About Me

My name is Christie Bethel and I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I have been teaching at Banks Road Elementary since it opened up in 2009. My current teaching experience includes teaching first grade at Willow Springs Elementary and 2nd grade at Lillington Shawtown Elementary. I am a Fuquay native, but now call Apex home. I love animals, especially my cat Bootsie and my parent's yellow lab Lucy. I completed my first half-marathon in April 2011. So when I'm not at school, you will find me at the gym or on a trail running or playing soccer with my friends. I was honored to be selected as Banks Road Elementary's Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014.

Meet our class!

Meet our class!

Class Schedule

8:45 to 9:15- Morning work, breakfast, and bathroom
9:15 to 9:25- Read Aloud/Calendar
9:30 to 10:15- Specials
10:20 to to 11:00- Writer's Workshop
11:05 to 11:30- Lunch- table 1
11:35 to 12:35- Math
12:40 to 1:00- Team Time
1:00 to 1:30- Recess
1:30 to 1:40- Snack/Restroom/Read Aloud
1:40 to 2:10- Science and Social Studies
2:10 to 3:35- Daily 5
3:40- Dismissal

Important Dates

- Friday, November 22nd- Jason Knowles’ birthday
- Wednesday, November 27th- Book-It! due for the month of November
- Thursday, November 28th- Thanksgiving- No School!
- Friday, November 29th- No School!
- Monday, December 2nd- Ansley Ayers' Birthday
- Wednesday, December 4th- Track out day

-Monday, December 16th- Hank Gozy's birthday
- Friday, December 27th- Will Poplin's birthday

Monday, August 22, 2011

Newsletter for the week of August 22nd

In math, we worked on the counting on strategy.  This is where we get the bigger number in our head and count on the lower number.  For example if we have the problem 6+2, we could get 6 in our head and add two more to it, giving us 6: 7 and 8. This is a much easier and quicker strategy than using the counting all strategy where we count every number, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and then adding two more 7 and 8.
In Wilson’s Fundations, we have continued to work on tapping out the beginning, middle, and ending sounds to a word. We have also learned the trick word: and. We cannot tap out this word, so it has been added to the word wall for us to use. We have also continued to work on sentence dictation, where we count out the number of words in a sentence and tap out the sounds for each of the words, unless it is a trick word.
In reading, we worked on making predictions based on the pictures. We used the book “The Way I Feel” to help us predict how each character was feeling and why they were feeling that.  We also read the book “Pig’s Egg” and took a book walk and discussed our predictions we had about the book before we actually read it.  We discovered that making predictions gives us a great way to understand the book, even before we read it. We also focused on the words and, with, big, get, and up. Once we have gone over the words, they are expected to spell these words correctly in their writing and be able to read them.
In writing, we started working on “Small Moment” stories.  These are stories that have actually happened to us.  To help us understand what a “Small Moment” story is, we read the book “Owl Moon” by Jane Yolen. We then brainstormed ideas to write about.  The writing collage you did for homework a few weeks ago, with help the students when they are writing their “Small Moment” stories.
Important information:
-         Open House- Thank you to everyone who came out last week to our Open House. I know that was a lot of information to take in at once, so I have posted the PowerPoint presentation to my Blackboard site. You can access it from our school website, then click on staff and find my name and then to the right you will be see a chalkboard with “Bb”.  Click on that and look for Ms. Bethel. I have also posted the link on the classroom blog.
-         Open House information- At Open House I passed out Bus Agreement forms. Please sign, even if your child is not usually a bus rider, and return to school as soon as possible. I also had index cards with the link to the First Grade Curriculum.  There you can find the requirements and expectations for First Grade.  The link is http://www.wcpss.net/curriculum-instruction/docs_downloads/connections. It is available in Spanish and English.
-         Specials- Starting this week, we will begin having Guidance with Miss Hibberd on Thursdays until we track out.  Monday will continue to be Music, Tuesday is Art, Wednesday is PE, Thursday is Guidance, and Friday is Library.
-         Family History Project- Continue to work on your family history project.  The sheet I passed out was just a few suggestions.  My goal is for your child to learn something about your family they never knew and for it to be fun.  If you would like to help your child share their information, just write a note in the Home-School Connection.  Projects are due by Friday, September 2nd.
-         Scholastic News- Continue to bring in your $5.00 for Scholastic News. Money is due this Friday.  Thanks so much!

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