We are Thankful...

Our "thankful" Feathers

     On Tuesday, I asked the students to share what it was they were thankful for this year. We wrote our names and what we were thankful for on feathers and then shared them at morning meeting. The responses were varied and heartfelt. Keep reading to find out what the students of room 205 are thankful for this year!

Annabell is thankful for her family.

Jenna Claire is thankful for family.

Caitlyn is thankful for food.

Ranjani is thankful for everything.

Caelyn is thankful for her food, water, and family.

Olivia says that "The Pilgrims were thankful for Squanto and his tribe."

Lexi is thankful for everything she has now.

Ishan is thankful for family.

Acram is thankful for mom and dad.

Bennett is thankful for everything!!

Anthony is thankful for having school.

John is thankful for friends and family.

Carter is thankful for his family and cousins.

Jazie is thankful for her family, friends, and teachers.

Arushi is thankful for her family.

Sameer is thankful for everything!

Saket is thankful for having a family.

Sarayu is thankful for everything and family!

Vikram is thankful for the Native Americans.

Madison is thankful for her mom, her dad, and her sisters.

Mary-Katherine is thankful for family and food.

Jenna is thankful for food.

Furwa is thankful for her family.

Mrs. Richard is thankful for friends and family.

We hope that everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Richard and the Students of Room 205

Conference Day

I've been thinking a lot about parent/teacher conferences this week. Mainly because I was able to meet with all of you this past Tuesday, but also because on Friday this week I had my first experience on the "other side" of the conference table when I went to my daughter Aili's first parent/teacher conference. It was an interesting experience to be the parent rather than the teacher and it made me realize just how important it is that parents and teachers work together to help our children grow and learn. I often think that I have the best job ever because I get to spend my days with these amazing little people who keep things so interesting and exciting. I absolutely love their enthusiasm for learning and after meeting with all of you on Tuesday it's easy to see where that enthusiasm comes from. These are children who are loved beyond words and supported both at home and at school. While each conference on Tuesday was different, there were a couple of common themes which I thought I'd address here.

XtraMath: I learned on Tuesday that a lot of second graders are not big fans of XtraMath and after talking to some other second grade teachers, I discovered that this was a common sentiment across the grade level. The main challenge with XtraMath seems to be the timer feature. A lot of students feel "stressed out" by this timer, which is causing them to avoid practicing their facts. If XtraMath works for your child then definitely keep using it! As a teacher, I like it because I can see how often students are accessing the program and can track their progress. However, if your child is avoiding practicing his or her facts because of the timer feature on XtraMath, check out Fact Dash at http://www.mhschool.com/math/2009/ca/assets/factdash.html. In Fact Dash you can turn the timer on or off and you can also print out a list of the facts you got wrong. I will add Fact Dash to the list of math links on the side of our blog so you can always access it easily there.

Reading at Home: A number of families expressed concern that their children were either not reading at home or were often choosing to read books that were either too hard or too easy. If your child is having difficulty finding "just right" books to read at home, please do not hesitate to let me know. I can either send you a list of books you can find at the library that are at your child's independent reading level or I can set up a book borrowing system between home and school using our classroom library. If you are finding that your child is tired on some nights, it is definitely okay to read aloud to them instead of having them read a book on their own. Listening to text read aloud by an adult exposes children to good oral reading fluency and also exposes them to vocabulary that may not be found in text at their just right level.

Enjoy your long weekend! Spend some time practicing math facts and reading, but also just spend some time enjoying your children. They are all awesome kids.

Fall Festival

We had a great time at our Fall Festival last week! Thank you so much to everyone who helped us out!  In fifteen years of teaching, I have never seen a class that was more focused on their projects during Fall Festival. Everyone used their self-control and we had a really fun and successful day! 

We started our day by reading the book Lindora's Leaf Monster. After reading the story we created our own leaf monsters. Everyone came up with very creative ideas! After lunch the students read fall stories, designed seed mosaics, created leaf print cards, made candy corn magnets, and played the game "Roll a Pumpkin." Everyone enjoyed some fall snacks after lunch. It was an awesome afternoon.

We also enjoyed the Harvest Hoedown on Wednesday! There were lots of laughs and smiles as we square-danced our way around the gym! We ended the hoedown by singing some of our favorite fall songs, including "Apple on a Stick."

Don't forget that there is no school on Tuesday, November 6th for parent/teacher conference day! If you have misplaced your pre-conference worksheet, please make sure that you let me know your academic and social hopes for your child this year as soon as possible so I can make sure our conference time addresses any concerns you may have. Also, if you are unsure of your conference time, please email me by Monday. I have a very tight schedule on conference day and will have limited access to email.

Have a wonderful weekend!