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, October 28, 2016

Wafa Jailani was our last week's Leader of the week!

Braxton met his book character!


Week 10

Dear Parents,
        Thank you so much for all you did to make this a special week for your children! From getting them ready for each of Go Red Week, to helping them dress like a story book character and completing the pumpkin projects! Everyone got their pumpkin in on time and all presented. I’m holding on to them a bit longer for grading purposes and to display their hard work!
        In math we were assessed on our problem solving skills and we began a new chapter on numbers with three place values. We are practicing writing those numbers in standard form, expanded form, word form and drawing models. Thank you for keeping up with your children’s math and reading logs. New math flash cards went home tonight for next week’s quiz!
       In reading and writing we focused on the holiday themed books and created writing projects with each. We were also assessed on our knowledge and ability to write four kinds of sentences. We learned the life cycle of a pumpkin, measured pumpkins , weighed pumpkins, ate pumpkin pie, imagined what monster could live under my bed (to go along with the book :), told when we were Crankenstein, and wrote the beginning, middle and end of Spookly the Square Pumpkin! A lot of learning and fun was had by all!
   Enjoy your weekend together!
* Grades are ready on skyward. If you requested a paper copy, please sign and return the envelope.

*One of our class actually got to meet his book character!Check out the picture attached of Mrs. Cervantes and Braxton!

Friday, October 21, 2016

Week 9

Dear parents,
                I can’t believe we finished our first nine weeks of school! Our classroom is up and running and the students know what is expected of them. In math this week we were working on story problems, both addition and subtraction. We used our part/part/whole to decide what kind of problem we were solving. Them we set up the problem making sure that we lined up our tens and ones. We solved our problems many different ways. We even began borrowing from and carrying to the tens place. 
                 In language we were learning the four different kinds of sentences. We are great at writing statements, questions, exclamations and commands! In reading we read the story The Ugly Vegetables. The children learned about details helping us form a conclusion. They saw pictures of the Chinese vegetables. They were interested to see how they looked as compared to how the author described them.
                 In science we talked about changing matter. We changed a flat piece of paper into an airplane and even got to watch it fly! We used materials to build a structure that would hold a cotton ball as high off our desks as we could manage. The winning group had it 51 cm off their desk. We learned that some materials were better to build with than others. E cannot wait until our next challenge!
                In Social studies we worked all week on planning our communities. We brought in materials to build with and talked about which would be best and fit on our boards. Then Thursday was building day! Our communities turned out great! I would love to put all the pictures on our classroom blog, but I still have not been given permission from some parents to post pictures. I will take pictures of projects and the members who I know who can be posted. If your child is missing, please e- mail me to give me permission to post your child’s photo on our blog. These will be posted next week.

                Part 2 of our Pumpkin Project was due today. Four of my students did not turn theirs in to me. Please check to see if it was your child and help him/her turn in his/her story map on Monday. Those that did turn it in, got it checked and given back to help them complete part 3. A few children were asked to revise their story map to retell the story giving a beginning, a middle, and an end. Part 3 went home in today’s coyote folder. There is a title sheet, the written report page ( if there were no corrections, your child copies his/her story map onto the new sheet, leaving the rectangle at the top empty. Next Friday I will take a picture of each child with his/her finished pumpkin and book to be put in this spot! Please remember to send the actual book with the project. I can’t wait to see all the book character pumpkins next Friday!

Friday, October 14, 2016

Our Next Leader of the Week!


Week 8

Dear Parents,
               This week flew by! We finished up unit two in math, learning how to read a story problem and decide if it is addition or subtraction and using a fact family to solve problems!In writing we are focused on writing complete thoughts and what kind of ending mark should go on a sentence. We mainly focused on statements and questions, but next week will learn about exclamations and commands. In reading we enjoyed Teacher’s Pets . We talked about the story elements and even played a dice game that tested our knowledge. Writing about our favorite pet or one we’d like to have was fun! In social studies we learned about Columbus Day and continued on with our leader in me activities. We are learning how to take care of ourselves so that we can do our best!In Science we finished up changing matter and took our assessment on Friday.
                The pumpkin project blueprint and list of supplies needed to make their pumpkin was due today. Each section of the project is part of the grade. Four students did not turn in part one of the pumpkin project. Points will be deducted for late assignments. If your child did not turn in part one today, please make sure that they have it on Monday - Please help your child turn in his/her project parts on time. Part 2 of the pumpkin project went home today in your child’s coyote folder. This story map will be due Oct. 21st.
        * We   have a new lunch time on early release days. The students eat at 10:25. We recommend sending your child with a packed lunch because we anticipate delays with trying to get all 6 grades through the lunch line.


Have a wonderful weekend with your family. I hope to see you and your family at the Fall Festival tonight at 6:00!

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Week 7

Dear Parents,
       We had another wonderful week of learning! In math we have been working with a math tool called a part-part-whole box to practice number families, solve addition stories, solve subtraction stories, and to decide if a word problem is addition or subtraction.
         In writing we wrote fall stories using sensory words to describe things we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste in the fall. We met with friends to revise and edited with the teacher. We then published our stories which now are hanging in the hallway on display. We wrote two short poems this week. One in honor of American Indian Heritage Day, and another about spiders.
         Since our reading story was The Diary of a Spider we practiced our spelling words by having a spider race! We got spider rings and had a spider snack as well!
         In social studies weve been studying communities and are going to be picking our favorite community to build. Please start saving empty cereal boxes, small cartons or anything you can think of to help your child build a model of a community at school on a foam board. These three-D projects will be made by groups. They will pick from urban, rural, or suburban communities to build as a group. 
          Our leader of the week habit was sharpen the saw. This four day weekend will help our students do just that! They will eat well, rest, play, and spend quality time with your family!This will recharge them so that they can come back ready to learn some more next Tuesday!

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Week 6

Dear Parents,
   First things, First! There is no tutoring after school on Monday as I have a class to go to to learn more about expository writing! I am excited to get more writing ideas to teach in my classroom. My before school student can still expect to be greeted at the door at 7:00 A.M. Monday morning.
    We had another wonderful week of learning in second grade! We finished up our first unit in our math book and took our assessment. In math we were using ten frames to look at numbers and their parts. We could solve addition and subtraction problems with this math tool. We also used    our part/part/whole boxes to help us discover the number families like 6+7=13, 7+6=13, 13- 6=7, and 13-7=6! We are getting good at using different tools to help us think and solve problems.
     In writing we are beginning stories about the Fall, learning about topic sentences, details, and conclusions as well as revising our writing using examples, sensory words, similes or metaphors. Ask them about my writing of the messy room!
     In reading we enjoyed our story Henry and Mudge Under the Yellow Moon and wrote about the beginning, middle and end of the story to summarize.
     In social studies we learned about Habit Six: Synergize! Together is better! We also began our unit on community. Please start saving empty cereal boxes, small cartons or anything you can think of to help your child build a model of a community at school on a foam board. These three-D projects will be made by groups. They will pick from urban, rural, or suburban communities to build as a group.
      
Your conference times are located in your child’s Coyote Folder. Please mark your calendar and a reminder will be going home the night before we meet!
  • 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. I have five parents who have not responded. Please let me know.
  • *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.
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 chose the theme family movie night. We are asking for a donation of $3.00 per child. Please get this in as soon as possible as
I

Have to go buy the items for the basket and get it ready by Oct. 14th!