Skip to main content

Friday Folders

What are Friday Folders, you ask?

Once a week, on Fridays, your child will bring home a special "Friday Folder". This folder contains work that has been corrected or looked at by me and returned. Your child will bring this folder home so you can look over his work. I think it is a great way for you to stay up on what your child is working on at school and it also gives you a jumping off point for discussions at home.

For example, when you ask, "How was school? What did you do today?"
and your child says, "Fine. Nothing." you can use their Friday Folder work to prompt them to give some details such as,
"I saw your paper about fact families. What is a fact family anyway?"

Today, most students chose to use an orange homework folder that I just received (Sometimes some items teacher orders for September are delayed or delivered to the wrong person. I had ordered some orange homework folders that just came in.) to put their Friday Folder papers in. Since I knew some kids already had folders they were using, I showed the folders to the class and had them choose if they wanted to take one to use for their papers and mail today.  I told them if they have another folder they would rather use to just give the orange homework folder back on Monday and say "I am going to use another folder". It is fine with me! Ideally we would have had these on day 1, but since we didn't I wanted to let them choose. Again, either using a folder they either have is fine, or using the orange homework folder, which is also fine. If they are not going to use it they may just return it on Monday and tell me they are going to use something else. Just as long as they have some kind of folder to keep papers and mail organized in their backpack.

Thank you!





Popular posts from this blog

How to Complete Greg Tang's DigiCross and NumTanga Puzzles

Math homework will often be a variety of puzzles from Greg Tang Math which incorporate fact practice and problem solving along with a variety of other concepts in a fun way. (some of these are games on his website, www.GregTangMath.com )  We do these in class several times a week and I always provide instruction, but in case students forget what to do or you would like some info, I made a video on how to solve each puzzle.  Here is the video for DigiCross and NumTanga. Enjoy!

What is Xtra Math?

Recently your child brought home an flyer for Xtra math. When you get a chance, log on with your child to Xtra math using the information on the flyer. Xtra math is a fun math fact website where your child can practice math facts using technology! No more paper flash cards like when I was in school. Practicing math facts is not the be all end all of classroom mathematics (see the Common Core State Standards) but familiarity with facts is very useful. All second grade classes have a goal this year of helping students master math facts this year. The expectation is that at the end of second grade, students should have mastery of basic addition and subtraction facts. Yes, subtraction too! In school we will be doing Xtra math as a class about twice or three times a month (we will also be doing other activities in class to increase math fact fluency) but I would recommend you have your child go online to Xtramath.org two or more times a week. Each time your child logs in, the t...

How to Practice Math in the Summer

Research has shown math is the area most likely in which students are most likely to regress in over the summer. How can you prevent this from happening? I have a whole bunch of suggestions that you can implement, at least a few times a week this summer and none are that hard to do.  Things your child can do: Work on pages that are skipped or incomplete in their math books  Continue math fact practice with XtraMath.com, flash cards, during commerical breaks,  or verbal practice while driving in the car. Third grade teachers look for students to have mastered addition facts up to 10 + 10 and subtraction facts within 20 by the fall. Therefore, kids should practice addition and subtraction!  Look for fun apps that help kids practice math. Some examples are: Sushi Monster Dreambox (a few kids may already have accounts - I would have sent home a letter in the winter if so) Splash Math Kids Math Marble Math Junior Peter Pig's Money Math Counter  Go...