MLK 2019

Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I hope that everyone took time to reflect and remember the importance of Dr. King and his legacy as well as to rest and prepare for our month of learning ahead. We are in for a long stretch without a break, and I for one am ready! Here's the scoop on what lies ahead...

Math:  We are going to wrap up our unit on solving addition and subtraction word problems with RDW (read, draw, and write) as well as revisiting the meaning of the equal sign and true and false number sentences. This means we will be fixing false number sentences with teen numbers. A very challenging concept and not one I expect mastery of.  This will also conclude our unit on Operations and Algebraic thinking, for now. We have also begun Rocket Math. Rocket Math is a partner activity designed to increase fluency in basic math facts. The students seem to be enjoying rocket math and are doing quite well. We hope to do Rocket Math at least 3 times a week.

ELA:  We will continue our NatGeo unit on Animal Movements. We will wrap up our Hat and Mitten tie in this week and begin our animal research with animals from these two stories this week as well. 

Social Studies:  Last week we began learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, his life, and his contributions to our society. I have to say our first lesson is always one of my favorite lessons of the year. We will conclude our learnings on MLK this week. Hopefully your children were able to communicate to you a little bit about who Dr. King is and why we have a day off to celebrate and remember his important work. 

Science:  I told you I would update you if anything changed, and I am. Next week we will begin our unit on Air and Weather not Balance and Motion. We will save Balance and Motion for the end of the year. Air and Weather will begin now to coincide with our next NatGeo unit. See what we did there? Love when our curriculum overlaps! Such a great way to learn. Both are amazing units. So Air and Weather is first. Thanks for understanding our need to be flexible.

We Need Snacks:  Can you help? We are out of snacks! Our little ones need a little something to refuel in the mornings between breakfast and lunch, otherwise this gets to be a very long stretch on empty stomachs. Crackers of any kind (graham, ritz, animal, etc), pretzels, fresh fruit of any kind, cheese sticks, goldfish, bars (nutri grain type), applesauce are some examples of snacks that we could use. Please, NO FRUIT SNACKS or sweets. We have a family who has been so kind to bring in fresh fruit and cheese sticks once a week, every week this year. The students have absolutely loved this. We do have a refrigerator to put these types of foods in. If you can help with snacks please bring enough for 23 kiddos. we have no allergies in our room! Thank you from our hungry little tummies! The midday fuel really helps our minds!

100th Day of School: Thursday is the 100th day of school. As we do, we will have some fun 100 days activities planned to celebrate 100 days smarter! Why is the 100th day so important? To be quite honest, funding for next year is based off our enrollment count on day 100. Therefore, your child's attendance matters. Not only on this day, but everyday! Did you know....

Wowza! How many days has your child missed this year? Has it all been for illness? It is so important that they be here each and every day! Think about how much they are truly missing over a lifetime when they are not here! This really puts it into perspective! Let's show up! Every day is so important!

Illness: So when should we stay home? If your child is ill. Here is yet another visual to help you determine when your child should stay home due to illness, and when they should return. 

Please pay extra attention to the I am ready to go back to in accordance to your child's illness. We follow these guidelines and appreciate it if you do as well, in the best interest of keeping everyone well! Thank you!

THINK Like a Mustang Innovative Assembly: On Friday we had a chance to honor 2 of our students as part of our PBIS initiative. Friday we held our assembly on Innovative, and gave our Innovative awards to Chiara and Raymond. These two are always problem solving in unique and creative ways, thinking outside the box, and cracking me up and catching me off guard with seeing and saying things from a perspective I did not see. Congratulations Chiara and Raymond on being Innovative!

This second semester is always a semester of growth in the first grade, and I have already seen so much of this growth since we have returned from break. Can't wait for us to show up everyday, and accomplish tons! -Ms. Shaw 

Welcome Back 2020!

Welcome back, and happy 2020. We hit the ground running last week for sure, and it felt great. Allow me to update you on what we have going on in our room...

Math:  This week we will focus on modeling subtraction of 9, 8, and 7 from teen numbers.

ELA:  Since we had a couple of weeks off, last week we had a Daily 5 Boot Camp. We spent the week reviewing and practicing one of the Daily 5 concepts- Read to Self, Work on Writing, Read to Someone, Word Work, and Listen to Reading.  This was just an opportunity to remember and practice the procedures we have set in place to become better readers and writers.  We will also began reading the story "The Mitten" by Jan Brett.  Next week we will read her story "The Hat" and do a little story comparison and focusing on character, problem and solution, and sequencing. Next week students will also choose an animal from one the stories to research and write a report about. This will coincide with our NatGeo stories for the next 4 weeks, which focus on animal movements.

Science and Social Studies:  This week we will learn all about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and what important role he played in American History. After that we will begin our science unit on balance and motion, or that is at least the plan for now. I will update you if the plan changes for science.

Meet Miss Llamas:  Miss Llamas will be joining us this semester in room 9 as our student teacher.  We are very excited to have her with us. I will let her introduce herself...

Hello everyone,  my name is Alyssa Llamas! Your kiddos call me Miss Llamas in the classroom. I’m studying to be an elementary school teacher at NAU. I am currently in the process of completing my student teaching, which is why I’m in Ms. Shaw’s room! I am super excited to be able to learn and grow along side your students for the next few months. I’ll be in the classroom everyday, helping and teaching until early May. It’s only been a week and your kids have already made such a huge impact on me!

Snacks Needed:  We are running very low on snacks and could use some snack donations. Please make sure to supply enough for 23 students if you are able to help. Thank you so much!

Dates to Remember:  A few days to mark on your calendar for this month:

• Tuesday, January 14th - Chipotle fundraiser - 30% back to Marshall from 4-8pm. 
• Monday, January 20th - School Closed for MLK day.

Hanukkah Celebration: Before we left for break we had our final holiday celebration. Hanukkah! The kids played dreidel and enjoyed latkes (most of them anyway). Again, thank you all who donated supplies and who came in and helped with this amazing day. Here are some pictures from our Hanukkah celebration.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate my families and all the kindness you showed to me before break. Thank you for everything, I love my families, these crazy kiddos, and my job. Anything else is extra icing, and I appreciate it. Can't wait to rock semester 2! - Ms. Shaw

Hanukkah 2019

Happy Hanukkah! Welcome to our last 5 days of the semester. Here is what we have going on for our last week of school for 2019...

Math:  We will be looking at using the commutative property to make a 10, and making a 10 when one addend is an eight. I also want to spend a day on making a 10 to add 3 addends, this seems to be a difficult concept for our group and I want to revisit this before we go to break.

ELA:  We will be continuing our Daily 5 routines and finishing our sight word testing as well.  Also focusing on long u words, with our spelling test taking place on Thursday this week. Please have your child double up on writing their words one night this week.  

Social Studies:  Hanukkah is our third and final holiday study.  Again, we will be focusing on who celebrates, how, when, and why. On Friday we will celebrate what we learned about this Jewish holiday by playing the dreidel game and making latkes.  I still need a couple of parent volunteers for Friday, as well as a few other items, otherwise we are basically set. If you can help us out pleas sign up on the updated SignUp Genius https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4fa4a72ca0ff2-cultural1. Thank you!

This Week at Marshall:  We have many school wide events happening this week at Marshall. Please mark your calendars for the following....

• Wednesday, December 18th - 5:00-6:30 - PTO Craft Night. Join us for a night of FREE family fun! Lots of fun crafts, cocoa, pictures, and more!

• Marshall's Family Holiday Lunch - Come and enjoy a lunch with your child. 1st grade eats at 11:35, but feel free to come a few minutes early to find parking and grab your kiddo to beat the lines. Hope to see everyone there.

• Hanukkah Celebration - Room 9 - 9:00-10:30 - you may drop off your supplies anytime during the week for this.

• Lost and Found will be laid out in the science lab Wednesday-Friday.  Looking for that jacket or jackets your child did not bring home? That beanie  or mittens grandma gave them and they lost? Please feel free to stop by and peruse our large pile of lost items. I'm sure your missing winter gear is in there somewhere. Anything that goes unclaimed after Friday will be donated to Big Brothers/Big Sisters. 

Christamas Craft Morning and Canned Food Drive :  This is always one of my favorite days of the year. Thank you to all of my parent volunteers. As you can tell, this day would not happen without your help. Thank you to everyone who donated supplies as well. Making a day like Christmas Craft Morning happen is such a group effort, and I appreciate everyone who contributed to make this morning happen. The children loved making their gingerbread houses and parent gifts. Part way through we stepped into the hall for our canned food drive. The students put our food into baskets and we even had a surprise visit from Santa! Here are some pictures of our memorable morning.

What a bunch of Christmas Cuties! -Ms. Shaw

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