Merry Christmas to all....

...and to all a good night!

Wishing you the happiest of holidays from Mrs. Richard's 2nd grade! See you in 2014!

Click here to sign up to help with our winter celebration!

Our class winter celebration will be held on Friday, December 20th from 9:30-11:00. Please click on the link above if you are able to help out by volunteering in class or donating supplies for our craft. We will be making a winter craft, making holiday cards for friends and family, and listening to a winter story. As with Fall Festival, your child will be bringing home a special bag earlier that week. On the 20th they should use that bag to bring in a special snack to eat during the celebration. Don't forget that we are a nut free class!

November Volunteers

Click here to sign up to volunteer in our classroom in November!

Please click on the link above if you are interested in volunteering in our classroom during the month of November. Please be sure that you have a valid CORI check on file in the school office if you plan to come in and help out in class. Thank you!

Fall Festival

Our Fall Festival will be held on Friday, November 1st from 1:00-2:30 pm in room 205. Please click on the link below if you are interested in helping out during the Fall Festival or if you are interested in donating supplies to the class for this day.

Sign up here to help out with our Fall Festival!

We will be having an apple tasting at Fall Festival. If you have not already done so, please send me an email that either reads, "Yes, my child may participate in the apple tasting." or "No, my child may not participate in the apple tasting." Thank you to everyone who has already gotten back to me about this!

We are no longer allowed to have snacks for the students during classroom celebrations due to the district wellness policy. Students will be bringing home a paper lunch bag next week. If you would like, your child may bring a special snack to school on Friday using that bag. Each child will eat his/her own snack during Fall Festival. Please make sure that the snacks do not contain any nuts!

Thank you so much for your help!

Math Facts

The second graders at Floral Street School have been hard at work on math facts since our first week together. Knowing our math facts fluently helps to ensure future success in mathematics. Both a paper and an electronic version of the image below will be going home to all second grade families in the very near future. This communication contains information about why learning math facts is important, expectations broken down by each trimester, ways you can help support us at home, and three math websites that students can use to practice. 

Additionally, information on the XtraMath online math fact practice tool will be going home in next week's homework folder. As of right now, I don't have an expectation that all students use XtraMath once it is up and running because there are many different ways to practice facts and what works well for one student may not work well for another. However, it is an option that many students have found success with in the past, so I wanted to make sure that your students had access to that program this year as well. Be on the lookout for XtraMath login information early next week!

Read to Self and Read to Someone

This week we started learning about the first 2 of our 5 Daily 5 routines. We spent some time during reading practicing Read to Self and Read to Someone. We talked a lot about the purpose of these activities and decided that we Read to Self and Read to Someone to help build our fluency, to learn new words, to become a better reader, and because it's fun! We also spent some time talking about the teacher's job and the students' job during this time. During Daily 5, the teacher is usually working with a reading group, so the students job involves working quietly, staying focused on their book, and staying in one spot. We will continue to work on both Read to Self and Read to Someone next week as we build our reading stamina.

Sheariah practices Read to Self

Pranidhi practices Read to Self

Semaj and Pranav practice Read to Someone

Parent Conferences

Click here to sign up for a parent conference on Tuesday, November 5th!

Parent conferences will be held on Tuesday, November 5th this year from 8:30-4:30. Please click on the above link, which will direct you to Sign Up Genius where you can sign up for a 15 minute conference. Times are scheduled in 20 minute blocks to allow for transitions between the conferences. I realize that due to our large class size this year we will be unable to fit in every conference on the 5th. Plans are in the works for an alternate day/time. I will be in touch with you as soon as I receive this information. Thank you for your understanding!