Ready to Share

State reports are completed and ready to share. We will start sharing tomorrow. Students will have a packet to complete while listening to others' reports. So they will get a grade for their report and also for the info. they gather from others.

BUG Club Recipients-congratulations to the 13 students who were BUG Club recipients. They maintained or brought their grades up from 1st quarter. They were: Andrew, Layne, Blade, Hayden, Tony, Raegan, Hope, Cam, Trish, Marquise, Zach, Shane, Isabella. Good Job. Let's see if we can have more this next quarter. All 10 subject areas are figured into the GPA.

Cold weather is upon us so please see that your child dresses warm. We will be in for recess again tomorrow so if your child wants to bring a game board to play they may.

Valentine's Day Party is on Monday, February 14th. Students will need $800 to buy in. We will see tomorrow (Feb. 1st) how much everyone has. Students will be signing up for a committee so be thinking of how your child can help. The committees are: food, decorations, games, & clean up. Thank you.

Reading calendars are due tomorrow.

Have a great night.

Happy TGIF. I hope you are having a great day or if you read this later this weekend that you had a great day. Remember the Math & Science night tonight 6-8. I hope you all go and have fun and learn lots.

Great day today as we got most of our reports done. I decided not to display them at the math & science night since not everyone is finished.

Also, we finally got to do buddies today. We made penguins with them and they shared facts they know about penguins. They were so darn cute and Hankins' class were awesome leaders and role models.

Monday is BUG Club. Students will find out at the assembly if they made it or not. Remember if you didn't, work hard to make it for 3rd quarter. You can do it.

January Reading calendars are due on Tuesday. Make sure you have added up the minutes and have them signed.

We will be sharing our state reports in class on Tuesday & Thursday. Then they will be on display in the hallway so come up and see the great facts and hard work that was done.

Congratulations to Hayden, our new student of the week. We loved all your pics and hearing about you and your adventures. You sure are an outdoor girl. I Love it.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the nice weather.

Great Great Day Today

We had a great day today working hard at getting those State Reports finished. Everyone is working together helping each other out. Way to go Team Hankins.

Just to let you know we are taking soccer away for a few days. There has been a lot of arguing between both 4th grades while playing so I think the best thing is to "take a little break" from it. Students seem Ok with that, in fact it was their idea so I am so glad they can see the problem and go to the solution.

We have buddies tomorrow with Ms. Bravo's kindergarten and we are so excited as we have not gotten to know them all that well yet this year. I bet they have learned so much and are getting close to 1st graders.

No nightly writing tonight as I want the ones that are working on their report final drafts to work hard and do a good job on them. Give the rest of the students more time to practice math or free read.

Tomorrow is Library so remember those books.

Also, tomorrow is the Family Math and Science Night. There will be professors here from MSU-B doing 3 different Science & Math stations. So come out and have some fun family science fun. Also any students that have their beaver dams from the fall and those that have their state reports done will be able to display them on our table in the gym. The class with the most participation will earn a pizza party. I will give $300 to students that attend with a parent-just write it in their planners.

Thank you Jamy for all the wonderful stufff you have had on display for us to look at and learn about you as our student of the week.

Have a great night and enjoy this spring like weather.

Not a lot to post today. Students had another great day and were very busy. I was so happy to see that they retained the concept of rounding and using compatible numbers to help them with Estimation in Multiplication. Way to go!!

State reports are coming along very well and they seem to be doing their best and taking pride in their work. We will keep working on them here at school.

A big thank you to you parents for getting your child the tri-fold board.

Tomorrow we will start our new Science concept on hibernation, torporing, and dormancy. When we oovooed Jeff on Monday he explained them so we will see who was paying attention.

I inadvertently omitted Madisson Wallman's name from the Venture Theater participants so I wanted to include her in on that. So sorry Madie!!

They are studying the food guide pyramid in Health and some of them brought that home for homework as their pyramid is due next Tuesday. If your child can tell you one of the food groups, write it down for free money at check in.

Tomorrow is Recorders and books day in Music.

Have a great night.

Weather Weather Everywhere

Guess who we had as special guests today? The 3 weathermen from KTVQ-2. They did a short clip which they will use as a promo for them and then Ed McIntosh and Jeff Womack did a presentation for us as a culmination to our Weather Unit. They reviewed some things we already knew, but gave us many other new, interesting facts. Like they said, Climate is what we expect, Weather is what we get!!! In Montana, you know never know-anything can happen and so FAST!!

We also OOVOOed Jeff at the Nature Center to talk about the difference between hibernation and dormancy. Well, he told us animals torpor more than hibernate or go dormant. HHMMM-new word for all of us. Anyway this gets us into the next part of Science. Revisiting animals in the Winter. Great tie in to animals and weather.

State Reports: We are working away at them and some kids printed their pics today. Those that have to finish the rough drafts tonight know who they are.

Nightly Writing has to be written in paragraph form and not just write the correct words/answers.

Have a great night.

Ms. Butler, our counselor started "Bullying" Sessions in our classroom today. She had some amazing statistics. Can you believe that 9/10 kids are bullied on a daily basis. Wow that is too much. I am so happy to say that we don't have that or won't tolerate that here at Bitterroot School. She read a book that was written by a student who actually was a former bully. Then she talked about good friends vs. bad friends. We are excited to meet with her on a bi-monthly basis.

Venture Theater: What an awesome performance and way to go to the superior performers in Hankins' Class. They are: Hope, Isabella, Morgan, Layne, and Colton.

Please have your tri-fold boards here by Monday if you haven't already brought them.

Have a great weekend.

ATTENTION!!

The first thing I want to draw your attention to is that KTVQ-and meteorologist, Ed McIntosh, is going to be coming to talk to our class on Monday, January 24th as a conclusion to our weather unit. In talking with his partners at the TV station, they want to send all the weathermen and the media out to our class to do some filming for them to promote education and how they can help support classroom teachers. SO WHAT I NEED FROM YOU IS PERMISSION FOR YOUR CHILD TO BE ON TV. How AWESOME is that!! SO please write "yes" or "no" in your child's planner and I will make sure either way and also they will earn free money tomorrow at check in.

We continued to work on our state reports and will talk about and get pictures next week. I told students that they can get them from home if they have colored printers, but they will have to be sized and we looked at how to do that this week and will review it again next week. Our goal is to have them done by Friday, January 28th so they can be on display for the Math/Science night. Also, any students that still have their beaver habitats and they are in good shape, they can bring them and display them that night also.

Speaking of free money the following students had PERFECT ATTENDANCE for 2nd Quarter and will be honored on Friday by receiving free money. They are: Andrew, Jarret, Layne, Hayden, Raegan, Morgan, Trisha, Marquise, Zach, Shane, Isabella, Brittany, and Madisson. WOW-way to go to those 13 students!!!

We took our Chapter 4 Math Test today and by walking around as they were working, it looks like they did a fantastic job. This means that we are moving on and hitting the chapter on Geometry & Fractions next. We will continue to work on multiplication & division with remainders. Keep them practicing facts at home.

Tomorrow is Venture Theater. Performances are at 1:00 & 2:00 for students and again at 6:00 for Parents. We can't wait to see all the talented performers here at Bitterroot.

Remember tonight is skate night. Free money to those that attend, just write it in their planners.

Remember Library books tomorrow.

Also, we get to start our class bullying sessions with Ms. Butler tomorrow. She will be a part of our Morning Meeting.

Have a great night and remember to yes or no in the planner.

Thank you and have a great night.

Family Skate Night is Tomorrow

The PTA is sponsoring Family Skate Night tomorrow at Skate World from 5-8. Your child can receive $100 for attending. Just put it in the planner.

State reports were started today and students are eagerly working on them finding some exciting facts. We will be using the books that I got for them from the library to find the facts and use computers to find the colored pictures. Some students expressed that they had a colored printer so they may print their pictures at home when we get to that point. The main thing about his is they have to be a certain size to fit in the box on the state report form.

Make sure you have your tri-fold board here by Monday, January 24th.

If you are wondering why you see so many things are on the review math papers that come home that is because we are covering so many math concepts daily. Multiplication, geometry, graphing, mental math. There are so many concepts that we need to hit many every day.

No writing assignment today.

We are starting to do our HR more again this quarter. These are fun because we learn so many cool facts about real people, places, and people of the past. It is also good for us to review highlighting key points & ideas.

Remember Venture Theater is on Friday and we are looking forward to seeing the actors we have in our room.

Have a great night.

Happy Day! I don't know if it was because we had yesterday off or what, but today seemed extremely busy again, but that is a great thing. There is so much to learn.

Today in Math, we found the range, median, and mode for a set of numbers. Most of us did well with this concept, but if your child brought home some corrections, please go over them with them.

States have been chosen: Students have chosen a state for their research report. Today we spent lots of time going over the requirements and talking about expectations. They also saw a tri-fold board with all the components on it and so now they got to see what the final project looks like. They will be getting a paper tomorrow that they will use as their "rough" draft. These will be a large part of their grade for 3rd Quarter Social Studies. If your child can tell you the name of their state, write it in their planner for free money at check in.

Make sure your child has their tri-fold board here by Monday, January 24th as we will be putting them together. Most of this project will be done in school, but it may require some to be done at home.

Captain & General-a new game we played today in Math. They can play it with you at home. All they need is a deck of cards and 3 people to play. They loved it.

New quarter-new start. Today starts the 3rd quarter and we made some changes. Some got new notebooks for reading, and we are changing how we do book clubs a little bit. I think it will make our discussions richer.

BRRRR-it is cold once again so please dress for the weather.

Make sure you have recorders and books here tomorrow.

Thank you and have a great night.

EXPECTATIONS!!

HOMEWORK-HOMEWORK! Some students are being repeat offenders of missing or late work. When a student does not finish work during the school day this becomes HOMEWORK and also they having nightly writing M-Th that needs to get done. Some students are having difficulty getting back into the "swing" of things since the break. The homework expectations have not changed since Day 1.

Also, lots of TALK-OUTS & LACK OF LISTENING SKILLS. This is totally uncalled for and a sign of disrespect to myself and their classmates. I am having to repeat directions more than once and I will no longer be doing this so hopefully they will listen the first time or figure things out on their own. Talk-outs are rude and very frustrating for those who are trying to listen, learn, and answer a question for the whole group. Again, they no better so please please talk to your child about these things. We have 1/2 of the year left so let's make it the best we can and learn- learn- learn!! If you go over these things with your child write the word EXPECTATIONS in their planners for a larger sum of $ at check in tomorrow.

Let's go TEAM HANKINS we can do this!!!

REMINDER: Get those Tri-fold boards for Social Studies state reports-have them here by Monday.

Also, tomorrow starts school store. Items are from 50cents to $2.00.

Water Cycle song-if your child wants to go to the water cycle song on the You Tube it will match the words that they have printed out and we sing here at school.

Have a great night.

State Reports

Today, we discussed the state reports that we will be doing on the SE or Midwest. Students saw an example of the tri-fold board that they need for this. Again, they are available at Wal-Mart or Office Depot. These will be able to be used again in later years so they will be a good investment.

Another day of indoor recess but we handled it well. We are definitely ready for warmer weather tomorrow. We found out tomorrow is going to be in the 30's. :) We made line graphs in Math today and we graphed the highs & lows for the next 5 days.

In Science we talked about different forms of condensation and precipitation. If they can tell you an example of condensation, write in the planner for extra money at check in.

Once again, keep practicing that 2 digit x 2 digit multiplication.

Have a great night.

BRRRRRRRR!!

Thank you for having your child dressed for the weather. It is supposed to be like that for a couple more days so that means we will probably have indoor recess. In spite of being cooped up all day, we had a very good day.

Today was the start of recorders in Music. Mr. Goodheart will be gone on Wednesday and with the holiday next Monday, recorders will not be needed again until Wednesday, January 19th. They have homework in Music though and they can always take the recorders home to practice.

We did some poetry writing today for our snowmen that we made on Friday. They are writing either an opposites or free verse poem. Looking like we have some poetic 4th graders. :)

We are about to finish our outlining in Social Studies for Chapter 7. Then we will be moving on to the Midwest. We will be starting a research project where students will choose from a hat a state from the Midwest or SE and do a report on it. They will have a guide to help them gather facts. These will be presented to their peers and the peers will have to do a good job of listening as they will have a form to complete also as they listen to the facts being presented.

Students will need a tri-fold board for this project. Just a small one that comes up to about their knees. These can be purchased at Wal-Mart for about $5. I would like them to have those here by next Tuesday, January 18th.

Just a reminder that there is No School for students on Monday, January 17th.

Have a great night and stay warm.

Big Stuff

The students are feeling like they are in middle or high school as we are learning to outline by outlining chapter 7 in Social Studies. This is a skill that they will be using a lot later on in their school years.

Science had us up and moving to the water cycle rap and an annoying water cycle song. We had lots of fun with it today, but next week we will listen to it again and take it more serious and break it apart talking about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation along with identifying types of clouds.

If your child can tell you what humidity is, write it in their planner for extra money at check in.

Tomorrow we are collecting data and making bar graphs in math.

Remember library books tomorrow.

Have a great night.

What do PE & Math have in common? Well, today we had a little physical workout in math class. We did sit-ups & jumping jacks and then plotted our data on line plots. If your child can tell you how a line plot is made write a word or 2 in their planner for free money at check in.

Tomorrow we are on making bar graphs.

Tomorrow in Reading we are going to have some fun with idioms. Students will be choosing out of a hat an idiom that they will illustrate and tell the "real" meaning of it.

Remember PE shoes tomorrow and start looking for those Library books for Friday.

Have a great night.

Venture Theater Try-Outs

Exciting news for 4th graders-they have the opportunity to try out for the fun Venture Theater.

You will be chosen for a part just for trying out. So don't think you won't get a part because everyone does. Fun-fun. Tryouts are Wednesday, January 5th from 3:10-5:15. Parents need to pick your child up at 5:15.

Recorders are coming: Students will need to have a recorder for Music by Monday, January 10th. They may be purchased at a Music store. Do Not get them at the Dollar Store as they are not of good enough quality.

Graphing-started Pictographs today in math and are working hard on 2 digit x 2 digit multiplication, along with Geometry so as you can see there are lots of things going on in Math.

If your child can tell you something about a pictograph, put it in the planner for $ at check in.

In Science we started our weather/water cycle unit and were totally amazed that only 1% of all the water on the earth is useful for drinking and other uses. WOW-scary so we really need to take care of that natural resource.

Writing tonight will be with a writing prompt. Students are encouraged to use good spelling and conventions. We checked last night's editing as a group today and they did very well.

Have a great night.

Busy -Back at it After the New Year!

What a great day we had today. I was excited to see each everyone of you again and I was pleasantly surprised you were awake and ready to learn.

In Math, we are moving on to Graphing. We will study about and make 3 different kinds of graphs. We also learned how to do 2-digit x 2-digit multiplication. Keep practicing that at home.

In Social Studies, we are learning to make an outline (upper grade skill) as we learn more about the life in the Southeast. Speaking of southeast, AWESOME JOB on the states and capitals test.

In Science, we are going to be doing some activities again with both 4th grades as we learn about weather, the water cycle, and animals that go dormant rather than hibernate.

New book clubs started again today. We are excited to be back at it as we love to read and discuss with our group what we have read. Ask your child to tell you about the book they have.

Also, we have something new at lunch. Great thing to help the environment and to save money. If your child can tell you the new thing started today at lunch, write it in their planner for free money at check in.

Venture Theater: Auditions will be on Wednesday for anyone interested at 3:10-5:15. I hope we have lots of participation from our class.

Also, in Music, students need to be purchasing recorders by Monday, January 10th.

Have a great night.

Happy New Year!

Welcome Back-I hope you all had a restful, fun holiday and made lots of new memories.

I am eager to get back and to get into the swing of things. I am missing all my kids and can't wait to see each and every one of you. The end of the 1st semester is quickly approaching (January 14th) and then we are on to the final semester of 4th grade. It is amazing at how fast the year is going and we have lots to do to get ready for 5th grade.

Students had the opportunity before break to spend their fake money as we are starting over for the new year. They will get a new wallet and $300 on Monday. Earning & spending money will remain the same.

As I mentioned before break that our nightly writing format is going to change. We are going to be spending more time working on grammar and editing so students will be doing that for nightly writing. They will have a short paragraph that we will staple into their nightly writing notebooks and they will have to rewrite it correcting all the errors and then we will check and discuss it the next day at school. These are a mandatory assignment and will be graded on a daily basis.

New book clubs will begin again in my reading block. We will be adding some new elements into those to help with our book discussions.

Have a great night and enjoy the last few hours of break.