1st Blog 2020 -2021 School Year

 Hello Marshall families, and welcome to the 2020-2021 school year, flexible remote learning style. I just wanted to send out our first blog of the year to cover a whole bunch of important information to get this week started. First, a reminder that this blog will essentially be our weekly newsletter. I will use it to inform you of what we are learning the upcoming week, as well as what is happening at Marshall and in our classroom (even if it is virtually at this point). So let's get started....

Getting Started:  The two things you will need to make sure your child has on their iPad is Google classroom and Zoom and Google Slides. If you do not see these apps on your child's iPad please go to the "Self Service" App and click install. Please do not install any other app until I give instructions to do so, as we may not be using every app you will see here. I will be attaching the instructions in the email on how to log in to Google Classroom. Our classroom code is 4q7kskx. It will be best to do this ASAP. Once in there you will see the link to our Zoom inside the Calendar for the week. That will also be attached to our email.

Next Weeks Schedule:  Next week's schedule will look a little different than our normal schedule, which is what I sent out to all of you. This is because we are not starting all of our programs (RTI, Suzuki, Library,etc...) including our ELA and math next week. Next week we will be getting to know each other over Zoom, learning how to work Google Classroom and Zoom features, figuring how to get from one place (specials) to another via our links. This is going to take practice, and I am going to be walking them through it. Once I have our week posted in Classroom you will see that after lunch I will be doing sight word testing, which is one on one. This is usually done in the classroom and goes quicker than the time I have allotted, but I am allowing for hiccups and trying to make sure we get through it this week. You may sign up for your child's testing time via this link Sight Word Testing Link .You may also notice our schedule does not appear full at this time. That is because I do not want to post all the links to every activity at this point. I think it may get overwhelming for our first grader to see a full calendar and I will add the next days work at the end of the previous day, at least for now - until we get used to how to navigate around the calendar and work the links. I think this schedule will work out for the best for our little guys and their first week as well. We will meet back everyday at 2:55 for our Closing Circle. 

Attendance:  Please review the below information for Marshall's FRL Attendance Policy

Daily attendance will be taken at 8:50 a.m. during Flexible Remote Learning. There will be a few ways for your student to be marked “present” for the learning day. 

• Login and attend the “morning meeting” with their class at 8:40.
  
  

• If your student cannot attend the morning meeting, they may join their class during the day and will be marked present by their teacher.
  
  

• If your student is unable to attend any Zoom meetings throughout the learning day, the parent may sign this form stating that your student completed their work for the day outside of school hours and email it to the teacher. This must be done each day that your student does not attend Zoom meetings.
  
  

• If you child will be absent from school, please call our attendance line at (928)-773-4038.

As a reminder- if a student is marked absent for 10 consecutive days, they will be removed from the Marshall roster.

 I will also attach this form in it's entirety to the email. If you have any questions in regards to this policy feel free to email me. 

Zoom Expectations:  I will be going over expectations with the students tomorrow. However, here is an outline of our Zoom expectations as of now - if they change we will review and I will update. Just a reminder for the adults, if you are in the background we can hear you! 

• Have a comfortable workspace with a good work surface that you are sitting up at
• No toys, pets, or other electronics allowed
• Be dressed, and yes you can be in your pj's but you must have on tops and bottoms.
• Make sure you have eaten breakfast, you will need to be fueled for the day
• You may have a water bottle nearby, but make sure it is not where it can spill on you iPad easily. Stay hydrated, it is hot.
• Go to the bathroom before we start our day, during breaks and lunch. If you need to go during our live lessons raise your hand and let me know. 
• If a friend joins us late you cannot all turn your mics and say hello. I will say hello and tell you when it is your turn to greet your friend altogether. It is important to say hello, but we will do it in an organized way. 

I think that is all for now, but I may think of more later. 

There is of course so much more information to disseminate, but I think that is more than enough to take in and digest for now. If you have any questions or need any help, feel free to email me or the front office. Also, please make sure you picked up your bag of supplies for our class specifically. If you did not, let me know. 

Cannot wait to see my new class tomorrow at 8:40! -Ms. Shaw

Summer School and Back to School Survey

Hello families. I told you I would try to update you throughout the summer. I have a few things worth sharing with you today, so let's get into it.

Summer School:  This summer FUSD's summer school program is being offered online to all FUSD students 1st-5th. You can check out the summer program resources at the attached link. FUSD Summer Learning HUB. This Hub includes 3 weeks of choice boards based on three themes, covering reading, math, writing, and STEM. There are a variety of fun activities, such as art projects and virtual field trips, and science projects to supplement your child's summer learning. All families are encouraged to check it out. 

Return to School: FUSD has approved a change in the calendar for the 2020-2021 school year. Students first day of school will be August 17. There will be another governing board meeting Thursday night, 7/16 to determine how schools will open at the beginning of the year. Instead of updating this blog, I will probably send that update via email. 

I hope this message finds you all well and healthy. Hugs to my kiddos! I still think of them constantly and miss them so much! -Ms. Shaw

Last Blog 2019-2029 School Year

Happy summer room 9 families. You did it! Parents, you successfully helped your children navigate the 4th quarter of their first grade year from home. Who would have ever thought you would become your child, or children's, teacher while trying to run a household and still work your own jobs all at the same time - during a world wide pandemic! What a way to end. Give yourselves a pat on the back, you all did it. You made it work for your family, and you reached the end. Congratulations to all! I hope you all have enjoyed your first, well deserve week of summer. Here are some last items of business.

Summer Birthday's- We usually get to end the year with a summer birthday celebration. It is our chance to recognize our friends who have birthday's over the summer. Obviously, we did not get to do this. We also missed some of our fourth quarter birthdays as well due to the closures. So I wanted to be able to say Happy Birthday to all my kiddos who we did not get to celebrate in person.

 Addisyn, Raymond, Slim, Elsie and Jayla! 

(I owe you all a birthday cup 😁)

Summer School:  Summer school will look a little different this year. There will not be live, summer school. Instead a group of amazing FUSD educators will be working hard in the month of June to create lessons based on the summer school themes. These lessons will be interactive and include things like virtual fieldtrips (from what I was told anyway). The best part is they are available to everyone! They will be posted on the FUSD website in July. Please, take advantage of this resource this summer, especially if your child is in need of reading help! Thank you.

The Million Dollar Question:  Like every teacher in America, I know parents want to know what next year will look like. I know I have always been honest about every step of the process with you, and I promised to keep you updated with any new information. I plan to uphold that throughout this summer. That is why it pains me to inform you that as of yesterday Governor Doug Ducey announced his plan is to open up schools in the fall. State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Hoffman is supposed to follow up on Monday with what exactly that means and what that will look like. I hesitated to write this because in my opinion, although it may be the announcement that was made, it was made way too soon. There is no way we can know what our state, city, or district will look like in 2/3 months and I think we need to be monitoring the situation for a little longer before we can be making such definitive decisions for next school year. That is only my opinion on the situation, and I will support decisions made. I just am confused on how they can be made this early. Will this decision change? I do not know, but if it does I will update you. I will continue to keep you informed throughout the summer. Try not to worry about any of it, who knows how it will change as next school year draws near.

Now for my confession. Last Friday I cried for about 5 good solid minutes. Crazy tears, dog looking at me like I was insane. It was probably one of the hardest last days of school ever. How do you end the year when you do not get to hug your babies as they walk out the door, proud new 2nd graders. It was so depressing closing my computer as opposed to waving goodbye to 23 beautiful little humans, packing up my room, and closing my door on another successful school year. The hardest non goodbye boodbye ever. So please, hug them for me today. Read them a story for me, my favorite thing to do with them. And tell them I am so proud of them becoming 2nd graders. They will always be my babies (or as Lylah would say, my Mama Mia babies - inside joke). Have a great summer Room 9 families. Hope to see you all soon! 💚 - Ms. Shaw

Last Week of School 2020

Happy Sunday. It is so surreal to sit here and write what is probably the second to last blog of the school year. Again, I find myself fighting back tears thinking about what we would have been doing if this had been a normal last week of school, but if things had been normal this would have been the second to last week of school. Anyway, here is an update on what is happening as we close out this school year...

Student Belongings: I went in last week and packed up everything in the students cubbies. All of this years items will passed along to next years teacher. Thankfully there was no personal items left behind in our classroom - yay! If you will be moving and will need to pick up your child's bag of stuff before next school year please contact me via email (ashaw@fusd1.org) by Wednesday, May 20 so that we can make arrangement on Friday, May 22 for you to come pick up. We are working on what to do about getting back our library books, so hold on to those for now, we will let you know.

Last Week of School Check In's:  The sign up for our final check in's is ready. Here is the link Check In Sign Up.  We will have a special guest joining us, and per student request you may bring your pet to share with us. My dog will make an appearance if she will cooperate.

Report Cards:  I will be finalizing report cards this week. Please, if we have not been in contact yet, email me (or better yet sign up for a check in) so I can know what your child has been busy doing at home. If you have been reading books, they have been continuing their education. If you have watched nature documentaries, they have been continuing their education. They do not need to have been doing all the work off the HUB for me to feel like you have been working on continuing your child's education at home, this is not one size fits all. I still encourage each family to do what works best for them at this time. I just need to know for the sake of report card comments the district is requiring of me at this time. If you have already shared this information with me, you do not need to email me. Thank you.

Extra hugs to our kiddos for me this week. I cannot believe this is the end of our too short year together. The end of the year is always hard, but man this is a whole other level with not getting to see my babies in person. I began this blog with tears, and I'm ending it the same, so I'm leaving it here. I will continue with more updates as they come in. -Ms. Shaw

Second to Last Week of School Post May 11th-15th 2020

Hello Room 9 families. I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. Quick update on a few things.

First, this week's spelling and matching story is up on my staff page. Remember, this is optional. It's just something we would have been working on in class. Feel free to do work on it as you wish. 

Second of all, I will not be able to do 1:1 Check In's this week. I have too many meetings, trainings, and my son has AP tests this week which makes it difficult for me to be on the computer talking to littles while he is trying to concentrate on his AP exams. All of it just proved to be a bit too much at the same time. I am super bummed about this, but we will definitely to one more the last week of school. I will let you know when this sign up is ready. Thank you for understanding.

FUSD would like your input on this years parent survey. Here is what they have put out:

The Flagstaff Unified School District understands parents and families are balancing the unexpected challenges of your children’s remote learning, while caring for others and dealing with the many ways COVID-19 has impacted how you live and work.  We are interested in knowing how you feel your children’s remote learning is going- for them and for you. 

Take the Parent Survey Today

Your input will help our district understand where we might need to provide your children and your family additional support and how FUSD can better prepare should we have to shift again to remote learning in the future.  Please take a few minutes to share your perceptions by completing this survey.  Thank you for your input.

I always like when I have the opportunity to share my point of view, and I encourage you to take the time to give your feedback as well. Thank you!

I hope everyone has a great week. If you need anything please feel free to email. -Ms. Shaw

First Week May 2020

Happy May. 3 weeks of distance learning left everyone. The school board voted to move the 3 remaining snow days, which would have been May 6th-8th, to the end of the year. This means this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday will be learning days and the last day of the year will now be May 22nd. Which means, 3 weeks left. 

I would like to end the year with check ins. I was really hoping we could find a way to do whole class meet ups, but at this time the district has not found a legal way to allow this to happen. However, individual meet ups are allowed through Google Meets. I would love to see our students once a week on Google meets for the next 3 weeks. I'm thinking 15 minute Check Ins. This week we can just catch up, talk about what they have been up to, what they want help with, maybe they can bring one thing to show me - just one! It will only be 15 minutes after all. I am super excited about this, and honestly I am ready to cry just thinking about seeing their faces. Gosh I have missed your children sooo much! If none of the times I offer work for your schedule, please reach out and we can make something work! Also, the sign up times are for this week only. I will be making a new sign up for next week. This is due to schedule changes. Sorry for any inconvenience. The link to the sign up is Sign up for Check In's. I will have to send out individual meeting links via email after you sign up, the one in the group email will not work. Hopefully that will be your link for the rest of the year. If not, I will send new ones each week.

Marshall will be holding its first ever virtual assembly. The PBIS team wanted to make sure to finish out the year with our final THINK like a Mustang awards ceremony, in honor of the K for kindness. The assembly will be Friday at 9:00 am via Facebook live. For anyone who cannot view at that time, it will be recorded so anyone can watch it later. More information should go out from a phone call from Principal Reasor soon. Our two recipients for the kindness award are Abrielle and Joseph. Two very kind friends.

I think the assembly was the big thing I was forgetting last night. If and when I think of any other important information I will update the blog again. Can't wait to see the kiddos little faces this week! I am so excited and filled with joy just thinking of this. 💙-Ms. Shaw

Last Week of April 2020

Hello families. I want to start this blog post by thanking each and everyone of you. Here we are, basically 5 weeks since we have been out of the school building. You all have been busy doing so much. Working - many as essential workers, many from home. Wherever you have worked from you have found ways to step in and take on the role as educator to continue your child's education in whatever form works best for your family in this crazy time. It has been challenging and I recognize that, and I want to say thank you to all of you for what you are doing. You have all been on my mind. I do not know what this time has looked like for all of you, I know it has looked different for each and every family. I think about you all constantly. Not just the students, but you parents as well. I cannot tell you how much I worry for those of you who are essential workers. I want you to know I am beyond grateful for what you do, and wanted to take some time to express that to you here. Thank you! You all are rock stars, and appreciated beyond measure.

 

Here is what I want to update you on as far as learning goes. I will be adding a weekly spelling list and the little stories that go with the spelling sounds to my At Home Learning link on my staff page. This should be done by midday Monday. This will be the spelling list and the matching stories that went home weekly in the homework packet. This is optional, not at all required. I thought it might be something that is familiar and in line with what we would be normally working on if we were in school. If you want to do the spelling you may print it, or simply write the words out on a separate piece of paper. You could also find some fun ideas on my staff page as well. Visit it on the link here. Ms. Shaw's Staff Page. Also, do not forget all district grade level learning can be found on the hub which you can access through this link. DistrictDigitalHub. 

You do not have to turn in any work to me at all. This is because I have made the decision not to collect and grade any material. I will simply be rolling over grades from 3rd quarter. In math any new learning would have been in new content areas we had yet to learn, and those will simply still be X's on the report cards. In science and social studies, those grades would have been affected by new standards being taught in class, and now we cannot do that, so those will be rolled over. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please feel free to contact me at ashaw@fusd1.org and I will be more than willing to discuss this further. I do want to put out there that if you have any desire to modify your child's learning a bit more, feel free to reach out to me and we can work together to see what we can do this last month or so of school.

Is there anything else I can do for you and our students at this time? Please reach out and let me know. I am still here for you. Please say hello to our kiddos! Read them a story for me, and give them a big squeeze! Stay healthy, stay positive, stay home! 💚-Ms. Shaw