September Check In 2020

What's Up in Fifth Grade

What a beginning to school! I think we've finally settled into a "school" routine with our expectations, learning, and technology issues. In the spirit of routine, I'm hoping to get into a more regular routine of class updates through the class blog. Please email me (efisher@fusd1.org) with any questions, concerns, or needs that may arise for your family during our flexible remote learning time.

Technology, Assignments, and Grades

The fifth graders (and me!) are becoming more fluent with our Canvas learning platform. At this point, students should easily be able to navigate our homepage and daily agenda where they can find their schedule and assignments for the day. We are working on completing and submitting assignments on time through Canvas. Students and families can see what work is missing by clicking on the "Assignment" button in their app. Student grades in Canvas are marked as complete or incomplete, while their "formal" report card grades (1, 2, 3, or 4) are available through ParentVue in the synergy system.

Canvas Parent Accounts

Have your fifth grader give you a Canvas tour if you haven't checked it out yet! Also, don't forget to get a parent account to observe your student's work on Canvas. Go to the FUSD website to create a family account. You must also have a pairing code to connect your account with your student's. Follow the steps in this link to get a pairing code. Once you are logged in, you are able to be an observer on your child's Canvas account.

Academics

MATH: In Math, we've been working hard on the names of place value spots as well as the value of numbers from the billions all the way down to thousandths. We've also been practicing how to convert between metric units of measurement and multiply whole and decimal numbers by exponents with a base of ten. Next week we will be working on rewriting numbers into expanded form and exponential form followed by comparing numbers.

ELA: In ELA, we've been reading Night of the Spadefoot Toads and practicing our comprehension skills. Expect your student to finish this book in the next several weeks. Much of our focus outside of comprehension has been on figurative language, specifically idioms, similes, metaphors, and personification. Students will be using this knowledge in a poetry project in the coming weeks. We will also be using our knowledge of nouns, verbs, and prepositions to write summary sentences of longer pieces of nonfiction writing.

SCIENCE: We've added science Friday to our week! This means that on top of students accessing their science curriculum through self paced work during their independent study time in the afternoons, we are also taking more time together as a whole class to emphasize science each Friday. Currently, we are working on genetics and will be transitioning to how humans impact the natural world.

DON'T FORGET!Spirit Week 9/14-9/18

Welcome to the 2020-2021 School Year!

     

Hello Fifth Graders and Families,

Welcome to the class blog where you can find weekly(ish) updates on what's happening with learning, important news, and who our student of the week is. Feel free to add your email in the space to the right to be notified when a new post has been made to the blog so you never miss a thing!

I know many families are figuring out how remote learning will look in their homes. Know that this experience will not only be full of great learning experiences but also one of flexibility. The schedule for our class is one that I will be following on a daily basis, but there is certainly flexibility with how you and your family interact with that schedule. Please don't hesitate to communicate with me if something isn't quite working out for your family. I'm here to help and to make sure that all families are able to access the learning that their fifth graders need.

Please take the time to look over and become familiar with the schedule for our class. As things get started and we figure out what is working or isn't working for our team, there may be adjustments made. If that happens, I will communicate with all students and families about those changes. A paper copy of the current schedule will be included in the beginning of the year papers that go home during the August 12th pickup. 

As we get started, I'm asking each family to fill out an information sheet. This will be coming home in the beginning of the year folder with iPad pickups, but a link to the digital copy can be found here: A Little Bit About Me. This form is very helpful for me and it's a chance for you to share unique information about your child and family that helps me get to know you a little bit better right from the beginning. Thank you so much for completing this brief but very important form.

More information will be coming your way from FUSD, Mrs. Reasor, and me as we get closer to "the first day." For now, know that I'm so excited to get started on this unique journey with you and your child!

Sincerely,
Ms. Fisher
(efisher@fusd1.org)

First Day Scavenger Hunt Clue

Your seventh clue is the letter: S

Dear Families,

What a year! What a quarter! What a last week of feelings this final "school" week of the year has been. I loved seeing so many of your faces at the "parade" today! I wanted to say thank you for sharing your kids with me this past year. Every single student grew in so many ways and I am proud of each and every one of them. In the hopes of recognizing these amazing kids, I've uploaded two very special slideshows below.

First is the promotion slide of just our class, second is something of a memory video that highlights many of the amazing things your kids did this year. Though this year was cut a quarter short, boy does it show a lot of learning! Feel free to share the link to this blog, the slideshow, or the video with your friends and families but please do not share on your personal social media platforms. While all students in the video have media releases, we want to be respectful of each family's rights on how their children's images are shared outside of the FUSD "family." 

Cry. Hug each other. Laugh at some pretty silly pictures. Enjoy!
Thanks for a great year!

Love to you all,

Ms. Fisher

2019-2020 Promotion Slide Show-Ms. Fisher's Class: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1myqEtFIGXlCEOjvVKpD31xiwVTinGEv2/view

2019-2020 Memory Video: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bCWOW8hR7MExL7gH1frcgfhj3NuFyam7/view?usp=sharing

Dear Families, 

Can you believe it's the last Monday of the school year? How did that happen? Mrs. Reasor has given us permission to give an in person drive by farewell to interested kindergarten and fifth grade families. For interested families, teachers will be out front of Marshall school on Thursday morning May 21 to give our kinder and fifth grade families a chance to drive by and wave their farewells. Teachers will be wearing masks, spaced apart, and will not be allowed to approach cars. Families will not be allowed to stop but may drive really really slowly. Please start from the Flag High/FJA side of Marshall and drive towards the "tree park." See the schedule below for our class's time slot:.

9:00-9:30 Kindergarten

9:00-9:10 Bianco

9:10-9:20 Housholder

9:20-9:30 Ryan

5th grade

9:40-9:50 Arnold

9:50-10:00 Grimmett

10:00-10:10 Krause

10:10-10:20 Fisher

Please email me if you haven't yet and are interested in a pick-up time for school work on Friday, May 22. Available slots are from 9-11am or from 1-3pm. Art projects from Mrs. Hobson will not be available until the beginning of next school year. Families must stay in their cars and wait for help in the bus lane. This will also be a chance for families to drop off library books.

Be on the lookout on Thursday for two very special end of year videos for our class. I'll send a text when I post them on the blog!

Have a great week,

Ms. Fisher (efisher@fusd1.org) 

Dear Families,

Can you believe it's the second to last week of school? I know I can't. What I wild journey these last months have been. Below are a few updated notices and requests from FUSD. I'll be reaching out to individual families this week through email, so keep an eye out on your inboxes.

Fifth Grade End of Year Slide: Be sure to have your fifth grader log into Google Classroom to complete their 5th grade slide. A few students have turned them in and they look great!

Google Classroom Reminder from 3/30:  "Students should be familiar with logging in from past school work: once they've navigated to Google Classroom, they log in with their FUSD email (their 600#@fusd1.org) and their full birthday as their password (ex: 03/23/2020). Please email me if you need help logging in."

Whole Class Zoom: Don't forget to contact Eleni's Mom, Kim Owens, at okhensley@gmail.com if you are interested in getting together for a virtual visit!

Surveys from FUSD: Please take a look at the information below from FUSD and complete the two surveys.

FUSD Update: New Parent Survey 

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. 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.

Take the Parent Survey Today

    Elementary Student Survey (grades 3-5)

Dear Parents/Families,

Now that students have been involved in remote learning for several weeks, the Flagstaff Unified School District and our school is interested in finding out how your students in grades 3-5 are feeling about the experience.  We are administering a survey to gather input from students about the difficulty or ease of completing their learning assignments, whether they have everything they need, and how we might be able to help them more.  

Please help us gather this information by encouraging your student to complete the survey.  You can explain the questions or help them think through their answers if they need help.  Your child’s answers will be confidential.  Thank you for your input.

Estimados padres / familias,

Ahora que los estudiantes han estado involucrados en el aprendizaje remoto durante varias semanas, el Distrito Escolar Unificado de Flagstaff y nuestra escuela están interesados ​​en descubrir cómo se sienten sus estudiantes en los grados 3-5. Estamos administrando una encuesta para recopilar información de los estudiantes sobre la dificultad o la facilidad de completar sus tareas de aprendizaje, si tienen todo lo que necesitan y cómo podríamos ayudarlos más.

Ayúdenos a recopilar esta información alentando a su estudiante a completar la encuesta. Puede explicar las preguntas o ayudarles a pensar sus respuestas si necesitan ayuda. Las respuestas de su hijo serán confidenciales. Gracias por su aporte.

Link to Elementary Student (grades 3-5) survey:

https://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/134502/p1502

FUSD Learning HUB Link: www.fusd1.org/digitalhub 

Dear Families,

Celebrate the Fifth Graders of 2020!
The other fifth grade teachers and I have been looking for a way to celebrate the fifth graders. We know this is a tough transition, even without getting to say "goodbye" to their elementary school and friends. To help celebrate this transition, we would love to create a digital "yearbook" for the fifth graders. We are asking each fifth grader to create a Google slide that represents who they are. They must include their name, but beyond that what they include is up to them.

They might want to include favorite quotes, pictures, words, and of course pictures of themselves. We all love a good baby picture! It's really up to them! There is a template in the classwork section of Google Classroom (along with their new classwork for the week) that they can click on and create from there. I've also included a sample for students to peek at that I'm sharing above. You are more than welcome to help them in this project, but ultimately it is up to them; we don't want extra work for families! We plan on sharing this on Marshall's and FUSD's websites and possibly Facebook pages, so please let me know if you aren't comfortable with your child's slide being shared in the slide show. Please reach out if you or your child needs help!

Virtual Kindness Assembly
In other news, Marshall will be holding a virtual assembly this Friday at 9:00. Students and families are invited to watch teachers present the final THINK awards with the kindness award. For anyone not available to participate, the presentations will be recorded and able to be viewed later. We aren't sure how it's going to go, but we're going to give it a shot! Mrs. Reasor will be sharing a phone call with more information about how to log on and view the "assembly."

Last Day of School
Finally, as you hopefully heard from FUSD's connect ed call last week, the Governing Board passed the school calendar change. This change makes this week a full week of "school," putting our last official day of class on May 22. We are still awaiting news on how the school plans to distribute student supplies and how teachers will be closing up their classrooms.

Whole Class Zoom
Don't forget to contact Eleni's Mom, Kim Owens, at okhensley@gmail.com if you are interested in getting together for a virtual visit!

FUSD Learning HUB Link: www.fusd1.org/digitalhub 

Google Classroom Reminder from 3/30:  "Students should be familiar with logging in from past school work: once they've navigated to Google Classroom, they log in with their FUSD email (their 600#@fusd1.org) and their full birthday as their password (ex: 03/23/2020). Please email me if you need help logging in."

Dear Families,

Sorry for the day late blog post. My internet has been very spotty the last several days. It has been a technology battle at my house. I hope you all are well and safe. New classwork was posted in our Google Classroom yesterday. It includes review and practice on adding and subtracting decimals as well as work on the Civil War.

END OF YEAR NEWS:

School Supplies: It seems as though there will be news coming this week or next about school clean up and access to the Marshall building. Decisions will be made once FUSD leaders hear from Doug Ducey. Once I know how students can access their supplies, I'll be in touch.

End of Year Grades/Transition Reminder: Per FUSD's announcement to families last month, all students will be transitioning to their next grade level. Additionally, no student's grades will be lowered this final quarter. Students wishing for the opportunity to increase their grades should continue completing the work provided through our Google Classroom. Otherwise, all grades will remain the same as the third quarter.

End of Year Calendar: The governing board will be voting tonight on the end of year calendar. Either we will be finishing according to our current calendar or eliminating the snow make-up days next week and our final day of school will be May 22. Expect to hear news from FUSD this week. See the links below from Mrs. Reasor if you're interested in "joining" the meeting tonight.

5:30pm Governing Board Meeting Today

To observe the meeting, the public can access the meeting via the FUSD Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo pages. Links to these platforms are below.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/FUSD1

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FlagstaffUSD1

Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/fusd1

Please email me with questions or if you'd like to set up a virtual meeting.

Best wishes,

Ms. Fisher

Dear Families,

Happy Monday. I know that each family is going through something different right now, but whatever your situation, I hope you had a safe and comforting weekend.

New "classwork" is up for this week on Google Classroom, as well as some other opportunities on FUSD's learning HUB. In social studies, we'll keep going with the Oregon Trail Diary and learn a little bit about how Native people were impacted by the expansion of America in the 1800s. Next week, we'll be switching our focus to the Civil War. Students have the opportunity to review adding and subtracting fractions in math as well as several STEAM activities in science. In ELA there is a Nearpod review on figurative language in poetry and some first hand accounts of what The Trail of Tears was like for two different Native American families.

One of our families is hoping to organize some virtual/video hangouts with students in our class. For anyone interested, please email Kim Owens at okhensley@gmail.com. 

Best wishes for another healthy and successful week,
Ms. Fisher
efisher@fusd1.org

P.S. Here are some "old" pictures from our ski trip, Lowell Observatory, and a science lab. Enjoy:-)

FUSD Learning HUB Link: www.fusd1.org/digitalhub 

Google Classroom Reminder from 3/30:  "Students should be familiar with logging in from past school work: once they've navigated to Google Classroom, they log in with their FUSD email (their 600#@fusd1.org) and their full birthday as their password (ex: 03/23/2020). Please email me if you need help logging in."

Dear Families,

Thanks for stopping in this Monday. There's not much new information coming from FUSD at the moment. I hope you all were able to stay safe and comfortable this past weekend. My kids were able to hunt for some Easter eggs in our house yesterday, and then they ate way too much candy. We're already feeling a little cooped up after only one day of rain! I'm looking forward to some warm weather to make it a little easier to get outside without all of the bundling up!

Take a peek at Google Classroom this week. Along with new academic opportunities, there are daily challenges and chances for classmates to interact. Unfortunately, we were officially given notice that no video chatting is allowed in more than a one teacher to one student/family ratio. Please let me know if you would be interested in a face to face chat, or if your child would like a chat with me for emotional or academic support. I know this is disappointing to many of the kids. While I'm not allowed to run these video forums, many families I know are setting up these types of meeting for their own kids and friends.

Don't forget that students have continued access to all past weeks of Google Classroom activities as well as other grade level resources in FUSD's learning HUB. As I have mentioned and will continue to mention, don't hesitate to contact me for any kind of help or with
suggestions for our Google Classroom!

Best wishes for another healthy and successful week,

Ms. Fisher
efisher@fusd1.org

FUSD Learning HUB Link:
www.fusd1.org/digitalhub 

Google Classroom Reminder from 3/30:  "Students should be familiar with logging in from past school work: once they've navigated to Google Classroom, they log in with their FUSD email (their 600#@fusd1.org) and their full birthday as their password (ex: 03/23/2020). Please email me if you need help logging in."

Dear Families,

Welcome to another week of remote learning. I hope you all are well and hanging in there. I'm so happy to have spent a weekend with my kids playing outside. We needed it!

New material is posted to our Google Classroom for this week, including some great art ideas from Ms. Hobson! Students are welcome to work at their own pace and simply pop in to have some chats with their classmates or say hello! All past weeks of work are available for students to work on, even if that week has already passed. Additionally, FUSD has added specific grade level resources to the learning HUB. If students would like work outside of our regular Google Classroom this is a great resource. Similar to our Google Classroom, this work is available to you for the needs specific to your family, but is not required. I'm on Classroom several times in the morning and several times in the afternoon to answer questions, or students may email me if they'd like more private help.


Google Classroom Reminder from 3/30:  "Students should be familiar with logging in from past school work: once they've navigated to Google Classroom, they log in with their FUSD email (their 600#@fusd1.org) and their full birthday as their password (ex: 03/23/2020). Please email me if you need help logging in."

Don't hesitate to contact me for help or with suggestions for our Google Classroom.
Best wishes for a healthy and successful week,

Ms. Fisher
efisher@fusd1.org

FUSD Learning HUB Link:   www.fusd1.org/digitalhub 

Dear Families,

Hopefully you and your child have been able to get onto our class's Google Classroom. Please remember that the work posted is not a requirement at this time, but hopefully is a useful resource as we navigate the transition to remote learning. Students should be familiar with logging in from past school work: once they've navigated to Google Classroom, they log in with their FUSD email (their 600#@fusd1.org) and their full birthday as their password (ex: 03/23/2020). Please email me if you need help logging in.

 Students are welcome to complete week from last week as well as this week, even though it might be past the due date on the assignment. Besides academics, some students are using our Google Classroom for other resources I've posted. Many are using this online classroom as a way to interact with their classmates with some friendly messages. It's a great way to stay connected!

As far as other resources go, FUSD has compiled quite a few online resources through what they are calling The HUB (see the link below). This is another great place to look for learning opportunities. Beyond that, FUSD is still working on a plan for long term remote learning. Once I'm aware of what the plan is I will pass that information along to you. Thank you for your patience.

Don't hesitate to reach out with questions or concerns. I'm here not only for your kids, but for you as well.

Best wishes for a healthy and successful week,
Ms. Fisher

FUSD Learning HUB Link:   www.fusd1.org/digitalhub 

Hello all,

Hopefully you're here because you were able to receive texts from me through the "Remind" app I set up on my phone. If not and you want access or another phone number added, send me an email (efisher@fusd1.org) and I'll work on it. I'm new to using this texting system, so thanks for your patience as I muddle through this all! Please email me or send me a message through the app if things aren't quite working or you have suggestions. As the app is a one way system, I am unable to receive texts.

As a mom, I'm feeling like any sense of normal would be great. Since we can't have our regular routines though, I know some of you are probably like me and are looking for resources to keep your kids busy and to get into a routine. Even when school "starts" after spring break, my kids will still be playing a lot, snacking a lot, and watching shows. My plan is to throw some learning "things" into the mix for all of our sanity, but I'm a realist and have an idea of how it's really going to go. It's a lot to ask any of us to sit and work all day when things are so out of our normal. Regardless of how it looks at any of our houses, I know we're all doing our best for our families and that looks different for everyone.

I've set up some work and other links in each student's Google Classroom account. Because we aren't mandated to have "school work" prepared for the week of March 23 and none of us are sure what the expectation will be as a district yet following that, I'm looking at this coming week as a trial run. Hopefully the practice and links will help families get into a rhythm if they want. It will also help me answer some questions: Do passwords work? Do links work? Who doesn't have the best internet? What sort of devices are people working with or are families sharing a cell phone for work? Basically, how can we adjust things to make them work?

Students should be familiar with how to log into Google classroom, but attached is a quick tutorial for it. Students login with their FUSD email (their 600#@fusd1.org) and their full birthday as their password (ex: 03/23/2020). Please know that if this "school" work is a stressor for you, I whole heartedly hope you do what's right for you and your kid. If you want to listen to a podcast and not answer questions that ok! If you want to have them just read and let me know what they're reading, great! Take care of yourselves and be in touch as needed!

Ms. Fisher

(efisher@fusd1.org)

Quick Google Classroom Tutorial