Main Lesson: Long Division, Long Multiplication and Multi-Digit Operations with Ms. Elsa

September 28-October 1st, 2026

Dear Parents,

We had a special week this past week with our Michaelmas festival on Tuesday and our first lemon foot baths of the year on Thursday!

We began our week preparing for Michaelmas by learning how to fold origami dragons. With a lot of precision and practice, the 4th/5th grade contributed their creations to their Team Course Challenge groups during the Michaelmas scavenger hunt. As a class, they also offered the dragon bread to our festival and worked in small groups to make the head, body and tail. 

Throughout the week in Main Lesson, we focused on rebuilding our confidence with long division! As these themes were initially introduced in the third grade (many moons ago!) and require a lot of practice -  it was my assessment that these skills would benefit from a more thorough review and continued practice. With a diversity of strengths in our classroom, it has been great to witness each child grow their individual skill level. 

Through encouragement, humor and warmth we have cultivated a learning environment that is supportive and relaxed even when encountering challenges. Long division is a complex process that involves division, multiplication, subtraction and place value understanding to complete one question. Healthy self-regulation and attachment are necessary to have the stamina and perseverance to move through the mental process of working with numbers in this way. There have been many a-ha moments when a new or deeper understanding is formed. 

We ended the week with our first lemon foot bath. It was wonderful to see how deeply the children rested (with some close to falling asleep). 

In recess, we introduced new levels during our beloved “infinity tag” game. Where the 3rd/4th/5th graders played by the rules and 1st/2nd grade were able to play for fun - meaning they weren’t playing to “win”. We heard a lot of pushback from the 4th/5th graders who wanted to be able to outrun their younger peers. After the initial upset subsided it was interesting to note how fewer arguments there were across the groups. These are the gifts of working socially with a mixed age group

Warmly,

Ms. Elsa