Kwanzaa and Christmas 2019

Happy Holidays! We are entering week 2 of our 3 week holiday unit. Last week we finished up Kwanzaa and this week we are learning about Christmas. Please read on for all the details and more information about what is happening in room 9.

Math:  We are trudging on with adding 1 to 9 to make a 10. A big concept, today there was breakthroughs! More practice tomorrow and then we will test what we know. After that we will move on from counting on from 10 or taking from a 10 to solve subtraction problems.

ELA:  Our spelling is long i and long o this week. We will be doing our quarterly sight word testing and AIMS testing this week as well. We will also be reading a story about flamingos and concentrating on the -ed and -ing endings. 

Social Studies:  Habari Gani? Ask your students what this Kwanzaa greeting means, they learned all about it last week. I love starting our holiday unit with Kwanzaa because every year the students know almost nothing about this holiday, and by the end of the week they can tell us who celebrates Kwanzaa, the reason for the holiday, how it is celebrated, and the traditions and beliefs associated with the Kwanzaa holiday. This week we enter more familiar territory, Christmas. Although the students know so much in regards to many of the traditions that occur at this time of year, we are about to learn about a lot of the who celebrates and why. Next week - Hanukkah. 

Holiday Celebrations:  Thank you to everyone who helped make our Kwanzaa feast a huge success! The children had so much fruits and veggies and more! I was so busy serving up our "harvest" I did not have time to snap a picture. I promise I will be able to get some the next two weeks however.  I will be updating our online sign-up to match our paper sign-up by tomorrow morning. You can check that here   https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0E4FA4A72CA0FF2-cultural1.  Although it appears we need items for this Friday, we do not! We are all set, and have everything we need! Thank you families! Please remember, all girls need to bring in a box of graham crackers and all boys need to bring in a can of vanilla frosting by Friday morning so we can make our gingerbread houses. Thank you to those who have already brought in their supplies! 

America's Favorite Crossing Guard:  We have 3 more days to vote Mr. Billy for Americas Favorite Crossing Guard. He is currently in third place, we would love to get him to first place (only 191 votes away from 2nd place as of now). Please take the time to vote here daily http://wshe.es/HlWecmiG. You can help spread the word by sharing the link on your social media and asking your family and friends to vote daily until December 12th. He is truly so deserving, let's make this happen! 

Canned Food Drive:  We are currently collecting cans and boxes of nonperishable food items to help restock our food pantry here at Marshall, and to donate to St. Mary's Food Bank as well. The class who brings in the most cans will win a pizza party from PTO. We currently have 0, so we have a ways to go. There will be a parade to collect the cans on Friday, and usually there is a special appearance by a special someone during our parade. Let's can hunger and show our kids the importance of giving back this year. Thank you for your donations. 

Fratelli Fundraiser: The good folks at Fratelli Pizza are once again hosting a 10% back to Marshall night Tuesday, December 10th. If you order pizza from the Ft. Valley location just mention Marshall and 10% of your sales will come back to our school. Thank you Fratelli Pizza for your continuous support of Marshall! Best pie in town! 

Special Early Release:  Don't forget, this Thursday (December 12th) is a special early release day. We will be releasing at our 12:25 time. Please plan for child care accordingly. Friday will still be our regularly scheduled 12:25 release time as well. 

Wow! We are packing it in this week. Thanks for making all our happenings happen! -Ms. Shaw

Thanksgiving 2019

Happy Thanksgiving week. Although it is a short week I wanted to check in because it has been a while since I have been in touch.  Also, we have so much coming up that we are in need of an update, so please read on to find out all that is coming up for the rest of our semester. Let's start with our academics...

Math:  This week we wrapped up our first module when we concluded our unit on decomposition strategies for subtraction. When we return from our break we will begin module 2 which begins with adding three addends, making a ten to add 3 addends, and making a ten when one addend is 9.  We will also start adding sums greater than 10 by making a ten. These are very fun units and we start getting into some really cool ways of problem solving that look a little something like this...

 and 

    9 + 1 = 10                                                 9 + 1 = 10

10 + 2 = 12, so 9 + 3 = 12                          10 + 1 = 11, so  9 + 2 = 11

I know it looks like a lot, but I will make sure to teach it in the steps it takes to make sense to the students. Trust me, they do well seeing the patterns and grasping this method to solve addition problems pretty quickly. 

ELA:  These 2 days before break we will be reading about turkeys to learn about turkey facts. We will be using our turkey stories to focus on concepts such as main idea and details, finding information in text, and using text to answer questions. When we return from break we will begin unit 4 of our NatGeo series, which focuses on animal lifecycles. Our spelling sound will be long a words. There will be no homework for this short week.

Social Studies:  When we return from Thanksgiving we will spend the next 3 weeks with our holiday unit. Week 1 we will learn about Kwanzaa, week 2 will be all about Christmas, and week 3 we will learn about Hanukkah.  During these weeks we will be learning all about who celebrates each holiday, they celebrate, and why- the importance behind that particular holiday. We will end each week with a celebration that coincides with the holiday being studied. December 6th we will have a mini Kwanzaa feast to celebrate the harvest, December 13th we will have our annual Christmas craft morning where we will be making our parent gifts and gingerbread houses, and December 20th we will be making latkes and playing the dreidel game in honor of Hanukkah. We will need your help with supplies in order to make these celebrations happen, and I will also need volunteers on the 13th and 20th. You can sign up to help with all our festivities by clicking on the sign up genius link here         https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0E4FA4A72CA0FF2-cultural1. On Monday I will send home a paper version with the names of our online sign up added, for those who prefer to sign up the old fashioned way. Thank you all for your contributions to making these special educational moments happen for our kiddos. These Friday's in December are so amazing, and they really make these units magical! 

Bundle Up:  The winter weather is definitely upon us. We go outside as much as we can during the winter months. Which means we need to make sure our students are dressed appropriately for outdoor play. Please make sure that your child has a heavy winter jacket, winter boots, and gloves or mittens to keep dry and warm. A hat and snow pants will help if possible. Feel free to pack a change of dry clothes, especially socks and dry shoes, in your child's backpack. They are suppose to stay out of the mud and water puddles, buuutttt....sometimes we first graders "forget." Please help us "remind" your child by talking to them about avoiding the swampy areas that engulf our playground much of the winter. Thank you for your cooperation.

Record Illnesses:  Marshall has been hit hard by a record number of sick children in the days leading up to break. Please remind your students it is very important to wash their hands with soap and water when we take our bathroom breaks (and at home). Also, if your child is ill, please keep them home. The FUSD guidelines state they must be 24 hours fever free OFF of meds. Please do not give your child fever medication and send them to school. They are contagious and it is no fun for them to try to learn when they are sick. They need to be home where they can rest and get well. They must also be 24 hours vomit and diarrhea free as well. We had half a class both days before break, which is more than what some classes had. Principal Reasor had our rooms professionally cleaned and has been greeting the students with hand sanitizer. We need you to make sure your sick child stays home until they are well so we can make sure everyone can get and stay well! Thank you so much for your understanding and cooperation in this very important matter! 

Special Early Release:  I have been told that Thursday, December 12th is a special early release for report elementary card prep. School will let out at 12:25, same as Friday release. I have not seen this on any of the calendars, but have it from good authority that it is happening. For now we will plan for it, but if it is not happening I will let you know ASAP.

PTO Craft Night:  Want a night of free family fun? Then join us for our PTO Craft Night on Wednesday, December 18th from 5-6:30. This night has always been a huge hit, with cocoa, crafts, and fun. The kids love this night, and it's free!

Winter Break:  School will be closed from Monday, December 23rd-Friday, January 3rd. Enjoy your winter break!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday. Every year I tell what about my class I am thankful for. I have to tell you, this has been such a unique bunch. As I look back on almost a semester together I am surprised by how much this group has taught me. They have changed my teaching and my approach to things more than any other group. They have been a group that has needed so much love, and that gives so much love. Yes, they have softened me. There have been so much hugs and I love you's, because they need that before I can give them a math or science lesson. We have learned our balance together, and it works. I am thankful for their progress, and their lovingness, and their hugs and I love you's. I am thankful for their craziness that make for the best stories. I am thankful for their efforts when first grade is hard, because they have learned the  expectations.  I am thankful for that you have entrusted me with the education and care of your precious babies. They have certainly taken residence inside my heart. Hope everyone stays warm and safe and healthy the rest of this holiday weekend! - Ms. Shaw

Veteran's Day Week 2019

Happy Veterans Day. I hope everyone had a restful 4 day weekend. Monday off means a short week a head. Here is the scoop on what is happening for our short but busy week...

Math: We will conclude our unit on subtraction word problems and move into decomposition strategies for subtraction towards the end of the week. 

ELA:  We will be reading stories from our NatGeo series that focus on Needs and Wants, which will tie into our social studies unit of needs and wants and goods and services. Our spelling focus will be on ch, th, and tch words. Although we will only have 3 night of homework, I ask that you have your child do all 4 nights of spelling, which means that they will have to do two days of writing once this week.  

Social Studies:  We will be doing a lot in social studies the next couple of weeks. We will finish our Veterans Day lap books, wrap up our unit on Ancient Egypt, and begin needs and wants (though this will be a short unit).

Parent University:  Thank you to all the families that attended parent university. I think room 9 had a pretty decent turn out rate, and I appreciate the efforts made by my families to work together to ensure the success of your child's education. Room 9 families rock!

Hot Cocoa and Stuffed Animal Party:  Our class has earned a reward for good behavior. They voted and it was a tie between hot cocoa and stuffed animals. So I caved and told them they could do both at the same time! This Friday they can bring in their favorite stuffed animal to hang out with, and I will supply the hot cocoa to sip on! Let them know how proud you are of them for their good choices in classroom behavior! 

Halloween Party:  Thank you to everyone who brought in healthy treats for our Halloween party! The kids enjoyed every bit of it and we always appreciate donations. Mrs. Bianca (aka Sebastian's Mom) came in to help and it happened to be her birthday. Our sweet kiddos decided to sing happy birthday to her to celebrate! It was so cute and thoughtful. Here is a group shot of your students looking their festive best...

Love those faces! See everyone in the morning, rested and ready to rock! -Ms. Shaw

Parent University

Parent University is this Wednesday, November 6th from 5:00-7:00. We are highly encouraging EVERY family to attend what we believe is one of the most important nights we host here at Marshall. This is a night where we bring in our experts from Marshall and from the district to present strategies to you, the parents, in that we believe are areas we need to focus on in order for your students to grow further in their education. We are offering you tools that you can implement at home because you truly are your child's greatest influencer. Education is so much more successful when the school and home are working hand in hand to make each student successful, and this is what Parent University is all about! For those of you who attended conferences, you received a paper highlighting the classes that would most benefit your child and their education. If you were unable to attend conferences, this highlighted page went home with the report card. If you cannot remember what course was suggested for you to attend, please reach out and I will let you know what I believe to be your best options for the night. Here is how it is going to work Thursday night...

• 5:00-5:30 Dinner is served (huge thank you to Fratelli Pizza for providing this at no cost to our families!)

• 5:20-5:40 Childcare Check-in (Popcorn and Pajama Party for the kiddo's, how fun! Then when you get home you can put them straight to bed. They will already be fed and in their pj's, woo hoo! Infants and Toddlers will be in a smaller setting, but they can be in their pajama's as well.)

• 5:45-6:15 Session 1

•  6:20-6:50 Session 2

• 6:50-7:00 Childcare Check-out

Does it get any better than this? Free dinner, no dishes and no running around trying to feed the kids before you head out the door. Free childcare, you don't have to pay a sitter. It's like the best date night ever. Even better because you get to spend the evening learning strategies to help your assist with your child in their learning when they are at home with you. We really believe in this night, and I would love to have the most amazing turn out for this. Please make time to join us Wednesday night. Looking forward to seeing you all there! Thank you for supporting us in helping your child get the most out of their education out of Marshall. We truly cannot do it without you!💙-Ms. Shaw

Halloween 2019

Happy Halloween week! We have a lot of information coming at you in this blog, from Halloween to red ribbon spirit week to 2 assemblies. We are ending October with a big, busy bang! First, a look at what we are doing academically in room 9....

Math:  We will be working on subtraction word problems. The students will still be writing the subtraction number sentences and matching addition sentences (a huge skill to continue practicing at home. Ex 7-2=5 so 5+2=7). Also we will now learn how to make picture number bonds, and we will be learning how to label our number bonds. Although this is sometimes difficult, I love the fact that the labeling makes us think about what our numbers mean (a concept we talk about often). We learn to concentrate on what is our whole number, what do our parts stand for? These help us to not only solve but to write our sentences and number bonds correctly.

ELA:  Last week we began our read aloud "Mummies in the Morning" from the Magic Tree House series. This is a part of our cross curricular unit of study on Ancient Egypt.  We will finish our "Mummies in the Morning" lit study this week. We are learning all about pyramids, mummies, what a sarcophagus is and more! Mrs. Perkins is even incorporating mummies into our 4 picture story frame during our grammar time next week.

Science and Social Studies:  As part of our Ancient Egypt studies, next week we will learn a little about the mummification process and then make an hypothesis about what we think will happen to an apple if we cover it in natron mix. Then we will mummify our apple and see what happens! While we wait for our apple to mummify we will do some social studies and dive into expanding our learning on Ancient Egypt.  

Red Ribbon Spirit Week:  Next week is Red Ribbon week. To coincide we have incorporated a spirit week, and yes this also involves Halloween. Here are the themes each day next week:

• Monday:  Wear Red 

• Tuesday:  Crazy hair and crazy socks

• Wednesday:  Sunglasses and neon clothes

• Thursday:  Halloween - Dress as your favorite superhero or you may wear a costume (see our guidelines for this below).

• Friday:  Wear your Marshall T-Shirt/Marshall Blue

Important Halloween Information: Speaking of Halloween, we have a couple of important things to cover. Costumes and "party." Let's start with costumes. I was not going to allow them this year, for a myriad of reasons. Then I was inadvertently overruled by the Red Ribbon Week flyer. Now that costumes are going to be allowed here are our school and classroom guidelines that need to be followed.

• No masks or face paint at all.

• No weapons of any kind at all.

• Make sure costumes are easy for students to remove/unbutton/unzip independently for bathroom purposes.

• Costumes may not impede students ability to move safely and quickly out of the building in event of an alarm.

• Students must still wear weather appropriate footwear and jacket for recess.

• Absolutely NO scary/violent/gory costumes - keep it first grade appropriate or I will call you to bring a change of clothes for your child to change into.

I adhere to these guidelines to the tee and ask that you do so as well so that students will not have to be asked to remove or change out of their costume. Thank you for your cooperation!

Secondly, we will be having a harvest celebration during our day. There will not be a sign up for food, we will just be grateful for whatever comes our way. Please, if you do send something in avoid sweet treats, students will be getting plenty of candy if they go trick or treating later that night. Cheese and crackers, fruit, veggies and dip, applesauce and popcorn are a few suggestions that I have seen go over quite well.  Thank you! 

Assemblies:  We have 2 very cool assemblies coming up this week. The first is a bilingual performance by Creede Repertory Theatre. They will by telling the story "Best Foot Forward: EL Mejor Pie Adelante!" This story promotes the message of appreciating differences and reinforces positive behavior patterns. Our second assembly has become a favorite Marshall tradition. Our fifth graders have been hard at work learning the art of Taiko drumming with our artist in residence Mr. Tony Trapasso (our first graders have also had the opportunity to beat on the Taiko drums during their music time for the 3 weeks Mr. Tony has been here). Our all school assembly to see their hard work will be this Friday @ 9:00 am. 

Picture Retakes:  Wednesday, October 30th is picture retake day. If you were not satisfied with your cute little pumpkins grin just send them in with their original photos and we will have them smile for the cameras one more time!

THINK Assembly Recognition: Friday we had an assembly to recognize some of our students as part of our PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Support) system here at Marshall. Our slogan for PBIS is THINK like a Mustang. This week we recognized Christopher and Hazel for the letter T (Trustworthy) and Jett and Colin for the letter H (Helpful). Way to go kiddos! I want to recognize all our students for their outstanding assembly behavior. Our class is always shows exemplary assembly behavior, sitting on their bottoms and listening respectfully! I am so proud of all of them. Below are some pictures from our assembly.:

A few more dates to remember: Mark your calendars for the following dates as well:

• Wednesday, November 6th - Parent University. I will put all the information you need in next weeks blog.
• Friday, November 8th - School Closed - Teacher PD day. 
• Monday, November 11th - School Closed - Veterans Day. 

Phew, that was a lot of information. Thanks for sticking with me on this one! See you all in red on Monday! -Ms. Shaw

Mid October Updates

Hello families. I hope everyone enjoyed their four day weekend. It was so great to touch base with so many of you at conferences. This next semester is always my favorite, as we are right in the thick of learning with so much exciting holiday fun to add to the mix. Now that we are rested here is what we are diving into this upcoming week....

Math:  We begin our unit on subtraction this week. We will be relating subtraction to addition (If 3+4=7, then 7-4=3) to solve subtraction word problems, subtracting on a number line, and writing the corresponding number sentences.

ELA:  We will have new October writing journals this month. I am excited to see how the students start applying what they are learning in grammar to their sentence writing in their journals. This weeks spelling is l blends -  fl,bl,pl,gl, and cl. These are a bit tricky and will require some work at home practicing the spelling. Homework will continue back this week, but we have decided to remove the spelling sound boxes from the weekly homework packet. 

Science:  We will wrap up our science unit this week, hopefully. We will mow our lawns (now that they have grown to a height where we can). Last week we studies how seeds travel. This week we will study the parts of a plant and what each part does to help the plant grow. We will make a fun flip book to help us with this concept. Then we will end our unit with an assessment. 

Taiko Drumming:  Our amazing Taiko drumming artist is residency is back! Our students will have the opportunity to experience this amazing Japanese form of drumming over the next three weeks during their regularly scheduled music time. This has been a tradition at Marshall for quite some time and Mr. Tony does such an amazing job. I'm sure you will be hearing all about it!

That is all for this week. It seems quiet, but that is a good way to start our first week back! Trust me, we are headed into the thick of things quickly! Can't wait. Also can't wait to see the kiddos tomorrow! -Ms. Shaw

Parent/Teacher Conferences 2019

Happy fall everyone. I am loving the changing colors on the leaves outside. This is always one of my favorite times inside the classroom as well. Here is what lies ahead for our very short week:

Math:  Last week we wrapped up our doubles and doubles plus one. Doubles was an easy concept (ask your child to sing the doubles wrap for you!), doubles plus one was a whole lot trickier. We are not going for mastery on doubles plus one however, just an introduction-so we are letting that one go until the 2nd grade 😉! Now we are moving on to fluency of facts through 10 and relating subtraction to addition to solve word problems. Then we will start using the number line to solve subtraction problems. 

ELA:  Our ELA, including Grammar, will be on hold until we return from fall break. This means there will be no spelling, and no spelling means no homework for this week of school. Again - NO HOMEWORK for the week of conferences. 

Science:  We finally planted our ryegrass and alfalfa seeds. We are collecting data on what is happening to our seeds. This week, if our grass seeds have sprouted we will tend to our lawns by "mowing" them, and conclude our experiment by writing our conclusions in our notebooks. Then we will move onto to learning about how seeds travel. 

Parent/Teacher Conferences:  Thank you to everyone who has signed up for conferences this week. The final sign up list went home with your child on Friday. If your name was not on the sign up and you would like a conference, please reach out to me via agenda or email and we can make sure to get a conference scheduled for your child. Please make sure you are on time for your conference so that we may begin and end on time. If you show up late we may have to reschedule so as to be respectful of the next scheduled families time. Also, please remember all three days are early release days. Monday and Tuesday we release at 12:25, and Wednesday is an extra early release time of 11:10. Please plan for child care accordingly. 

Clothing Exchange:  While you are here at your child's conference please feel free to drop by the science lab and visit our annual clothing exchange. This is an opportunity for all our families to pick up some new to you clothes free of charge. We have all sizes for everyone in the family, babies to men, and it is FREE! Please stop by and shop! I love shopping and free!

Fall Break:  Thursday and Friday (October 10th and 11th) School will be closed for Fall Break! Go jump in some leaves and enjoy the crisp, cool air!

I hope everyone has an relaxing and refreshing 4 day! See you on Monday for our 3 jam packed days before! -Ms. Shaw