During one of the live Zoom sessions last week I had the pleasure of having a very fun conversation with my students. I made the comment about wishing I could travel by wi-fi, pop into the houses, and do an elbow bump or fist bump in celebration. One of the scholars put carefully put his elbow up to the camera. Once I realized what he was doing I put my elbow up to the camera. Soon many of the students were putting their fist or elbow up to the camera. We got to do virtual elbow bumps!
THE LETTERS THAT WENT OUT ON LAST FRIDAY: Last Friday the first grade team sent out an e-mail that contained a lot of information. My appreciation and gratitude goes out to Mrs. Moreno. She is the one who took the first grade information and the team's thoughts and formed it into a clear, articulate letter. SAVING FREQUENTLY: I gained wisdom from last week's mistake and saved frequently while writing this blog. I saved after each section. :-) GENERAL ACADEMIC FOCUS: Spalding - Continued introduction / review of phonograms - Spelling instruction begins this week. Students will learn 4 words on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and review the words on Thursday. The 12-word spelling test is on Friday. Math - Addition concepts which include the addition equation, relating number bonds to addition, and addition number stories. Science - What is science? - Introduction to the scientific method Literature - Different Lands, Similar Stories (Tom Thumb and Issun Boshi) Grammar - Common nouns Poetry - "I'm Glad" *Please note- It takes awhile for our young scholars to learn classroom procedures. When students return to campus, teaching and guiding scholars in the classroom procedures will continue to be one of our primary focuses through-out the next several days. *Tip for distance learners - Beginning on Thursday, math workbooks will usually be used during the actual math block time. Please make sure your scholar's 1A workbook is easily accessible. LABEL! LABEL! LABEL! Make sure your scholar's school supplies are clearly labeled. Make sure the Archway East fleeces and cardigans that scholars may wear in the classroom when it gets chilly are clearly labeled. When in doubt - label. :-) ON A PERSONAL NOTE: On Sunday I spent a large chunk of time going through all of the important information regarding my son's classes at Trivium Prep. There was the weekly e-mail from the school, e-mails for the 6th graders, and e-mails from his teachers. I think I have it all organized now. I think I will be able to get him to the right place, pick him up at the right place, and make sure he has everything he needs. If I missed something I know I will find out... through an e-mail. I have found that what currently works best for me, is to print out as much as I can, highlight and write down on a calendar what I think is most important, put it in a binder, and then just flow with it. If any of you have come up a good system for keeping track of all this stuff coming through, feel free to share with me! NAMING THE GOOD: 1. Today is August 31st. That means.... it is less than 4 months until Christmas!!! Yay! (I love Christmas and starting counting down by the middle of January. ) 2. The temperature dropped a bit. Whew! Have a hopefully very mellow week!
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Oh my goodness this week was so much better than last week. Sometimes there were moments when I just wanted to dive right into the computer and travel to a home so I could be right there to help a student. Despite the fact that I have not yet figured out how to travel via wi-fi, I do feel like I was able to maximize the amount of learning and teaching that took place.
YIKES!: I had my blog almost completely finished. Each thought carefully expressed. I went to click save and something glitched. I lost the whole thing! I carefully blew all of the steam out my ears, took another deep breath, said, "Okay. I'm done!" packed everything up, then spent time with my son. I am back again. Perhaps the title should be, "Week of August 24th - 28th, 2020 - Take 2." GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Continued introduction/review of phonograms. This week we are moving into the two-letter phonograms. *Phonogram practice tip* - Practice phonograms with your child everyday but instead of practicing the whole stack, focus on just 10. *Special note about pink notebooks* - We have been using the pink notebooks to practice handwriting. Next week, the pink notebooks will be used only for spelling words. Math - Number bonds for ten, making ten, missing parts in number bonds, introduction to the concept of addition Geography - City, state, country continent, online Geography quiz Literature - Different Lands, Similar Stories - Cinderella Poetry - I’m Glad by Anonymous I’m glad the sky is painted blue, And the earth is painted green, With such a lot of nice fresh air, All sandwiched in between. GENERAL FIRST GRADE ROOM 110 CLASS 1B INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS RETURNING TO THE CLASSROOM ON WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 2ND: This section is will include general information for the 1B classroom. I have a lot of information, but to avoid information overload I will stick to 3-4 specific things, and address more in next week's blog. Trivium East Hoodie or Cardigan for In-classroom Wear - It is extremely hot outside so no jackets are needed outside but students may want a Trivium East uniform fleece or cardigan in the classroom. The classroom does get chilly for a few minutes when the air conditioner clicks on. Students will not be allowed to wear non-uniform jackets, sweaters, etc. in the classroom. Please make sure all Archway Trivium East cardigans and fleece jackets are clearly labeled with your child's name. Uniform Alerts - Archway Trivium East does follow a strict dress code. I know from first hand experience that, in the rush of morning preparations, uniforms aren't always put together. Throughout the school year, Mrs. Garza or will contact you with individual and/or classroom uniform alerts. Classroom Supplies - After meet-the-teacher we usually have a bit more time to sort out supplies and make sure every scholar has the correct items. We won't have that extra time this year. Before returning to campus please check to make sure your scholar has all necessary items and please make sure everything is very clearly labeled with your scholar's name. The students will be tired! - All of these wonderful, sweet, young children have not been in a classroom for six full months. They are going to be coming into a type of structured environment that they have not been part of for a long time. Mrs. Garza and I, all of the first grade staff, all of the school staff have an understanding of this and will be working and supporting and guiding them through the transition but those kiddos will be probably be very tired at the end of the day. XTRAMATH: Last week a letter to get your child signed up for Xtramath was e-mailed to you. When signing up please make sure you enter your scholar's name exactly as it appears in the letter. Otherwise teachers will be unable to track the progress. Xtramath is a program that was implemented here at Trivium East so that teachers and parents can track the progress of learning and memorizing basic math facts. When scholars know their basic math facts it is easier to focus on learning math concepts and algorithms because they don't have to spend so much time calculating. At this point in time Xtramath will be assigned as homework 3 times per week. GOOGLE CLASSROOM COMMENTS VS. DIRECT E-MAIL COMMUNICATION: While it is easy to type in a quick comment on a Google Classroom assignment, it is very difficult for Mrs. Garza and I to catch them. We kindly ask that you e-mail both Mrs. Garza and I directly at [email protected] and [email protected] if there is something that you want us to resond to. CLASSWORK IN GOOGLE CLASSROOM: Thank you to all of those who have turned promptly turned in classwork on Google Classroom. If you are having difficulties submitting work please e-mail us and let us know. THE ATHENIAN ECHO SENT OUT ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 21ST: There is A LOT of important information about start dates and back to campus items in the Athenian Echo that was sent out this past Friday. If you have not already, please take the time to read and take note of the start dates for next week. Here is the link: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?m=1121867127686&ca=1e1fedba-701b-403f-b219-03ee589e0b70 ON A PERSONAL NOTE - SIMULTANEOUS IN-PERSON AND DISTANCE LEARNING: As we move into this next phase of schooling that includes distance and on-line learning I feel that it is important to be transparent. Being a natural optimist, it is in my nature to automatically see the positive rather than the negative, to know that everything works out, and recognize that discomfort is temporary. 4th quarter of the last school year moved me out of my comfort zone, teaching fully on-line for the last few weeks moved me out of my comfort zone even more, and now learning how to do both at the same time is stretching me even further. There is going to be some discomfort, some mistakes, perhaps moments when I want to bang my head against the wall. I ask for grace and patience during those moments. You know what is really amazing, though? Once you expand your knowledge and experience, you can never go back. I am excited and interested to ride the wave and expand. We've got this! NAMING THE GOOD: - This blog update saved the way it was supposed to so I didn't have to re-write it a third time. Yay!!!!!! - Last week I was trying to draw a wolf in sheep's clothing. What I ended up drawing was a very dirty poodle. My class was so supportive. They kept telling me I did a good job. - My fridge is full of yummy fruits and vegetables and smells so good. Have a super-duper week! We did it! We got through the first week of live instruction via Zoom. We should all feel very successful because we all did it - both at home and school among technical challenges and scheduling, we did it!!
GENERAL ACADEMIC FOCUS: Spalding - Segmenting words and identifying how many phonograms / sounds are in a word, introduction/review of phonograms *Note* - Students will need Spalding Paper each day Math - Number Order through 10, Identifying the whole and parts in a number bond, Number bonds through 9 Geography - Oceans, Continents, Our Country Literature - Aesop's Fables GOOGLE SLIDES VS. MATH WORKBOOK: I know the majority of the class has their math workbook IA so independent math work will be done in the workbook to be scanned and turned in. *Notes* - Please pay close attention to which workbook pages assigned. - Please be sure that your scholar has attended the live Zoom session or watched the Zoom recording prior to completing the independent work. - A copy of the Workbook 1A pages has been attached to the Google Classroom assignments to print out in case your scholar's workbooks have not arrived yet. WEEKLY MATH QUIZ: At this time students will be completing a weekly math quiz each Friday that covers the concepts taught during the week and reviews concepts covered the previous week. It is important that students attend the live Zoom Session or Watch the Zoom recording on Friday before they complete the math quiz. When students are in the classroom, we do read the directions for each problem to the students. However, it is important that they answer the questions on their own. Sometimes your scholar will make mistakes. Though it may go against your instinct to do so, please do not guide your scholar toward the correct answer. You can read the directions and the question, but they must work through and answer on their own. If you notice that your scholar is finding a particular math concept or skill challenging please feel free to e-mail Mrs. Garza and I and let us know. E-MAIL VS GOOGLE CLASSROOM COMMENTS: It is very difficult for Mrs. Garza and I to catch comments left on individual Google Classroom assignments. We welcome your feedback, comments, and questions, but we do kindly ask that you contact us through e-mail. Please include both Mrs. Garza and I in all e-mail communication. ******IMPORTANT******* Zoom Access Update Please ensure your Zoom display name matches the enrolled student's name. If it is not, exit the waiting room, click on the meeting link again, and change the display name. Admittance may not be granted if the teacher cannot verify the student is in their class. If you need assistance getting into the Zoom meeting, please contact your student's teacher. This is a request at the Administration Level. When your scholar's name is the one that is being displayed we know it is safe to let them into the classroom. ZOOM INFORMATION AND TIPS: Zoom Conferences - In the past, I have been able to meet with and conference with parents after school. I wanted to let you know that I am still available to do so. If, at any time, you would like to schedule a meeting please e-mail me and we can schedule a conference via zoom. Breakfast, snacks, and lunch - We kindly ask that scholars eat their breakfast and snacks before attending the live Zoom classes. All food should be put away before class starts. Thanks! :-) HANDWRITING HELP: Every year I have parents contacting me and asking me how they can help their child with handwriting. The Spalding sessions on Tuesday - Thursday of last week had a strong emphasis on handwriting. Those videos will be helpful to watch and provide guidance in how to help you child with handwriting. We will continue to have handwriting lessons whenever time permits. 1B LIVE ZOOM TV: Last Monday was...well...rather interesting. At the end of the live sessions that day, I just sunk to the floor and allowed myself to laugh then regroup. As the first week continued, Mrs. Garza and I began to form a flow of communication. The two of us feel that, in some ways, it is like a live TV show. I am in front of the camera presenting the lessons while Mrs. Garza is in the background, making sure students are let back in when their internet kicks them out, whispering to me about what scholars are doing that I may not be able to see as clearly, and pretty much making sure the live sessions run as smoothly as possible. ON A PERSONAL NOTE: When I teach handwriting in the classroom, I wander the classroom, help students with their letters, assist them with the Spalding grip, and guide them towards seeing the letters that they successfully wrote. When I teach handwriting via Zoom, I do the best job I can to show students the Spalding grip, identify students whom I see concentrating hard, and give general encouragments for them to do the best job they can. That is the same with other subjects. It is difficult for me to stand and watch when I want to be right there to guide and help. I guess if I focus on how different everything is right now and focus on what I can't do instead of what I can do, it would be easy to get discouraged. Instead I choose to focus on every positive thing I can and I know there is a lot of positive things going on. NAME THE GOOD: - Students are learning to quickly press the mute button when they are called on. - I was able to spend time with family and friends over the weekend. - Mrs. Garza and I make a good team. - I get to work in a nice, cool, air conditioned building. - I was able to go to Michaels to pick up some crafting supplies and do some crafting over the weekend. Feel free to e-mail us and share any "Name the Good" moments you have had so we can celebrate with you. Have a fun week! Well then! This school year is different. I have experienced a lot of different situations during my previous 16 years of teaching. This is one of the most unique! Mrs. Garza and I planned, practiced, and prepared while at the same time laughed at ourselves. We knew that no matter how much planning, practicing, and preparing that we did, we were going to have things come up.
THIS WILL BE A LONG BLOG ENTRY: I do enjoy writing. Based on information I have or thoughts I want to share, my blog entries vary in length. Well, get a nice glass of ice tea and find a comfortable place to sit. This will be a long one! :-) FORMAL WRITTEN INTRODUCTION: WELCOME TO MRS. SPENCER’S AND MRS. GARZA’S CLASS Hi everybody! Welcome to first grade in room 110. My name is Mrs. Spencer. I am originally from Iowa, but have lived in Arizona for the last 19 years. I taught school for several years then decided to stay home when my son David (now entering his first year at prep as a 6th grader) was born. When David was in kindergarten I took a tour of Archway Trivium and was so impressed with what I saw that I knew I wanted him to be part of the Great Hearts education system. I was also impressed with each classroom having two teachers and I knew I wanted to be part of the Great Hearts education system as well. I have been at Archway Trivium East since its founding year in 2015. Besides teaching, there are many other things I enjoy doing. My favorite activities include playing games and reading to my son, crafts, making gifts for my friends, country dancing, writing, and simply sitting still. I also enjoy taking classes at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. I am so excited for this year and I am also sincerely looking forward to getting to know each one of you throughout this school year.
My name is Jessica Garza and I will be Mrs.Spencer's assistant teacher. This is my third year with Archway Trivium East and I am beyond thrilled to be a part of the first grade team for the 2020-2021 school year. Although we are starting the year off differently I am looking forward to seeking the truth, goodness and beauty with each scholar in whatever way it looks like virtually. We are all learning new things during this unprecedented time and I want to be as much help as I can be to you and our scholars. We are gonna remain curious and ride this wave of the 2020-2021 school year together. - Mrs. Garza 1ST DAY LIVE ACADEMICS: Monday's activities will include introduction to Zoom rules, classroom expectations, , "Get to Know You" activities, etc. GENERAL ACADEMIC FOCUS FOR THE WEEK: Literature - Read a-loud, introduction to writing journals, Aesop's Fables Spalding - Intro to pink notebooks, intro to handwriting skills, into to purpose of learning phongrams, introduction/review of phonograms Math - Intro to math materials, math procedures, review basic number concepts through ten including counting, numeral identification, number words, and comparing Geography - Compass Rose, Continents and Oceans Poetry - "I'm Glad" *We will also continue to learn how to navigate on-line and interact with each other. TECHNOLOGY CORNER: Live - The Zoom link for the live instruction is posted on the Google Classroom stream page. Zoom videos of the Live instruction will be posted on the stream page in the afternoon. Zoom Tips - Once your scholar is on the Zoom live, look up in the upper right hand corner. There is a choice of "speaker view" and "gallery view." Speaker view shows a large screen of anyone who is speaking. Gallery view shows a screen of everyone on the zoom call. Please click on "speaker view" so that when I am teaching, your scholar can see me clearly. - Please make sure that your scholars own full name appears on the screen. Quiet Space and Be ready to Learn - As much as possible, please make sure that your scholar has a quite a place without the distraction of younger siblings, and loud noises. As with a regular school day, please make sure that your scholar has eaten breakfast before school starts. The Mute Button - This button allows the scholars to unmute themselves when they are called on. *Note - Students may not unmute themselves unless they have been called on by the teacher. ZOOM RULE UPDATE: The original zoom rule stated to ask permission to get a drink of water or to use the bathroom. This rule is necessary to have while in the physical classroom. What we have discovered today, is that that particular rule/procedure is very difficult to keep track of in a Zoom classroom. Therefor I am going to update that Zoom rule: Please make sure that your scholars have a water bottle next to them to take sips when thirsty. Scholars may use the bathroom when needed. MATH BOOKS: I have received several e-mails from parents letting me know that their scholar's math workbooks have not come in. I write the lesson plans for the first grade team and have already taken that into consideration for the first weeks of school. I have created Google Slides for the math book pages. They will be posted on the days they are assigned. PATIENCE AND GRACE: We can plan and prepare for this online learning then plan and prepare some more. Inevitably, though, there will be technology issues and mistakes that will come up from time to time both at home and at school. It is important that we have patience and grace with each other as we navigate this period of time together. E-MAIL COMMUNICATION: Please be sure to include Mrs. Garza in all classroom e-mail communication. One of will respond within 24 hours. We will most often be able to read and reply to e-mails in the afternoon. [email protected] [email protected] ON A PERSONAL NOTE: When school closed for the 4th quarter I decided to add a personal aspect to my blogs. Since it was the end of the year I had formed relationships and grown to care a lot about my students' parents as well. It was easy to add a personal thoughts and elements to the blog I wrote during that time. Since this is the beginning of a new school year I have not had as much opportunity to get to know you, it will be a bit harder but I still feel it is important to add some personal aspects and perspectives. MY THURSDAY MORNING ADVENTURE AS A PARENT NEW TO TRIVIUM PREP: This is my son's first year at Trivium Prep. Though I had talked to other parents and read the headmaster's assurances I still felt nervous. The prep e-mails started coming in on Wednesday morning and they didn't stop. Thursday morning, on the first day of school I opened my e-mail and there were even more. There were Zoom links from 7 different teachers to keep track of plus the school e-mails, plus random bits of information in separate e-mails. Despite the fact that I had prepped and helped David prepare as much as possible I still wondered if it was possible for my brain to explode and in-plode at the same time. So much information!!!!!!!! Plus something happened with the Jupiter account and I had to to some resetting. David got all settled down and ready for the first class only to discover a tech issue that would keep him from being able to join his classs. I am sure the issue would be an easy fix for a person who understand tech issues but not for me. Okay. No problem! I had a plan B! ....which didn't work... As I quickly ran through a failed plan C and a successful though temporary plan D, I again contemplated whether or not it was possible to explode and in-plode at the same time. (I am sure I will laugh about it all later.) Due to some of the issues that came up I felt I needed to e-mail three of David's teachers. As I pressed send there was an irrational part of me that wanted to get a response right away (or at least within the hour.) I knew, though, that his teachers had 24 hours to respond and that they were trying to figure things out too and that they were getting many other e-mails as well. I had to take a deep breath and know that they would get back to me and that, in the meantime, everything would work out. My son looked at me, grinned, and said, "Mom. Ya good now?" He was completely relaxed and calm about everything. THE TEACHER PERSPECTIVE: I saw several e-mails, first thing on Thursday morning. My heart instantly went out to every parent. Because of my own experiences as a parent, I had the strong desire to instantaneously read, contemplate, write, and respond to every single one of them... all at once... at that very moment. Instead, I took a breath and went one step at a time. I commend all of you for doing everything you can to make sure your scholar gets the best education possible. Please have patience and grace with yourself as you navigate this on-line experience. NAME THE GOOD: I think sometimes it is easy to forget all of the good things going on around us but there are so many good things! During 4th quarter last year I decided to add this topic to my blog. My "name the good stuff" for this week: - Mrs. Garza and I enjoyed meeting with you scholars so much! The last two days of getting to talk to my students one-on-one like that was definitely my most favorite meet-the-teacher I have ever had!!!!! (We got to see several specials toys and treasures. We had the opportunity to "stroll" down a hallway and see a scholar's artwork. We learned about that one of our student's mom's favorite color is orange. We got to learn about the rules and tips of how to play flag football, and so much more!) - I learned how to create Google Slides and Google forms - Mrs. Garza is an amazing TA I wanted to invite you to also name the good. As good things happen, let us know! Whether it be you learning to navigate Google Classroom, or your scholar succeeding in a task, or anything in between, do not hesitate to e-mail us so that we can celebrate the good with you. Here's to the start of an amazing year! - Mrs. Spencer |
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May 2022
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