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

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).

The Week Before Fall Break

So impressed with the students who took full advantage of the instructional time leading into Fall Break. From our News Director:

This is the seventh week of school and we have accomplished so much. Our reading skills have been boosted and many other skills have been sharpened.

Since this is almost the end of our second month, we are working on many interesting things. For math, we are working on multiplication with multidigit numbers using the standard algorithm. To practice ELA, we have been reading about Tom Sawyer and his adventures. For writing, we have been reading debates and picking a side and writing about it using I-CERC: introduction, claim, evidence, reasoning, and conclusion. We have also been learning high school level grammar. This is what happens on a normal day in Mr. Grossman’s class every day!

On Thursday September 29th, we were filmed in the classroom. Some of us got interviewed about our Five-Minute Plan. Our Five-Minute Plan is a list of 5 things that we do in the morning when we get to class. We had our first art class and learned about Cubism through Jacob Laurence’s art piece. We made pictures of rooms with a vanishing point.

This is what we have been doing for the last two weeks of school in Mr. Grossman’s class, as we get ready for the fall break.

Motoring Ahead

In just a week, the students begin their Fall Break. Amazing that is has arrived so quickly. In the last few weeks, we have demonstrated the ability to write multi-paragraph essays, multiply and divide decimals, understand the implications of the Earth rotating on an axis, built an understanding of indigenous groups in North and South America, and had way too many indoor recesses.

Diving into Content

The focus on routines and procedures, the first two weeks of the school year, paid off. Week three was about content. We started science and a focus on the Earth and the Sun. Using Microsoft Teams and the ability to upload our social studies textbook to the platform, we read about indigenous groups of North and South America. We added and subtracted decimals and continued to expand sentences, this time using subordinating conjunctions. We read about Antartica and water, from our adopted ELA materials, and we completed our first art project. Great week.

10 Days Into Our Academic year

It is hard not to be excited by what we will accomplish this school year. In 10 days we have moved from simple sentences to complex sentences. We have learned to navigate the place value chart and use exponents. We’ve built out a digital tool library and we are accessing resources through Teams. Moreover, we are completing daily meetings and building stronger relationships. In short, another great week.

First Week of 5th Grade, 2022-2023

Amazing what we accomplished the first week. Students showed such maturity and by day three, they had flexible learning in place, in which there is no assigned seating. We got through several math lessons, completed our first Juicy Sentence, and even did a Pro Se Court. Moreover, we created the conditions for a really strong community.