Beal's Blog

Look here!

Download second_grade_at_a_glance.doc H ere is a look at where we are and where we are going!

A great spelling website!

I found this site in my web travels. It is so helpful and fun too!

Sitton Spelling Games

Georgia has five regions...

We have studied Georgia's regions all week. Your child brought home a study guide and their Social Studies book to help them review this information over the weekend. Please help your child read the chapter in the book and go over their study guide as they will have a benchmark assessment on Monday covering this material

The students need to identify the five regions, their location in the state, and at least one important feature of each region. I know that they can do it!

See everyone on Monday. Have a great weekend!

August is already over...

I can't believe it! When we come back on Tuesday it will already be September. Time flies when you are having fun and learning so many things. We are moving right along and our schedule is pretty well finalized-the children really enjoy the predictability and knowing what is happening and when. I was out of the class for some training this past week and I had to take my older daughter to get braces. The class was GREAT!  I am so proud of them for following the rules and being great helpers for the substitutes who visited our classroom.

We will continue to focus on adding larger numbers and interpreting graphs in math. In reading groups we are working on story elements such as setting, characters, and retelling of the text. Our writing focus is narrative stories and we will create our own while focusing on using strong sentences that have capitals, punctuation, and correct spelling.

Please be sure to check your child's communication folder and homework journal each night.

We have a field trip on Wednesday as well as Open House Wednesday evening. I am looking forward to both of these events.

Happy birthday to Gracie and Eli who celebrated in August! 

Two weeks down...

And we have accomplished so many things already. I have been busily getting to know my students, beginning the material we will cover for this grading period, and doing several assessments to better meet the needs of the class.

I think everyone has finally settled into a pattern. We are on our "normal" schedule with all subjects up and running. Homework journals have been coming home for a week and most everyone seems to be doing well with the expectations and the work. Don't forget that your child should be completing this nightly and you should be looking through their communication folders daily.

We have visited the media center and will add Accelerated Reading to our program sometime next week. Our counselor came in for her first classroom guidance lesson and the children really enjoyed spending time with her.

Please try your best to attend our Open House. I will go over many procedures, expectations, and county information as well. It is preferred that only adults attend so I want to give you plenty of time to round up care for the kids. Hope to see you there.

Please feel free to email me or contact me through a note at any time. I try to respond quickly and usually do so within a day or so. Keep checking the blog too!

One week down...

We made it! Our first week is in the books and it was great. We spent a lot of time learning and reviewing classroom and school procedures...now we are ready for the big stuff! In math we are looking at numbers and different ways we can express the same value. We will also begin adding and subtracting double digit numbers. In science we will spend the next week discussing trees and how they change throughout the year. We will revisit this concept throughout second grade. We will begin our Writer's Workshop by discussing sentences, punctuation, and capitalization. Our phonics and spelling will also begin in earnest this week. We will look at our words for the week and reviewing short a and short e words. I am still doing some assessments with he students in order to get our reading groups up and running, hopefully this will be completed by the end of the week.

Look for your child's homework journal on Monday afternoon. Please have them complete the daily assignment, discuss it with them, and sign it to be returned on Tuesday. Please return your child's daily communication folder as well.

I am looking forward to a new week and I hope the kids are too!

Save the Date!!

You probably have lots of questions about the day in and day out things we do here in our room. These burning questions will be answered at Open House on September 3. Please plan to attend if possible. Of course, you can also email or come by and see me if you want to talk before then.

Email is the best way to get in touch with me. If you have an email address please send it to me and I will add you to my address book.  

Newsletters should start coming your way shortly. I plan to try and get one out every other week in addition to weekly folder notes and blog postings. I believe in open lines of communication and like to keep everyone as informed as possible!

WE DID IT!

Today was our first day of second grade-mine and the students. I don't mind saying it myself...we did great. There was lots of discussion abour procedures and rules, a couple of stories and work time, and of course a little bit of fun too! Please let me know how your child liked their first day.

WOW! How lucky am I!!??

I am so lucky because I have the greatest class of second graders in the school! I loved meeting each of you and your families at sneak a peek on Friday. I am so excited to get our school year under way. We are going to make a great team and you are going to learn so many things and have fun too! See you all on Monday morning.

Don't forget to bring a snack if you choose and a water bottle as well. Please be sure your water bottle can be closed so we can avoid spills.

Your excited teacher,

Mrs. Beal

AUGUST IS GETTING CLOSER...

Hi there-I hope everyone is having a great summer. I am doing some traveling, catching up on some reading, and spending time with friends and family.

I can't wait to meet my new SECOND GRADE students. I am getting really excited and I hope you are too. I look forward to meeting you at Sneak-A-Peek in early August.

REMEMBER-school starts on August 11-see you then!