Merry Christmas

Hi-we are having a great last day before break. We are watching the "Big Miracle" movie right now and the kids are really into it. What a great movie to supplement our study on endangered animals. We had lots of good discussion with this unit on how to help our environment. I hope we all will take action on this matter. We are going to continue it a bit after the holiday break when we focus a bit more on recycling. You will see what fun ideas Ms.Erickson & I have planned. We finished up all our curriculum in reading today so when we come back, we are ready for new books & a new read-a-loud. Secret Santas were revealed today and we had some surprised faces. We all had fun with this. We had a great surprise here at Bitterroot this morning. The Skyview Band/Orchestra & Choir came and performed for us today. They were awesome and if you weren't in the holiday spirit before then, you sure were after their performance. Buddies today consisted of helping them shop at Santa's Workshop and then helping them wrap their purchases. So fun to see those little ones wrap!!! Purple Hand Recipient: Yesterday students nominated their peers whom they felt were deserving of this award and then they voted. Chase Nye was chosen by his peers. Students who nominated him said they are so impressed and happy about how much better he is doing since the beginning of the year at controlling his anger & emotions. Great Job, Chase. We are so proud of you and hope you keep it up. Merry Christmas to all of you and I will not post again until we are back on January 2nd. Hugs-Hugs xxxooo

Pillow, Blanket, and Stuffed Animal

Just a reminder that the movie is tomorrow afternoon so bring your pillow, blanket, and stuffed animal along with a drink (no larger than 20oz.) and a treat. We are also revealing our Secret Santas tomorrow so make sure you bring your last gift tomorrow. We finished our Earth's Resources reading & discussion groups today. Ask your child to tell you 3 things they are going to do to help our environment. If they diligent about doing it, write environment in the planner. Today we are saying goodbye to a very wonderful person. Mr. Pertuit, the substitute PE teacher for Mrs. Buss, has his last day at Bitterroot today. He has done a remarkable job and will surely be missed by all of us students & staff. Also, tomorrow is Mrs. Umemoto's last day. Her husband got transferred to Texas. I miss her already and she hasn't even left yet. We have developed a great friendship over the past 1 1/2 and I just hate to see her go. I know many of you had her in 3rd grade so make sure you stop and tell her goodbye tomorrow. Have a great night.

Great Job Kids!

Wowzers!! What a great job those kids did at the Christmas Concert. I am so proud of each and every one of them as I am sure you are too. I hope you were able to make it. Thank you for leaving your child at school this afternoon after the performance as we got lots of science and social studies done and now they don't have to make it up. Have your child tell you their favorite song of the performance and write it in the planner for free money. Tomorrow is our Santa's Workshop time in the afternoon. So if you want your child to purchase things, remember everything is $1.00 Remember to get permission slips back tomorrow for the Big Miracle movie if you didn't return them today. I don't know if you received a district wide call or not, but Billings Public Schools are on semi-lockdown which means all entry doors to the building are locked including the front door. I feel very good about how vigilant we are being and working together to keep our children safe. I know some of you are thinking about keeping your child home on Friday because of all that is happening and I want you to know that the decision is totally up to you, but I feel confident that everything will be alright. It was so nice to have law enforcement present in the building today and that will continue the next 2 days. Remember you secret santa gifts again tomorrow. Wow-these kids are loving it and getting all kinds of fun stuff. Have a great night.

Happy Tuesday

Yes, it was a good, happy day. Ask your child about the "Christmas Extravaganza" story we read this morning in morning meeting and how Mr. Merriweather lost the "true" meaning of Christmas. If they can tell you what he did to outdo the neighbors, write it in the planner. In Science, students got into groups and discussed Chapter 1 of their section on Earth's Resources. They did quite well and were returned today with a grade on them. They are to be doing Chapter 2 today if they didn't finish it in school. Then we read a story called "Symphony of Whales". Ask your child about it and if they can tell you what happened to the whales, write whales in the planner. Permission slips came home today for permission to watch "Big Miracle" on Friday. It is the perfect movie to end our "Going Green" unit and it ties in perfectly with the story we just read today. Students will have a $300 buy in and can bring a drink and treat to have during the movie. Also, they can bring a stuffed animal, blanket, and pillow. If students bring their permission slips back tomorrow, they can earn free money and a few of them need money to get to their $300. Secret Santas is going great. Students are loving what they are getting. Again, a couple of you forgot your gifts so I had to give theirs away. Tomorrow is the wonderful Christmas Concert. It begins at 9:30 and again at 1:15. We are last in the morning production and first in the afternoon one. Please don't plan to take your child after the program as we will be doing Science and we have a lot to finish up and they will have to make it up otherwise. We are still having Library tomorrow so bring those books back. Have a great night.

Good Day

Hi there- First of all, thank you for the kind messages that some of you wrote in the planners this morning about "thanking me for caring and loving your child". I was so glad to see & hug each and every one of them this morning with their bright, happy smiles amidst all that is going on around them. I just want to let you know, we met as a staff this morning and discussed the importance of carrying on with school & business as usual. That is just what we did and we had a very good day. This morning in morning meeting, everyone got to share their feelings whole group and there were a few that said they were sad or scared about the tragedy. I told them that these kinds of feelings are normal after something like this and that it is ok to feel that way. But then we discussed how we can be kind to others and showing care/compassion for them and just worry about small things because when you look at the "big" picture or scheme of things, they are pretty minor. I also told them once again that our #1 job is to keep you safe. We also talked about "why" we practice lock-down drills and the importance of them and for them to follow instructions from me or other school personnel. Mr. English sent home a letter today too explaining how we need to work together to assure our students that they are safe and for you to address their questions/concerns as you deem necessary. Today in Science, students did some differentiated independent reading about Earth and its' resources in their small readers. Ask them something they learned and write it in the planner for free money. In Art, the students made some pretty cool snowflakes that you will be able to see on display in the gym for the concert. In Math, we learned about and made line graphs. In Reading, 1/3 groups are done with their book club books so they worked on some reading to go with the SE region that we studied in Social Studies and they learned more facts and then had to make a comprehension guide/check that they will trade with a partner in their group tomorrow and have to answer each other's questions. Remember to send your Secret Santa gifts tomorrow. A few forgot today so what I did was take the treat they received from the person who had them and gave it to whom they were supposed to give it to. So make sure everyone that is participating brings tomorrow. I hate to be Scrooge and take gifts away!!! Eli shared his student of the week board. He is going to be a skateboard champion like Tony Hawk someday I can tell. Have a great night.

Hi There-

I am sorry for the late post, but this has been quite a weekend. A friend and a friend's son were seriously hurt in a car accident on Friday night. Last week's tragedy has been weighing very heavily on my heart this weekend. We all just wonder "why". I don't know how much you have discussed with your child, but I don't plan to discuss it with them tomorrow. Our morning meeting will consist of sharing feelings and those that want to can talk about it and share what they feel they need to. We will just see how our morning meeting goes and take it from there. Rusty has a segment tomorrow on his show titled: "hope". If there are questions that the students have that they want answered, I will direct them to Mrs. Neese. I just want you to know that we at Bitterroot do what we need to to keep each and every one of your children safe. It has been and always will be our #1 priority. Remember the Christmas concert on Wednesday, December 19th at 9:30 and 1:15. Also, we have our Secret Santas this week so remember to bring something tomorrow for yours and each day for the rest of the week. Have a good night and I look forward to seeing my students tomorrow. I so miss them and want to hug each and every one of them.

Testing is Over

Today was our final day of MAP testing and WOW! Have most of these kids shown great growth in math!! So fun to see and I just hope they keep up their hard work and enthusiasm for learning. We finished up our endangered animal unit in Science today. Ask your child what animal was getting the goats & chickens on the farm. If they can tell you, write it in the planner for free money. Surprises: Two of you have not picked up the surprises yet. Please make plans to do so on Friday or let me know what you want me to do with them. Thank you. Have a great night.

Back Up Again

Hi there- Sorry about no blog last night, but for some reason the site wouldn't let me post.:( But, here I am back again!! First of all, we are 2/3 done with our testing. We took the Reading yesterday and the Language today. Tomorrow is the Math in the afternoon. The kids are doing great and making some good gains so far this year. I hope math goes as well tomorrow. Yesterday, in Mrs. Neese's counseling session, she read a story about people's differences and then she had a treat for the kids. Ask them about the book and what the treat was and if they can tell you, write Mrs. Neese in the planner. Rudolph stories: We are writing Rudolph stories like we helped our buddies write. But, our stories have a bit more of a plot to them. Ask them what happened to their reindeer to make his nose turn color. Then write the color in the planner. Christmas Program: Remember to mark your calendars for Wednesday, December 19th. There are 2 performances -9:30 or 1:15. You need to come to only one. They are practicing right now as I am blogging and they sound GREAT and you will not want to miss it. Mr. Goodheart does such a GREAT job!!! I hope your child brought home the favorites list for their Secret Santa. This will start on Monday-remember keep it simple and very low cost. One little treat for each day. Revealing will be on Friday with the bigger of the 5 things given to their S.S. I hope you are enjoying this holiday season and not rushing around with all the hustle & bustle. I hope you can take time to truly enjoy the meaning of the season. Have a great night.

Not a lot to report today. Just a reminder that we have testing tomorrow. We are going to be doing the Reading MAP test so make sure you get a good night's rest, healthy, nutritious breakfast & snack. Congratulations to Payton as he shared his student of the week things with us today. He sure has lots of trophies from football & baseball. We also loved all the shirts you brought to share from places you have visited. Secret Santas were chose today. Ask your child who they chose. We had a few students gone today so they will do it tomorrow and then I will also send home the papers with their S.Santas favorite things to help in making the simple treats you bring easy on you and remember this is to be a very low cost fun thing. Have a great night.

Testing This Week

I hope your weekend is going well. This is going to be a busy week with our Winter NWEA (MAP) testing. Yes, we are doing them 3 times this year. We will be doing the Reading & Language on Tuesday & Wednesday during our Reading block time. The Math will be done on Thursday during our Math block time. Please make every effort to have your child here to school on these days. They do have to make them up and if they aren't here when we do them, they have to use other learning time to make them up with Mr. English so they miss out on important learning. Also, make sure your child has a good night's rest, nutritional breakfast, and a nutritional (lots of protein) snack. Also, they may bring gum to chew during the tests as this is a good relaxing mechanism. In Science, we continue with our "Going Green" unit. We are starting the animal component so there will be lots of good information about how we hurt our animals when we neglect to take care of the environment. At the end of the week, we are also going to break into small groups and students will read more environmental/ informational articles at their level There is a comprehension piece to go with this so they will be responsible for using lots of reading skills to complete these. I will be using it for a Science grade. In Math, we will spend time until Christmas with some graphing & coordinate grids and then after the break we will hit our Geometry unit hard along with long division. Great job in Social Studies on those states and capitals tests. They will come home tomorrow. Almost everyone "rocked" it. From now until break, we will be using Lead 21 in Social Studies as there is a section that covers the history, geography, culture/heritage of the SE so we will read and discuss that whole group. My reading kids will continue with their book club books while not doing the MAP testing. Read 180 students will take the test in our classroom. Secret Santas: Students will draw names this week and it will run the week of December 17-21. More on that later and no worries if you didn't want your child to participate. I will take care of it. Santa's Workshop: PTA is once again doing Santa's Workshop that last week before break. I am not sure of our scheduled time yet as there has not been a sign up sheet, but I will let you know when I do. Buddies on Friday was fun. Have your child tell you what we did and if they can, write the color of Rudolph's Nose they used in the planner. Have a great rest of the weekend.

Great Day Today!

This class is so fun and we are just loving learning and having fun with each other. The fun thing about them is we can have fun, laugh, learn, and then know when it is time to get back to business. They are able to bring it right back which makes it easier and more fun for me to do fun things with them. Speaking of learning, today in math we made line plots. Have your child tell you what they are and what kind of data we plotted on our line plots and then we found the range, median, mean, and mode of our data. See if they can tell you what at least one of them are. We are going to be spending more time with those 4 terms, but today was just an introduction. In Social Studies, we finished our Penelope Peabody-lost in the U.S. If they didn't in class they have it for homework. Remember states and capitals test is tomorrow. In Science, we learned about how algae may become an alternative source of energy. Ask your child about it, and if they can tell you what % of oil is in the plant, write that number in the planner. Also, they had a review paper on solar energy which some of them may have for homework if they didn't finish it in class with their partners. The weather tomorrow looks to be a bit colder so please dress for it. Have a great night.

Jeff Was Here

Wow-what an amazing guest speaker we had today. Yes, Jeff Ewalt, from the zoo was here to share all his expertise about wolves and to show paw prints, skull, and hide. He makes learning so fun and exciting with all his energy. Ask your child their favorite thing about the presentation today and what they wrote him about in the thank you letters that we wrote to him and write Jeff in the planner. Today in Morning Meeting it was about getting rid of feelings and things of the past and focusing on the present so students wrote on a piece of paper something they want to forget about or get rid of from their past. Then they crumbled them up and slam dunked them into the garbage to be gone forever. Hope this helps them deal with those negative issues. Had our first practice with both 4th grades today for the Music Program. I think it went quite well. Just a reminder once again that it is on Wednesday, December 19th at 9:30 and 1:15. The program is the same both times so you only need to make plans to come once. Today in Social Studies, students worked in pairs doing some research about the NE & SE states finding out fun facts with an activity called Penelope Peabody Lost in the U.S. Ask them what state the Liberty Bell is in. If they tell you, write the state in the planner. Homework Tonight: It is on Science and the Endangered Environment. We have been talking lots about this in our "going green" unit. They are to color the pictures of the things that are endangering the animals and plants in the picture and then at the bottom, write down some statements to describe the problems. Have a great night. Ok-so for some reason, my pics of Jeff won't download onto here tonight so I will try again tomorrow. Sorry

Happy Tuesday!!

We finished our SE tour today so definitely ready to get on with the states and capitals test on Friday. Remember you need to know the location also. In Science today, we read about another alternative energy source called Biodiesel. Ask your child what it is made from and why it is a renewable energy source. If they can tell you, write biodiesel in the planner. We also finished up our timeline & cause/effect activity to go with the wolves power point that we watched yesterday. So we are ready for Jeff Ewalt from the zoo to come tomorrow and share all his knowledge and expertise. Remember tomorrow we are practicing the music program with both classes from 1:15-2:00 so if you have a speaking part, make sure you have practiced your lines. Continue to practice those multiplication/division facts with the XtraMath. Oh my gosh-I just went into the gym to watch fitness club. I am truly amazed at how engaged all the kids were and they were really moving and working out at about 12 different stations. The best part of it is the fact they don't even know they are working out as he is making it fun. Mr. Pertuit is AWESOME!!!! Have a great night.

Mid Terms Went Home Today

Mid-terms went home today and I am happy to announce that there have been some good improvements made from Quarter 1-keep it up and work towards that BUG Club. If you have seen your child's mid-terms, write mid-terms in the planner. Today, we had a great Science lesson with Ms. Erickson's class about Wolves and their role in Yellowstone National Park all the way from before Civil War time up until 2009. We made a timeline for that time period and learned lots about how there were many of them in that area before the Civil War and how after the war and during the Western Expansion that there wasn't as much area for the wolves to roam and farmers were paid to kill them so of course they became endangered. Then the Endangered Species Act was passed and wolves were introduced back into the park after years of back and forth arguing. New packs started in 1995-1997 and then in 2009 wolves were taken off the endangered list. So have a good discussion with your child tonight about this controversy and have them tell you an effect for the cause "wolves are re-introduced into the park". Also in Science, we learned about Solar Energy as an alternative source of energy. If they can tell you one drawback of it, solar energy in the planner. Thank you to those of you that picked up the surprise. Hope to see the rest of you sometime this week. Our wonderful Christmas Music Program directed by Mr. Goodheart is going to be on December 19th. There will be 2 performances. One at 9:15 and the other at 1:30. There are some students with solos and lots with speaking parts so ask your child if they have one and if they have a speaking part, ask if it is in the a.m. or p.m. and make sure they practice their lines. Remember to return those November reading calendars. December ones are coming home tomorrow. Have a great night.

Busy Week Ahead

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. What a beautiful one it was weather wise and also the fact that the CATS won their playoff game. They are set to play once again on Friday night!!! YAY!!!! This week is going to be another busy week. Here is a run-down of what we are going to be studying in each academic area. In Science, we are going to revisit wolves as Jeff Ewalt from the zoo is going to come and talk to us on Wednesday about the pros & cons of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. He is so awesome and the kids will walk away from his presentation with tons of new facts and knowledge. Then the rest of science for the week is going to be continuing with our renewable/nonrenewable resources unit. On Friday, we learned about wind energy and started reading a story about "saving the family farm". If your child can tell you what Ruby did to help, write Ruby in the planner. In Social Studies, we are going to finish our tour of the SE and then have our test on the states and capitals on Friday. We are also going to do some computer research of the NE & SE states with an activity called Penelope Peabody. Simple, easy, and fun way to refresh their memories with some cool state facts. In Math, we are continuing with elapsed time and then moving in line plots, and some graphing. Along with this we are working on multi-step story problems. In Reading, my kids are still working on their book club books and really getting into our discussions. I just love listening to them question each other and not just literally, but inferentially. They are also enjoying our read-a-loud book about Pathki. She has had quite the adventures. Have them tell you about it. Remember I told you that the surprises were in if you ordered one. I also said I was going to send home a letter last week about picking them up. Well I didn't do that as I knew I could talk about it on here. So please arrange for a time to pick it up at school this week if possible. I am at school by 7:30 daily and there until at least 4:00 so just come down to the room and get it if you placed an order. Thank you. As you can see by the pictures, we had fun in buddies Friday helping them with time. We just love getting together with our buddies and they appreciate our help too and it is a good review for us-so a win-win situation. Purple Hand recipient went to Payton. Congratulations! Payton was nominated for his kind, caring mannerisms, and also his encouragement during recess and PE activities. Ryker was our student of the week and we enjoyed hearing about him and seeing the pics he shared. Technology day was a success. I think those that bought in enjoyed and were able to spend some of their money. Happy Birthday to Brayden. I hope you enjoyed your party at the Reef!! Cya tomorrow.