Reason 86382636 why I don’t accept “learning loss” as a concept this year. My first graders are now leading morning meetings. Navigating slides, multiple screens, and virtual and in person classmates.

Art with Ms. McNeil! These kiddos have been researching for weeks on world leaders for their EOY project. Today, we learned the grid drawing technique as we drew portraits of our leader. “Ms. McNeil—is your dad an art teacher or something?!” Why yes he is👏👏 Big Mama

On March 12th, 2020–I taught my last “in person” lesson to these kids. After a year and a half of hard work and perseverance, these kiddos are now middle schoolers! I am so proud of them and how they’ve grown. So happy they stopped by before graduation. ❤️😭 Providence Panthers

The first busses have rolled in, teachers are ready, and students are finding their way to classes. So happy to start a new school year. #FCPSReturningStrong #firstdayfairfax City of Fairfax Schools FCPS Region5 #excitement #firstdayofschool

First week of school ✔️ Students worked together to design a boat that could hold the most grams, solved puzzles to “breakout,” and came up with a game plan to “save” the gummy worm, Fred, from being lost at sea. We are ready for week 2!

Engineers from Ms. McNeil 5th grade class are back in full force in our STEAM Lab, working collaboratively to create a structure that can withstand an earthquake. FCPS STEAM Providence Panthers #fcpsPoG #Engineering #innovation

Publishing Day! Students presented their culture books and their, “Where I Am From” poems. We are learning to be proud of our identities and to also appreciate the similarities and differences of our classmates’ cultures!

"Look at the services provided...when we look at those, don't look at them through the lens of the narrative that is disconnected from the cultural reference point of the group we're talking about...cultural competency is IMPORTANT." -Dr. Lisa Williams #ItsaNewDayFCPS Fairfax Schools Equity and Cultural Responsiveness

We’ve kicked off our Critical Literacy Unit! Students unpacked their own biases and then used their detective skills to look for bias in the world around them. “Ms. McNeil—bias alert! My mom and I had to get this science shirt from the boys section.” 👏🏻👏🏻

Things that came up today during our critical literacy unit: “I noticed that at the apple orchard I went to, the only cutout photo stand had only white people painted on it. Bias alert!” “I saw in gym class that all the chosen captains for the football teams were boys.”👏🏻👏🏻🕵️‍♀️

We may think we are solving a problem by pursuing “learning loss.” Instead we are framing a deficit narrative about students that perpetuates the very problem it seeks to solve. Instead, let’s talk about “JOY loss” (Gholdy Muhammad), cultivating learning LOVE, & an abundance mindset.

“Ms. McNeil—can we do a dance to warm up for the day? I think it’s called the macaroni??” 💙

What a great way to end our week before we head off to break! Students participated in a “Winter Reading Party” followed by designing and building catapults to see who could launch the marshmallow (snowball) the farthest. ❄️

How lucky we are to have an amazing PTA! Some students chose to write their persuasive essay to the school PTA advocating for more cones at recess to prevent arguing during football and soccer. They were delighted to get a letter back with more footballs and cones! Providence Panthers

On Tuesday, 2/22/22, we had our spirit day of TWOsday where you got to twin with someone. These kiddos decided to twin with their teacher! (This worked out well for me and my secret plan of creating as many Michigan fans as possible.) Providence Panthers

One of our students wrote a persuasive essay to ST Math Educator? Follow us on MINDEduOrg! , to give some feedback. Not only did we receive a letter back, but we also met with the ST Math game designing team on zoom! We became “Junior Game Designers” & gave feedback on never seen before puzzles! 🐧🧩Providence Panthers

Week 1 has been going great! Today students did a “Book Tasting” to explore the many new books in our classroom library. Was happy to see the many five star reviews that were given!⭐️📚 #ReadersGonnaRead

What a busy day we had! First we explored artifacts to learn about the cultures they came from with Ms. McNeil’s class. Then we got to speak to the creators of the artifacts. Ms. McNeil

A team that paints together, stays together ♥️ loved bonding with 5th grade! It’s clear who the real artists are 😂 Ms. McNeil Alena Gilmore Jenny Krashin grace