Mid September Updates

 Hello Room 9 Families! So much happening this September. Here is a look at all we still have going on this month:

Math:  We have begun our unit on data and measurement. We are measuring in centimeters and meters using centimeter cubes, rulers, and meter sticks. We are learning to think logically about what tool we would use to measure objects and we are solving word problems with measurements.

ELA:  We are beginning to integrate our NatGeo reading series this week. This series centers our stories into units that last for 4 weeks. The first unit is communities. We will be reading stories about our communities and who are people in our communities. In grammar we are focusing on nouns, last week was just learning about nouns. This week will cover singular and plural nouns and head into irregular nouns. We will also learn about multiple meaning words. 

Social Studies:  We finished our culture cases and they have been sent home to be completed at home. There is no due date on these. These are to be completed at your convenience to give your child an opportunity to learn about their family culture, some fun family history and background and to share with the class where their families are from and some of the traditions they have. We have had a few already come in. We are sharing these during our morning circle time, which had become my favorite time of day. The kids are learning so much about each other, from each other, and making many connections to one another. We are also going to incorporate our ELA unit of communities into our social studies learning and dive into communities a little more, extending from ourselves, families, going into our school community and our neighborhood and city. Looking into people who work in our school and city, what types of jobs they have, etc…. We hope to begin a photo essay of some of the people that work in our school soon.

Information About New State Law:   Several laws impacting public education were passed in the 2022 Arizona Legislative session and signed by Governor Ducey. One of those laws impacts the Moment of Silent Reflection time implemented in our school classrooms. House Bill 2707 amended state statute to require K-12 public schools to set aside at least one (1) minute and no more than two (2) minutes at the beginning of every school day for a moment of silent reflection. Students are prohibited from interfering with other students’ participation in the moment of silence. All school personnel are prohibited from suggesting the content of the reflection, however, teachers are required to encourage parents to discuss with their children how to use the moment of silence. Please take time to discuss with your child how to best use this moment of silent reflection time and the importance of not interfering with other students’ participation. This state law goes into effect on September 24, 2022.  The 1 minute "Marshall Moment" will take place after the pledge of allegiance in our morning announcements.

PTO Meeting:  Looking for a fun way to get involved in your child's education? You could join the PTO. They will be meeting from 5:00-6:30 this Wednesday, September 14th in the library. I'm pretty sure childcare is provided, but feel free to call the front office to make sure. 

Picture Day:  Time for our kiddos to break out their cute little grins. Thursday September 22nd is school picture day. Information went out last week. Please return packets no later than picture day. You can also order packets online. I will send that link to you as soon as I have it. 

Donations:  Huge thanks to every single family that donated snacks to our class. We are set for a while!! The kids appreciate the fuel they need to get them from breakfast to lunch. 

Volunteering: I have had a few parents ask about volunteering in the classroom. If this is you, or wasn't you but you would like to please feel free to reach out. I would like to make it real specific. I know one mom said she would like to come in and read, and then we talked about attaching a fun art project with it. If you have a special skill, hobby,  or occupation that you would like to come in and share with us that would be great. If you would like to tie it to our culture cases, or a celebrated heritage month that would be awesome as well. Feel free to reach out via my email - ashaw@fusd1.org.

Hope everyone had a restful and relaxing weekend. Ready for Monday!! -♡Ms. Shaw