Pre Conference and Gallop Week Updates

October is here.  And with it brings the cooler weather.  Parents, please start dressing your children appropriately for the weather.  This may mean a small jacket and closed toed shoes.  Our heaters are not on, and oddly enough our class is sometimes colder than it is outside!  The kids often wear a small jacket in the morning, until it warms up.  Please make sure to write their names inside their jackets, sweatshirts, and any other winter gear they may need.
Here is what is happening academically in our class:

• Math - Whew.  We have worked so hard on our math concepts!  We have finally wrapped up our unit on the commutative property of addition and finding true number sentences, and fixing false number sentences.  These were difficult concepts that we took a few days extra to understand. We will continue to revisit these concepts throughout the year.  This week we will finish our doubles and doubles plus one. 

• Language Arts - Along with our story from Hartcourt, we will continue reading from the Magic Treehouse series, "Mummies in the Morning."  This is a part of our cross curricular Ancient Egypt unit of study.  Again, if your child would like to bring in their own copy of the book to follow along as we read, they may.  

• Science - As part of our Ancient Egypt unit we will be learning about the mummification process and then mummifying and apple, all while using the inquiry process.  After that, the student will read and learn about pyramids, and then break into teams to try to complete a STEM challenge of building a pyramid with certain materials and guidelines.  

• Social Studies - It's all about the Nile!  Ms. Reger has been teaching them all about this region, and now they are moving on to learning about hieroglyphs.  The kids will also get a chance to practice scribing.  I love the way Ms. Reger always make social studies so hands on for our students.  After this, the kids will learn about the famous Pharaoh, King Tut.

Non-academically we have a lot going on as well!  Here are our two biggies....

1.   Marshall Mustang Gallop  -  I hope everyone has been busy helping our little ones collect pledges from friends, family, and neighbors!  Remember, we run this Friday, the 6th at 9:30!  This year we are going with a space/galaxy theme.  I was thinking our name could be "Shaw's Shooting Stars"  and our colors could be purple and yellow.  This means everyone wears purple and yellow clothing, and absolutely anything with stars on it!!  This is our biggest, and only, fundraiser of the year.  Please, please, please, get out there and collect those pledges.  Every dollar counts!  If you need a pledge packet, let me know and I will get you one.  We have already had a few parents volunteer to help on Gallop day.  If you would like to come see your star shoot across the finish line, your are more than welcome to join us!  Just meet us in our room at 9:15.

1.   Parent/Teacher Conferences - I have had a good amount of parents already sign up for conferences.  Monday I will send home the list with your final conference time filled in.  If you have not signed up for a conference, you may pick 2 choices from the remaining spots, and return the slip to me by Wednesday.  At that time I will make a final conference schedule and hand that out by the end of the week.  

Please note, I will not send homework home until Tuesday of this week.  We will not have our spelling test until the week of conferences.  

The Clothing Exchange will be taking place in the science lab during conferences.  This is a great opportunity to stop in before or after your conference and go shopping for free.  There is clothes for the whole family, as well as household items.  Come check it out!

Mark Your Calendars:

Wednesday, October 4th - Walk to School Day - permission slips for busers will be in blue folders, attached to conference schedule.

Monday, October 10th and Tuesday, October 11th 12:25 Early Release for Conferences
Wednesday, October 12th 11:10 Special Early Release for Conferences

Thursday, October 12th and Friday, October 13th - School Closed Fall Holiday

This is October at Marshall!  Can't wait to see our little ones run on Friday, and I can't wait to see all the parents at conferences! 

-Ms. Shaw