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

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Newsletter volume 24

Math-Last week we started working on our solid, 3-D shapes. We are working with the shapes: spheres, cube, rectangular prism, cone, and cylinder. We worked on describing each shapes with its attributes, talking about the edges, vertices, faces it has, and if it can roll, slide, or stack.

Daily 5- Last week we focused using the picture to help decode words. This is part of “Accuracy” for our CAFÉ board.

Wilson Fundations- We continued working on our new glued sounds. Our new sounds are /ank/, /ink/, /unk/, and /onk/. Have your child tell you the letter, keyword, sound for each of these four new sounds. Since these are glued sounds, they cannot be tapped out separately. Instead they are tapped with 3 fingers together. So for the word “pink” it would be /p/ to the index finger and then /ink/ would be tapped with the middle, ring, and pinky fingers together.

Science- We have started on our Pebbles, Sand, and Silt science kit. So far the students have had a chance to observe and describe the rocks and talk about the characteristics they have.

Groundhog Day-Well, we had a great day and learned a lot about the furry weatherman!  We found out that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow which means spring is on its way. But our local groundhog, Sir Walter Wally, did see his shadow and is predicting 6 more weeks of winter.  So I guess only time will tell, to see which groundhog was correct As a class, the majority of us were hoping that he did not see his shadow and were hoping for an early spring.  Ask your child which groundhog we were hoping was correct.  It may surprise you.

Important Information:
-Geo Animals- Keep working on your Geo-Animals. I can’t wait to see what they look like. Try to make them look as real life and take your time. If you need some materials or assistance, please let me know as soon as possible. To see some of the pictures of Geo-Animals from my class last year go to my blog at:  http://missbethelsfirstgradeclassroom.blogspot.com/.
- Boosterthon- The PTA has joined forces with the Boosterthon Program in organizing and supporting our main school fundraiser this February.  We will use the funds raised from the Fun Run to purchase large outdoor umbrellas and technology, such as Smart Boards and Apple products for our student use.  Follow this link to learn more about the Boosterthon program:  http://www.boosterthoncoach.com/
- Book Fair- The Book Fair is under way and we have had a chance to visit it to make a wish list. If your child would like to purchase a book, they have time to go in the morning before the bell rings or they will have a chance to go on Thursday. There will be no book circulation until the Book Fair is over on February 14th.
- Purple on the clip charts- We now have a new color on our clip chart. For students that are doing an “Outstanding job” can move their clip to purple, which is now the best color! The colors are as followed: Purple-Outstanding Job!, Green-Way to go!, Yellow-Oops! Extreme Caution, Blue- consequences 1 and 2, Orange-Call Parent, and Red-Loss of all privileges. All students start the day off on green and a thinking plan will be filled out by the student if they get to Consequences 1 or 2.

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