Substitute Tomorrow

Yes, there will be a substitute as I am going to some professional development with a couple other teachers and Mr. English. I know these kids will do awesome and follow expectations. Just have a quick chat tonight and remind them of it. Thank you. Today, we started somewhat of a difficult concept in Math-"Making Change" for $1, $5, and $10. What makes it difficult is that it is the opposite of counting money. But, with more practice, we will get it. A little practice at home would be helpful too if you can. Example: Gave-$10.00 --Cost of an item-$7.34--what will the change be? In Social Studies, we started a Geography Challenge Map skill activity reviewing locations with latitude & longitude with partners that they will finish tomorrow. We did learn about inset maps today though and why we have them on maps. Ask them which 2 states in the U.S. are on inset maps and why. Write the names of the states in the planner for free money. Unit 4 spelling words came home today. Remember test on Friday. Author visit on Thursday. Yes, Bill Merical, the author of Journey of Fallen Rock is coming on Thursday afternoon. We are very excited to meet and hear him talk about his book. Will post lots of pictures that day. Science hurricane quiz is tomorrow. They will get to use their notes so if they have been taking good notes, it should be quite easy for them. Have a great night and I can't wait to hear about the great day these kids will have tomorrow.

Happy Friday

Celebration Points earned!! Yes, we earned our first 25 celebration points so we will have a little celebration this week as a reward. Not sure what day yet, but it will happen. Mid-terms went home on Friday. I am proud of these kids and their accomplishments thus far. If you have seen your child's report and gone over it with them, write "mid-term" in the planner. We started our Buddy Class today. We are buddies with Mrs. Culp's 2nd grade. We are getting to know them by writing a poem All About Them. We are so looking forward to working with and helping them out on Fridays. Mrs. Hankins' Character Warriors are officially hanging in the hall and they look great. I am so proud of the kids and the thought they put into the writing piece of it where they shared how they are going to use each character trait at school. We are going to finish Hurricanes this week with a little project and an assessment. Then we are moving into our full weather unit. Social Studies we are still working on map skills. In Montana History we are going to do a bit more on the rivers, mountain ranges, and cities before we head into the 3 regions of Montana. Writing projects-my reading kids are doing a great job on their character descriptions using the stoplight writing and I can't wait for you to read/see them. In Language we continue to learn about sentence structure and parts of speech. My reading kids are in their small groups reading about what heritage is and how it is shared by different cultures and groups of people. Our strategies for the week are going to be "determining importance, author's purpose, and writing summaries, and our skills are fact/opinion & compare/contrast. In Math, we are still working on counting money and now moving into making change for certain money amounts. I know this is kind of a lost art as most places anymore don't count change back to you, but I think it is important to know. Congratulations to Kaelynn, our Purple Hand Cookie recipient for the month of September. Kaelynn was nominated by her classmates for her kindness, caring, and unselfish ways. Great job. Kylee, we so loved hearing all about you today and seeing all the fun pictures and things you shared with us today. Can't wait to see juggle a soccer ball with your feet. Saturday Live Saturday from 10:00-4:00 at Pioneer Park. Write Saturday Live in the planner if you go for free money. Pack the Place in Pink t-shirts have been ordered. Thank you for supporting this great cause. Have a great weekend.

Quick Post Due to Trainings This Afternoon

I will make this a short post since we only had a 1/2 day today and training for me this afternoon. First of all, thank you for getting those shields here today. They are looking good and we will finish them tomorrow morning. Remember tomorrow is show your "team spirit". Wear your favorite team jersey along with bringing in $1.00 to raise money for cancer awareness. I will also give free money to those that wear their jerseys and help contribute to this great cause. Last day to bring in Saturday Live Candy and ordering Pack the Place in Pink T-shirts. We have been getting so much done in here-these kids are amazing. Ask them 3 of their favorite things about 4th grade so far and write them in the planner. (I hope everyone has at least 3 things they are liking.) :) A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Sydnie, Grace, Dylan, and Harley for making it into the Heights Honor Choir. Great job and you will make Bitterroot proud. I also want to say Great Job to those that took a risk and tried out. I know it was a difficult decision for those that had to cut the list as there was a lot of talent displayed. Just remember to keep believing in yourself and trying again along with trying other things. Have a great night.

Character Warrior Shields

Yes, a pattern came home with your child today for our Character Warrior Shields. They are traced on tagboard and I am asking you to cut them out and cover them with tinfoil to look like a shield. You may add handles or straps to the back if you wish. Also, if you would like to trace & cut them on cardboard, you are welcome to do that also. The only hard thing about if it is too thick, it makes them hard to hang up and display in the hallway. We will be adding designs and the written part to them tomorrow here at school along with attaching their pictures. Thank you for your help and make sure they come back to school tomorrow. Early out-yes tomorrow is 12:00 dismissal. Please make arrangements to be here to pick up your children. Remember Boys' & Girls' Club bus does not run on early out days. We finished our Read-A-Loud book today on hurricanes and learned some new, cool facts. Ask your child to tell you 5 things about a hurricane and if they can tell you, write hurricane fun in the planner. My reading kids continued to learn more about heritage today. Great to hear about some of your heritage today. Thank you for having that conversation with your child. Ask them how the 3 vocabulary words: heritage, ancestors, and generation go together. My reading kids are also working on writing a character description of either Bradley or Jeff from our last read-a-loud book. They are doing an amazing job and this are going to be some awesome publications. Deadline to order a Pack the Place in Pink t-shirt is on Friday. Also, last chance to donate candy for Saturday Live is on Friday. Remember $20/bag. Thank you for your help. Thank you for all you do to help your child and to keep the lines of communication open. Working together between home & school for your child matters most in helping them be a good, successful citizen. Have a good night and make sure your child dresses for the weather during these cool days.

Another Great & Busy Day

Room 6 was once again busy learning lots of new things. These kids are like "sponges" and just loving learning and I love hearing them say, "Wow-Mrs. Hankins-we are sure learning a lot!!" YAYYY-what a teacher loves to hear!!! They are really settling in for the most part. I am sure they can tell you, we move along a lot faster in 4th grade with so much more curriculum to cover and moving from being more dependent on the teacher to working more independent at times. If your child is feeling frustrated, I want to assure you, it will get better if we work together to make this happen, but your child needs to put forth the effort on their part also being responsible for themselves and their learning. BELIEVE!! We started Lead 21 today with our unit on Heritage. We made a list of what heritage is and some traditions your families have. Have a discussion about this with your child to start the dialogue of some of your family celebrations/traditions. In Math, we started money using the fewest bills & coins to make amounts of money. Then we move into "making change" which is a more difficult concept. So any extra practice counting money at home is beneficial. In Science, we started another book on hurricanes which is full of facts. Ask your child how many times a Storm Chaser goes in & out of a hurricane. Write it in the planner. Remember the Pack the Place in Pink if you wish to order T-shirts. Also-Early Dismissal on Thursday (12:00). Friday is "Wear your favorite team apparel for $1.00. Yes, we are collecting money for the Cancer Awareness/Pack the Place in Pink endeavor so have your child participate on Friday by bringing in a $1.00 and wearing their favorite team gear. I hear "BOBCAT" gear is the most popular!!!!! :)))) Library tomorrow so get those books back. Have a great night.

Awesome Monday!

Great day in Room 6 today. We are so close to being Mrs. Hankins' Character Warriors. Today, we did Respect which is the center of all 4 cornerstones. Tomorrow we will read a book about respect and then on Thursday & Friday we are going to make our shields. I am going to send home a piece of tagboard for you to cut into the shape of a shield. We will trace the pattern on it. Then cut it out at home and wrap it with tinfoil. We will add designs and a form that we are going to fill out saying how we are going to display those traits here at school. In Montana History, we started the river & mountain systems of Montana by locating places on our maps today with a partner. Ask them at least 1 river & 1 mountain range and write them in the planner. My reading kids finished up our book "There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. Have a discussion on how the characters changed for the good throughout the book. They are going to choose 1 of them to write a description of using our stoplight writing. Ask your child whom they are going to write about. We are ready to start Lead 21 tomorrow. We are beginning with Heritage so this will be a time to discuss your heritage with your child in the upcoming couple of weeks. In Science, we learned more about hurricanes. Ask them 3 facts they have learned so far and if they can tell you, write hurricanes in the planner. We have been working so hard in math on place value, rounding, and decimals, along with long multiplication so tomorrow we are moving on to money. We will continue to review all the early skills. Remember PE shoes tomorrow. Also, Thursday, September 26th is an EARLY OUT-dismissal is at 12:00. Pack the Place in Pink: Order forms are due by Friday if you are ordering a T-shirt. Thank you Have a great night.

Busy Week Ahead

Now that testing is over, I can use the results to differentiate my teaching and their learning so we are ready to hit the ground running hard. We will be starting Lead 21 this week doing both large & small group reading and skill work. This week are skills are going to be Determining Importance (main idea/details) as we read along with Author's Purpose. In Language, we are doing subject/predicate and parts of speech. In Math, we will continue to review rounding & decimals and now heading into counting money and making change. Social Studies is taking us to the end of our map skill unit. This week we will focus on reading different types of topographical maps and doing some geography challenges with partners. Science has us moving along studying hurricanes. Not a lot of activity out there with hurricanes this season which is good for those that live in areas subjected to hurricanes. We will finish up our character warriors with RESPECT on Tuesday and then we are off making our shields. After that, students will be expected to follow the pillars of good character as they make good vs. poor choices in 4th grade. They are going to become Mrs. Hankins' Character Warriors and strong leaders in our school. We will have Spelling once again this week so Unit 3 words will be coming home on Monday. PTA Fundraiser: If you haven't gotten those collection envelopes back yet, please do so if you still have them. Thank you. Saturday Live is on Saturday, September 28 at Pioneer Park Pack the Place in Pink: Forms went home today for you to order your shirt(s). These are due back on Friday, September 27th. Have a great weekend.

Character Warriors: Today we completed the 4th cornerstone of being a character warrior. Now we move into the center one next week to tie it all together. Ask your child what the 4 cornerstones are and write them in the planner. After next week, they will become Mrs. Hankins' Character Warriors. They will be expected to display these character traits in their school, home, and community. They will be making shields to go with them. More on that next week as this will require a little bit of your help. Took our Montana History quiz today over statehood and the symbols. I got them corrected and handed back today and as you can see from them that I let spelling go if I could at least sort of decipher what it was. I did not correct the spellings either as there were too many of them. If your child didn't do well, that is probably because they are not focused and paying attention in class as we spent lots of time on these and we also review them on a daily basis. PTA fundraiser envelopes are due tomorrow if you are collecting any money to help them out. Thank you. Thank you to all of you that have brought Saturday Live candy. Remember free money if you do. Tomorrow is PE so get those tennis shoes here. Have a great night.

Finished Testing!

Yes, today we finished testing so now we can get back to normal during our Communication Arts Block. Yaaayy! We are going to try and finish There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom tomorrow & Friday so we can start Lead 21 reading on Monday now that testing is over and I can place kids where they need to be. Today in Social Studies, we learned about Latitude & Longitude. The kids loved it so have them explain the difference to you. They have a paper that we did together that they can use to show you. If they can show you, write latitude/longitude in the planner. Montana History quiz tomorrow over the state symbols and statehood. In Math we are working hard on decimals/fractions. We are writing both the decimal and the fraction along with reading them in word & standard form. Now we are going to move into comparing fractions along with rounding fractions. PTA fundraiser envelopes: Just a reminder that they are due on Friday, September 20th. Thank you. Saturday Live Candy: Thank you to those of you that have contributed already. Remember $20/bag. Great job in lunch today. In fact, we had a great day all the way around today earning 4 compliments. We even snuck in a little extra recess this afternoon for our hard work and meeting expectations. Have a great night.

Happy Tuesday!!

Great day today in Room 6. We got lots done besides our 2nd MAP test. Tomorrow is our last one in Math. I am glad the kids are working hard and doing their best. We started Hurricanes in Science today. We watched part of a YouTube video. Ask your child 3 things they learned about hurricanes from it and if they can tell you, write hurricane in the planner. Montana History Quiz on Thursday. It is going to be on the symbols & statehood of Montana. They can take their notebooks home if they wish to study. In Social Studies, we studied the 7 continents and now we are learning the hemispheres. Ask them about the 2 imaginary lines that divide the Earth in 1/2. Writing today: We made writing card that resembled something today. Ask them what it is and if they can tell you, write it in the planner. Hint: it has 3 colors and we use it everyday. Have a discussion with them about why we are using this for our writing and how it is going to help us organize it. They might not be real clear on this yet, but it is worth a try. In Math, we decided decimals today. This concept is a bit difficult, but I told them not to worry about it yet as some were a bit lost & frustrated. We will practice-practice-practice. Ask them to tell you about the book we read today in Character Building on Trustworthiness. Also, ask them where we are in the Journey of Fallen Rock book. Have a great night and again remember testing points-good night sleep -protein breakfast/snack.

One Day Down!

First day of testing went very well today. We took the Language test today. Will do the Reading tomorrow and the Math on Wednesday. Make sure you get that good night sleep again tonight along with a protein breakfast and protein snack tomorrow. Bring gum once again if you wish to. Had another issue in the lunch room again today. Yikes-3rd time this year. They have silent lunch tomorrow and I suggested they sit boy-girl the rest of the week. We have to get this under control. I know it is not the whole class, but we are a team/family so we have to work together and be respectful to everyone in the school both adults & other students. There are a few in here who think they can talk whenever even during work time. Needless to say, that is not how it goes and they are losing lots of money so if they want to be part of the field trips in October, they better start using good character along with good listening skills and independent work habits. Please have a talk with your child about this tonight and let's hope the rest of the days go better. If you do, write TALK in the planner. Thank you. Reminder: Saturday Live Candy-I am giving $20/bag if your child helps us out. Thank you. We got to meet our newest Bitterroot School family member today. It is Mr. English's new dog named "Dug". He is quite adorable as you can see by the picture. For those of you who don't know, Moose, his Newfoundland died this past summer. Sad-sad, but now he has this new bundle of joy!! Have a great night.

Happy TGIF!

As I am writing this, I am enjoying watching the kids play Jenga in Music. How cool is this!! As they pull out the blocks, they have to clap the rhythms that is written on them. Today we continued with our Character Warriors. We read the book Jumanji which is about Responsibility. Ask your child about the book and how it relates to responsibility and if they can tell you, write Jumanji. Today, my reading kids went into the opposite gender bathrooms today to go along with our book we are reading, "There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. They had to write what they saw and then next week we are going to do compare/contrast writing to go with them. I would like your child to keep practicing rounding numbers to the nearest thousands, ten thousands, and hundred thousands for extra practice. They seem to have it. We played a game with it today and we will continue to review it on a daily/weekly basis. Today our HR was about the Pledge of Allegiance. When I asked them if they knew what the it meant, they had no idea so we discussed those big word and talked about what it means. We also talked about what the colors in the flag represent. See if they can tell you at least one of the three. MAP TESTING: On Monday, we begin our MAP testing. We will be testing Reading, Language, and Math. We will be doing them on Mon., Tues, and Wed. during our reading block time-10:00-11:30 so please make sure your child is here at school these days so they don't have to make them up. Thank you. Testing prep. help: Get a good night's sleep, healthy breakfast, and bring a healthy snack. Protein is a great. Also, they may bring gum to chew. These tests are very important. They help me see where your child is in each of those subject areas and they will drive my instruction. Also, next week in Math, we are going to keep reviewing place value and rounding and starting counting money and making change. Also, in Science, we are going to study Hurricanes. In Social Studies, we are going to study the Hemispheres along with latitude & longitude. In Montana History, we will be having a quiz later in the week over all the state symbols, nicknames, and statehood. No Spelling words this week due to the MAP testing. Thank you, Tylie for all the cool things you shared today. Your string light was definitely a hit!!! Have a great weekend.

Happy Thursday!

YAAYYY!! I think the Rounding Song has been cemented in their minds as these kids did a great job with rounding today. Thank you for playing & singing it over and over last night. Continue to do so for awhile and practice some examples at home with your child. In Montana History today, we finished our flag & talked about the Montana seal. Ask them what Oro Y Plata means and write it in the planner. Also, ask what date & year MT became a state along with which state in the union it is. Write them in the planner. Today in Reading, we learned a lot about Bradley & Jeff and how their character traits are changing. Then we learned how to write opinion/proof paragraphs. In Language, we learned about action verbs and now we are going to play charades with them tomorrow so make sure your child knows which verb they are going to act out tomorrow. Spelling test tomorrow. We played Heads Up/Spell Up today to review our words. Character Warriors in Morning Meeting today was about Responsibility. Discuss with them how they are going to be a responsible 4th grader this year. Tylie, make sure you bring your Student of the Week stuff tomorrow. Saturday Live info. went home today. Once again Bitterroot is doing the Candy Shack so we will need donated bags of candy for that. (No Chocolate):(((((( Bummer:( Today Mrs. Neese, the counselor, started her sessions with us and read them the book: Mrs. Peabody's Apples. Have a discussion about the book. Have a great night.

Thank You

First of all, thank you to those of you that were able to make it to the Open House. It was so nice to see and share with you all the awesome things that are going to be happening in our classroom this year. If you were not able to make it, no worries-I know there are always lots of things going on in your lives. But, please make sure you contact me if there are ever any questions and I plan to do the same. 3 Big highlights of our day today were: 1. Making POSITIVE choices & getting a compliment in the lunchroom after yesterday's not so good day. I am glad we took the time to identify the problem and come up with a solution as a class. That is what life is all about. 2. We learned a Rounding Numbers Rap in Math. It is on the side of the blog on my list of websites. Have fun singing it together and write an example of how it is used on a number and if you do write the number showing the circles & underlines in the planner. This song is so well done and it is amazing at how well it helps kids round large numbers here in 4th grade. So tomorrow we will practice-practice-practice it. 3. We did a little experiment called Coke VS. Pepsi. We used the Scientific Method to hypothesize, experiment, observe, and draw conclusion with our taste test of Coke & Pepsi. Ask your child if there hypothesis was correct and write a :) or if not, write a :(. We also read quite a few short chapters of our book: There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. Have a discussion about how the 2 boys' roles are changing as we go throughout the book. Makes for a great discussion on how characters change in books from beginning-middle-end. Just a reminder to those of you that still have the Library forms from Mrs. Anderson to please get them in. Thank you Tomorrow is the last day to turn in Honor Choir Tryout forms. Have a great night.

Open House Tonight!!

Open House will start tonight at 6:00 in the gym if you can make it by then. Mr. English is going to talk for a few minutes first before we start classroom sessions. I hope to see all of you tonight. Today was a good day in Room 6 other than lunchtime. It was a bit noisy so the lunch duty supervisors had "no talking". We discussed it when we got back to our room and they came up with a solution. Ask your child what our class solution is going to be for the rest of the week and write it in the planner for free money. I am so proud of them for identifying the problem and coming up with a solution!!! Yayyy! Math homework tonight. The practice 1-5 is due tomorrow and the reading big numbers one is due on Friday. I would like them to practice this for the next 3 nights before returning it on Friday. Library tomorrow so get those books packed!!! We started our Fallen Rock book today and the kids are already "hooked" in the first chapter. Ask them what the 2 brothers have to do and why. If they can tell you, write Fallen Rock in the planner. They are keeping the book here at school until we are done with it and then they will it home for you to share it as a family. Appointments: Please try to keep appts. to after school if possible. I know there are things that come up, but it is so so important for your child to be here every day all day. Have a great evening and cya soon.

Great Day Today!

What a great Monday we had in Room 6. One of the highlights was having Art Class for the first time. The kids are so excited to have a real art class. Ask them what they did in Art today and write it in the planner if they can tell you. YAYYY-our Fallen Rocks books arrived today so we will get to start reading them tomorrow. If your child hasn't paid the $4.00 yet, you can still do so if you can. Character Warriors: We started Character Warriors building around the 4 cornerstones of positive character. Ask your child which one we did today. Hint: taking & waiting turns, following the rules, etc. Write it in the planner if you have a conversation about it and how they are going to apply this trait to their daily lives at school. We did the SRI reading test today and we are going to MAP test on Thursday/Friday of this week in Reading, Language, and Math. All of these scores will be used to determine the best group placement for your child's learning style & ability. So please try not to have your child miss school on these testing days for sure as it is so hard to make them up. Math homework tonight: comparing numbers (should be a good review). In Montana History today, we finished up with our state symbols. Ask your child our state animal and how you can tell the difference between a black & grizzly bear. Write it in the planner. Tomorrow is HE/PE so remember those tennis shoes. On Friday, a Google Apps. permission slip went home from Mrs. Anderson. Make sure you get those back tomorrow if you haven't already. Thanks Also, Honor Choir tryout permission slips went home on Friday. Get those back if your child is interested by Wed. Remember Open House tomorrow at 6:00. You only have to come to one of the 3 sessions unless of course you have other teachers to see. A little different time change-this one is correct ---6:00-6:20- 6:20-6:40 --6:40-7:00. Thank you and I hope this isn't confusing. The pics are of our Top 10 projects while we were working on them and now the final projects hanging in the hall waiting for you to see them tomorrow. Congratulations to Harley for being our great Student of the Week last week. Have a great night.

EXHAUSTED!!!

HI there- Sorry about no post earlier today, but I finally just got cleaned up after working all day. Yes, we were hit with last night's storm quite hard. Water in our den-pulled pad and carpet today and then silt in the garage that came down an alley by our house. Quite the mess to say the least, not to mention all the leaves from leaves probably 4 blocks away. Anyway, I will post the week's happenings tomorrow. Thank you for understanding. Just remember that Open HOuse is on Tuesday from 6:00-7:30. If you plan to be there, write open house in the planner for free money. Cya tomorrow.

PARENT HOMEWORK TONIGHT!!!!!

We had another great day in here today. These kids are amazing and I just love each and every one of them. We are getting so much accomplished. Parent homework tonight: We read the book, "Chrysanthemum" in class today. Have your child tell you about it and then complete the homework piece on the brightly colored card and return it with your child tomorrow. If they tell you about the book, write Chrysanthemum in the planner. These will go with our Top 10 posters and our name glyphs that will be on display at Open House on Tuesday, September 10 from 6:00-7:30. I will give a 20 min. presentation. This same presentation will be done 3 different times for parents who have to go to other teachers. 6:00-6:30--6:30-7:00, and 7:00-7:30 so pick which time works best for you. I will discuss routines and social & academic expectations. We did a fun science kick-off today with them illustrating a scientist from the clothes they wear, to the tools/equipment they use, and where they work. These turned out great and it is fun to see what they picture a scientist to be like. Spelling test tomorrow. PE tomorrow so have those tennis shoes. I still need planner/assignment notebook money from: Isaiah, Alex, and Kaitlin. Thank you Have a great night.

Quick Post-Staff Meeting Day

Since Wednesdays are staff meeting days, my posts on those days may be a bit shorter than normal. Today was a great academic day. We got to everything I had planned to get to!!! We started the day with Library right away at 8:30. Mrs. Anderson said the kids did awesome and over the top met her expectations. Then Rusty's show today was about using tools to help you be successful so we made a toolbox poster and listed things that are going to make us successful on paper tool wrenches & hammers. Ask your child what one tool they are going to use this year to make them successful and write it in the planner. In Language, we learned about the 4 kinds of sentences. Ask them to tell you about at least one and write it in the planner. Then in Reading, we continued reading our read-a-loud book: There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. Ask your child about the 2 main characters and 1 thing about each that we put on our Main Idea/detail webs today and write those in the planner. Homework tonight: Yes, students have homework tonight completing the back of the HR Treaty of Paris. These HR's are great non-fiction reading pieces. As you can see, we are learning to highlight key points when reading. These will be done periodically throughout the year. Assignment notebook/planner money: Please pay for yours if you have not yet-$3.50. I will post names of students who still need to pay tomorrow night here on the blog if you don't pay by tomorrow. Thank you. Journey of Fallen Rock Books-thank you to those of you that sent money today. Please bring money ASAP if you can. It is $4.00. They should be here by Friday. Have a great night.

Welcome Back!!

I hope you all had a great 3 day weekend. Mine was fabulous-packed in lots of fun friend time making memories. It was a great weekend to be up at Fort Peck. Yes, we went all the way up there on Friday afternoon after our trip back from Bozeman and the Bobcat win!!!! Congrats to the Griz on their win also. Speaking of the game, as you know the kids had a substitute and I am proud to say they were AWESOME!!! Oh I just love getting those good sub reports. I am so proud of them and I want you to be also. Thank you for talking to them about sub behavior. Assignment notebooks are here!! Yes, your child came home with one today. As you can see, I initialed it and I want you to also after looking it over. No one has homework tonight other than reading this blog and writing your answer to the hidden question on the bottom where you will initial it. Then as it comes back to school tomorrow with your child, I will check them and pay them for having the right blog answer. Again this just shows me that you and your child are communicating about the their day here at school. Also, it is a great way for me to let you know of our classroom happenings. Exciting News: Yes, we are very fortunate to have an author visit our school in October. It is Bill Merical. He wrote the book titled: Journey of Fallen Rock which is a great story about a father and his 2 sons. It is a great connection for our 4th Grade MT History. More on that at a later date when we start reading it together. Anyway, I have ordered each of your children a personalized autographed copy. They will be here in a couple of days. They are $4.00 each and you can bring in the money anytime starting tomorrow. If you are not able to pay the $4.00, let me know and we will see what we can do. Speaking of Montana History-we started today. YAAAYYY!! We didn't get real far, but the kids are loving putting their journals together. We learned about Montana's state song and also what states border MT. Ask them to name 2 bordering states and put them in the assignment notebook for free money tomorrow. In math, today we did our vocabulary for the first segment of Chapter 1. Ask them to draw you a place value chart and if they can, write place value in the assignment notebook also. Top 10 Things Posters: We are working hard on them. They will be up for you to see by next Tuesday, September 10th at Open House. They are looking pretty cool. Spelling list came home today. Yes, this is Unit 1 list. Test will be on Friday. I don't want anyone to panic. Some students may not even be in here for Reading, Language, Spelling if they qualify for an intervention. There is some testing on computers to be done and we will use those results, but in the meantime, everyone is doing what we are in our regular room. We did finish our Lead 21 Placement Reading test today that we took paper/pencil. I will get those graded this week so hopefully we can start the full reading program on Monday of next week. Right now in Reading, we will continue with our read-a-loud and work on strategies. Thank you to those of you that got in all the first day forms. Some of you need the Emergency contact list sheet that went home on Friday to come back yet. Also, make sure you bring the money for the assignment notebooks if you have not paid yet or I will have to hunt you down for this money!!! It is $3.50. Thank you. Also, it is not too late to bring in pictures for our Friends/Family board if you have not done so yet. LIBRARY TOMORROW SO GET THOSE BOOKS BROUGHT BACK!!! Have a great night and I hope it will cool down someday SOON!! Maybe next week. I do have to say-these kids are quite the troopers. :)))