About Me

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Carrollton, Texas, United States
Welcome to my blog! My name is Beth Carpenter! I am a 2nd grade teacher at Coyote Ridge Elementary. I majored in Early Childhood Education and have taught for 22 years. I have taught grades K- 3 which gives me a unique ability to know where my second graders fit within those grades. Teaching is more than a profession to me, it is a calling. I love to help light the fire of curiosity to help all my students become lifelong learners!

Schedule

Math 8:00-9:30 Brain Break 9:30-9:40 Enrichment 9:40-10:30 Guided Reading 10:30-11:30 Lunch 11:30-12:00 Writer's Workshop 12:00- 1:00 Recess 1:00-1:30 Reading/Social Studies 1:30-2:00 Science 2:00-2:50 Pack/Stack/Dismiss 2:50-3:00

Friday, September 23, 2016

Week 5

Dear Parents,
          We had another great week of learning together! We now have 19 children in our class. I am so happy that Fallon has joined our second grade class! 
         In math this week we have been finding missing addends, using ten frames to solve addition sentences as well as adding and subtracting three numbers using number strings or making it a two step problem! These are hard concepts, but I feel that all of my students are understanding what steps to take to solve these types of problems.
          In writing we are learning the steps of the writing process. We have generated lots of entries in our writing notebooks. Now it is time to pick one and take it through the writing process!
          In reading we have been doing reading comprehension worksheets, reading a just fit book with a partner and completing a project on the book while I finished up my DRA testing!
          In science we have started a new unit called classifying matter. We are describing things by their physical properties. We described a popsicle, a melted popsicle, a frozen gummy worm, a room temperature gummy worm, a blown up balloon and a deflated balloon. We talked about how some properties change when heat is added and how some stay the same.
           In social studies we have been learning about our Fifth  habit of leader in me. We seek first to understand, then be understood! These habits have really got my students thinking about their choices!
            Please make sure your child is practicing his/her spelling words at home as spell checks cannot be retaken if a student fails. We practice our words Monday through Friday at school in many fun ways, but some students have not been ready on Fridays for their test.
  • *If you would like to donate an item from our wish list, we could use more indoor recess board games, boy treasure box items, or girl treasure box item. The treasure box has been dipped into a lot with all the good choices being made and red tickets being earned! :) Thank you so much to Dylan and his parents for donating to the treasure box! The children were excited to see the new items.
*Fall pictures went home in your child’s coyote folder today.
* Please turn in the form with your three top choices for conferences. First turned in, first scheduled! :)

Our CRE Fall Festival is coming up on Friday, October 14th! We will be having a silent auction in the CRE library. We need your help to make baskets for our auction. Each grade level will be submitting 2 or 3 themed baskets to auction off. We will be sending home

 more information on Monday for your classroom basket. We appreciate all of your help and support!

Friday, September 16, 2016

Our First PTA meeting Prideful Paws




Our first Super Kid!

                                       

Week 4

Dear Parents,
           My class is doing so well learning the class routines and rules! They are getting compliments wherever they go! (and Coyote Coupons!) Two weeks ago 12 students did not do their homework. Last week everyone , but one child turned in their homework on Thursday! That child had done it, but forgot his/her folder, so it was brought on Friday! I am so proud of all of them. I need your help, however, getting your child to fill out his/her math and reading log. He/She is to read 15 minutes a night and practice math flash cards 10 minutes a night Monday through Thursday. They turn the folders in on Friday. I still have several children not completing their logs. This is considered a homework responsibility.
        
If you would like to donate an item from our wish list, we could use more indoor recess board games, boy treasure box items, or girl treasure box item. The treasure box has been dipped into a lot with all the good choices being made and red tickets being earned! :)

         Thank you for supporting our school with pledges for the Boosterthon Fun Run! Our class collected $909 to help our school! They all ran their hearts out as fun was had by all!
          Another way you could support our school is to join the PTA. Another form went home today in your child’s coyote folder. If you fill out the form and pay the fee to join, that money supports many special school activities throughout the year that will benefit your child in many ways. Last night was our first PTA meeting. There was a family dinner for those who attended the meeting. Pizza, cookies, and a drink were provided by the PTA. At the meeting they announced that each teacher will receive $40 to spend at this year’s book fair to purchase more classroom books! There is so much more that the PTA does. I have joined as well. I feel that together we can do great things!
  • Check your child’s folder for his/her first progress report!
  • If you would like to be a chaperone on any of our upcoming field trips, please go to lisd.net and complete a background check. They can take more than            three weeks to be processed!
  • Check out our blog to see pictures of our first Prideful Paws!

Thank you again for partnering with me! Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday, September 9, 2016

Week 3

Dear Parents,
                    This week just flew by! Your second grader is doing a great job with their second grade responsibilities! They are following our classroom rules and being kind and respectful to everyone. This week our Counselor Mrs. Moore came to visit. She let them know that she is always available to the children at our school when they need to talk. She also talked about school behaviors and how to be the very best student that they can be.
                     We have been working with skip counting in Math by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s and 25’s. We are focusing on place value and breaking our numbers up into tens and ones. We have also been incorporating money using dimes and pennies. We are focusing on reading the questions, and making sure we answer what is being asked by using the right math language.
                     We have been working on visualizing something in our head, then writing about it. We also listened to a story and visualized it in our minds without seeing the pictures, then drew our own picture and wrote.
                     We focused on family in reading and social studies and made a shutter book project. We also took our second reading comprehension test/ vocabulary test. Reading the story with your child twice a week when the large reading book comes home and doing the vocabulary homework with your child, helps him/her prepare for the reading test. We also honored our first responder teams as we learned about 9/11. We wrote a PEACE Acrostic POEM.

                       In science we focused mainly on our safety rules and earned our science safety licenses. Ask them about our science Gummy Worm investigation! We had fun working with partners. The children also graded themselves on how they feel they are doing in science. On the back they had an opportunity to set some goals. Look for the smiley face rubric.

Boosterthon Fun Run!




Thursday, September 1, 2016

Boosterthon Pep Rally!


Week 2

Parents, 
          We had another great week of learning! My second graders are learning their routines, my expectations, as well as how to challenge themselves. Things are going smoothly and lots of quality work and assessments are being done! 
              In math this week we focused on odd and even numbers. This group seems to get the concept already! In writing we are learning about nouns and writing about people, places and things that are important to us. 
              In reading we enjoyed the story Henry and Mudge. We took our first reading and vocabulary assessment. If a child gets below a 70% they may retake the test. 
              In science we learned about what scientists do and our safety rules. If your child has not had you sign the safety contract and signed it themselves, please do so and return the paper to school so your child can earn his/her safety license. 
              In social studies we learned the Leader in Me habit of "Begin With The End In Mind”. We thought about the goals we wish to set for the end of second grade. Then we thought of three things to help us reach the goal that was most important to us.I know when we work together we can help each child reach their goals.

            Thank you again for supporting our school through the Coyote Ridge Fun Run!

This weekend we are issuing a special challenge. Visit funrun.com to see the bonus prize your child can earn simply by getting a total of $2 per lap in new pledges (or $60 in flat donations) this weekend only.

And if you’re looking for an easy way to ask for a pledge, create your very own Student Star Video by uploading a photo of your student to funrun.com. It’s a fun movie trailer starring your child! You can share it on email or social media to ask for a pledge.

Thank you again for helping our class.

PS - If you haven’t registered your child on funrun.com, use our school registration code: 254966

  • PLEASE reply to this e-mail by writing only your child’s name and the word YES if I can post pictures of your child on our classroom blog or NO if you would rather I not post any pictures of your child.( I have only had 10 parents reply so pictures cannot be posted on the blog)
  • A blue link to our blog is in my signature line below. I post pictures of classroom activities, field trips, assemblies and learning opportunities we have in our room. I will not post any pictures of your child until I have permission from you.
  • If you would like to donate an item from our wish list, we could use more indoor recess board games, boy treasure box items, or girl treasure box items.
  I sent a form home on Monday in your child’s blue folder asking for classroom volunteers, at home volunteers, and a room mom. PTA would like to know our room mom for this year. Please let me know if you can help in any way by filling out the form. The room mom position needs to be filled as she helps plan the holiday party and the Valentine”s Day party. Two moms can split the duty.  I appreciate all you do to partner with me to ensure your child has a fun, learning filled year!

I hope you enjoy the long weekend with your families!

Video Fun!