Another Great Day!

Happy TGIF Day!
Today was another good day in the life of a 4th grader in Mrs. Hankins' Class. I guess you should ask your child, but in my opinion it was. Got a lot done and finished tidying up some lose ends.
In Math, we did a DOM. We are going to check it as a group on Monday so we can see where we made our mistakes if we made any. Also, finished up making line plots. We didn't get time to work on Long Division, but will pick that up again on Monday.
Also, finished up our book club activities except for the report cards that they are working on for a particular character. This is fun to hear and see their perspective of it and how it is to grade someone and then to give an explanation of why they gave a grade for a particular characteristic. They get to be on the other side of a report for once!!!
Also, my reading kids picked the biography they are going to read and take notes on as they read. They have sticky notes to mark their thinking and get key facts down about their person. I am reading Helen Keller out loud to them and modeling writing down key facts and then I will be showing them a project on Friday the 13th as a model for the project they will do for their person. So right now they are to be reading it as part of their nightly reading and taking notes. The rest will come later. The date for the whole project to be due on Friday, January 27th.
Speaking of report cards, I will be ending my grades for this quarter on Wednesday. So that will be the last day for 2nd quarter. Report cards then go home on the 19th.
Today in Social Studies, we read about the Louisiana Territory which is a little snippit of how Montana History will start this spring. If your child can tell you about the Louisiana Territory/Purchase (at least 4 things) then write France in the planner.
Speaking of planner and blog, I am still rewarding $ for the blog question, but it has dropped down to $10/day. That doesn't mean it isn't still important, but they don't need that much money as we discussed this morning in morning meeting. We don't have any field trips, etc. coming up in the near -near future. We will have a technology day at the end of this month in conjunction with my birthday.
Another question about the blog, are you enjoying having it and using it as a communication tool with your child? If you do, write yes in the planner and if you'd rather not have it, write "no". I love doing it even though it takes time, but I think it keeps the communication open, but I would like your input. Thank you.
Everyone brought home a flyer about collecting "Pennies for Patients" which is an organization collecting money for cancer patients. It is a 2 week period starting on Monday, January 9-23. We set a goal of collecting $200 (the class chose this) and the we did some math and figured out that each of us including me would have to donate $7.04 to reach that goal. We discussed how it can be any coins and bills too if they wish. Now please don't think you need to send that with your child as this was just what we came up with as a class goal- we will be happy to collect whatever we can. We also talked about how some may donate more and others less and we could reach our goal that way so be looking in those furniture cushions, vehicles, under furniture, etc. all those places change seems to fall into and help out a great cause. Thank you. The thing we didn't talk about was that the class collecting the most gets a reward of a pizza party. I don't want them to think of it as doing something for that reason, but instead to help out those in need. Ok so if this is as clear as "mud" let me know and I will clarify for you. (Seems like I made it a long explanation!!)
Congratulations to Staley, our student of the week. We loved the pictures.
Have a great weekend