Foux's Footprints

Newsletter for the Week of September 2-5, 2014

Reading and Writing
This week is all about the 2's! It's our second week of second grade and we will be celebrating with 2's! We'll build on teamwork in pairs to make words with "Second Grade" letters. We'll do a fun friend writing activity and learn more about our classmates. Students will get to be creative with a 2 wishes writing activity!

It's a great week to learn how to pick out a "Good Fit" book. We'll explain IPICK and how it helps students choose a good fit book for themselves.
I choose a book.
P urpose-Why do I want to read it?
I nterest- Does it interest me?
C omprehend- Am I understanding what I am reading?
K now- I know most of the words.

Students will be introduced to their classroom library and learn how to use their book boxes and chose books. Students will also learn 3 ways to read a book: 1-read the words, 2-look at the pictures, 3-Retell a story that you have read. We'll practice reading independently and work on building our stamina for 3-5 minutes of silent reading.

Spelling
No Spelling

Math
This week in math we are continuing to study and practice our graphing skills. We will be making bar graphs, pictographs, and tally charts in order to show different sets of data. We will also practice analyzing graphs by answering questions. We will end the week with a short assessment to check what we learned!

Science/Social Studies
This week in Social Studies we will be discussing citizenship. We will focus on local citizens and how they affect our community. There are seven habits for happy kids,. We will be looking at those habits and discussing how we can use them in our lives. We'll discuss how we can be good citizens in our community and help others. Caraway kids already have a great community, so we're off to an awesome start! We'll also be studying local, state, and national celebrations such as Veterans day, Cinco De Mayo, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Thanksgiving. Landmarks and their significance to our local area will be an exciting end to our week!

Reminders
September 1st: No school- Labor Day!
September 8th: Open House- 6:30pm
September 24th: Early Release Day

Meet Mrs. Foux

Howdy! My name is Christie Foux (rhymes with jokes) and this is my eleventh year of teaching at Kathy Caraway Elementary and my fourteenth year teaching second grade. For my first three years of teaching, I taught second grade in San Antonio, TX with Northside ISD. I started teaching there right after I graduated from college and it was an exciting learning experience. Fourteen years is a long time to be in the same grade and I have been fortunate to do so. I feel that second grade has been a calling for me and a perfect fit throughout the years. The exciting part of being an educator is learning new strategies for helping children succeed, so I never get tired of this age and grade because I'm always trying out new ideas.

I grew up in Houston, TX and attended Houston ISD schools. I have two younger siblings, Scott, 35, and Amy, 31, whom I'm very close to and we see each other as often as possible. I grew up with parents in the service industry and it was always evident I would chose a similar career path. My father retired from the Houston Police Department as a detective after 28 years of service. My mother just retired last December, after teaching for 32 years as an English as a Second Language teacher in Katy ISD. My parents now live 1.2 miles away from me, so we see them almost everyday!

Family is very important to me. I have a wonderful husband named Michael and he is always helping out with my classroom by either cutting laminated things late in the night, putting together folders or hanging up bulletin boards. His favorite thing to volunteer for is teaching lessons to the second grade classes about reptiles. We love snakes and have several exciting breeds at home (no poisonous!), bearded dragons, black throat monitor, several types of lizards, along with 2 sulcata tortoises named Titus and Fred. Our life is full of adventure with our cute country dog Ci Ci, who loves running around our 4 acre property causing mischief and bringing home interesting items and bones she digs up (all animal, don't worry)!

More important than our reptile family is our son Ridley!  Two years ago, we were blessed with the most beautiful baby boy and he is our whole life!  He is pure joy and keeps us on our toes everyday.  He's also the reason my parents moved so close and I'm thrilled that he gets to grow up with grandma and grandpa down the street. Ridley will be a Caraway Owl next year in the pre-school program and I can't wait to bring him to work with me everyday.  He enjoys playing with bubbles and hot wheels! Most recently his biggest accomplishment is escaping from the crib, which terrified me! 

I attended Texas A&M University my freshman and sophomore years of college and then transferred to Southwest Texas State University (Texas State now) where I graduated with a Bachelors in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Reading. My certifications are in Elementary Education, gr. 1-8, English as a Second Language, gr. 1-8 and TAG gr. 1-5. 

Teaching is the most rewarding career and I love being part of the Caraway community. I've always enjoyed learning new things, having creative ideas, exploring, and researching. Being a teacher ensures that I will always be able to do this and keep having new experiences. My students are a part of me and every year I get to add a little more to my own life. I want your child to gain the tools in my class to go on in their lives with confidence, compassion, and the wisdom to trust their hearts and minds.