The first part of this week's update is dedicated to the overwhelming support given for Étude and its students this past Monday. Your presence at the Exhibition is enough. The ear-to-ear smiles and supportive applause are worth all the stress and hard work that happens up to that point. I speak for the whole staff when I say that your support for Étude's mission is highly appreciated. Thank you for taking the opportunity to support your child and witness their shining moment in the spotlight.

Taking place this week are Presentations of Learning. Students spent time last week gathering their artifacts to share. They are ready to go and I look forward to seeing you there! These student-led conferences provide an opportunity for celebration! Your child gets to be the center of attention and present their schoolwork. This is yet another aspect of our school that prepares children for their bright futures!

PoL's are mandatory for each student. Immediate and extended family members are welcome but at least one adult must be present. Arrive on time so that your child has their maximum time of 25 minutes to present. During the PoL, please allow your child to present and lead the conversation. Questions are always welcome. There will be time at the end to discuss anything else that is still on your mind.

Following the Presentation of Learning, you will be sent home with a special home learning task related to the next trimester. It involves helping your child draw and cut 5 body tracings on life size pieces of butcher paper. Here are the directions that will be sent home with the giant papers:

Over the coming months, 1st Grade will be creating life-size body books that show each system of the human body. In order to save lots of time, we are asking that you trace and cut out your child’s body on each sheet of butcher paper (2 white, 3 brown). 

Here are some things to keep in mind as you cut:

• Lay flat on back with arms and legs down. These will be glued to a 5 ft by 2 ft cardboard slab so the arms and legs can’t be too far away from the body.

• If your child has long hair, put it up to avoid tracing a big head.

• It will help if you clearly trace the ears.

• Trace the feet pointing down rather than out. 

One of the white pieces of paper can be drawn on and colored at home. This will be the cover of your child’s body book and should include clothes as well as eyes, mouth, hair, etc. The cover does not have to come back by the due date like the other 4 sheets (3 brown, 1 white).

These need to be returned by Tuesday, December 9th. If you are done earlier than the due date, please send them back to school! Good luck and reach out to me if you have any questions!

Home Learning

• Reading at least 5 minutes a day

• Trace and Cut Body Outlines due on December 9th

 Important Upcoming Dates

• December 20th - January 4th, Winter Break

• January 5th, School Resumes

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin

This past week has been the most chaotic so far but also the most rewarding! Students have been working very hard to both create a project that shows their research and practice presenting it with a group. The collaboration from each group has been exciting to watch.  I can't wait for you all to witness the culmination of all their hard work.

The Exhibition of Learning is tomorrow, November 17th from 9am-9:45! Make sure your child wears their tie dye shirt! Our class will be presenting in the gym in front of an audience that hopefully includes you and your family! Upon arrival, please enter through the cafeteria doors on the Pigeon River side of the building. Entering close to the gym rather than the Étude entrance will help limit the interruptions to Pigeon River Elementary classrooms. Please be aware that another EoL will go going on in the cafeteria, so enter the building quietly. Try to arrive at least 5 minutes early as it will begin as close to 9:00 am as possible. Photos and videos are allowed during the EoL. While attending, we encourage you to wait until after the EoL to greet your child. Waves and smiles are welcome but students are encouraged to stay focused during their performances and presentations. A portion of the exhibition will be seated as students perform music and movement pieces. The hands-on portion will include a gallery walk in which students present their research projects about their chosen topic. This is what they have researched and become an "expert" on. Listen carefully then ask them questions and you might learn something new! All the students will be so eager to share their research projects with you! You might be blown away with the facts they share!

A final note about the EoL is that you may want to have your 1st grade child attend a siblings EoL. If you are taking your 1st grader to watch a another EoL, I ask that you email me or talk to me ahead of time. 

The class will be very busy throughout the remainder of the week to prepare for Presentations of Learning. PoL's are taking place in person on the following Monday and Tuesday. For PoL's, both immediate and extended family are welcome to be there to listen and support your child's learning.  This week, students will be properly shown how a PoL works. It is an honest representation of a student as a learner. This will include both celebrations of growth and truthful admission of struggles through the sharing of artifacts they select themselves. Acknowledging your strengths and flaws is a vital step in growth as a human being. I look forward to seeing you all next week to have these conversations with your child!

Keep in mind we do not have school this Friday!

Home Learning

• Reading at least 5 minutes a day

 Important Upcoming Dates

• November 24th, Early Release at Noon for Presentations of Learning from 12:30-6pm

• November 25th, No School for Presentations of Learning from 8:30am-3pm

• November 26th/27th/28th, No School for Thanksgiving Break

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin

The EoL is just a week away! This means that for the past week our PBL unit has taken on a very serious note. Everything we do will be tied back to our essential question "Why do we need to understand that the Earth is unique?" Students worked hard last week to ask questions, research, write a story, and plan their project which will be shared on the 17th. Once the research was complete, each group collaborated to form a plan of how to show that research. We have much to do this week in terms of creating, scripting, and presenting. The class will learn how to appropriately address an audience with good posture and eye contact. These next few weeks of school are providing rare learning opportunities. Teaching this preparation,  composure, and reflection is how Étude stands apart in providing students with valuable life skills that will help them in the future. Collaboration is also a huge part of this process. Combining different ideas within a group, splitting up work evenly, and using feedback to improve an idea are tough for any person regardless of age. It will test each students work habits as they must create some sort of project to show their research. The ultimate result of this collaboration will be on display during the climax of the trimester: the Exhibition of Learning.

Our class will be presenting at 9am in the gym in front of an audience that hopefully includes you and your family! An awestruck audience proves to your child that all they do in school is valued and purposeful. These are the moments that make a significant impact on your child's perspective of learning. Bring your family and friends next Monday to share in those special moments. I truly hope that everyone can attend in support of all Étude students. 

On the heels of the EoL will be Presentations of Learning. These are Étude's version of parent-teacher conferences. PoL signup has been in Skyward for the last week. Presentations of Learning are mandatory for all Étude students. Log in and select a time for your student to present their learning in front of their family! 

The ultimate purpose of school is growth. Each day, students are learning so much more than just reading and math skills. We spend loads of time focusing on forming good habits. These habits cover so many topics: using the right volume, sitting up at the carpet, being nice, keeping hands to self, et cetera. Every class has its own unique struggles. Our class focuses on one of these struggles each day and try their best to fix it not just as an individual but as a class. This is our daily class commitment. Much like the research projects, it takes collaboration to become better as both individuals and a group.

Home Learning

• Reading at least 5 minutes a day

• Red Math Journal pages 29-37 due 11/14

 Important Upcoming Dates

• November 13th, Picture Retake Day

• November 17th, 1st Grade Exhibition of Learning at 9am in the Gym

• November 21st, No School

• November 24th, Early Release at Noon for Presentations of Learning from 12:30-6pm

• November 25th, No School for Presentations of Learning from 8:30am-3pm

• November 26th/27th/28th, No School for Thanksgiving Break

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin

Thank you so much to all the helpers who came in last Tuesday. Enjoy a sneak peak at some of the amazing designs based on our solar system. Shirts will be sent home soon! All students will wear their shirts for the official reveal during the 1st grade Exhibition of Learning on November 17th at 9am! Set your calendars and plan to be in attendance for that event! Both 1st grade classes will be performing together where you will witness the hard work, creativity, and learning that has been happening at Étude. Bring your families and friends! I hope to see you all there!

Quickly following the EoL, Presentations of Learning will take place on November 24th and 25th. While the EoL involves everyone from the class, a PoL is conducted by your child for just their family and teacher. This student-centered presentation is a time to showcase all they have learned during the trimester. Through the sharing of academic artifacts, this will include a reflection of how your child has struggled, grown, and plans to grow. Sign up is now open in Skyward! Because of the EoL and PoL, students gain an enormous understanding of why learning is important thanks in part to your attendance and support.

We're reached the point of the trimester when things get exciting around Étude. This week, classroom learning will take a turn towards conducting research and collaborating with a group. While we have spent months learning about the solar system, students have selected a topic they are interesting in learning even more about. 1st graders will work with their group to find answers to questions and create a way to present their research for the Exhibition of Learning. They will also create a short, fictional story that includes facts about their chosen topic. All of this will be on display on November 17th!

Home Learning

• Reading at least 5 minutes a day

 Important Upcoming Dates

• November 13th, Picture Retake Day

• November 17th, 1st Grade Exhibition of Learning at 9am in the Gym

• November 21st, No School

• November 24th, Early Release at Noon for Presentations of Learning from 12:30-6pm

• November 25th, No School for Presentations of Learning from 8:30am-3pm

• November 26th/27th/28th, No School for Thanksgiving Break

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin

Goodbye Jupiter and Saturn! Here we come Uranus and Neptune! While I would love to spend a whole week on each planet and dive deep into detail, the EoL is speeding towards us on November 17th. The final planets will be covered this week as we continue our search for places that might have water, air, soil, and heat. These ice giants each boast their own interesting moons and rings among other facts. Following this, our class will immediately begin prepping for the Exhibition of Learning. This will involve collaborating with their group to research their subject before planning and creating a group project. Étude students are sure to be busy in the coming weeks!

Tuesday is the big day for tie dying! Bring in a white shirt for your child before then. It isn't too late to volunteer for this event! Use this document to sign up for tie dye volunteering. A background check is required to volunteer.

Don't forget that it's spirit week! Your child may participate by dressing differently each day. I have included the days on the weekly schedule above, but you can find the entire poster with descriptions by scrolling down to last week's update.

Last week, 1st graders worked together to create a class quilt. You can see this quilt displayed in the picture above Funny enough, it was not just an art project but the result of several math lessons. The whole process began with sea stars which the general public now incorrectly calls starfish. It might be shocking to learn but their name has been changed to sea stars because they are not fish. All fish have a brain and backbone but a sea star has neither. Anyways, sea stars are a perfect way to learn how to count by 5's. To create the quilt, each student cut and glued their own block pattern as well as coloring their own sea star. The class then laid their squares down in a pattern to reveal a crisp-looking quilt. It was then all about counting rows of 5 as well as counting the legs of 19 sea stars all the way to 95! Learning these faster ways to count forms a strong base for these young mathematicians to grow.

Thank you for taking the time to read these updates each week. I hope they are helpful to you! You doing this is a sign that you care for your child enough to sacrifice a few minutes of your day to be involved with their schooling. It may seem minimal and it's easy to shrug it off and think to yourself "It's no big deal. I can't be the only one. It's what any parent would do!" The time you are sacrificing matters and makes a world of difference. Take a second to acknowledge how you are helping your child and give yourself some credit. Your child and teacher appreciate the effort you put forth!

Home Learning

• Reading at least 5 minutes a day

• Bring a white t-shirt for tie dying!

• Red Math Journal pages 23-28 due 10/31

 Important Upcoming Dates

• November 13th, Picture Retake Day

• November 17th, Exhibition of Learning

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin

It is difficult to believe that our class has been together for a month and a half. That's half a year on the planet Mercury! This week in 1st grade, the inner planets are behind us as we say hello to the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn! While the planets themselves are not solid enough to explore, the special moons that orbit them will draw our attention. Thanks to recent discoveries, some of these moons show strong evidence of liquid oceans under the surface. One exciting moon, Titan, boasts it's own thick atmosphere. Students will discover much about the composition of these gas giant as well as their incredibly unique moons and rings. Will we find any other places suitable for life?

Save the date for our Exhibition of Learning on November 17th. The exact time will be released soon. On that day, you will witness the climax of this 1st grade unit where your child will share Movement, Music, Art, and project pieces based on the essential question "Why do we need to understand that the Earth is unique?" I hope to see you all in-person for the 1st grade Exhibition of Learning.

Tie dying is next Tuesday! You will need to bring in a white shirt for your child this week. Use this document to sign up for tie dye volunteering! A background check is required.

There is no library this week since we don't have school on Friday.

The following week of October 28th is spirit week! Some 4th and 5th grade students picked out a fun theme for each day of that week. You can find those themes above next to the photos. If you have questions, let me know. Participate if you wish!

Home Learning

• Reading at least 5 minutes a day

• Bring a white t-shirt for tie dying!

 Important Upcoming Dates

• October 27th, No School

• October 28th, Tie dying from 8:30-11am

• November 13th, Picture Retake Day

• November 17th, Exhibition of Learning

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin

This past week, we began an exciting planetary journey through our solar system. These in depth dives into each planet include a deluge of facts, a scientific drawing, and checking for vital characteristics that support life. The inner planets consist of Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Our class will take a look at temperature, revolution and other facts that make each planet unique in their own way. Do you think you could survive on any of these inner planets? Like Earth, do any of these places have air, water, soil,  or the right amount of heat? 1st graders will know these answers soon enough! This week will also see our PBL journey continue past the asteroid belt and into the outer planets.

Each day the class meets in number corner to discuss topics such as days in school, creating a collection, expressing data on a graph, and finding patterns. Our October collection is comprised of shapes including the triangle, rhombus, trapezoid, and hexagon. Number corner is an engaging and ever-present part of how we learn math. This month's pattern is far from the predictable September cards meaning that math should begin to challenge and draw interest from students.

Math lessons have been focusing on adding fluency. Lots of our activities have included dominos which allow students to practice adding strategies. Rather than counting each dot 1 by 1, the class has been working on faster strategies such as counting on from the bigger number or using doubles facts. These connections are also made at home in the red math journals. In math class, we created double flap cards to quiz each other as you can see in the photos above. They were encouraged to bring these cards home and quiz family members. I hope that happened! Students are working on building a strong base of adding strategies which will allow for problem solving in future math lessons.

Tie dying is coming up! You will need to bring in a white shirt for you child in the next 2 weeks. I previously shared the document for volunteering without the ability to edit. That should be fixed now so you can add your name. Use this document to sign up for tie dye volunteering! A background check is required.

Don't forget picture day is this Wednesday! 

It's a new week so bring your library book back by Friday in order to check out a new book.

Home Learning

• Reading 5 minutes a day

• Pages 11-18 in the Red Math Journal due 10/17

 Important Upcoming Dates

• October 24th, No School

• October 27th, No School

• October 28th, Tie dying from 8:30-11am

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin

PBL this week will be out of this world! Finally, our conversations and learning will be about other planets. This will begin with the inner planets of Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Earth is also one of the inner planets but we have already spent so much time discussing our very special planet. Now it's time to leave Earth and search for other places that could support life. Will any of these planets have air, water, soil, or the right amount of heat? Mercury was our first stop on our journey through the other planets. We spent a day looking at books and videos to fill out information in research journals. Did you know that Mercury has ancient water ice hidden deep within craters that never see the sunlight? Then students made a scientific drawing of the planet. Finally, the class helped create a realistic fiction story taking place on Mercury. We will follow this same format for each planet so that students will gain a deep understanding of each planet and how it compares to Earth.

1st graders were introduced to a fun app called AR Kid Space. A robot buddy leads you through some activities and looks like they are right in the room with you! Look above for some photos of this iPad exploration.

Nice job working on the red home learning journals! Math in 1st grade includes loads of opportunities for student-led discussion. It is so important for kids to develop a healthy relationship with math early in life. Nowadays math is taught in a way that empowers students and allows them to creatively find a way to the correct answer. Very often in our classroom you will hear students explaining or writing down their math thinking. These opportunities allow students to slowly grow comfortable with math concepts which create the base for what they will build upon in the future.

Math at Étude consists of 3 parts: number corner, daily math lessons, and work places. While it doesn't happen every day, a vital part of our math curriculum is work places. Think of work places like math games that are directly related to daily math lessons. Students learn the special rules of these games then freely move about the room to complete each one. Some work places may involve partners as you see in the pictures above. Home learning this coming Friday will include a work place that your child is familiar with, which coin will win? Enjoy playing this at home and keep making math connections with your child!

Our class will be tie dying shirts on Tuesday, October 28th and we will need all the help we can get! From 8:30-11, all 1st graders will be creating a one-of-a-kind shirt that captures their topic of choice in the solar system. Whether you have tie dyed before or not, I welcome you to join us on that day for an unforgettable integrated art project. Consider volunteering for an hour or the whole time. Please use this sign up sheet if you plan to attend!

Home Learning

• Reading 5 minutes a day

 Important Upcoming Dates

• October 15th, Picture Day

• October 24th, No School

• October 27th, No School

• October 28th, Tie dying from 8:30-11am

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin

1st graders are getting closer to exploring other planets! Before beginning this massive adventure, we will answer a couple of questions: what else is in the universe and what tools do scientists use to learn about places we've never been? This will lead us into discussions about space telescopes, rovers, and much more!

Red home learning journals were sent home this past Friday. Keep working with your child through the questions to help them build upon the math skills they are learning at school. We have been working hard on memorizing what numbers add up to make 10. 1st graders have also been exploring how to estimate length before measuring.  An estimation is simply defined as a good, well-thought-out guess. We have measured with popsicle sticks and unifix cubes. Enjoy some pictures of students working together to estimate and measure different classroom objects! 

An exciting part of our week included students creating classroom jobs. This allows them to take responsibility around school. These jobs rotate each day so everyone gets a turn to do the different jobs. Some class jobs they came up with include a line leader, greeter, captain quiet , tablet helpers, door holders, etc. Those jobs started last week and have been going well so far!

Students have had the exciting opportunity to enjoy art class this year! Mrs. Held provides some unique, messy, and wholesome experiences for the kids to explore art through different mediums. The student-made creations will be on display at the Exhibition of Learning coming up in November.

The final thing I'll say this week is about an exciting volunteer opportunity.  Our class will be tie dying shirts on Tuesday, October 28th and we will need all the help we can get! From 8:30-11, all 1st graders will be creating a one-of-a-kind shirt that captures their topic of choice in the solar system. Whether you have tie dyed before or not, I welcome you to join us on that day for an unforgettable integrated art project. Please use this sign up sheet if you plan to attend!

Home Learning

• Reading 5 minutes a day

• Pages 7-10 in the Red Math Journal due 10-3

 Important Upcoming Dates

• October 15th, Picture Day

• October 24th, No School

• October 27th, No School

• October 28th, Tie dying from 8:30-11am

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin

Our PBL unit will tilt towards physics concepts: rotation and revolution. Rotation refers to the Earth spinning around on its axis. Revolution refers to when Earth orbits or circles around the sun. This will launch us into discussions about how these movements affect us directly through weather patterns and seasons. These are pretty incredible things to be talking about in 1st grade!

Completed or not, make sure the home learning binder is brought back to school this Monday so we can have class discussions about what was sent home.

Since the first week of school, students have been practicing their literacy skills through various activities such as Heggerty phonics, Lexia on the iPads, handwriting practice, hunting for phonics patterns, and reading games. 1st graders will soon put all those things together as the 1st grade classes merge during literacy time. During this litreracy switch, some students may be swapping classrooms if they are part of Mrs. Shimenettos's reading group. Either way, all 1st graders will be engaged in literacy activities and rotating through 4 activities each day. This heavy daily exposure allows students to grow in their reading skills at their own level. Mrs. Shimenetto and I plan to begin these rotations in the next couple weeks to help your child's reading skills take off!

With that being said, reading outside of school is vital to your child's academic development. Each week if not every day, make a point to set aside some time for reading. This could be reading a book to your child before bed or independent reading time if your child is ready for it. Any form of reading will help connect what they are learning at school to the real world outside of school. So even on weeks that home learning binders are not due, read with your child!

We will not have library this week since school is not in session on Friday.

The final piece of information this week is from our secretary, Mrs. Madajewski. 1 in 4 school-aged children has a vision problem, and it is not always easy to detect. Sometimes children have trouble seeing and don’t even realize they are seeing the world differently than others. Healthy vision is important for learning and success in school. For most children, 80% of learning happens visually. Vision problems can make it hard for children to read and learn, and unfortunately, many fall behind in school or show behavioral problems. To make sure your child is vision ready for success in school, we have scheduled a vision screening for students in 1st, 3rd and 5th grade at E’tude Elementary School.  If your child wears glasses, please make sure they bring them to school on this day.

If your child does not pass the screening, we will send a letter home asking that you schedule a complete eye exam for your child. If no concerns are detected, you will not receive a letter. If you have any questions or concerns about the vision screening, please contact your school nurse.

Home Learning

• Reading 5 minutes a day

 Important Upcoming Dates

• October 15th, Picture Day

• October 24th, No School

• October 27th, No School

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin

As we head into Week 3, academics will begin to surge forward while we figure out some final classroom culture pieces. PBL will finally begin to take shape as we dive into solar system learning. The ultimate goal is for students to discover the answer to our essential question: Why do we need to understand that the Earth is unique? Beyond this discovery are worlds of facts and information to uncover! Some students requested that I send home the link to a states of matter website they did on their iPads. Here it is! You can manipulate the temperature to see how molecules act when in a state of solid, liquid, or gas. Since students should now have an understanding of solids, liquids, and gases we will begin exploring our solar system. This will start with Earth, our moon, and the sun. What is the sun made of? Is it a solid, liquid or gas? Does Earth's surface have more water or land? In addition to that, students will learn about the importance of our star which gives us heat and light to survive. The sun puts the solar in solar system! Our research then takes us to our planet which allows us to survive for several reasons. Figuring out these reasons will be of utmost importance not just for this week but for the remainder of the trimester!

In the past week, the class worked together to create class expectations. This is another key part of what makes Étude unique. Rather than the teacher telling students strict rules of what they can and cannot do at school, students generated a list of rules that will help us (and other classes) achieve our hopes and dreams. Students then sort the ideas to find connected categories that ultimately result in a list of class expectations. Now the students have a personal connection to the expectations and are more willing to follow and enforce them. 

Our first trip to the school library was this past Friday. Each Friday, our class will visit and get the chance to check out a new book. Return the book by Friday morning for the chance to get a new one each week!

From just the first 2 weeks of school, I can already tell that this group of students strongly engages with math in the classroom.Students have worked together to solve a problem about having enough twin pops for everyone as well as voting on favorite flavors of popsicles. These math opportunities provide a time for students to solve hands-on problems together and explain their math thinking to others. I also want to state that every single day we take part in a math session called number corner. I don't include this in the weekly plan because it is a daily occurrence. Number corner varies every month as we learn different math skills such as graphing, counting money, adding/subtracting, searching for patterns, symmetry, telling time, and so much more! It is a part of our daily routine that pushes students thinking forward in a profound way that connects with the other math lessons being taught. 

Students will now take math home with them! Home learning was sent home last Friday and is due this coming Friday. Refer to the Friday email for in-depth directions. In addition to math home learning, I encourage all families to incorporate 5 - 10 minutes of reading into your daily routine. This could mean your child reading independently, reading with them, or reading to them before bedtime. Any positive exposure to reading will help your child tremendously!

I have made the students aware that I will not be at school this coming Friday meaning there will be a guest teacher. I will do as much as I can on Thursday to prepare the class for my absence. The hardest thing for students is that the guest teacher will do things differently and that's okay. I talk with them about being patient and helpful when the teacher asks for help. It is also helpful for you to have a conversation with your child before Friday about proper behavior at school. This will not only ease my anxiety but allow the guest teacher to be their best! Thank you!

Home Learning

• Reading 5 minutes a day

• Pages 1-6 in Red Math Journal due 9/19

 Important Upcoming Dates

• September 26th, No School

• October 15th, Picture Day

• October 24th, No School

• October 27th, No School

Best Wishes,

Mr. McLaughlin