Thanksgiving Week 2020

 Happy Thanksgiving Week. I hope everyone has plans for a safe and restful holiday. We only have two days of school this week put we will still pack it with learning. Here is what we have on the agenda:

Math:  No math this short week. On Monday the class will come back to me at 2:00  for more turkey learning. On Monday and  Tuesday they will do Dreambox and Lexia during independent math time.

ELA:  There will be no spelling for these two days. We will instead be learning about turkeys. What do we know, what do we want to learn. We will focus on three questions we want to learn about turkeys and read a short story to answer these questions. 

Social Studies:  We will wrap up our unit we began last week on Wants and Needs and Goods and Services.

Show and Tell:  There will be no show and tell these two days. Instead I will read a Thanksgiving book at the end of each day.

Fun Friday:  Last Friday was our first attempt at Fun Friday. Of course, there was technical difficulties. It wouldn't be FRL and 2020 without technical difficulties, right? Zoom decided I wasn't allowed to admit anyone without an FUSD email into my zoom room anymore. This is, of course, for safety reasons. However, I wish I had known before I tried having parents enter the classroom at 9:00. The kids were patient and ten minutes later we switched to plan B. This meant only half the parents were able to join us for whole group fun, but the kiddos had fun singing with Mr. Byers and drawing snowglobes with Ms. Valdivia. This class always just enjoys the good parts of any situation. Huge thank you to all the parents who volunteered to help with our first attempt at Fun Friday. Your willingness is still appreciated. I now know how to resolve this issue if/when we try it again. At the end of the day the students enjoyed themselves and that is all that matters.

Backgrounds:  Please remember that your child may NOT use any background than the three already installed on Zoom. They may not take screenshots and they may not use pictures of other students. This violates privacy rules, and they do not have permission from other families to use their child's image as their background. Also, students do not have permission to be using the camera or to be taking screenshots of anything. Please help me to clear up some storage space by going through and deleting all images that your child has taken on their iPads. Remember, these are not personal devices and the students should not be taking personal pictures on them. Thank you for your help in this matter. 

Fall Break:  School will be closed this Wednesday, November 25th - Friday, November 27th. We will return on Monday, November 30th. Please have a happy and healthy holiday.

Every year I write down what I am thankful about my class. This year has been so different, but I am still amazed at how we have been able to get to know each other over Zoom. I am thankful how online teaching has given me a chance to really focus on their little faces and I have really enjoyed watching their facial expressions when we do things. I am thankful that this group has found ways to connect with each other, they are so kind to one another and show each other love even through the screen. I am thankful when the students show up for their one on one times. These times have given us time to not only do some more learning but to talk a little about anything and everything and to just bond and get to know each other. I am so grateful to have those 10 minutes or so each week with the kiddos. I am also grateful that online learning has given me the opportunity to get to know my families better than ever before. I appreciate how much you all put into your children each and everyday, and I enjoy the moments we have random side little conversations and jokes. This would never happen in a classroom and I truly enjoy when it does happen. You all are amazing and I am thankful that you have trusted me with teaching your babies in the craziest year of their little lives. I am hopeful that we will be together inside a classroom one day. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. 💛-Ms. Shaw