What a busy productive day we had. Thank you Madisson for sharing all your Student of the Week things. We enjoyed hearing about you. We wish you luck on your Tae Kwon Do competition coming up.

Leaf Projects-what great animals we created. Very creative. They are up in the hallway and you will see them at conference time.

Drug Free Week was a very eye-opening experience for us this week. I can't wait to read their journals this week about each of the experiences/presentors. I know we sure had a lot of good discussions during our morning meetings.

Permission slips went home today for the ABT performance on Wednesday. Students will have a $1000 buy in.

Pumpkin Patch Party is Friday and students can earn $500 for going.

Parent Teacher Conferences are this week. I look forward to seeing each of you then. Remember Early Outs (12:00) on Wed-Fri.

Have a great safe Halloween.

WOW -What a Treat today with SPECIAL GUESTS!!

Rusty May came to our 4th grades today to talk about Drugs & their effects on individuals and their families. How fun to see Rusty again. We listen to his daily message and use and discuss so much of what he gives us as we build our "positive" character and make good choices. Thank you Rusty!!!

Students from area high schools talked to us

today about their experiences with drug addiction and how it not only affects their lives, but that of their families & friends. Another powerful presentation-Listening to these life changing experiences would make all of us think before even thinking about using drugs.

Parent Teacher Conferences are next Tuesday-Friday. We will have Early Out on Wed-Friday-dismissal will be at 12:00. I look forward to seeing each of you on your scheduled day. Come with any questions or concerns you wish to talk about.

Leaves-Leaves-please make sure you have some leaves for our leaf animal project on Friday. Also bring your creative ideas.

Great job today for the substitute. She said they were fabulous and earned compliments from both her and Ms. Erickson. Way to go Team Hankins'!

Remember library books tomorrow and also wear your favorite sports team jersey, t-shirt, or sweatshirt tomorrow to "Team up Against Drugs"!!

Also, Pumpkin Patch Party tomorrow

Remember no costumes here at school during the school day.

Have a great night.

What a GREAT Day we had. Jeff did an amazing job showing us & telling about the beaver dam & lodge. We saw how the beavers change the environment around them as they make their own habitat. Pretty cool. As we were exploring with Jeff we not only saw the beaver stuff, but all the other things around us out there in nature and he took the time to explain so much.

The beaver projects today were AWESOME!! Very creative and I was so impressed at how much they learned and how they were able to use the vocabulary we learned as they were sharing.

Tomorrow is "Too Cool For Drugs" day. Wear sunglasses for that $100 and be in the spirit of being Drug Free.

We have a very special guest here in the morning that I will miss because I have a sub for the morning as I have a writing workshop to go to. I'm bummed to miss him/her!!

Also tomorrow we have some high school students coming in to talk about their experiences with drug/alcohol abuse.

Thank you to those of you who turned in the conference slips conferring that the time scheduled will work for you.

Have a great night and enjoy.

Day One of Red Ribbon Week

What a great way to start out the Drug Free Week-taking a trip to the Yellowstone Detention Center.  The kids were so intent on listening to the presenters every word.  They came away from there saying "I sure never want to go back".  Very powerful messages given and the best part for me was the presenters all saying what I say so often, The people here aren't bad people, they just made bad choices and to  "Learn & Grow from your Mistakes".  It was also nice to hear the students in discussion later back at school talk about how after going here, they will turn away from bad peer pressure situations when they are faced with them.  That is what I want to hear-thank you.

Tomorrow is Run Away From Drugs so show spirit and wear your tennis shoes.  I will also be giving the students red ribbons to wear.  Also, it is movie day.  Students will be able to buy in for popcorn and pop too.

Science Projects-sounds like they are going well and I can't wait to see them on Wednesday.

We have a surprise visitor coming on Tuesday morning-HMMMM-I wonder whom it may be-Try & Guess-you will love it.

Have a great night.

Awesome Job!

Way to go Team Hankins-all permission slips have been turned except two and you know who you are so let's get them here on Monday so you can go on the field trip to the Detention Center.  We will be leaving at 8:45 and returning by 11:30.  Parents who are going can meet us there by 9:00-thank you.

Beaver Projects:  A list of options for this project went home today.  Choose one that will work best for you to show what you've learned throughout this study on beavers.  Basically, the main requirement is that they be 3D and demonstrate knowledge of beavers and their habitat.  The sky is the limit so have fun and I can't wait to see some AWESOME projects.  They are due on Wed. October 27th.  Please don't bring in before then as we are limited to space.  Notes and study sheets were an option to take home to use or if not sure of something just Google and you will find diagrams and facts about their dams. lodges, and the animals themselves.

Also going home today were addition & subtraction practice sheets.  Please take time to practice and use them.  They will be very beneficial.

Conferences have been scheduled and you will get the form on Tuesday as that is the day we are all sending them home.

Have a great 4 days and we will see you on Monday.

Hi there-

Thank you so much to most of you for returning the beaver field trip permission slips and also for those of you who brought extra money.  As we talked about, Rachel is watching and that is a wonderful Act of Kindness.

We had Agent Dunlap in today to "kick off" our Red Ribbon Week which will be the week of October 25-29.  He had lots of good info. to share and students are to be writing about it tonight for nightly writing.  We are doing many things as you can tell by the letter that went home today.  They need to be active participants and do the activity/writing requirements that I will assign to go with it to earn their Drug Free charm.

Please get the permission slips signed and back to me by tomorrow for $500 fake money.  Also, as the letter said, parents are welcome-just meet us there on Monday.

Below is a list of the dress up days for the week:

Monday-"Life Without Drugs"...Don't Sweat It-wear sweats

Tuesday-Run Away From Drugs-wear tennis shoes

Wednesday-Sock It to Drugs-wear crazy socks

Thursday-Too Cool For Drugs-wear sunglasses

Friday-Team Up Against Drug-wear your favorite sports team jersey or t-shirt

  $100 given for each day you dress up to show school spirit.

Thank you parents for all you do-

Have a great night.

Jeff, the Nature Guy, comes to Bitterroot.  He shared with us so much of his expertise on Beavers and their habitats.

We are all set for the field 

trip on Wednesday, October 27th.  Permission slips along with an explanation of the field trip came home today attached to a ZipLock bag.  Please return the bottom portion of the permission slip and the $6 to school tomorrow.  Those returned tomorrow will earn $500 free money. 

Tomorrow I will be sending the letter about Drug Free Week and all the activities we are going to be doing.  Please read carefully and take note of the two parts that need your permission-the jail field trip and the movie.  Please get these back to school by Wednesday, October 20th for more free money.

Also coming home today was a practice sheet to work on skip counting by 2's, 5's, 9's, and 10's.  Please see that your child practices these daily.  This will help when we get to multiplication.  Speaking of fact practice, I will be sending home a packet of addition & subtraction sheets to practice in the form of timings.

Also, Congratulations to Colton, this week's student of the week.

Thank you and have a great night.

Jeff, the Nature Guy Comes to Bitterroot 4th Grades

Jeff, the Nature Guy, will be in our classroom LIVE on Monday afternoon.  He is going to be here to talk about beavers & their habitat.  Your child will be in "awe" as they listen to him.  His knowledge of animals & nature is amazing, plus the energy & fun he brings to his presentations.

The field trip to the beaver dam/lodge is going to be a happening deal.  We are going to be going on Wednesday, October 27th.  Permission slips will be coming home Monday.  We weren't sure if we would go because of the $6 that it is going to cost your child because we aren't guaranteed to see beavers in action as they are noc-turnal, but there is so much to learn about their habitat and the kids are eager to go so we are going to do it.  Cross your fingers that we see them in action.

Permission slips for the Detention Center are going to be coming home this week also.  We have lots going on for Drug Free week as you will see on the slip that comes home.

Parent-Teacher Conference slips went home on Friday.  Please mark your 1st & 2nd choices for your day & time.  We do what we can to give you one of those choices.  Due to the availability of times,  I appreciate the effort that split families make to come  up with one conference time that you can come together to talk about your child.  Thank you.

Thank you for all the positive letters that you have written about your child and their experience so far in 4th grade.  I am so happy to read about the positive impact our morning meetings and character building are making for your child.  Putting the extra time and effort in for this is so important for building relationships and teamwork.

Reminder:  Early Dismissal on Wednesday, October 20th-12:00 dismissal

Health test on Tuesday.

Have a great rest of the weekend. 

Eager Beavers

What a great day we had today.  We were eager beavers and got lots done.

Speaking of beavers, Ms. Erickson and I are great friends with Jeff, the Nature Guy, from the Beartooth Nature Center in Red Lodge and he knows of an awesome beaver dam/lodge with lots of beaver activity going on right now.  He has offered to take us there on a field trip-Yay!!!  This will cost each of us $6.00 to pay for the bus.  We talked about it today in class and most kids said the money wouldn't not be a problem.  If it is for your family-no worries, we will make sure your child goes!!  What a great opportunity to see them in action.  Permission slips will be coming home soon.

I will be collecting fake money too which helps explain the nightly writing for tonight.  Yes, parents you have homework too.

Your child has to write a letter to me telling me how our Morning Meetings and Character Building is helping them become a more positive member of our team.  ($500)

Parents:  I am asking you to write a letter to me about what you are seeing and feeling about your child this year in 4th grade.  Try to incorporate the character, social, and academics.

This will earn them another $500.  WOW-$1000 for one night-that pays for a field trip.

Talk to your child about the new skip counting activity we learned today to help with math facts.

Have a great night and enjoy the weather.

Great Day today!! We have pretty much finished our final project for the whole class book we read.  A couple people are finishing their characterization activity.  They did a great job with these and they are on display in the hallway.

 We started our new Book Club books today in my reading class.  The students have previewed them and are excited to read them as they have been enticed by what they found out by the skim & scan strategy for predicting.  We have learned many strategies while we did the whole group book previous to this one and now I will be more of a facilitator as they have their own discussions.  I so love this as they have some good talks and ideas to share about what they read.

Math-chapter 2 is going well.  Keep refreshing your brains by practicing those facts.

In Science, we have begun our unit on beavers and beaver dams.  We watched a great YouTube and gathered facts, and now they are illustrating a beaver dam for their nightly writing.  We are actually going to try and build one together as a class.  More on that to come at a later date.

We are starting to prepare for Drug Free Week which is Oct. 25-29.  We are going to be doing a lot that week from guest speakers, our field trip, videos, youtubes, etc. to help your child understand the importance of Making Good Choices now at this young age.

Have a great night.

NILE Field Trip:  We had a great field trip on Monday and we learned a lot about Montana Agriculture.  We visited 6 different stations.  Students were graded on what they learned by having to write 2-3 facts about each station for their nightly writing.  

Just a reminder that next week we have an early out on Wednesday, October 20th.  Dismissal is at 12:00.  Then there is no school on Thursday & Friday.

We have started Chapter 2 in Math and that is on Addition & Subtraction.  It is very important that your child knows they addition & subtraction facts in order to be successful.  They need the facts to do computation.

Behaviors:  We continue to make improvements with our transitions, but we still have improvements that need to be made to reach expectations.  Still lots of chit chat at times which results in loss of fake money, which may keep your child from field trips and fun activities.  Also they may not have any extra money for auctions in the future.  We know what happened last week when some didn't participate.  Sad -sad faces.   YOU CAN DO IT-TEAM HANKINS!!!

Report Cards are coming soon.  Work hard to get and keep those grades up. :)

Also, Parent-Teacher Conferences are going to November 3-5.  More information about these will be coming home soon.

Have  a great night and get out and enjoy the sunshine.

Congratulations to Brittany, our new student of the week.  We learned so much about her, but the most amazing thing is she started "Tap Dancing" at age 3.  What a doll.  We love the shoes too.

Fun-fun afternoon for most of the students-  We had our 1st auction of the year where they were given chances to bid on items using their fake Bitterroot Bucks.  They had to keep $2000 for the field trips on the 25th and the one in November and then any extra money could be spent on that.  They loved it and worked hard on their math & money adding.

Lesson to all as I overheard them saying to each other:  "It sure pays to use good character and be responsible for your actions and getting your work done.  We will have many more throughout the year so start saving now!!!!

Monday is our field trip to the NILE!  Students are to dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes.  If they are bringing their own sack lunches they are to bring those too.

Reminder of the Weed Pulling Contest on Saturday at Schoenthal Island down by Riverfront Park from 9-2.  Come and enjoy the fun and spreading acts of kindness.

Have a great weekend.

Weed Pulling Contest:  What a great way to get involved and to help out the environment.  Our school with the help from the Montana Conservation Corp. and in conjunction with Rachel's Challenge will be taking part in a weed pulling contest at Schoenthal Island (down by Riverfront Park on Saturday, October 9th from 9-2:00.  Please bring your comfy clothes and work gloves and join in on the fun.  $1000 free money for those participating.

Field Trip:  Our first field trip is on Monday, October 11th.  We are going to the Metra for the NILE where we will learn lots about Montana's Agriculture.  Any parents want to volunteer to go?  We could use 1 or 2 adults.  We leave school at about 11:15 and return around 2:15.  Thank you.

Responsibility Charms:  The students are working hard to earn these to add to the ones they have.  We are adding the feet ones for monthly reading too so make sure you are reading nightly.

Kindness Chain:  Lots of great acts of kindness are happening and our chain is growing rapidly.  Keep up the good work.

Have a great night and get out to enjoy the outdoors before fall sets in.

Great job today Team Hankins!!

We earned another compliment for lunch time and we even ate in our classrooms due to pictures in the gym.  Keep up the GREAT work.

I would like to WELCOME our new student.  Her name is Hayden Forster.  She comes to us from Idaho.  We are so happy to have her and look forward to getting to know her and her getting to know us.  We know she will LOVE it here!!

Don't forget to watch the Rusty site on a daily/weekly basis so you can see what we talk about daily for our Character Building.  Great discussions and feelings shared daily.  What a fun way to start our day after our Greeting one another with our new, fun music.

Charms for dog tag chains:  Students have earned their Teamwork and Citizenship charms and are working towards their Responsibility one.  They have to write a 4th grade quality paragraph using the new organizer with the colored dots for parts of the paragraph.

Speaking of writing, they are working on a paragraph as their assessment for our Hurricane Unit which we have completed.  I can't wait to see what awesome paragraphs we will get.

Remember our Field Trip to the NILE is on Monday, October 11th-not the 13th like the permission slip stated.

Have a great night and get out and enjoy the weather.

Happy Friday!

We had our Classroom Celebration today for earning our first 25 compliment points.  We played CarLot and had Ice Cream.  We already have 5 for the next 25 that we are trying to earn.  Great day in lunch today as we earned 2 there.  Way to go Team Hankins!

Picture Day is on Monday, October 4th.  We are scheduled for 9:30.  Bring those beautiful smiles.

New reading calendars went home today.  There is a little more incentive for them.  Students will earn a charm for every 100 minutes they read.  Let's start reading and adding up those minutes.

Congratulations to Layne, our new student of the week.  We enjoyed all you shared today.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the beautiful Fall weather we are having.

Good luck to all the soccer & football players in our class.  I'm rootin' for you in spirit if I am not there.