First Post of 2018!

Happy New Year!  Welcome back.  It was so great to be back in class, getting into our routine, and seeing your smiling and happy children.  Everyone seems rested and ready to get back to learning! Here is what is happening this new year in our classroom...

Math:  Back to subtraction!  We are going to be using to subtraction to solve word problems, as well as subtracting 9 from teen numbers.  Both of these are very big, important math concepts.  

ELA:  Our first week back we did a Daily 5 boot camp, where we reviewed one Daily 5 choice a day, and everyone worked on that concept.  We also read the story "Tomas Rivera" from our Hartcourt series, and started a two week unit on a book called "Over and Under the Snow."  We will continue the story "Over and Under..." this upcoming week, focusing on vocabulary, writing prompts, comprehension, and prepositions throughout.  We will also be incorporating an art mural of the scenery and animals from the book, which will hang on our bulletin board when it is finished.  This upcoming week we will also continue with "Tomas Rivera" and use the same spelling words (qu and wh words).  I did not test on these words this Friday because I did not feel like the students had enough time to study them in class or at home.  

Science:  This week we started our new physical science unit of balance and motion.  This is a super cool, super fun unit and I can't wait to really get into teaching it to our kiddos!  They are going to have so much fun and learn a lot!

Social Studies:  Ms. Reger has already kicked off her new unit on Central American Civilizations. They will be learning about various things such as architecture, uses of land, first use of the cacao beans, etc...  This week she taught the students all about the Mayans, next week they will be learning about the Aztecs.  

In More Room 9 News...

Joining us this semester will be Ms. Teller, our student teacher.

"Hello, my name is Rachel Teller I was born and raised here in Flagstaff. I graduated from Flagstaff High School in 2011, and have never left this beautiful town. I was originally an education major, then switched to a biology major for two years. I realized after struggling with the science classes that I missed education classes, so I switched my major back to education. Since then I have been loving every minute of it! I am on the deans list and will graduate with honors in May 2018, graduation cannot come fast enough I am so excited to get started on my life and career. Kids have always been my passion, and I am so excited to work with your children and help them grow in their knowledge throughout this semester!"

We have a few other new faces as well - 2 new friends!  Welcome Cash and Davinee!  That brings us to 23 amazing first graders in room 9.  

Save the Dates:

• Friday, January 5th - Report Cards went home.  Please sign the yellow report card cover and return back to me ASAP.  I will reuse these for the next time we send home report cards.

• Monday, January 15th - School Closed, Martin Luther King Day

• Wednesday, February 7th - PTO 

• Monday, February 19th - School Closed, President's Day 

Again, I am so glad to have everyone back....getting into our routines.  Please remember if you have any questions or concerns this last semester, feel free to reach out through email or call the school. I hope everyone has a restful weekend.  - Ms. Shaw