3rd Week FRL Updates

 Hello families. Welcome to our third week of Flexible Remote Learning. I will be honest, in 27 years of teaching I have never worked so much or so hard in my life. Thank you for your patience as I learn how to teach your children online. This is literally something I have never done before and I do recognize there has been some bumps. The good news is this, last week we settled more into our schedule and I think that will help all of us start to develop more of a routine of coming in and out of the links, which will make the technology issues more bearable and maybe (with any luck) less frequent, or at least less noticeable. Again, so much information to share with all of you, let's start with what we will be learning.

Math:  The students will be discovering all the ways there are to make 6, 7, 8, and 9 (ex: 6 is 4+2, 3+3, 6+0, etc...) and learning that the inverse answer is the same as the original answer (if 4+2 are parts of 6 so are 2+4).  Students will continue to write number bonds for these problems.

ELA:  Next week we will begin learning from our NatGeo reading curriculum. This means we will begin spelling, which I will introduce during our live portion of our ELA on Monday's. We will also be reading stories from our ELA that go with the the spelling sound, and I will have linked so that your students may go into Google Classroom and practice reading these stories at home as well. I will also be putting your children into reading groups, and once a week their group will meet with me during the independent ELA time. This means their independent ELA work that day will need to be done at another free time in their schedule. I will discuss what your child should be doing during independent ELA time below. I will also be creating a schedule to do 10 minute 1:1 check in's during the portion of the day that says 1:1 Check In's/Office Hours. This is usually from 1:00-2:00, and will not include specials times. This 1:1 time will be so we can work on sight words, which I will also talk about below.

Daily 5 Reading Bags: Thank you to all the families who either picked up bags on Friday or contacted me and made other arrangements. If you have not picked up your child's Daily 5 reading bag please contact me via email ASAP so we can get that to you, we will be using these this Monday! Do not take the books or word card words out of this bag, these stay in. The Play-doh can be removed and be put with their other school supplies, I will explain to them how to use it on Monday. The playdough is a tool, not a toy so please have them keep it with their school supplies. Because I have so many kids at the same reading level I was unable to put as many books in their bags as I was hoping (meaning I ran out of books). Therefore, you may not be able to cycle them out for the quarter as communicated earlier. However, I do believe they are providing a good start and it will be a good idea to add a few books of your own to the ones that are in there now, and cycle these ones out over the next quarter. If you need books the library is closed but they are doing curbside pick up. It is my understanding that they will even give you picks that are appropriate for your child's reading level when you call and speak to them. here is some info if you would like to go that route flagstaffpubliclibrarycurbsidepickup.

Sight Word Cards:  Inside your child's Daily 5 bags are sight words rings (the words on the index cards). The words each child has in their bags are the next 5 words they need to be working on. In order to continue working on their sight words I will need you to purchase a pack of index cards so that we may continue to add to their words. Thank you for your help in this.

Independent ELA:  When we go to independent ELA time you will notice that our schedule says Daily 5 read to self, work on writing, word work,  and listen to reading, and writing weekly spelling words. This is what I taught them last week, and they know how to do all of these things, however I will explain each one here so you better understand what they should be doing during these 30 minutes and can help guide/assist them.

The very first thing they should do every day is write their weekly spelling lists. These were included in their writing folders at the beginning of the year. There is a spot for them to write all 10 words once daily. This week we are on W1U1 (Week 1 Unit 1) short a words. Please do not allow your student to work ahead to the other weeks. After that they may choose to do any of the following (THEY ONLY HAVE TO DO ONE EACH DAY)-

• Read to Self - Students will read the books and sight words on rings that are in their Daily 5 book bags you picked up this weekend.
• Work on Writing - Students can write in their September journals. They may need some help reading what to do on some of the pages. The back pages are for free writing. I would like 2-3 sentences (complete with capital letter and punctuation) and then after they write they can draw a picture that matches. If they need extra free writing space they may write in their composition books.
• Word Work - Students may practice their spelling words on their wipe off boards, they may write them in their composition books. They may also rainbow write in their composition books (write in different colored crayons) and spell them with their playdough.
• Listen to Reading - Students may listen to stories on their iPads through theri EPIC's app. As soon as you have RazzKids on your iPad this will be another option for listening to reading (If anyone checks their self service app and it is their, please let me know).

Sometimes I will have video lined for them to watch. These go with our spelling sound of the week. These are optional and can be done at any time, make it work for your family.

There is more information I want to share with you, but honestly I think that is enough for tonight. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions in regards to any of the above information. I know it's a lot. If there was ever a time when working together to ensure the success of your child's learning, it is certainly now when that learning is taking place remotely. I appreciate you doing your part to help them and recognize the work and time you have already put into this as well. You are all appreciated! I will leave your with this from Dr. Brad Johnson. Hope you had a great weekend. -Ms. Shaw

2nd Week Updates Aug. 24-28

 Congratulations, we did it! We survived our first week of FRL (Flexible Remote Learning). We all learned how to log on to Zoom, navigate our new life of links and a schedule that was had us in and out of those links. We learned how to get into our Google Classroom, and how to find apps on the iPads. It was not flawless, but everyday it was better. In the end, students were back to learning. That is a win! This week will be even better as our schedule becomes more consistent. I will address that below, but first let me start by telling you what we will be learning next week:

Math: We will start our live and independent math lessons this week (check the classroom calendar and/or the attached schedule for these times). These lessons will be taught from our math curriculum, Engage NY. We will be looking at embedded numbers, which means seeing parts inside of whole numbers (ex: inside of 5 we have the parts of 4 and 1, or 3 and 2, etc...).  We will also focus on making number bonds from the whole number and it's embedded parts.  Understanding number bonds now is very important because they will be part of nearly everything we do in math the rest of the year. On Thursday we will have our first math assessment, which we will do on the iPads. The first time around this will work a little different because I will show the students how to access the test on NearPod and I will review the test with them. Then they have to log out of our Zoom to access NearPod and they will do the assessment during their independent math time with you at home. Please make sure on Thursday that you read the question out loud to them then allow them to write their answers. This is an assessment, so if they miss something do not change their answer. I need to check for their level of understanding, and if you change their answer or help them so that they correct their answer I will think they understand more than they do. However, if they ask clarifying questions before they answer, that is ok. If you have any questions about this, please let me know. 

ELA:  ELA stands for English Language Arts. This is where we will be doing all things reading, writing, spelling, and grammar related. I will be following our live and independent schedule for this starting this week as well (again, check the classroom calendar and/or the attached schedule for these times). However, I will not be starting our ELA curriculum until next week. This week I will be laying down some foundations and teaching the students how to do some parts of our Daily 5 routines at home. Daily 5/CAFE is a literacy framework that I use in conjunction with our district approved ELA curriculum to teach our children how to read. Daily 5 is a series of 5 choices your child will make everyday during part of our ELA time.  CAFE is the methods I will teach them to implement while they are reading during Daily 5.  This week during Daily 5 the students will learn how to read to self, which is broken into 3 parts - read the words, read the pictures, and retell the story.  We will also learn how to word work at home, which is essentially different ways for them to work on their spelling words (or any words they wish to work on spelling) and work on writing, where they learn how to start writing (coming up with ideas, writing in journals, etc...). We will end the week with them learning Listen to Reading, and what that will look like from home. It sounds like a lot, but the following weeks your students will get to choose which of these they will work on during their independent time and they really are engaged in their learning process so much more when they have those choices. 

In order for us to continue with Daily 5 I will have to get out a book bag to you. This will happen on Friday. I do not know if this will be another pick up, or if I will be making deliveries. I will let you know as soon as I arrange this with Principal Reasor. 

Daily Schedule: I have made a few changes to the schedule. One of them is a quick break after morning meeting (before ELA live). This is because I realized without the break they will be in front of the screen from 8:40-9:30, which is too long for them. I would rather they take a quick break and be back for a complete lesson. During this time I will NOT have them sign off completely, instead I will just move them into the wait room and then readmit them when the break is over. This will eliminate the need for you to re-log them into our Zoom as well. Here is the link to our new schedule. Schedule Link. The schedule is also reflected in the calendar in our Google Classroom and I will link it in the email as well. 

Apps to Add: Please make sure you have the following apps installed on your child's iPad. NearPod, Epic, and Dreambox. If you do not see these on your child's iPad already you will find them in the Self Service app, where you will just click install. Please do not install any apps that you are not instructed to, as this will clutter the iPad quickly and may make it hard for your child to find the apps they need for school. We have not used Dreambox yet, but will be taking a look at it together on Monday. It should already be on the iPad. Here are the log in instructions for Dreambox - Dreambox Login. For Epic the Log in instructions are Epic Log-in.

Backgrounds: The district has asked that we allow backgrounds and I am fine with this. However, per the district and Principal Reasor your child may only use the backgrounds that are provided by Zoom. If your child is using a picture of any kind from somewhere else, they must delete and change to a Zoom provided background. I have not instructed the students to take any pictures for anything, so I am asking that you delete any pictures they might have taken make sure they understand that they may only take pictures when instructed by me, which will serve an educational purpose for a project. Also, I did set some guidelines with the class last week on when they may change their backgrounds. They can change their background before class or during a break. They may NOT change their background during any live time with me, as this becomes a distraction for both them and their classmates. I must say, the students did well with this, and did not play with their backgrounds after this. Still, a reminder from home will help solidify this. Thank you.

Limiting Distractions:  I need your help in limiting the amount of distractions the students have in their new learning environments. At school they are not allowed to have toys or other electronics with them. I know this is hard to implement at home when they are surrounded by all their things. However, I really need them to not have anything in their hands, or within their reach when they are with me live. This includes toys and extra school supplies. I will always tell them what they need and when they need it. It will also help if they have a learning space that is free of their things. If there is room at a table as opposed to their bed if possible will help them sit up and have a surface to write on. Also, they do not need to make signs to hold up to the class. I need them focused on their own learning, not on what others are doing. I will be in charge of those who unmute when they are not supposed to, or that are off task. These types of things also distract your student and others from the learning. Please make sure your students use the bathroom before school starts and during the breaks, and before we join back on. This way they will not have to leave for a potty break in the middle of a lesson. If they do ask if they can step out I will ask them what they need to go do. I will let them go use the bathroom or get a drink if necessary, just like in class. However, I am finding that as of now they are finding it really easy to go do something they would normally go do at home because they are home, and I will tell them no to these types of things so that they can establish the routine of being at school and treating it as such. Thank you for your support on this. 

Emailing Me: Please make sure if you have a question you email me directly at ashaw@fusd1.org as opposed to putting a message in our Google Classroom stream. I only ask this so that Classroom can remain uncluttered and for accessing our students work and assignments for the week. If we use it for emailing those things will become buried under a line of messages, and I want to avoid making them difficult to find. With that, please make sure you email me at anytime with any questions you may have - I encourage that. :)

Classroom Google Slide Show: I finally figured out how to share the our classroom slide show with you all, and make it so you can edit your own slide, and it only took me about a dozen or so tries. I might be able to do it again. Thank you all for your patience as I figured it out. Here is the link for that as well - OurClassFamilySlideShow. If this link does not work, please access the link in the stream of our Google Classroom. We will be sharing the slides your children create during the closing meeting this week as a way of getting to know each other better and building that classroom community. Please make sure not to accidentally mess with someone else's slide. I cannot wait to see these next week. 

Grace. I have never been one of those people who have a word for the year, but I guess this 2020 school year has changed that. My word for this school year is grace. I have seen this so much already in just this first week. Given and received, and it has been appreciated and necessary. You all have been amazing, and I look forward to our year together. Also, here is a picture of our first day together, in FRL, on Zoom - 2020, sure to be a classic.

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