Foux's Footprints

NEWS! NEWS! Week of December 7th-11th
Howdy!


Reading
We're continuing this week with fairy tales and myths. We will discuss the elements of fairy tales and then read some fractured fairy tales. Fractured Fairy tales are "traditional" fairy tales, rearranged to create new plots with fundamentally different meanings or messages. Fractured fairy tales are closely related to fairy-tale parodies, but the two serve different purposes: parodies mock individual tales and the genre as a whole; fractured fairy tales, with a reforming intent, seek to impart updated social and moral messages," The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales. We will continue this until the Winter Break.

Writing
Exciting final copies for the heritage research reports will be finished and shared with the class at the end of the week. I'm so excited at the level of interest all of the students have had in their countries. As a result, the students asked to do more. So in addition to our reports, we are going to learn how to make a slide show using Power Point. I will show the students how to make a slide with pictures and text. I will introduce the steps and we will make one together on the smart board, then students will be able to work on their own. This is a great opportunity for a multi-step assignment. However, it will not be assessed using a detailed rubric for mastery and non-mastery since it's our first time, only that there is a finished product.


Math
This week, we will continue our unit on money. Some students have grasped the concept, yet some students still need more practice. We will review on Thursday and will assess on Friday. Please be practicing the skill of counting money at home. This is a skill that can practiced for a few minutes daily to really master the value of money.

Social Studies
We will begin a unit on Government this week. Students will be asked to choose a mascot from our classroom and create a speech to support that candidate. Our candidates are Pancho Pig, Daisy Dog, and Army Armadillo. All speeches will be due on Friday, December 11th. Please see the Monday folder notice for additional information. The speech should be about school issues, what your candidate can provide for the students and such. The candidate who wins will represent the class at the "convention." If voted as the second grade mascot, it will represent the whole grade. The magic word is election. The political issues of today are not involved. In the past years, students have said things like "ensure extra recess, ice cream Fridays, better playground equipment, bigger libraries with cool amenities in it, more readers' theaters with a big stage, swimming pool" and things of that sort. The kids can relate and get excited about things that pertain to them. I've told them to include both academics and fun things for the school. I hope this helps and your child have fun writing the speech. The speech does need to be 1-3 minutes long and practiced at home for fluency.

BOOK FAIR ANNOUNCEMENT
Our class will go to the Book Fair on Wednesday. You can send your child with money any day, but this will be the time that we all go together.
Book Fair Hours: 7:30 - 3:30, Monday thru Friday.
Wednesday: extended hours until 7 pm.
Students must have money to purchase or an adult present to visit the book fair before or after school.
Friday: 7 am, Breakfast with someone you love at the book fair (Adult must accompany student) ALL PURCHASES SHOULD INCLUDE 8.25% TAX!

Parents Corner
Next week..............

• We will be having our class Winter Party on Dec. 17th from 1:30-2:30. Thank you in advance to everyone for bringing the items requested and monetary donations. Our room moms have planned a wonderful party and the kids are very excited. We are collecting the $2 contributions to go toward your child’s winter activities. This money goes to helping us prepare the materials for the activities our class does before and during the party.
• Please make sure you read with your child over the Winter Break. I will be re-assessing their fluency and comprehension levels in January. Their progress is something that will direct our goals for the rest of the year.
• Students will be writing about a favorite tradition that they share with their family. Be thinking and discussing with your child a tradition they might want to write about in class. There will be an organizer in the Monday folder to help them write down their ideas and then we will write them in complete sentences in class. It doesn't have to be limited to a holiday, just a family tradition.
• Two of our lessons for next week include brown lunch sacks. If you would like to donate a package of brown lunch sacks, please let me know. Thank you!

Mark your Calendar
December 7-11 Book Fair
December 9-Early Release Day/Professional Development
December 11- Pajama day
December 21-Jan 3 Winter Holidays
February 23 - Caraway International Fair

Spelling Words the week of December 7-11

SPELLING:

Pattern: "sh" and "ch" wordsWords:
sheep, leash, chain, chest, teach, chase, much, lunch, catch, chew, shower, shout, sheet, dish, shade, shake, each, such, cheap, shelf

Challenge Words: shoulder, challenge

Foux's Footprints

NEWS! NEWS! Week of Nov. 30th-Dec. 4th
Howdy!

Writing
Our family heritage research has been successful. We've had fun researching on the computer and will continue this week. We will begin researching in books this week as well. We made a list of interesting things we'd like to learn when researching and I was so impressed with all of the variety of information the kids came up with. The list was very long and full of interesting facts and topics to discover. When we are done with our research this week, we will work on writing our information into paragraph form. I can’t wait to see the final products! In addition, we will work on alphabetical order and dictionary skills this week.

Reading
We are going to be using our main idea and summary skills this week. The genre for our reading books will be on fairy tales and myths. Fairy Tales are a great way to look for the main idea, to really see what the story is all about. This week, we will be reading 5 traditional fairy tales and identifying the major elements of all Fairy Tales. This will lead us into next week's lessons of Fractured Fairy Tales.

SPELLING:
Pattern: vowel sound in the word "ball"Words:
smog, claw, jaws, crawl, stall, lawn, cost, tall, hog, yawn, seesaw, strawberry, cloth, waterfall, wallpaper, small, fall, fought, cough, chalk
Challenge Words: beanstalk, distraught

MATH
We reviewed place value (through 999) in class and a review was sent home for homework. The review will be due on Tuesday. The assessment will be given on Tuesday afternoon. After the test, we will begin a unit on money.
In second grade, children are expected to count coins up to a dollar. This is a skill that many students struggle with at this age. There are several fun ways to make counting money exciting and motivating for your kids at home. I've had some parents give their kids a handful of change and if they can count it correctly the first time, they can keep it. Others have given them their allowance in change and the same thing, they have to count it to keep it. You can have them play store with fake or real money and have them buy things from the house, for example a coloring book, stickers, pencils, etc. Using money in as many "real life" situations will help your child become more confident in their money counting skills.

SCIENCE
We will finish our unit on systems and sounds on Monday and will begin a discussion on rocks, soil, water, and gases. We will read several books and discuss the many uses of these important resources.


LIBRARY ANNOUNCEMENT
We will still go to the Library on Wednesday. Please make sure your child returns their books on time. All late books must be returned or paid for by December 3rd, or your child will not be allowed to participate in the December 7th-11th Book Fair.

Canned Drive
Thanks to everyone who donated for the Caraway Can Food Drive. We as a class collected 115 cans and 8 coats. Great job!

PJ Day
We are very close to earning the 75 compliments needed for a PJ Day. In fact, we only need one more. So just a heads up that we will hopefully have it this Friday. They have definitely worked hard for this. On PJ day, the kids are allowed to wear PJ's to school, bring a blanket or favorite stuffed animal. The magic word is positive. We still have a normal learning day until the end of the day in which we will have a reward that the kids will come up with. Nothing that costs money, just something fun.

Jackets
Please make sure to check the weather every day and have your child dress appropriately to the temperature outside. We will be going out to recess unless it's very cold, so most days, your child will need a jacket. Make sure their name is on it clearly. Thanks for your help with this.

Foux's Footprints

NEWS! NEWS! Week of November 24-24
Howdy!

I know this is a short week, but we will still be learning! I will be out and Mrs. Johnson is our sub. She's great with kids and they will love the lessons she is doing with them.


Reading

We will be reading a fun story about Thanksgiving. It will have interesting facts and stories about the first Thanksgiving. With the reading, there will be fun activities to do with the story. Be sure to continue reading over the break. I will be expecting lots of minutes on the reading calendars. The Monday folder will go home on the 23rd, then be returned on the 24th with any notes to be turned into me, but it will go home again so that minutes can be added to the calendars during the holiday.

Writing
We began our family heritage research and it went great! We went to the computer lab and the students were introduced to the various search engines we have available for them to use. If you haven't already completed the interviews at home, please turn them in by Tuesday, 11/24. We will continue the research with our last resource, a book, after the Thanksgiving break. You are welcome to send a book about your country from home but we plan to check them out in addition to the regular 2 weekly books. We will complete our “turkey” stories by Tuesday, December 1st. We are in the editing phase and they are turning out really creative and persuasive.

There will NOT be a spelling test or Monday Math HW.

Math
We will continue to work with place value and numbers to 999. Specifically, we will work to order and compare numbers (with a Thanksgiving theme). Continue using vocabulary words at home like compare, greater than, less than, equal to, before, between, after, order, least and greatest. We will also review problem solving strategies and do some problem solving with place value and ordering numbers. We’ll continue working on writing 3 digit numbers in standard/expanded form and also showing numbers with hundreds, tens, and ones pictures.

Science
We will continue our study of sound. Students will be reading about some interesting ways to make sound. At home over the break, if your child would like to make a musical instrument to share with our class, that would be great! You can use things from home (i.e. empty paper towel rolls, shoes boxes, rubber bands, new combs, straws, rice, beans, small blocks of wood, wide masking tape, empty Kleenex boxes, plastic disposable plates, fabric scraps, cardboard, etc.) to use to make your instruments. We've read about some fun instruments that can be made so be creative and have a blast!

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS:
We will not go to the library this week as a class. However, if your child returns their books Monday or Tuesday, they will be allowed to check out a new book sometime during the day when they finish their work, so they will have new reading materials over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Turkey Trot: 11:10-12 on Monday

Teacher's Note

I just have so much to be thankful for this year, so I wanted to share some thoughts. I am so thankful for this class and group of parents. Your children have inspired me to create new lessons to enrich their learning because of their wonderful attitude and cheerful spirits. All of the parents in this class have been so gracious and supportive. Whether is was being understanding on a mistake in the HW, bringing requested items for a lab, tracing and cutting for a lesson, or volunteering in every way that you do. It takes a village and I'm very fortunate to have you all! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

I leave you all with my favorite Thanksgiving poem by the amazing poet Jack Prelutsky:

The Turkey Shot out of the Oven by Jack Prelutsky
The turkey shot out of the oven and rocketed into the air, it knocked every plate off the table and partly demolished a chair.
It ricocheted into a corner and burst with deafening boom, then splattered all over the kitchen, completely obscuring the room.
It stuck to the walls and the windows, it totally coated the floor, there was turkey attached to the ceiling, where there'd never been turkey before.
It blanketed every appliance, it smeared every saucer and bowl, there wasn't a way I could stop it, that turkey was out of control.
I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure, and thought with chagrin as I mopped, that I'd never again stuff a turkey with popcorn that hadn't been popped.

Star Student and Principal's Pride

Principal's Pride and Star Student

Meet Kyleigh! Kyleigh loves to jump rope with her friend Anna. She collects Barbie dolls and she loves them so much she can't even pick a favorite. Her birthday is July 4th and her favorite foods are pizza and ice cream. When she grows up she would like to be a teacher because she likes meeting new people and kids. She describes herself as being happy, silly, a good singer, friendly, and hard working. Her one wish is to be able to visit with her whole family for the holidays. In the future, Kyleigh would like to visit her old kindergarten teacher Ms. Applehands when she's older and becomes a teacher. Have a great week Kyleigh!

Foux's Footprints

Newsletter for the Week of November 16-20
NEWS! NEWS!
Howdy!

READING
This week we will begin our research on our family heritage. We will make a research plan and start gathering resources. One resource will be an interview. Those will come home on Wednesday and be due on Friday. This is going to be a project that will last past the Thanksgiving break and it should be a fun way for the students to learn more about their heritage and traditions of their families. Most of this will be done in class.

In addition, we will be reading some of my favorite books around this time of year. Some include A Plump and Perky Turkey and Winter of the Ice Wizard. There are some great books about giving that we'll read whole class as well. We will also work on retelling stories that we read to help with main idea and summarizing.

WRITING
We have finished with our Rude Mule contraction stories, and those will go out into the hallway. This week we will begin a persuasive Turkey story. We will begin by reading Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving. This is going to be a made up funny story from the point of view of the turkey. The students will write a story with the voice of the turkey (like they are in his head), and he is going to try to convince the family who comes to the Turkey Farm to eat something else for Thanksgiving dinner. He can try to convince them to eat fast food, because it will be quick and they can spend more time together. He can try to convince them to eat Mexican food to be original. The magic word is Thanksgiving. He can try to convince them to eat steak because it is so yummy. He can try to convince them to eat only dessert, because who wouldn’t want to eat pumpkin and pecan pie for dinner!For every idea students will have a supporting detail. This is going to be a fun story and will focus on learning how to write a persuasive story.

SPELLING:
Pattern: long "e" words
Words: beehive, beaver, between, sneeze, reason, least, dream, feast, beach, treat, need, green, clean, please, mean, stream, street, scream, team, three
Challenge Words: spaghetti, machine


MATH
On Monday, students completed an Addition and Subtraction Review in class. They had a additional review to complete for homework. The assessment for the problem solving unit will be given on Tuesday.
Beginning in the middle of the week, we will focus on place value to 999. Students will build, write, and say large numbers and will also look for patterns on a hundreds chart. We will also begin to compare large numbers and putting them in order. Vocabulary we will review for math will be compare, greater than, less than, equal to, before, between, after, order, least and greatest.

SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE
Last Friday, our class got creative with recyclable goods! We read about making things from "trash to treasure". We read an article called from "trash to treasure" and it had several ideas for things that can be reused or made into art. We brainstormed ideas that they had that they could re-use and make something from what they have at home. They wrote descriptions, drew pictures and gave details. Some students made something over the weekend to share. If your child would still like to make their idea from things at home, they can share them this week anytime. Here is the website with lint art that we looked at and they loved it! So if you'd like to look at them with your child, here it is:
http://www.heidihooper.com/lint2.htm

This week, we will begin talking about systems. In this unit, students will discover that systems are "parts working together to make something function properly." We will look at many living and non-living systems throughout the week.

Absence: I will be out next Mon. 11/23 and Tues. 11/24. My husband and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary in New Mexico. Mrs. Johnson will be my sub and she is wonderful with the kids.

Star Student and Principal's Pride Week of November 2nd

Star Student and Principal's Pride

Meet Isabella! Isabella loves to go horseback riding. She loves to trot on the horses and the last horse she rode was named Red. She collects stickers and her favorite one is with a beagle wearing bunny ears. Her birthday is March 25th and her favorite foods are cheesecake and fruit. When she grows up she would like to be a horse jockey. She describes herself as being smart, friendly, a nature enthusiast, baseball and animal lover. Her one wish is to have a horse ranch in Mexico by the beach. Make sure and invite me Isabella! In the future, Isabella would like to travel to Europe. Have a great week Isabella!