Mrs. Moran's Sunshine Class

Dear Holaway families,
As many of you may already know, I will not be returning to Holaway as the lead teacher of the Sunshine class. This was the hardest professional decision of my life. I will be supporting special education teachers across our Amphitheater School District. This is something that is much needed in the district, and I am excited to be a part of the positive progress we will make. I am only qualified for this move because of Holaway. Everything I am taking to support these teachers I learned from each and every one of my students who spent any amount of time, in the last ten years, as a student in the sunshine room. The remarkable team I have had the honor to work alongside, which include my phenomenal paraprofessionals, dedicated service providers and SPED teammates, collaborative general education teachers, our amazing social worker and supportive administration, all gave me every bit of insight to take on this challenging role. There are no words to describe how much I will miss my students. Your children have been an irreplaceable gift in my life and I can’t thank you enough for entrusting me with their education. I hope to see you at family events as I will remain a parent of Holaway. Go Get’m Coyotes!
All my love,
Mrs. Moran

Field Day 2019

Our Taco Party was a tasty success. It was wonderful to see several families come out to support their child while enjoying some food and fun. The students in Ms. Cummins and the Sunshine class had a big task during the event: to order tacos for themselves and their family members. These students have worked hard learning and applying all the vocabulary, sentence structure, and delivery of these language and social skills. This event was only possible because of Ms. Rigel, our amazing Speech Pathologist! An enormous thank you to Mr. G for his continual support, the incredible women in the cafeteria for preparing all the food, Anthony for the tables/chairs and Ms. Katz (our Occupational
Therapist), Ms. Cappy (our Social Worker), and Coach Gina for coming by to give some love!

Butterflies! Butterflies! Butterflies! The students were in awe watching our tiny caterpillars transform. They helped Mrs. French prep them to finally fly off into nature. We learned about the life cycle and did several projects including making clay butterflies with Mrs. Rudd in art class!

Apologies for the tardiness of our post. We recently had the opportunity to experience two incredible field trips to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and the Reid Park Zoo with our Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade friends. We had an absolute blast and are grateful for these hands on and authentic learning experiences!

Ladybugs have taken over the Sunshine class. We were able to observe the entire life cycle of these garden friendly insects. Our class has been reading books, writing, and even adding/subtracting with ladybugs. The best part was watching them fly or crawl away as we released them into nature!

Spring has sprung around us at Holaway! The Sunshine class has been learning about what this season brings. During reading centers, Mrs. French had each group go out to make observations of the garden we share with 3rd grade. They discovered that the neighborhood bunnies have made tunnels to feast on our beautiful flowers. Each group discussed what they saw then wrote in their journals to document their experiences

The Sunshine class has some hard working kids. Can’t wait to see them all tomorrow morning for more learning!

Sunshine students gave their best for our Healthy Heart day event last Wednesday! Here are a few photos of the fun❤️

The Tucson Botanical Gardens was an incredible experience! Thank you to Ms. Smith and Mrs. Knight for inviting us on this fun and educational adventure.

We had an absolute blast this morning in Mrs. Wilkins room where she, Mrs. Brunswick and Ms. Rose set up an incredible valentine center celebration! We had the pleasure of working with some of our second grade friends from Mrs. Knights and Ms. Smiths room. Thank you to Ms. Rose who planned these exciting, hands on, literacy, sensory and motor building activities! Thank you to Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Brunswick for inviting us and encouraging authentic interactions with our students! Happy Valentine’s Day❤️

Happy Lunar New Year from the Sunshine class! Today the kids read and discussed the new year traditions of Mrs. Moran’s Vietnamese heritage. We made lucky red envelopes, counted money, and tried writing in Chinese. Wishing all of our family and friends happiness and good health for the year of the pig! Chúc mừng năm mới!