Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Year End Post....not goodbye just 'til next year!

As this year comes to a close, I want to thank every parent and every child for a great 2 years.  I have enjoyed every minute of the last two years.  I have seen these Kindergarteners grow into independent, strong willed, intelligent second graders.  They are the BEST!

Here are some pictures that help to capture our last days together.











What a great group of students!  

Enjoy 2nd Grade!




Sunday, June 1, 2014

Weekly Preview...

This week will be pretty busy with lots of excitement.  We will have Encore switch this week.  This means the class will have Encore in the morning to allow our 3,4,5 graders to have Encore after taking SOL tests.  We will be going to the Health Fair on Thursday morning ( this is in the gym ).  We will have Field Day on Friday morning.  

We will continue with the reading series and continue to read daily.  The class will be writing letters of advice to next years first graders.  

We will learn about the 4th of July Holiday this week.  We will continue to review all Math SOLS taught this year with a variety of lessons. 

Field Day Reminders:
Please send a change of clothes with your child to school as they may get wet.  

Please look in your child's folder tomorrow explaining our end of year party.

Many Thanks,
Mrs. Beltz

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Field Trip...Friends of the Rappahannock

Here are a few memories from today's trip....










Here is a video describing the parts of a tree and their functions!



Monday, May 19, 2014

This Week...

Well, we are winding down our time together and each time I think about it, I get sad!  Sad to see my babies leave me but soooo PROUD of how far they have come since we got together 2 years ago!

I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weekend and now for another weekly update:

This week we will continue to read, read, read!  I will also be doing more reading assessments as the county is moving towards Fontas & Pinnell for reading levels.  Means nothing to you but for us it will give us a more accurate reading level for each child and also give their second grade teacher a solid place to start with them as soon as the walk through the door in second.  We will continue with the reading series this week and I will be squeezing in reading groups whenever possible.

We will write about how we have "bloomed" from kindergarten to the end of first grade.  It will be interesting to see if they see how much they have changed!  We will continue to use the four square writing model.

In math, we will be reviewing place value and counting of all kinds.  We will do this in many different ways and may even get the chance to show off our knowledge by opening "the wall" and learning with another class on Friday afternoon.

We will continue to learn about economics with the focus on goods and services, consumers and producers.  We are making a flip book that highlights these terms and their definitions.

Upcoming events:
Please continue to send in a snack daily!
No School on Monday- Memorial Day
Tuesday - May 27 First Grade Field Trip

Have a great week!
Mrs. Beltz

Sunday, May 11, 2014

This Week


We have already finished PALS testing.  They did an awesome job.  I so proud of all my soon to be second graders!

We will continue to read in whole group and in small reading groups.  This week we will work on story sequencing and words that end with es and ies.  We will be taking the county writing prompt which I will encourage them to use the 4 square model to complete.

In math, we will continue with fractions of a set.  This concept is somewhat harder to grasps than just fractions.  We will continue to learn this with some fun lessons.  We will then move on to reviewing counting mixed coins, measuring and telling time.

We will finish learning about plants in Science.  We will then take our assessment on this SOL and move on to our last SOL of the year, Economics.  We will learn about needs/wants, saving, and producers/consumers.  This unit will take 2 weeks to complete.

Please contact me if you would like to know how your child performed on PALS.

Things to remember:
Please continue to send in a snack daily.
No school on Memorial day
Field Trip is coming up....details to follow

Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Beltz

Monday, April 14, 2014

This week...

Hi Parents,

This week we will continue to Read, Read, Read!  We will learn about the vowel pairs/sounds that ow, ou make at times.  We will continue to focus on writing using the four square model.  This week we will write about what it would be like to be the Easter Bunny.

We will continue to review equality in math and work a little on reviewing patterns.  Please continue to work on fast facts.  Many students are nearing the end of addition and working towards subtraction!  Way to go!

We will finish talking about natural resources and take an assessment on that towards the end of the week.

We will get the chance to see the recorder concert and have a guidance lesson with Mrs. Kopley.  Dr. Slunt, a professor from UMW, will also be in at the end of the week to do a lesson with the class.

TUESDAY is class picture day and individual picture day.  These pictures do need to be paid for in advance.  It is also the last call for early yearbook purchase.  Yearbook will be on sale again at the end of the year just not at the discounted price.

Reminders:

NEXT WEEK IS SPRING BREAK!!!!

Have a great week!
Mrs. Beltz

The "Spots" last week...

 Our very own "spots" going to the
 Little Feet Meet!
Congratulations on a great job boys!


 Raising money for childhood cancer....pay $1.00 to wear a hat!  Thanks helping to make a difference!

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Weekly Update

Hi Parents!

This weekend has been filled with sports and amazing weather!  I hope you were all able to enjoy some of the beautiful weather.

This week we will continue with the reading series and focus on lots of Non-fiction.  We will talk about classifying and categorizing when reading.  We will also talk about adding s, ed, and ing to words.  We will learn about nouns and verbs.  LOTS to learn.  We will continue with writing using the 4 square method and incorporate our Science theme  using the story The Lorax.

In math this week, we will learn about equality, greater than/less than and balancing equations.  We will do this in many ways.

We just finished our Animals unit and will review and take our test on that unit on Monday.  We will then move on to Natural Resources.  We will talk about what are natural resources, how do we use them, what pollutes them and the 3 R's....Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  This unit will take us right up to Spring Break.

Important Reminders:

Spring Picture day is April 15, this is also class picture day.  ( all money is due on that day )
April 15- money for Yearbooks is also due that day ($14.00 )
April 11- Family Bingo @ WES
Spring Break- April  21-25

Our field trip has been rescheduled for April 29.  We will be sending home a current permission slip this week so be looking for that.  EVERYONE has already paid!


Sunday, March 23, 2014

Weekly Preview...

This week...

We will continue to Read, Read, Read.  I have adjusted some reading groups because we are flying through books with great fluency and comprehension.  We will continue with word study and will work on compound words and words with oo.  We will do a fun lesson using Cookie Crisp cereal to do our oo lesson.  We will begin to write Narratives.  We will use the book Duck on a Bike this week as our literature model.

We will continue with math fast facts and begin to work on graphing and magnitude in math.  That means lots of interviewing our classmates.  This way we can work on collecting data, putting into graph form and then answering questions about the data we collected.  We will also work on magnitude which means lots of estimating and counting.

We will continue to work on our Animals unit.  We began last week with learning about the differences between living and nonliving and what a living thing needs to survive.  This week we will talk about habitats and the skin coverings of different animal groups.  We will cover birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians.

We are working through the new schedule changes.  I know the class is tired by the end of the day but they are doing great!  We will continue to work up to the 3:45 bell, so please be aware that if you pull your child out of class, they will be missing educational time, not extra recess.  Thank you all for being understanding as we push on and try to make it to Spring.

Things to remember:

March 28- end of the 3rd nine weeks
March 28- half day ( as of now---THIS MAY CHANGE after the Monday School Board Meeting ) be on the lookout for that outcome!!!

Thanks for all you do and have a great week!
Mrs. Beltz

Living Vs. Nonliving

Here are some pictures from our... 
Living Vs. Nonliving Lesson

Gummy Worms Vs. Real Earthworms

FUN STUFF!










Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy St. Patrick's Day and things to Practice @ Home!

   Happy St. Patrick's Day!  



I know the class must be feeling LUCKY this morning with yet another Snow Day!  Here are a few things we can be doing at home to keep moving forward.  

READ, READ, READ!

Go to starfall.com   

Practice math problems and concepts on MobyMax 

mobymax.com/signin

Go to http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/customer_login.asp

This site allows a free trial that your child can use to listen to a variety of books being read to them!









Allow  your child to watch these short videos too!


Sunday, March 16, 2014

Weekly Preview

OK....I am in total denial about the yucky precipitation already falling from the sky!  So, I will write this up pretending that we will be in school for the entire 5 days!

This week we will be reading lots and practicing our problem solving skills.  We will also begin the week with new word study sorts.  We will work on the vowel sounds of ow and oa.  Your child may not be working on this level however I am a firm believer in introducing all my students to this concept and then focusing more in it in reading groups if appropriate.

We will finish learning about fact families.  The class really took to this math concept and they ALL have a pretty firm understanding at this time.  We will then work on subtracting.  We will also continue with fast fact tests.  

We will begin our unit on Living and Nonliving things as well as different characteristics of animals.  This entire unit will last about 4 weeks.  

If anyone can send in gummy worms ASAP, that would be great.  We will be using them as a comparison to REAL worms.  Check back later this week for pictures on that!

Also, please send in a rock that fits in your child's palm.  They will need this for Friday or early next week, weather depending. 

 Happy St. Patrick’s Day!


Weather depending we will be making Leprechaun Traps tomorrow! 

Sunday, March 9, 2014

This week..

This week we will continue to learn and grow.  We will continue with the reading series and talk about making predictions and noting details.  We will look at words that have ee, ea as vowel pairs.  Your child will continue to practice word study on their level with their word study teacher.  We will also be writing How to pieces.  We will write about how to catch a leprechaun...getting ready for the big day.

In math our focus will be fact families.  We will work on addition and subtraction sentences for a group of numbers.  We will do this by learning about the boss of the house and the workers of the house.  We will also continue with math fast facts.

We will finish learning about Eleanor Roosevelt and learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.  We will then make a timeline and sort our pictures cards to go with each famous American.  We will then take our assessment on this Social Studies SOL.

Things to Remember:

Family Movie Night is Friday March 14.
March 28- is a half day

We are in need of a bag of gummy worms ( we need at least 22 ) for our unit starting next Monday.  If you are able to send this in please email to let me know.

We are working hard and need to continue to Read, Read, Read.  Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions.  Have a great week!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Beltz



Tuesday, February 25, 2014

100th Day of School

100th Day of School Fun

Here are some pictures from our 100th day of school.  We counted, we did 100 exercises, we made a mystery 100 picture, we made a picture out of the number 100, we built a structure using 100 legos, we wrote about what we would do when we are 100 years old, we talked about things we could do in 100 seconds and we even licked our tootsie pops 100 times to see if we could get to the center of a tootsie pop!











What a fun day of celebrating 100 days SMARTER!
Love them!

Talent Show

Talent Show
Here is a sample of our very own performers in the talent show this past week!


Way to go Girls! So Proud of You!






Sunday, February 23, 2014

Weekly Preview..

This week we will....

Celebrate our 100th day of school.  We finally made it, hopefully!!  We will have that day of fun on Tuesday.  We will have new word study cards in every group.  We will continue our focus on Reading, Reading, and Reading some more.  We have officially covered long a, i, o, and u words.  We have learned about super e... check out this video on youtube of super e.


In math we will practice counting like coins and counting mixed coins.  The mixed coins will pennies, nickels and dimes.  We will also continue to focus on fast facts.  This week we will make a new set of cards that represent your child's level.

This week in Social Studies we will learn about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington Carver.  Just a few of our Famous Americans.

Interim reports will be sent home this Thursday.  

Have a great week!
Mrs. Beltz

Valentine Fun!

We finally got the chance to celebrate 
Valentine's Day!
Check out some pictures of us decorating our boxes, passing out our valentine's and having a small treat.
We also did some mustache measuring this week.
FUN!











LOVE THEM ALL!