Hello Marshall room 9 families. The first two days of school were a huge success. There were a few nerves at first, but after a very short while everyone settled down and it was all smiles from there. I have included a few pictures from our first day of school at the end, but first a preview of what our first full week will look like.
Math: We are diving right into our math curriculum this upcoming week. We will be looking at embedded numbers, which means seeing parts inside of whole numbers (ex: inside of 5 we have the parts of 4 and 1, or 3 and 2, etc...). We will also focus on making number bonds from the whole number and it's embedded parts. Understanding number bonds now is very important because they will be part of nearly everything we do math for pretty much the rest of the year.
ELA: The students will begin learning the Daily 5 process this week. Along with our newly adopted curriculum (which we will start next week) I will use a variety of methods to teach your child how to read this year. One of the methods that I have found to be proven most effective is Daily 5/CAFE. Daily 5 is a series of 5 choices your child will make everyday during part of our ELA time. CAFE is the methods I will teach them to implement while they are reading during Daily 5. It may sound like a lot, but I will explain each part here in the blog as we come to it. You may also feel free to stop by the classroom any day before or after class and I will be happy to explain it in detail. This week during Daily 5 the students will learn how to read to self, which is broken into 3 parts - read the words, read the pictures, and retell the story. During our ELA we will also begin working on grammar, focusing on learning about verbs, verbs in their infinitive form, and nouns. These are just concept lessons, and we will come back and revisit them again throughout the year.
- Please note that since we are just beginning math and because we will not begin our regular ELA curriculum until next week there will NOT be homework until next week. Again, homework will not begin until next week.
Science: We will be combining a fun science lesson with our growth mindset studies this week. Growth mindset is a belief that your basic abilities come from dedication and hard work. In first grade we start talking to ourselves about how you can train your brain by learning, how mistakes are proof that you are trying. Last week we started a book called, "My Fantastic, Elastic Brain." We learned about the different parts of the brain, and what those parts are in charge of and how they make us, well...us. We will finish the book this week and learn about how we can help our brains grow through learning and with hard work. We will learn how mistakes are the best ways to help our brains grow, and how every time we make a mistake it's ok because we learn what not to do and our brains are growing! I love this so much! Then we will do a fun science experiment of growing crystals (just like we grow our knowledge, and our brains). Growth mindset will be a concept we will work on throughout the year, focusing on more ideas such as the power of yet, one of my favorites, and incorporating it with as much curriculum as possible (such as STEM challenges and ELA). Again, I will keep posted here in the blog of these activities.
Supplies: Thank you to everyone who donated supplies from the extra supplies list. We are very well stocked on everything from snacks to paper towels and everything in between! I really appreciate your generosity. If/when we should run out of something I will post it here. There are 3 things that I did forget to put on the original mailed out list. Only one will you need to worry about getting for your child. The other two are needed but optional.
- Earbuds - needed for each child during Daily 5. Please bring in ASAP.
- Hand Sanitizer - Optional
- Pencil Top Erasers - Optional
If you already purchased a ton of items, please do not worry about purchasing either of the optional items. Let's spread the love! Also, speaking of mailed supply lists, some of you stated that you did not receive a letter/info in the mail and asked for a copy. I was not able to get to this before the end of the school week, but there are copies in your child's cubbies now. If for any reason you need one and one still does not make it home to you, write me a note in the agenda and I will put a copy in there for you.
Paperwork: A set of paperwork went home in your child's agenda, attached to a letter explaining the agenda folder. Please fill out and return those forms ASAP! Also, as soon as you fill out the free and reduced lunch form on line, write me a note in the agenda so I can check it on my list that you did this. Here is the link to the online form, http://www.heartlandapps.com. This is one of the most important forms, because the more families that qualify for free and reduced lunch, the more Title 1 funds Marshall school receives. These monies are used for so many things that directly impact your child's education here at Marshall. These funds are used for our Magnet programs, including Suzuki Violin, which each K-2 student participates in for free twice a week, among a myriad of other programs and people that benefit all students here at Marshall. Even if you do not think you will qualify, please take a minute to fill out the form anyway. I did not think I would qualify when my son attended, and it turned out he was eligible for reduced pricing. Although he ate home lunch, I was happy knowing that our completed form was helping Marshall earn funding. Again, thank you for your time in doing this.
Save the Date:
- Wednesday, August 29th - Open House 5:30-7:00 PM
- Monday, September 3rd - School Closed - Labor Day
First Day Jitters: On the first day of school we read a book called, "First Day Jitters." At the end it turns out it is the teacher who is nervous about the first day of school, which the kids thought was pretty funny. Then we talked about who had first day jitters, who was excited, etc. We graphed our feeling about the first day of school and made and tasted Jitter Juice, to help get rid of any left over jitters from the morning. What do you know, jitter juice magically worked and made us all feel calmer and happier about school. Check out the pictures from some of our first day jitter activities below...
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