Great Day Today!

We had a great day today from start to finish. We were treated to a superb performance by the Heights Girls' Honor Choir. Wow-they did a fantastic job. I am so proud of all of them, but especially our very own Megan Zimmerman and Cora, Ramsey, Alex, and Cassidy from Ms. Erickson's class. Way to go girls.
In READ-A-LOUD we had so much fun reading about Wol and his little antics. Ask your child about that crazy owl if they are in my reading class.
In Science, we watched the movie "Blows Its' Top which was an entertaining movie about volcanoes. The best part was the pop rocks we got to have explode in our mouths.
Tomorrow is our States and capitals test. I know they are ready. If they can rattle all 11 off for you tonight, write READY in the planner.
In Math, we went over our Fractions test. The students were able to see the silly mistakes they made and we talked about how they need to work out all the problems and not just guess. Some students were given an extra practice packet to work on at home to help them with the skills as we have to move on in class and now it is time to put forth the effort at home. I want them to work on no more than a page/day. Hopefully after the extra boost, they will be proficient in these areas.
Remember PE shoes tomorrow.
Have a great night.

Spirit Day Winners

Way to go Team Hankins! You were once again the spirit day winners. After seeing the pics of the crazy socks I am sure you can see why!
Thank you to those of you that have sent in the money for the Hawaiian and/or Owl Days. Please have it here by Thursday if you haven't already.
Today we started volcanoes. We made a diagram of one and labeled its' parts. If your child can tell you at least 1 part and where most volcanoes occur, write volcanoes in the planner. Tomorrow we are watching the movie The Magic School Bus Blows Its' Top with both 4th grades. Students will have a pop rocks treat to go with it. There is going to be a home project of making your own volcano model for eruption, but please do not begin until the instructions come home. Last year, the students got to watch this creative display of eruptions so they have somewhat of an idea, but please hold off until you get the instructions. Thanks.
Today, we took our fractions test in Math. Hopefully, everyone was successful as we practiced lots.
Reminder that the West States & Capitals test is on Thursday.
We were treated to the Heights Honor Band Concert today. Tomorrow is the Girls' Honor Choir Concert. The boys are on tour too, but I understand they will not be coming to Bitterroot. Good Luck to Thomas & Megan and have fun and continue to make Bitterroot proud.
Have a great night.

Sub Tomorrow

Yes, there will be a sub tomorrow so please talk to your child about making good choices and having positive behavior. Like I always tell them, TRUE CHARACTER SHOWS WHEN I AM NOT WATCHING THEM!! I know they will have a great day and the sub will be able to leave a good report.
As you can see, the kids had fun getting ready for school on Friday with all those crazy socks. We had great participation so way to go Team Hankins.
I hope by now you have seen your child's mid-terms. If they are unhappy with their grades, this gives them a chance to bring them up before report card time at the end of March. This could be part of that short term goal setting that we are doing.
A HUGE thank you to the PTA for the great pizza lunch on Friday. As an extra bonus, we got popsicles. Thank you to them.
Thank you to Aiden, our student of the week. We loved all the pictures and learning so much more about you. You are a very talented young lady.
Also, I know the letter came home on Friday about the Hawaiian and Owl Days. If you could, please don't send the money with your child tomorrow since I won't be there. I will collect it on Tues.-Thurs. Thank you.
I hope you have a great rest of the weekend and I will see the kids on Tuesday.

Pizza Lunch Tomorrow

Wow-it is Friday tomorrow already. Just a reminder that the students will be enjoying Pizza lunch as their reward for the READ-A-THON so no school or packing a lunch for your kiddo tomorrow. Drinks will be provided also.
Practice maps went home today for the West Region states and capitals. Again the test will be on Thursday, March 1st. It seems as though they have a good grasp of these already, but it never hurts to keep practicing.
Tomorrow in Math, we will have a review on our fractions unit and then be testing next week. I am super excited about their progress in adding/subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. WHOOHOOO!! Our next unit in math is standard measurement. If you recall, we did the metric measurement already, but now on to standard.
Tomorrow my reading kids have their compare/contrast venn diagram and paragraphs for Wol and Weeps due. The ones I have seen have been quite awesome so let's hope they all continue to be that way.
Today in Social Studies we talked about 2 places in California, if your child can tell you about them, write CA in the planner.
Tomorrow is CRAZY SOCKS Day. This is pretty much what it says. Any kind of mismatch will do.
Today in morning meeting, students came up with a short term goal and 2 steps they were going to take to reach that goal. Talk with them about this tonight and write down what their goal is in the planner.
Remember tomorrow is Library so have those books here.
Have a great night.

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What an awesome day! READ-A-THON celebration was a hit!! The kids had a great time duct taping Mr. Senitte and he was such a good sport. Team Hankins won the pizza party for having read the most minutes. Way to go. They will enjoy pizza lunch on Friday!! Our top readers were Staley, Melissa, and Jose'. Fantastic job to you! A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to the PTA for this wonderful event. They put in a lot of hard work and time.

Today in Morning Meeting, we talked about goal setting and the difference between long and short goals. The students will do some goal setting for each type of goal in the next 2 weeks. We will spend the time on how we take baby steps in achieving our goals.
Today's HR was on George Washington. Have your child tell you 2 facts about him and 1 opinion and write GW in the planner for free money.
We started our tour of the west in Social Studies. If your child can tell you the oldest national park and which state most of it is located in, write YNP in the planner.
Congratulations to Jasymn, our last week's student of the week. She finally got to share today. We loved all the pictures and your treasure box from your Grandpa. How special.
Have a great night.

What a Great First Day Back

Today was a great, but packed, busy day.
In Math, we learned how to find the LCM for adding fractions with unlike denominators -WOW-they felt like they were in middle school. If your child can show you, write fractions in the planner.
In Science, we read about the San Andreas Fault and watched a You Tube of it. If your child can tell you one fact they learned, write Fault in the planner.
We are finally starting our West Tour in Social Studies tomorrow. We will hopefully get it done and have a our states and capitals test on Thursday, March 1st.
Tomorrow is our assembly where students get to tape Mr. Senitte to the wall for having reached our READ-A-THON goal. Every student that participated will be given a piece of duct tape for this. Then at the assembly, we will find out the top class readers along with the top individual readers. A HUGE thank you to our PTA for sponsoring this wonderful event and getting us so excited about reading. I will be taking lots of pictures to post so you will get to see them.
Tomorrow is Music so have those recorders here.
Have a great night.

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a great, relaxing vacation. I know I did. Lots of shopping and looking at remodel ideas for parts of our house, spending time with family, and hanging out with friends. That is so much of what I love to do (the hanging out with family and friends part) definitely not the house shopping stuff.
These next 2 weeks are going to be packed with testing prep for the MontCas tests coming up in early March. We have already started the practice, but will continue with those constructed responses and multiple choice questions and these will be done for Math, Reading, and Science.
We will be starting our tour of the West in Social Studies so make sure you are practicing the states and capitals as our test on them will be Thursday, March 1st. Hopefully, they have been studying. If they can tell you the capital of Colorado, write Colorado in the planner for free money.
For our morning meetings, we will be focusing on career dreams we have, setting goals to reach them, and then how to take small steps to reach those dreams and goals. It is possible that we will have a guest speaker that will talk about this with us as she worked hard to reach her dream of becoming a singer. More on this later.
In Science, we will be studying volcanoes and then be looking for a fun home project to do!!! I bet you can hardly wait!!
Have a great night.

A photo slideshow by Smilebox

As you can see, we had a great Valentine's Day Party. In fact, I heard most of them say, "This is the best one yet"! Love it. We had great food, decorations, entertainment, and fun. We had lots of fun opening our valentines, eating, and dancing with our glow bracelets on and the lights out. We did the YMCA and the Cha-Cha Slide. After that, it was time for some fun board games where we got to chat with our friends and relax a bit. Thanks kids and all the committees for your work and fun.
Reminder: Tomorrow is an early out with a 12:00 dismissal. Then No School on Thurs.-Friday and next Monday.
Have a great night and may your valentine surprise you.

Check Out the Monster Valentines

Wow-what creativity and fun! Those monster bags were fun. Enjoy the Smileboxes. There are 2 because the designs I liked the most don't take 26 pictures.
Speaking of Valentines. Tomorrow is the party so that means that each committee that was supposed to bring food, decorations, or games need to have them here tomorrow. Also, remember to bring your valentines.
The desks are arranged in a heart and ready for a fun day. The decoration committee will be having lunch in the room with me and decorating.
In Math today we found averages or the mean. If your child can tell you how to do it, write averages in the planner. We also learned about adding fractions with like denominators.
READ-A-THON: We don't have the final minute totals yet, but I know Team Hankins did AWESOME!! The one thing about the READ-A-Thon that I was not real clear on is the fact that they wanted kids to get reading sponsors. It was not real clear so I didn't push the fact, but they were wanting some donations to help pay for all the prizes they got. Anyway, if you would like to donate whatever that would be great and if not, that is totally fine too. Whatever works. Thank you and have a great night.

Another greeting by Smilebox

Another photo album by Smilebox

Edible Science

Edible Science-Gotta Love it!
Today in Science with both 4th grades we continued our study of plate tectonics and the boundaries.
Using graham crackers and frosting, students were able to see all 3 kinds in action. Then the best part of all, we got to EAT IT!!
If they can tell you how volcanoes are created and what kind of boundary it is, write volcano in the planner.

Celebration: Today we played Gauntlet Dodge Ball for our celebration fun. They got a good work out and I got to see them in a different environment. They definitely are an active, competitive bunch. But, the good thing is-I did see and hear some good sportsmanship, but next time we will even work harder on that. We ended it with getting a nice cold Pepsi! We are now working toward our next celebration of 100 points.
Reminder: Valentine Monster Bags are due on Monday for sharing.
Also READ-A-THON Reading envelopes are due for the last time on Monday. Tonight (Friday) is the last night. We are now at
12,220 minutes. Let's finish strong Team Hankins.
In Math, we had a practice test over some review and some new concepts. I am so proud of the kids as they did awesome.
We had our group counseling session today with Mrs. Micheletti. She is taking over for Mrs. Salazar now that she is at home being MOM. Mrs. Micheletti is wonderful and we are looking forward to getting to know her and work with her.
Remember recorders for Monday.
Also, just a reminder for the food and decorations committees for our Valentine's Party to remember your food and decorations for Tuesday.
Have a great weekend and stay warm.

Busy Day!

Today in Science, we continued talking about the earth and today we focused on Plate Tectonics and learned about the 3 kinds of boundaries; transform, convergent, and divergent and how each one is different as they create volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains, and trenches. Ask them about the San Andreas Fault in California and what kind of boundary it is and what is slowly happening to Los Angeles. If they can tell you, write boundary in the planner.
In Math today, we compared mixed numbers. This concept was quite easy and fun for them. What we have left to do with fractions is adding & subtracting them which we will start next week. Tomorrow will be a review-quiz day.
Today in Morning Meeting, we focused on "feelings" which they write about these everyday. But today we dug deeper and talked about what Rusty says every morning-feelings-they come and they go. We compared ourselves to a robot and how they don't have feelings and instead of a brain, they have a computer chip and instead of a heart they have batteries. We also talked about how you can have many feelings in a day and that is ok and it is important to have more than one feeling. We compared it to having a pizza with just the crust and not being able to put anything on it. How boring that is-just like how boring it would be to walk around everyday, all day being happy or mad. The importance of this is to realize that feelings are important.
Read-A-Thon Readers: We are at 10,970 minutes. WOW-that is AWESOME. Students have just tonight and tomorrow left so let's keep it up Team Hankins.
Tomorrow we are going to have 40 minutes of exercise and fun in the gym playing Gauntlet for our 75 point celebration. It is a fun version of dodgeball. We are now on our way to trying to earn 100!!
PTA Meeting tonight at 6:00-7:00.
Library books for tomorrow.
Have a great night.

One Big Continent

Today in Science, we found out that Earth was once a large continent called pangaea millions & millions of years ago. Then over the years it started to shift and split apart into the continents we have now. It is all like a puzzle piece. What was fun today is that the kids had to cut out all the continents and piece them together as if it was one big continent. This took some persistence along with knowing where the continents are today. Another thing that helped was the phrase "the animals on the map will be your friend". If your child can tell you how that is so, write pangaea in the planner. Hint: It has to do with fossils.
Now we are going to move into talking about plate tectonics and learning about faults and the different kinds of fault boundaries.
Great job on the 3-D models. We had some fun creative ones.
Today in math, we worked more on fractions. I bet your child can explain it much better to you today.
READ-A-THON READERS! We are up to 9600 minutes-that is AWESOME!! See why I believe in these kids.
Tomorrow is PE so bring the shoes.
Speaking of being prepared for specialists-I was disappointed in 5 students today as they didn't have their music practice book page done for Mr. Goodheart. This is a big part of their music grade this quarter. So please talk to your child about if they were one of them or not.
Valentine bags went home tonight with a monster valentine writing project. The sky is the limit on the creativity for these. They will be due here at school on Monday so they can share before we start filling them up with valentines on Tuesday.
Today the committees met and planned food, games, and decorations. Your child wrote in their planner what they need to bring.
Have a great night.

Happy Tuesday!!

Today, we did our Science Lab with the eggs for those that had them. We talked about Pangea and how the continents were at one time one big piece of land and how over time, they have shifted and moved apart creating the 7 continents. Students drew the contininents and oceans on them before we opened them and discussed the layers. Students are to bring in a 3-D model of the earth's layers other than an egg as a review of them so look in your refrig or in toy box and see what you can come up with. Tomorrow we are going to go into depth talking about plate tectonics and do another fun little activity showing how the shifting happens.
Valentine Committees have been formed. Ask your child what they signed up for today. They will have time tomorrow to meet and discuss what they are going to bring. Also, tomorrow they will get their bags that they will use for their valentines. There is a writing project to go with it along with them writing about a valentine monster and then decorating their bag to portray that monster.
Today in Math we talked about mixed & improper fractions. Have your child show you how to change a mixed to an improper and an improper to a mixed. If they can, write M & I in the planner.
Today we did 2 constructed responses in preparation for testing. We did one in math which they have in their mail and my reading kids did one, but I didn't check it yet.
RECORDERS FOR MUSIC TOMORROW.
READ-A-THON READING: We are at 8171 minutes-just our class. That is so AWESOME so keep it up!! We have through Friday. As a school, we reached 50,000 already so now Mr. Senitte is challenging us to 10,000 and if we do as a school, each classroom will get extra activity time in the gym. Let's go Bitterroot.
Have a great night and let's hope it quits snowing. Be careful out there.

Hard-Boiled Egg Needed

We had a great day today and I just got back from my workout and it is SNOWING!! I bet the debaters who like snow are happy! Let's just hope it doesn't over-do it like last time.
We started a new Science Unit today on Earth, Plate Tectonics, and Volcanoes. If your child can tell you the layers of the earth, write Earth in the planner. ALSO, THEY NEED A HARD-BOILED EGG TOMORROW FOR OUR SCIENCE LAB!!!
Marathon practice for testing is upon us. Yes, we will be doing our MONT CAS tests the first 2 weeks of March and so we are practicing lots leading up to the real thing. These practice tests are quite long and have bubble sheets to go with them just like the REAL tests. We are practicing not only to make sure we are prepared for the skills, but also to endure the length of the real tests. In fact, the practice tests are old released test items from past years. They are mostly multiple choice answers, but we will be practicing constructed responses too which is where they have to write down their complete thoughts. I will not be helping them with these practice tests as I can't on the real ones so I just want them to work hard and DO THEIR BEST!! So please talk to them about this and I just wanted you to know why there will be so many coming home in the next few weeks. I know the students will do AWESOME! These will be done in both math and reading. If you ever have any questions on these as they come home, please contact me.
READ-THON-READERS: WOW-Hankins' Team is up to 5800 points. Way to make sure your kids are reading and getting those envelopes back. Students who are doing their part to help our team will be rewarded not only from the PTA, but from me as well.
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK AND LET'S END UP ON TOP!!
Tomorrow is PE so remember the shoes.
Today in Social Studies, we made our flash cards to practice at school and students should still have the map to practice the West Region at home.
We compared and ordered fractions today in Math and tomorrow we are moving on to Mixed Fractions.
Students will be signing up for Valentine's Day Party committees tomorrow and then meet with their committees on Wednesday to plan. They will let you know on Wednesday what they will need to bring. Thank you.
Have a great night and let's hope we don't wake up to too much snow.

Happy Super Sunday!

Wow-what a gorgeous day! Sure doesn't seem like football weather. Speaking of football, don't forget to look at your predictions and keep track of touchdowns and field goals to see how close you came to your Friday predictions. Also, have you quizzed your families on the team names. We had fun with those on Friday along with Ms. Erickson's class. Tell what your favorite/clever/creative one was and write it in the planner for free money.
Tomorrow is the day students will be signing up for a Valentine's Day Committee. They also will be paying their $300 to buy in. They can not be on a committee if they can't buy in. That doesn't mean they can't participate in the party as long as they have $300 by February 14th. They have 5 to choose from. They are: food, decorations, entertainment, set-up, and clean-up. Please talk to your child about which one would work best for them and you. The food committee is in charge of bringing the food they decide on. Decorations is in charge of buying and/or making the decorations, entertainment has to plan what we do for fun besides open valentines and eat, and of course the set-up and clean up are self explanatory.
READ -A-THON READING: Wow our class is doing awesome. We have over 2800 minutes already. Way to go Team Hankins and keep it up. Should have lots of minutes to add tomorrow for the weekend.
Remember recorders tomorrow.
I finally figured out how to get pictures on here so I made a hodge-podge of pics for you in a Smilebox. Enjoy.
Have a great rest of the weekend and may your team win. I am not even going for anyone in particular.

This picture slideshow created with Smilebox

Great Job Team Hankins!

Wow-we are off to a FABULOUS start with our Read-A-Thon Reading. We read over 1200 minutes in just one night as a class!!! This definitely gives us the motivation to keep it up!! We had a few kids not bring their envelopes back and talked about how EVERYONE has to help out the team. They will be fined $100 for each day it is not returned starting tomorrow. Also, prizes for the minutes read so far were in the envelopes tonight so check your child's to see if they received a coupon. Also, make sure you initial each day also.
Tomorrow is Terrific Kids & BUG Club Assembly at 2:20. BUG Club is for those that brought up or maintained their grades from Q1 -Q2 and Terrific Kids Club is for students getting straight A's either 1st and/or 2nd Quarter. I hope to see those of you that got my email there if you can make it. If not, I will have pictures.
Speaking of pictures, I will have lots to make into a Smilebox this weekend. My new camera is a little bit more high tech than I envisioned but I will get it done.
Tomorrow we are doing some fun activities for the Super Bowl. Talk to your kids tonight about what it is and who is in this year and write Superbowl in the planner for free money.
Tonight's nightly writing is the final/Part 4 of the kite series. The kids are doing quite well on it and I told them to look back at their mistakes from the past 2 days to help them with tonights.
Tomorrow is technology buy-in day. Students may bring any device that allows them to listen to music for $400. This is totally optional.
On Monday, I will be collecting money for the Valentine's Day Party so we can start putting our committees together.
On the side of this blog is a list of students for valentines. Remember everyone has to get a valentine.
Students know that their valentine bag projects are going to be a home project along with a little nightly writing sometime next week. Don't panic-I have the bags for them already and it won't take lots of supplies, just creativity.
Library is tomorrow so get those books back.
Have a great night.

KEEP ON READING-READING-READING

What a great assembly today to kick off our Read-A-Thon Reading. Bitterroot School is accepting the challenge of reading 50,000 minutes and having Mr. Senitte duct taped to the wall. Hankins' Team is taking on the challenge of reading the MOST minutes for grades 3 & 4. We know WE CAN DO IT!! Please see the envelopes as all the instructions for this are on there and on the sheet inside. Envelopes need to be returned DAILY with your initials on it to get credit for minutes read.
Debate: We did our debate with Ms. E's class. Great job kids on your first debate. We had people convinced to change sides so that was a successful debate.
In Math today, we compared fractions, write 2 fractions down in the planner tonight and have your child compare them for free money at check in.
Nightly writing again tonight. I am so excited to see retention of writing & editing skills since the beginning of the year. It was fun to see as I checked their notebooks today.
PE shoes tomorrow.
Remember those reading envelopes.
Have a great night.