Happy Halloween

What a great day we had today. As you can see by the pics we had lots of fun, but still kept it academic based. I think the favorite 2 things were the dry ice activity and the candy graphing in math. They had so much fun partnering with Ms. Erickson's Class doing the dry ice and the trick or treating story told by Jerry Seinfeld. It is a hoot. They had a good discussion about the properties of dry ice. We also talked about the words greedy and rude and how they may not always like the treats they get, but to be kind anyway and especially to the elderly.
In Math, we learned about pictographs and then each student made their own graphing the amount of M & M's they got in their bag.
Thank you to Karissa for the yummy treats.
We are saddened today as Dezzee is moving to a new school. We sure hope you keep in touch and come by to visit. We will miss you.
Report cards went home today. You can keep everything inside, but please return the envelope for free money tomorrow.
Perfect Attendance for 1st quarter goes to: Brayden, Darian, Gabe, Jeremiah, Ilyssa, Staley, Melissa, Jasmyn, and Nathaniel. Let's see if we can get more of you next quarter.
Parent Teacher Conferences start tomorrow and I am looking forward to visiting with Staley, Jaeden, and Grayson's parents.

There is some homework out there tonight as some students didn't finish all our activities and they all have the one tonight to transfer the Halloween foam cut-out into something creating a creative, detailed picture. The pictures don't have to be Halloweenish at all when finished, but they may. I can't wait to see all the 4th grade, creative quality. Remember they have to be colored. We will do more with them here at school.
Have a safe night trick-or-treating and I hope you don't have too much sugar in your bellies tomorrow morning.

YCDC Field Trip

Wow-what an impact this day made on all of us from the minute our field trip began to the end of the great assembly we had today.
Our field trip to the YCDC was a real eye-opener and showed the kids what happens when you make bad choices. They really took it all serious and I heard so many times "I don't ever want to come back here" or "being here would be no fun at all" and "ooh-this place doesn't smell very good". They not only gave them a tour of the facility, but also showed how the paintball gun works along with the taser. We loved seeing you in the restraining chair, Ben. Oh, the look in your eyes when you first got in there was priceless. The law enforcement officers down there try to portray the reality of it as much as they can for the 4th grade.
They did an awesome job and they love Bitterroot kids too and we always keep getting invited back.
To end our day, we had a great assembly put on by MCC (Montana Conservation Corp). They once again portrayed the effect of drugs on the individuals and their families.
Pumpkin Patch Party: Tonight is the pumpkin patch party from 6:30-8:00. Bring on the fun costumes. If you & your child attend, please write PPP in the planner for $200 free money.
Reminder: Next week is Parent Teacher Conferences with early dismissal on Wed., Thurs. and Friday (12:00).
I can't wait to visit with each of you at your scheduled time.
Report Cards will be coming home on Tuesday.
Thank you and have a great safe weekend.

Loved All the Pink

Wow-what a great showing we had of pink in here today. Even our guest speakers from Skyview walked in and were taken aback.
Our guest speakers were great once again today as they were from the group at Skyview called SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions). They gave the kids a great message about all the "POSITIVE" things you can do with your life from making good friends to being active in and out of school. They are very involved in their school and activities which leaves them no time to even think about drugs and making negative choices. They did a cool activity with M&M's and if your child can tell you about it, wrtie M&M in the planner.
Tomorrow is "Team Up Against Drugs" -wear your favorite team apparel.
XtraMath: I am hoping your child is practicing their facts nightly at home. I am not paying them anymore as that is their homework and job now without getting $. Also, please make sure they are practicing those multiplication facts with flashcards or whatever you have at home to practice. Work on the 0-3's. Also, check out the website I have listed to use as extra practice.
Tonight's nightly writing consists of publishing and coloring their poems on the goldenrod colored sheets. Some finished it at school.
Tomorrow is our field trip to the detention center. We leave at 8:40 so I will see Lainey, Staley, and Brady's moms here then too right to go with us. Thank you.
Also, tomorrow is Library so get those books back.
Tomorrow is also the Pumpkin Patch Party at 6:30-8:00. I am sure our wonderful PTA has lots of fun things planned.
Congratulations to Megan, our student of the week. We loved all the pictures and the songs you played for us on the keyboard and guitar.

Drugs Stink -Wear Pink

Tomorrow is "Drugs Stink-Wear Pink" day (wear as much pink as you can-remember NO hair color) in conjunction with "pack the place" in pink day at Skyview. Speaking of Skyview, we have some students coming tomorrow to do skits with 4th graders on how drugs affect them.
Today, we watched our Little House on the Prairie Movie about how Albert got addicted to morphine. It really showed how it affected him and his family. If your child can tell you how it affected him at school and what it did to his family, write movie in the planner for free money.
Tonight for nightly writing, they don't have to reflect and write about the movie as we had a great whole class discussion after the movie was over.
Tonight's nightly writing is to write a poem about leaves or their animal that they made with their leaves. They can write a cinquain, acrostic, rhyming, etc. I told them to even go on-line and find some examples to piggy-back from. The main thing I stressed was 4th grade quality and creativity. Also, parents can you please edit them so that we can write the final copies tomorrow and then I can get them hung up in the hallway. Thank you.
Thank you for getting those conference confirmation slips back.
Remember HE/PE tomorrow.
Have a great night.

Drug Free Week --Day 2

Today was another great day and opportunity for all of us to reflect on what drugs can do to us, friends, families, etc. and the many things we can do instead of drugs. We have a long poster in the hallway by the gym and we are going to add things to that tomorrow so ask your child what is something they can do instead of drugs. Write it in the planner for free money.
Today our guest speakers were from Senior High & Rimrock Foundation. They are or have been in treatment and they told their stories of what drugs have done to them and/or families.
We talked values & setting goals this morning in morning meeting and how this too can be affected by drug use. Ask your child one of their short or long term goals and write goals in the planner.
Conference slips went home today with the day & time that was given to you to meet with me to discuss your child. Please mark the date on your calendar and sign them and send them back tomorrow for $100 money reward. We need these so that we can make the final school-wide schedule for Mrs. Campbell.
In Math, we are working on multiplication. Students are to practice their 3's tonight and then do the 1/2 sheet that went home for homework.
Great job on the book bags for my reading kids. It was fun to hear the connections they made to the book.
Tomorrow is "Sock it to Drugs" day so wear those crazy socks for $100.
Also, tomorrow is our movie day. Everyone bought in today for $500 so that means popcorn & pop. Also, they can bring a pillow and blanket if they choose to sit/lay on the floor for the movie as it is quite long.
Keep practicing those math facts. I am going to set them up real soon on the multiplication component.
Have a great night.

Great Start to Red Ribbon Week

Wow-what a great day we had today "kicking" off Red Ribbon Week!! First, we talked about how Red Ribbon Week got started and who the person was responsible for that. If your child can tell you the story, write Kiki in the planner. Then, we made a list and catagorized drugs into 3 different catagories and also talked about why people do drugs. If your child can tell you the 3 catagories and one reason why people use them, then write RRW in the planner.
This afternoon, we had our first guest speaker of the week. He talked about his job as a DEA Agent. Wow-what a job he has! The kids were so intrigued and had lots of good questions for him.
We had a great showing in our classroom today with all the Hawaiian clothes. Tomorrow is "Don't Let Drugs Tie You Up". Wear a tie. Remember no hair paint or color.
Congratulations to Karissa, our student of the week. We enjoyed all the pics and the things we learned about you.
My reading kids have a big project tonight as we finished our book "There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. They are to put the title, author, their name, and a picture on one side of the white bag and then tell about their favorite part and illustrate it on the other side. Then they are to put 5 items in the bag that help tell the story. Then on a sheet of paper they are to write why they put each item in the bag.
It feels like the weather is turning so please dress accordingly.
Have a great night.

Watch KULR-8 Tonight!!

We had a great 1/2 day today. Kristen, from KULR-8 came today and our picture will be on the 5:00 & 6:00 news so be sure to watch for us. She did a great job giving lots of weather facts and answering lots of our questions. Unfortunately, our time always goes way to fast.
Remember next week is Drug Free Week. Our whole agenda is posted on here as part of yesterday's blog so please mark all the dress up days and events on your calendar. Monday is Lei Off Drugs-dress Hawaiian. Free money to those that dress up.
Also, today the Parent-Teacher Conference forms went home and are due back on Monday with your choices of times.
Make sure you do some reading over the break and go to the Xtramath site to practice. Great job to Aiden as she is finished with addition. You rock-girl!!
Have a great long weekend and I won't post again until Monday.

Drug Free Week

Hello there. Red Ribbon Week is once again quickly approaching. 4th graders will be heavily involved with all sorts of activities revolving around this concept. Some will need a parent’s permission and some will not. Please initial and sign below to ensure that your child doesn’t miss out on any of the upcoming events.

Monday, October 24th: Lei Off Drugs Day at Bitterroot
*Wear Hawaiian attire to school. ($100 reward)
* DEA agent Dunlap will be kicking off Red Ribbon Week by sharing the
story of DEA Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. His story is the reason behind
Red Ribbon Week. He will also share what character traits he uses in order to be a DEA agent.

Tuesday, October 25th: Don’t Let Drugs Tie You Up Day at Bitterroot
*Wear a necktie to school. ($100 Reward)
* Students from Senior High that have had drug/alcohol related experience and received treatment from the Rimrock Foundation will be here to share their stories with us. (Age appropriate) This talk shows how normal kids, with normal families, get into trouble and make poor choices. It also shows that it starts now, at age 10-11 for many of these kids. Peer pressure is discussed as well. Many times these kids make a comment about how they wished they would have had Character Building time/classes like this when they were their age. POWERFUL!

Wednesday, October 26th: Sock It To Drugs Day at Bitterroot
*Wear Crazy Socks to school ($100 Reward)
*Little House on the Prairie Movie. This movie does a great job on focusing on how a life with drugs not only affects that person, but also takes a tole on the entire family. Albert, the main character, gets hooked on morphine due to peer pressure. His dad moves him back to his hometown only to find out Albert continues the drug habit. Pa helps Albert get off the drug and deal with the effects of that drug. It is rated PG. There is a $300 fake money buy in or $500 with popcorn and pop.
______ Yes, my child may watch the film.
______ No, my child may not watch the film.

Thursday, October 27th: Drugs Stink, Wear Pink Day at Bitterroot (Also in conjunction with Pack the Place in Pink day for Breast Cancer Awareness)
*Wear as much pink as you possibly can to school. ($200 reward)
*A group of kids from Skyview will be coming to do some activities with kids that teach them why drugs are not such a good idea. This is a really fun activity with a great bunch of high school kids that have continued to make good choices and resist peer pressure. AWESOME!

Friday, October 28th:Team Up Against Drugs Day at Bitterroot
*Wear your favorite team’s attire to school.
* Field Trip to the Yellowstone Detention Center (Jail)-Kids will get an age appropriate tour of the county jail. It is completely safe, and we are never left alone without guard supervision. We have done this before, and it really hits home with kids. They will see actual prisoners, cells, officers, food, and a booking room. They will hear stories that demonstrate all the things we have taught them this week. This is a huge eye opener to where they could end up if they make negative choices now. The officers that do the tour, talk heavily about how making positive choices NOW matters. They also share that almost all of the inmates are there because of drugs and alcohol related issues, and that most of the inmates are great people that just make poor choices. All parents are welcome to attend this field trip with their child and two chaperones are still needed. Just meet us there around 9:00 am. There is a $1000 fake money buy in for this trip.
______ Yes, I want my child to attend this field trip.
______ No, I don’t want my child to attend this field trip.
*School wide assembly at 1:00. MCC (Montana Conservation Corp) will be doing some fun raps, skits, and activities with kids for about 30 minutes to wrap up the week. MCC is also an amazing organization that gives kids an alternative to drugs and alcohol by doing volunteer work out in nature. Look into it when your child turns 13!

As you can see, both fourth grade classes take this issue very seriously. It is not meant to scare kids, but it is meant to show them the facts of life if they choose to go down the path of alcohol or drugs. Please feel free to contact us with any concerns/questions you may have.

JUST SAY NO!!!
Ms. Erickson and Mrs. Hankins

Student Name ___________________________
Parent’s Signature _______________________ Date _______________
*All this information can be found on the blog. Please log dates/events on your calendar and return this slip to school tomorrow. Thanks.

KULR-8 Coming Tomorrow

Tomorrow is our final day of our weather unit and what a better way to end it-having a meteorologist coming in to talk to us about the weather. It is Kristen K. from KULR-8 and she will review some things we already know and give us many new facts. Speaking of facts, we had a weather scavenger hunt today, If your child can tell you what instrument measures the speed of weather and how hot a lightning bolt can be, write weather in the planner for free money.
We made our leaf animals today. Most got laminated, but a couple didn't as they had too much glue on them and that makes an enormous mess in the laminator. The ones that did though will be up in the hallway for conference time.
Drug Free Week permission slips and the week's agenda went home today. Please initial and sign ASAP. I would love them back tomorrow or Monday the 24th at the latest. I will post the whole week's agenda on the blog so you will know what is happening each day if you forget.
Also, tomorrow Parent Teacher Conference slips will be coming home. These are due back here at school so I can turn them into the office on Monday, October 24th.
Reminder: Early out tomorrow (12:00) and No School on Thursday and Friday.
Have a great night.

Great Learning Day Off Campus

Wow-did we ever learn a lot at the NILE!! I love it every year because I learn many new things each time too and that says a lot coming from an old farm girl from ND. This goes great with Rusty's toolbox question today: What does it mean to be a life-long learner. I told my kids that my dad is celebrating his 89th birthday today and he is still learning!!! I love it!
Well, back to the NILE; we went to 7 different stations today with each of them teaching us things about MT's agriculture.
If your child can tell you how many sugar beets it takes to make one 5 lb. bag of sugar, write sugar in the planner.
If they can tell you one thing we get from beef cattle other than meat, write beef in the planner for more money. We sang the "Home on the Range" song too. If they can tell you about rangeland, write rangeland in the planner. Last, but not least, if they can tell you what we get from brown chickens, write chickens in the planner. That is just a few of the things so have a great conversation tonight about what they learned and also ask them to tell you their favorite part and write NILE in the planner. As you can see, the blog reading tonight is worth $250. Also, if they practice the xtramath, write math for another $100. That is $350. We had great Bitterroot behavior so way to go Team Hankins! You made me proud!!
Water Cycle Stories: These are coming home to get published tonight if they weren't finished in school. We haven't had a lot of time to do them and they are due tomorrow.
Drug Free Week agenda/permissions slips: This will be coming home tomorrow. I want to talk about it tomorrow in morning meeting.
Leaves-Leaves-Leaves: We had so much fun helping our buddies with this on Friday that we and Ms. Erickson's class are going to make leaf animals tomorrow and then do some poetry writing to go with them.
Have a great night and enjoy the pics. I took more and they won't all fit so I will put a couple on tomorrow as well.

Leaf Animals

Wow-look at the creativity we had with our buddies today doing leaf animals. We had so much fun helping them that we are going to do it too sometime in the next couple weeks. We love our buddies! If they can tell you what animal they made, write the name of it in the planner for free money.
Today was picture day and we had our terrific smiles on. I always love this day to see all the great smiles, cute hair, and fun clothes.
Today, Mrs. Salazar, the counselor, came in and did a bullying lesson and went over the bullying contracts. The students signed them, I signed them, and now it is your turn. If your child brings them back signed on Monday, they earn $200.
Also, the PTA fundraiser envelopes are due on Monday too. Remember, I am giving $50 for each donation they collect.
Everyone has bought into the NILE field trip so we are all going on Monday. We leave here at 11:10 and will return around 2:00.
Make sure students dress for the weather. We are outside some of the time. We talked about wearing comfy shoes, long pants, and have a jacket or sweatshirt. We will be eating our lunch in our classrooms that day.
Writing projects are in their final publishing stage. We didn't quite finish them today, but we hope to on Monday. They are great and thank you so much for all your help, guidance, and patience with the editing process. Trust me, they are worth it. You will all of them on display during conference time.
Remember to do the Xtramath on computers and if you do, write math in planner for free money.
There will be no spelling words this coming week due to the short week. Remember Wednesday is 12:00 dismissal and No School on Thursday & Friday.
Have a great weekend.

Water Cycle Stories Take Four and Five

Wow-the creative juices are flowing!!! These kids are doing an amazing job on their water cycle stories and the best part is they are loving it. I have not had kids this exciting for writing in a long time. Great job Team Hankins!! Today they shared them with a partner again and then we picked 2 to share with the class. They were terrific. Tonight is the final night of this writing project. They are going to "precipitate" and go back to "collection" just like they started on Monday. Parents: Tonight is the BIG night and where I/we need your help. We talked today about having their stories totally reading for publishing tomorrow. These will be shared and on display for others to read. I would like you to go through their whole story with them and check for spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and word usage/grammar. Not if, but when you do, please write "checked" in the planner and your child will earn quite a large "sum" of money tomorrow!!!
Also, tomorrow is picture day. Come with those smiles and we have ours scheduled for 8:45.
Today the students had their Personal Safety lessons with Mrs. Salazar & Ms. Buss. A blue sheet came home today about it so I hope you use it for some discussion.
We didn't get to do the XtraMath today as the site was down, but hopefully it works tonight for you. If your child does it, write Math in the planner for free money.
Tomorrow is buddies also. We are helping them with a leaf animal project so we need to collect leaves; all shapes, sizes, and colors to help them create an animal. These are to be kept moist in a bag to keep them from crinkling. These are so awesome and fun to see the creativity once again.
Fundraiser envelopes: These are not due tomorrow. They are due on Monday, October 17th so you have the weekend yet to collect donations. I am giving $50 for every donation received.
Our field trip to the NILE is on Monday, October 17th.
Speaking of field trips: I am looking for volunteers to come to the jail with us on Friday, October 28th. We leave school at 8:40 and return around 11:30. We need volunteers as they split us into groups and we need adult supervision with each group. Thank you.
We do have our meteorologist scheduled to come on Wednesday morning. She is from KULR-8.
Reminder: Next week on Wednesday is Early out-12:00 dismissal and remember No School on Thurs. and Friday of next week.
Have a great night.

Water Cycle Stories Take Three

Wow-our water cycle stories are sounding pretty creative and right on the topics of collection, evaporation, and yes you guessed it-tonight is "condensation". Today, they got to read the first two parts to a buddy and a lot of positive feedback was exchanged.
Also, keep working on the raindrop projects. We got a few already and can't wait to see the creativity in them. They are going to look so cool hanging in the hallway on display.
Today, was our states and capitals test. I didn't check them yet, but they seemed to do well.
Tomorrow we will have our chapter test in Math. We have been doing lots with rounding, decimals, and money, and I think we are ready.
Today in Science we talked more about wind and cold vs. warm air. If your child can tell you which is lighter, write air in the planner. Also, we talked about a person who studies weather, if they can name their title write weather in the planner. We hope to get a guest speaker in from one of the TV stations to talk to us about weather. They have been contacted so we will see if we get a response.
Bitterroot fundraiser envelopes are due on Friday. Remember free money for each donation you get.
Reminder: Tomorrow is HE/PE.
Have a great night.

Water Cycle Stories Take Two

Tonight is Phase 2 of our water cycle stories. Remember this phase is evaporation. Make sure you have details about what causes evaporation, what phase the water is turning to, and where he ends up.
I was able to glance at Phase 1 today and the students did a great job of introducing their raindrop, giving a location, and adding some creativity as they were describing. There were a few that went into the evaporation stage last night so I talked to them about it and they need to fix it and continue tonight. Remember parents, please help with the editing, spelling, and grammar usage so that the final draft they have to write & publish will be easy to transfer and ready for display. Tonight they also got their tagboard raindrop to create their character. The sky is the limit with these and I can't wait to see the 4th grade quality and creativity.
Also, today in Science we continued with more of our weather unit talking about pressure systems. If your child can tell you the difference between a HIgh (H) and Low (L) pressure system, write H & L in their planners for free money.
Tomorrow is the NE states & capitals test. Study Study.
This week on School Tools and during morning meetings, we are talking about communication. Today, we talked a lot about non-verbal communication and what % of our communication is that form. If your child can tell you, write the number in the planner for more free money.
Field trips: Our field trip to the NILE is on Monday, October 17th. We will have an early lunch here and leave at 11:10 and be back by 2:00. All but one person has bought into this trip.
Our jail field trip is on Friday, October 28th. We still have a few to buy in so I am hoping they can make their money soon.
Keep practicing that Xtramath.com website to work on those math facts. It is so fun to walk around and watch them do it in here. They are so focused and working hard to pick up speed.
Have a great night.

Who Will Their Raindrop Be?????

Tonight students are coming home with their nightly writing notebooks to start their water cycle stories. They are going to be a raindrop traveling through the water cycle. They are to write paragraph one only tonight which is the collection phase. In this paragraph they are to introduce their raindrop and tell where it is collecting. They are also to give some details about what they are doing in their collection place. They have a model of this 1st phase to use as an example to guide them through what my expectations are. They need to be creative, use good spelling, capitalization & punctuation. Parents-please please help with this process as it is almost impossible for me to go through each one everyday to correct for errors. I think this is a fun project to work on together. Tomorrow they will get the next part and another part each day this week. So make sure tonight only Part One. Also, tomorrow they will get a raindrop template where they will be creative and add fun details to make it look like their raindrop. I will have an example of Drippy to show them tomorrow. Thank you for all your help in this.
As you know today is Columbus Day. We had an HR on him and read a book. We talked about the difference in the European & Native American perspectives. If your child can tell you about the book, write Encounter in the planner.
Also, tonight I sent home the sheet they will need to get on the Xtramath practice website. It is extremely important that they do this nightly, it takes only about 3-5 minutes. I can't stress enough the importance of fact mastery. We are ready to move into multiplication real soon and so many don't have their addition/subtraction facts down yet. If your child does this practice tonight, write down what they got and write "math" in the planner for more free money.
My reading kids had a treat today-well maybe not a treat-depends how you look at it. Ask them where they went in reading today. I loved the conversations after this. :)))
This is the last week for the PTA fundraiser envelopes. Remember if every child in our class has even just one donation, our whole class gets an ice cream party. We can do it Team Hankins. You can send the envelopes anytime this week.
PE tomorrow.
Reminder that our states and capitals test is on Wednesday.
Great job today to all the kids. It was a very busy day. I can't wait to read the stories.

Happy TGIF!!

What a difference a day makes!! Much much better choices being made today overall. There are still a couple of you who need to figure this out. I hope it happens for you soon.
Today we had our auction and those that got to participate had a great time. They got to take things home anywhere from stuffed animals, posters, bug cages, candy and soda treats. There were some sad faces on the sides, but hopefully this was a learning lesson and they will start working harder to earn that free money. We figured it out today that they can earn $450/week just by reading the blog, getting planner signed, doing job, and keeping a clean desk. That doesn't even include the positive behavior. Like I said at Open House, it is so easy to earn money in here. So come on Team Hankins'-let's get all of you on board the "winning team"!!!
Congratulations to Korbyn, our student of the week. Wow-what a lego builder he is!!
From the pics, you can see that we had a fun with partners in math today doing some challenging money problems. There was so much constructive talking going on as they discussed their strategies. I loved hearing it.
Good job getting those library books returned today. They are working on a fun project in Library with Mrs. Anderson. She is so awesome and is doing such a great job of weaving what we do in the classroom to their library skills. If your child can tell you what they are working on, write library in the planner for free money.
Today, we started a new math computer program along with our Success Maker Math & ReadAbout Reading (non-fiction).
I will be sending the information home on Monday for you about that so that you can access it from home and get your child on it nightly to practice those math facts for mastery.
Thank you and have a great weekend.

Auction Tomorrow

Tomorrow we will be having the auction for those of you that have made "good" choices this year so far and have enough money left after buying in to the field trips. I am going to have you save some for the Drug Free Week activities just to make sure you can participate, but anything beyond that can be spent.
Speaking of choices, some didn't make very good choices this afternoon after lunch. Lots of talking out and lack of respect was shown to myself and Ms. Buss in PE. Needless to say, I was very disappointed this afternoon in some of the kids, not all. They know who they are and I visited with Ms. Buss at the end of the day and got a list from her so they will face consequences tomorrow for making poor choices and not using good character. Those that did what they were supposed to -GREAT JOB!! You should be proud. I know I am proud of you! They also have to write about their behavior tonight along with their nightly writing. I know tomorrow will be a great day so let's GO TEAM HANKINS and have an AWESOME TGIF!!!!
Keep working on those states and capitals. I have a website you can go to to practice. Test will be Wednesday, October 12th.
Also, I have posted a few new math sites to practice the math we have been doing here in the classroom.
Speaking of websites, I will be sending info home on a math fact drill one that I will be introducing to the kids soon. It is one that I will encourage you to have them do on a nightly basis. More on that soon.
Remember Library books tomorrow.
Have a great night and enjoy this cool weather.

Science-The Water Cycle & Celebration

HMMMMMMM! I wonder how you can tie Science/The Water Cycle into eating ice cream and having our class celebration.
Well, we did today as we went outside for our science lesson, ate our ice cream, and learn lots of facts about water. In fact, we learned so much that they can tell you at least 2 things to put in the planner for free money.
My spelling kids played math basketball today to review our words. It was fun, but lots harder than it looked as you can see from the pics.
I showed them a good way to study their NE states & capitals today on their write-on/wipe-off boards using numbers. So hopefully this helps.
We will be having our auction on Friday in the afternoon. I sure hope everyone has enough money by then and can participate and at least get something. Making good/positive choices has its' rewards & benefits.
Tomorrow is PE so remember the tennis shoes.
Also, tomorrow the weather is supposed to change so dress for the weather.
Picture envelopes went home today. Picture day is Friday, October 14th.
Reminder of book orders due on Monday, October 10th.
Thank you and have a great night.

Celebration Time!!

Yippee-we earned our 25th Compliment Point today so that calls for a "celebration". We got it from Ms. Buss which is awesome as we have been working hard on this which happens to be our "manner motto" this week. If your child can tell what it is, write manner motto in the planner for free money. I will be bringing in treats sometime this week and we will do a teamwork game or activity. Great job Team Hankins!! Now we are on our way to earning 25 more.
Just a reminder that we will be having our "auction" this week to spend that fake money. It is looking like we will be having it on Friday. Those that bought into the jail field trip and have extra money will be able to participate.
Today we started our train tour of the NE. If they can tell you a fact about West Quaddy Head, write WQH in their planners for free money. Students also got their write-on/wipe-off maps to practice these at home. The test on these will be on Wednesday, October 12th. They will need to know the names and locations.
Making Change in Math-this concept is posing a bit of difficulty for some, but I don't want them to get frustrated as they will get it as we practice practice.
Book orders went home today. Remember if you order on-line our classroom code is: GZN8L. Thank you-these are due on Monday, October 10th.
Also, today we started our computer programs of ReadAbout & Success Maker.
Thank you and have a great night.

Mid-terms Went Home Today

By the time you are reading this, you should have already seen your child's mid-term report. Overall, these are very good and as always if you have any questions, please email or call. Since these are mid-terms, it gives a student time to improve their grade or grades before the First Quarter report card goes home. These do not need to be returned to school, but I do want to know that you have seen them so just write mid-term in planner for free money.
More work=the need for good time management. Students are realizing that 4th grade is getting harder and that there is more work involved which means it is so necessary to use good time management skills. We have discussed this as one of our tools for success quite extensively in morning meeting.
Computers finally start tomorrow. Yes, we are finally getting to start our ReadAbout & Success Maker computer programs which will help our reading and math skills.
In Math, this week we are working on Making Change with money. This can be a difficult concept. We did start today so please ask your child what the change would be from $5.00 if they purchased something for $3.53 at the store. Have them count the change into your hand by counting up. We practiced a few today and will continue tomorrow.
In Social Studies, we continue with our tour of the NE. Practice those states and capitals. The practice maps will go home tomorrow as I have to cut-out the laminated copies tonight.
In Science, we will have a quick review of the water cycle-then we will move into different weather systems and tools that meteorologists use.
HR's-We are starting a new thing called HR's. These are daily non-fiction articles about events, people, places, etc. We did 3 earlier this year as a group so now students are on their own. They are to read them, highlight key details/events, and then complete the back side. Today's is about Jimmy Carter.
My reading kids have a review spelling list this week as Unit 6 is a review unit so they will have only 20 words.
Reading Calendars: The October one went home today. Make sure you return Septembers tomorrow if you haven't already. These are a big part of their reading grade.
Posted on the side are all the important dates for now in our classroom and here at school.
Thank you and have a great night.