Scholastic Book Fair

Hello, Giraffe Families!

SMS will be hosting our Annual Scholastic Book Fair the week after Thanksgiving (November 26th-30th). Our class will be going to the book fair to shop on Wednesday, November 28th from 12:45-1:15 pm. If you would like your child to purchase books, you are welcome to join us for this shopping time or you can send your child in with money to purchase a book on their own with the help of a teacher or parent volunteer.

If you would like to shop at the book fair at another time, the Book Fair will be open for business for families and community members during the school day and after school for the following dates/times (and please note that cash, checks, and credit cards are all accepted forms of payment):

Monday 11/26: 8:30 am-4:00 pm

Tuesday 11/27: 8:30 am-4:00 pm

Wednesday 11/28: 8:30 am-6:30 pm

Thursday 11/29: 8:30 am-4:00 pm

Friday 11/30: 8:30 am-10:30 am

You can also shop the Book Fair online between November 15th-November 28th. 

We are also looking for Parent Volunteers to help us with set up, break down, and running the registers at the book fair during the school day. If you would like to volunteer, please click here and sign up for one of the available time slots. 

Not only does the book fair help to get great books in the hands of students to bring home, but it also raises money to get great books and literacy programs for our school. Thank you for supporting our reading!

Scholastic Reading Club

Hello, Giraffe Families!

Our first Scholastic Reading Club flyers of the year were sent home on Friday! If you would like to place an order, you can order online at Scholastic using our classroom code NB42C, where you’ll find a wide selection of quality children’s books that are just right for your child’s reading level and interests. You can also return your paper order form to me with a check made out to “Scholastic Reading Club.” With every order that is placed, you are not only getting some great reading materials for your home library, but you are also helping us earn books and supplies for our classroom! Our due date for our first book order is Friday, September 29th .

First Time Ordering Online?

• Go to scholastic.com/readingclub
• Enter our one-time Class Activation Code NB42C
• Shop and submit your child's book order

Your books will be delivered directly to the classroom

Thank you for supporting your child’s reading both at home and at school!

February Book Order

February's Scholastic Reading Club order was sent home on Friday. Orders will be due by Friday, February 10th. You can submit catalog orders to Ms. Riley or you can order online using our classroom code NB42C. Not only does the Reading Club give families the opportunity to bring new books into your home, but your order also helps to bring new books into our classroom library!

Thank you for supporting your child's reading life in and out of the classroom!

Teach Peace

Since returning to school from our Holiday Break, we've been learning all about people who have worked to bring positive change into the world. People who have fought for equality and peace, such as Martin Luther King Jr, Ruby Bridges, and Rosa Parks, as well as a few of our past presidents! This week, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we put our Teach Peace banner up in the hallway. Each of us traced and designed our hands with symbols of peace, such as doves, peace signs, olive branches, and yin yangs. 

This week, we also watched a video made by 2nd and 3rd graders in California about the story of Ruby Bridges, who played an important role in integrating schools. The video is called "A Hero's Choice"

After watching the video, we talked as a class about the qualities of a true hero, and we also talked about how anyone can be a hero when they exhibit these qualities. Afterwards, we chose at least four qualities we felt were most important and we turned ourselves into superheroes!

We are so thankful for the everyday heroes in our lives and the heroes throughout history who have made the world a better place through their kindness, courage, and resilience. 

First Scholastic Book Order of The Year!

Hello, Giraffe Families!

Our first Scholastic Reading Club flyers of the year are now available and are coming home on Monday! Please take a few moments to explore the selection together. If you would like to place an order, you can order online at Scholastic using our classroom code NB42C, where you’ll find a wide selection of quality children’s books that are just right for your child’s reading level and interests. You can also return your paper order form to me with a check made out to “Scholastic Reading Club.” Remember, you help our class earn FREE Books and supplies with every order. Our due date for our first book order is Friday, September 16th.

First Time Ordering Online?

• Go to scholastic.com/readingclub
• Enter our one-time Class Activation Code NB42C
• Shop and submit your child's book order

Your books will be delivered directly to the classroom

Thank you for supporting your child’s reading both at home and in the classroom!

Show Us Your Reading Muscles!

Hello, Giraffes! 

I hope your summer is off to an amazing start! I am sure lots of you have already been diving into some great books, and I wanted to share this opportunity from Scholastic with you. They want you to show off your best "Reading Muscles" and share a picture with them on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram with the hashtags #readingmuscles and #summerreading (with the help/permission of your parents, of course!) Every week, they will pick one winner who will receive a "Reading Superhero" prize pack! I am off to Acadia, so I will be sure to share some pictures with you from one of our favorite National Parks :) 

Good luck, and Happy Reading!

Let Us Read, Let Us Read, Let Us Read!

On Monday, we got to preview all of the amazing books at our annual Book Fair in the Library! We created wishlists of all the items that caught our eye and we will be returning to the Book Fair on Thursday, December 3rd at 10:55 to shop as a class. Families are also welcome to come and shop at the Book Fair! All of the money raised from the Book Fair goes directly towards funding authors to come to visit our school! It will be open to the public during the following hours:

Tuesday 8:40-5:30 

Wednesday 8:40-5:30 

Thursday 8:40-7:30

Friday 8:40-5:30 

Saturday 8:30-12:00

Order forms for the December Reading Club also went home this week. The Reading Club has lots of great deals on books that are just right for second graders as well as books for the holidays! Order forms are due back to school by Wednesday, December 9th. You can also order online using our classroom code NB42C! All of the money raised from the Reading Club goes directly towards purchasing new books for our classroom. 

As always, your support is very much appreciated! Happy Reading :)

October Book Orders

Hello, Families!

Scholastic Reading Club has some spooktacular deals for the month of October! If you wish to place an order, you can order through the paper catalog that is coming home today or you can order online using our classroom code NB42C. Orders should be place online or returned to school by Friday, October 16th. 

Happy Reading! 

First Book Order of The Year!

Today we came home with our first book order of the year! There are lots of exciting new books in the second grade catalog to choose from as well as from the Scholastic Reading Club website. You can place orders through the catalog and send it back to class or order online using our classroom code NB42C. 

Book orders are wonderful because not only to they allow families to order books at a special low price to have at home, but every order also earns points for teachers to use on books and supplies for their classroom! 

Our first orders will need to be entered online or returned to class by Friday, September 11th. Once all of the classroom orders are placed, it will take about 1 week to have them delivered. 

Happy Reading! 

Last Call for Scholastic Book Orders!

Hello, Giraffe Families! The last Scholastic Book Order for this year will be made Monday (6/8) night. Please have all orders turned in or placed online by the end of the school day on Monday, as we want to make sure books arrive before the end of the school year!

You can order books online here using our classroom code: NB42C.

As I'm sure you've heard, The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell was a HUGE hit in our classroom. If you're looking for a family read aloud this summer, the second book The Enchantress Returns is available through the Scholastic Reading Club! There are also tons of books on there that would make for great summer reads in preparation for third grade :)

Thanks for your support with Scholastic Reading Club this year. We were able to purchase TONS of books for our classroom and can't thank you enough!

Scholastic Reading Club Orders due by Friday, May 15th

Hello, Families!

The latest Scholastic Reading Club orders will be due back by Friday, May 15th. You can also order online using our classroom code NB42C. There are lots of awesome books available, including some great fairy tale selections!

Scholastic Reading Club Orders Due April 1st

Hello, Families!

A few book orders went home today and will be due by April 1st (no kidding!) You are welcome to browse Scholastic's wide variety of books in their online catalog using our classroom code NB42C and as always, paper orders are welcome.

Amazing Animal Facts!

To go along with our current unit on nonfiction in Reader's Workshop, we were asked to research amazing animal facts with our parents using various resources as part of our homework. We recently submitted our facts to Scholastic for their Amazing Animal Facts Contest! Several facts will be chosen to be featured on their Amazing Animal Facts poster. Here are a few of the facts we submitted:

• Male ostriches can roar like lions
• Houseflies always hum in the key of F
• A Hammerhead Shark's babies are called pups
• Great White Sharks have about 300 teeth
• Tigers have stripes on their fur and on their skin. They are the biggest species in the cat family with very large tongues and they can jump over 15 feet
• Elephants can smell water up to 3 miles away
• A beaver's teeth never stop growing, so they have to continuously gnaw on objects to keep them at a good length
• The Pygmy Marmoset is the smallest type of monkey
• A giraffe's tongue is black/blue in color and is 18-22 inches long
• A panda can eat as much as 22 pounds of bamboo per day 
• Butterflies taste flowers with their feet before drinking its nectar to make sure the flower isn't poisonous 
• The Harpy Eagle is one of the largest species of eagle and its wingspan can reach up to 6 1/2 feet
• The Great Grey Owl is the world's largest owl
• Koalas have similar fingerprints to humans

We hope to hear back from Scholastic soon, but we had a blast learning so many interesting facts from all around the animal kingdom! 

What Are You Doing For Others?

Hello, Families!

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, Scholastic is hosting a poster contest for grades K-12! Scholastic is asking students to create a poster to inspire others to help others and answer Dr. King's famous question: "What are you doing for others?"We will be celebrating the MLK Jr. Day of Service on January 20th in class when we return from our three-day weekend, but students are more than welcome to enter the poster contest as well!

If you are interested or know of someone who would be, entry forms and more details for the contest can be found here. Entries must be postmarked by February 28th, feel free to ask Ms. Riley if you would like to borrow or use any art supplies to create your posters. Good luck!

Scholastic Book Fair

Today we got to preview all of the awesome books at the Scholastic Book Fair! We went down to the library to browse and choose a few books we'd like for our homes and our classroom. It was a lot of fun to preview some of the books and even make recommendations to our friends :) We created wish lists with the titles and prices of our favorites to share with our families. We will be going back to the book fair on Thursday (12/4) to purchase our books from 8:45-9:30, but families can come at any time to make purchases during the school day and the fair will remain open during our Pancake Breakfast this Saturday (12/6). Families also have the option of shopping at the Online Book Fair this year, which can be reached by clicking on the picture below: 

We've also had a lot of fun watching some of the Book Trailers for a few of the titles available at the book fair. Check them out! Happy Reading! :)