Pictures and No Shool

 Happy Fall room 9 families. At least it will be officially this Wednesday. I for one am ready for the fall weather, the leaves, and everything else Autumn. One of the best things about this time of year is the pace of our year. Routines have been established and the kiddos are settling in, or at least it felt that way last week. Hopefully this remains, right? I am sure it will. Part of the reason is that they seem to be enjoying the curriculum. Here is what we are up to:

Math:  Last week we began our unit on measurement and data. We began with learning how to measure with centimeters. This week we will move into meters. This has been a lot of fun and the kiddo are truly enjoying this module.

ELA:  This will be our last week of our first NatGeo unit on communities. Our spelling sound will be ck words. We will also begin our writing unit on people in our Marshall community. We will work in groups of three to interview, photograph, and write about members of our Marshall community that help us (from Principal Reasor, to our custodians, to our specials teachers, to Mr. Billy our crossing guard and Ms. Pat in our lunch room). This is quite the project and will take a couple of weeks to complete. 

Social Studies:  Last week we also began our unit on communities. We learned how communities are places we live, work, learn, play, and problem solve. In conjunction with our ELA we will continue to learn about people in our communities and tie it in with our writing project. 

Green Homework Folders:  Please make sure your child's green homework folders live in their backpacks. Whenever they do not complete the math practice set they will be putting it in the school side of the folder. This means they are to complete it for homework and return it to school so I can check it. There is no predicting what day they will be adding math homework to there folder, so it is important that it is in there backpack daily. I will also have the calendar that has the weekly and monthly calendar on either side. If you wish for this to stay in the folder so that we can use it for written communication, that will work for me as well. Thank you.

Fratellis Pizza:  Fratellis Pizza will be offering 20% back to Marshall, Knoles, and DeMiguel on all orders this Tuesday, September 21. That's right, you get to earn money for Marshall, eat pizza, and you do not have to cook dinner! That's what I call a win, win, win!!!

Picture Day:  Picture Day is back! We will be taking class pictures this Thursday, September 23rd. Picture packets did go home last week. If you are paying with cash or check you may return your packet envelope anytime between now and Thursday morning. I believe you may also order online. Just FYI, it is my understanding there will not be a class picture due to the mask mandates. 

Parent - Teacher Conferences: Conferences are right around the corner. We just received word that these will be held via zoom this year. I will be sending out an online sign-up form soon so please be on the look out for that. Conference day will be early release days. Monday and Tuesday (October 11th and 12th) will be the 12:25 release time and Wednesday October 13th will be an extra early release of 11:10. Just a heads up so you can plan for any child care needs accordingly. We will be closed the Thursday and Friday (October 14th and 15th) following for fall break.  

School Closed 9/20:  Just a reminder there will be no school tomorrow, September 20th for students. Teachers will be in the building for PD. Enjoy the extra day off! 

I hope everyone enjoy's their long weekend. Cannot wait to see the kiddos back on Tuesday. -Ms. Shaw

Labor Day

 Happy Labor Day. We are diving into math, ELA, and school really looking like what 2nd grade will look like for the year. Here is a look at what we have been doing in 2nd grade, as well as what is coming up-

Math:  We are working on fluency with addition and subtraction within 100. This is a big unit, which we started last week and will assess at the beginning of next. The Friday before last  I gave a practice assessment over some of the review, and it took a while for the kiddos to get through. I am hoping now that they know what a math assessment will look like, the real deal will go a little quicker. 

ELA:  Last week we began our first unit in our NatGeo Curriculum, Places and People, which we will continue this week as well. Last week we also introduced our first spelling unit which focused on short a and short i sounds. Each week we will have 18ish words. 10 which will follow our spelling pattern(s) and the rest which will be sight words. At the end of the week the test will be over the spelling pattern, and will not include the sight words. I will not be sending home a list of spelling words that need to be written weekly. Instead I will just send home the words with a spelling menu, which you can choose an activity from each day - if you wish. If you do not, you will still have access to the list to study for Friday's test, which I do suggest. This is not something I will collect back. This weeks words will be short o and VCCV words. We will also be working on the words everyday in class during Daily 5. Daily 5 

Social Studies:  In tandem with our ELA curriculum we will begin our social studies unit on communities this week.

Homework:  After much thought and consideration, here is what I think I want to do in regards for homework this year. As mentioned above, spelling will not be a list of words that your child will have to write everyday (we will do that in class, among other activities during Daily 5). Instead I will send home a spelling menu which you may choose to do any activity from daily (up to you which one, and if you cannot get to one, that is fine - it is up to each family how to make this work for them). I will also be sending home little books that go with our spelling rule, which is great for your child to read each night. There will be 1 or 2 of these weekly. Again, up to you on how to make these work best for you and your child. 1 per night? You read first and then your child reads? Echo reading? Up to you. Just please, read these every night. These are yours to keep. The only math homework will be anything on the practice set your child does not get done at school. I will have them place these in their red homework folders on the return to school side and they will finish it that night and bring back the next day so I can check. This should never be too much, just a few problems. As always, if your child is getting overwhelmed, please have them step away from any homework for the night. Part of why I am not assigning any regular homework for the most part is that I do not believe that families need the stress that homework can bring, and that your evenings should be yours. If you have questions please feel free to reach out.

Save the Date:  Couple of dates to mark on your calendar:

• Monday, September 20th - School Closed for students (Teachers will be attending a professional development day)
• Thursday, September 23 - School Picture Day (more details to come)

I hope everyone enjoyed their 3 day Labor Day weekend. I know I rested, spent time with loved ones, got things at home done, and am ready for our 4 day week ahead! Can't wait to see the kiddos tomorrow! -Ms. Shaw