mrs. Gillette, role played key events from the American Revolution, finished our latest Doodles project and completed our first assignments on Writable. We also acknowledged Pi Day and Reading Week, which was punctuated by reading with a flashlight.

A lot of Snow and a lot of Learning

We’ve been busy and got a lot done, despite all of the snow we have been contending with. We have worked through our core content areas, integrated art, and spent extra time on fluency through Reader’s Theater. We had a classroom auction, this time student-led, and opted into Nevada’s Reading Week. We even had a chance to visit with our kindergartners and show off our ability to read with prosody. (If you are unfamiliar with the term, the students can catch you up!)

Valentines 2023

Decorating a cereal box is as old a tradition as there is in elementary school. Thanks families for sharing the boxes and for being so generous with Valentines treats.

Holiday Craft Making

Thank you to all the parents who were able to assist with our holiday activities. We made snow globes, ornaments, and family gifts. A terrific way to end 2022 and a reminder that Westergard is a great community.

2022 Holiday White Elephant Gift Exchange

Thank you families for sharing favorite games for the students to open. After following the white elephant gift exchange protocol, student taught each other how to play the games they brought.

Early November Learning

Following conferences, we continued our work with multi-digit division, culminating in learning how to divide decimal dividends with two-digit divisors. We worked through our study of air, completed the discussion strategy “Philosophical Chairs” and marched through a couple of hundred years of history with a look at early explorers. Given the delayed starts, the kids managed to cover a lot of content the last couple of weeks.

Oh, and we were filmed using the Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS).

Halloween Catapult Challenge

We started inside and then moved outside to build, test and challenge each other with our catapults. We couldn’t chuck real pumpkins, but the candy ones from Winco seemed to work.