Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Early Out & Sub Tomorrow Morning

Yes, there will be a substitute tomorrow so please visit with your child about expectations. I am confident that this bunch will once again receive compliments and I will have a good note when I return. Early-Out Dismissal-12:00!! Today in Montana History, we read about and learned how the bison/buffalo trading took over after the decline of the beaver. Unfortunately, the numbers of buffalo declined tremendously back in the 1800's and so much of it was not used by the traders. They used the furs & the tongue. The American Indians however used every part of the buffalo. Ask your child what part they make glue out of and write it in the planner. In Math, we moved onto capacity measurement as they did a super job with their linear quiz. In Science, we did some fun research finding some interesting facts on 17 different topics. Ask them about Halley's Comet and when the next year is that it will be seen from Earth. Also, make sure you look for report cards as they came home today. Have a great night and a Super Happy Easter Break.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Awards Day

Great job to our BUG Club/Terrific Kids award winners today. BUG Club winners were: Emily & Kyle Terrific Kids winners are: Jace, Jazmyn, Ryker, and Victor. Our Bobcat award winner for showing caring, kindness, and compassion was Emily. Great job to all of you. I want to say that the kids are all doing a great job for the most part and you will see that on the report cards that come home tomorrow. Let's finish the year strong and have 90%-100% of all the kids receive awards this last quarter. I know they can do it!! Also, we have students whose art work has been selected by Ms. Wardrip to be in the art show in the mall. It will be on display starting Friday for at least a week. So check it out. These students are: Sydnee, Jace, Jazmyn, Victor, Emily, and Gabe. Great job-I can't wait to see it all!! These kids are doing amazing things. Today in Montana History, we learned a lot about how European trappers married American Indian women and what a huge role they played as the cultural go-betweens. Discuss with your child what some of the jobs the women did. Write them in the planner. Look at the cool pointalism art the kids are doing. We have an awesome art teacher in Ms. Wardrip. Congratulations to Jace, our Purple Hand Award winner. He was chosen this month for his leadership & caring/kind ways. Have a great night.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

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As you can see, we had a good time at the Dino Lab. First of all, the MET bus ride was awesome, even though we took the roundabout way to get there. Gotta love waiting at the bus stop with 20 kids and big snowflakes on top of it all. At the lab, we got to see trace, cast, and amber fossils. Just what we have studied at school. We got to see how they find & dig the fossils out in the fields where they dig and then put them in plaster of paris to transport them to the lab, and then the work of cleaning them and putting them together begins. How many of you want to become a paleontologist now? Talk about your favorite part of the trip and write it in the planner. Short week this week. Yes, it is a 12:00 dismissal on Wednesday with No School Thurs.-Monday April 1st. No Spelling list for the short week. Report Cards will be coming home on Tuesday. Wow-can you believe only 9 weeks of school left. I truly am not ready to let this group of kids go even though they are ready for 5th grade. Great bunch and so fun to teach and be with each and every day. Congratulations to Ethan, our student of the week. Have a great rest of the weekend.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Field Trip Tomorrow

Yes, tomorrow is our field trip to the Dino Lab. We are leaving here around 12:45 and will be back around 3:20. Make sure those of you that haven't returned the 2nd permission slip, please do so to allow your child to walk from our drop off point back to school. We sure have had a lot of sick kids in here even though we are sanitizing desks everyday. Remind your kiddos to wash those hands lots!! The kids are loving our Lead 21 reading. We are learning lots about ecosystems, food chains, food webs, consumers, producers, herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. The ecosystem we are focusing on right now is the wetlands/Florida Everglades. Pretty amazing living things in there. For computer lab today, students wanted to sit around the room with their computers to do the 2 programs so we tried it. It seemed to work. Ask your child their Success Maker % and write it in the planner. Couple of notes: Report Cards go home on Tuesday, March 26th. We have Early out on the 27th and No School Thurs-Friday of that week and the next Monday, April 1st for Easter/Spring Break. Also, Friday, April 5th is our school carnival. Fourth Grade does the infamous Cake Walk. We are asking you to donate cakes/cupcakes for that event. More will come home on that later, but just a heads-up so you can start planning. Have a great night.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Blast Off!!

Today was a blast, literally!! The kids did a great job with their volcanoes and had so much fun doing them. It was so great to see so many of you there. We had tons of school support there too. The kids from the other grades loved watching it all happen. We love Bitterroot School!! We discussed afterwards which kind of soda worked the best. Ask them, and write it in the planner for money. Today we took our math test on fractions. Haven't graded them yet, but I am thinking this group rocked it!! Tonight is the informational meeting about overcrowding next year. If you go, write it in the planner and I will pay them. Mr. English presented it to us at our staff meeting today so I won't be going as I have heard it all. Very good info. though. Have a great night and enjoy the few pics. I didn't get many as I was busy helping put the launchers in the volcanoes.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Tomorrow For Sure

Well, Mother Nature didn't cooperate today so tomorrow is definitely volcano day. We will be starting tomorrow at 2:10 so please join us for the fun-bring your video cameras!! In fact, I would love for at least one of you to do a little videoing of it as I am busy helping the kids and can't do both. Today, we finished all we had to do on volcanoes. We learned about 4 different kinds of volcanoes and how each of them are formed. We also learned that there are active, dormant, and extinct. Ask what kind MT. St. Helens is and write it in the planner. Tomorrow our KC club is sponsoring a candy treat day. Students can bring in a treat to eat after lunch along with 50 cents. We are using this money to help our families in need. We had a great review in Math and will have our chapter test on fractions tomorrow. Remember library books tomorrow. Have a great night.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Volcanoes-Volcanoes

Are you ready for some eruption? Yes, yes, volcanoes are due tomorrow and we will be erupting them off at 2:15 so parents please join us for the fun. The only way this won't take place is if it is freezing cold and the wind is blowing like crazy!! But, I think the weatherman & mother nature are going to be good to us tomorrow. I can't wait to see the fun, creative projects we get!! Speaking of creative-those creative leprechaun traps were a bit destroyed as Lucky, the leprechaun, came into our room this weekend and wrecked them a little bit along with stealing all the gold. He also took some of our pennies that were being used for our science experiment. But, the last laugh was on him, he left enough for us to draw our conclusion!! We finished our fossil unit today with an assessment and everyone did great. Way to go! We continued Montana History today by working on our flow chart of events during fur trading days. Ask your child the french word that means "planned gathering" where these mountain men & trappers brought furs to sell, they had contests, and races, etc. Write the word in the planner. In Reading, we started Unit 6 in Lead 21 on Ecosystems. Have a conversation about what an ecosystem is and have them name 4 of them. Read 180 kids were not in here, but they may know it also. Mrs. Anderson will be doing these in library too so they will for sure get them there. If they can tell you about them and name 4, write ecosystems in the planner. Have a great night and hope to see you tomorrow.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

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As you can see, the students did an awesome job with their leprechaun traps. Now they have to wait and see what heppened this weekend as they set the traps in the room to see if they could catch one of those little rascals. HMMMMM-I wonder if Lucky got so lucky. They are also going to see what happened to the pennies we used in our little experiment on Friday. Now that we have fun with St. Patricks Day, we are on to Volcanoes. Remember these are due on Tuesday, March 19th and we will be erupting them at 2:15 so feel free to come and watch if you would like. We will be doing it on the edge of the playground. Let's hope for decent weather. In Reading, we are starting Unit 6 in Lead 21 which is a science unit on ecosystems. We are very lucky that Mrs. Anderson, our wonderful librarian, will be extending this unit in her library studies. Unit 26 spelling words this week. In Math, we are finishing up our fractions unit with a test on Thursday and then moving into measurement. Jazzy was our student of the week last week. We sure got to see lots of pictures of her in dance and all her wonderful 4-H ribbons. One of the interesting things we learned about Jazzy was that she wants to own her own tire shop when she gets older. Would have never guessed that one. Have a great rest of your weekend.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Awesome Leprechaun Traps

Yes, I love the creativity in here. The students made great leprechaun traps. They were hilarious and I loved listening to each one explain how they worked to trap the little guy. Now, we wait and see if the leprechaun visits our classroom and what he leaves behind. I will make a smilebox of them over the weekend to share. Ask your child to explain how a couple of them worked and if they can write leprechaun in the planner. I am finally going to post the pictures from the Pangea activity and the boundary activities we did yesterday with the graham crackers and frosting. They still knew them this morning and how they worked so that was a successful, fun lesson. Today, we finished all our activities in Unit 5 of Lead 21 so now we are going to test out tomorrow and get some free time to read independently!! :)) We made our little leprechauns today and wrote leprechaun poems. They are hilarious and very funny, close-up pics of the kids. We had class picture day today and I forgot so I am sorry for not posting and reminding you about it. Remember to start working on the volcano project now. Those are due on Tuesday, March 19th. Have a great night.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Meeting Day Again Today

This will be a short post as I am headed to another data collecting meeting. I will get back on the track with regular posts tomorrow. Have a discussion with your child tonight about what we did in Science today with graham crackers and frosting and what we were trying to demonstrate. Write it in the planner for free money. Volcano project instructions came home today. Note these are not due until Tuesday, March 19th so hopefully this is enough time in between leprechaun traps and them. Remember leprechaun traps are due TOMORROW!!!! Have a great night.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Staff Meeting Today

HI there- Just got out of a data collecting staff meeting and so going to make this very short. In Math, the kids were so excited today because they added fractions with unlike denominators so they want to show you how they do it so have them add 3/5 + 2/6 and show the work in the planner for free money. Did a fun activity in Science today where they had to cut out the 7 continents and put them together as they were many many years ago forming the Pangea. Fun-will have the pics for that tomorrow. Have a good night.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Good Day

Hi there- Another good day in H-4. Just a couple of quick notes. I don't know how many of you went to the PTA meeting, but if you did you got some good information. Today a note went home about a meeting on March 20th that is about possibly having one of our kindergartens moved to Bench next year. YIKES-we are going to be crowded. Today was a great day as we got back into the "groove" of things. We got all of our subjects in. In Reading, we continued with Lead 21 and will finish section 4 this week. Math took us into more fraction review and practice. Montana History-we started the section on fur trading & trapping. Ask your child what animal brought about this huge business and write it in the planner. In Science, we made models of the layers of the earth. Ask which layer is the thickest and what form it is in-solid or liquid. Unit 25 spelling list went home. How are those Leprechaun traps coming? Can't wait to see them. They will be so fun and creative coming from this bunch. Have a great night.

Friday, March 8, 2013

YAYYYY-Testing is Done

I am so proud of these kids as they finished strong today on our last test. To celebrate, we watched a great Lewis & Clark video and enjoyed some treats. Ask them their favorite thing about the movie and write it in the planner. This week we are now back to normal. In Reading, we are going to finish up Unit 5 of Lead 21 on Wednesday and start Unit 6 Thursday. In Math, we are going to finish up our fraction unit by adding/subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. In Social Studies, we are back into Montana History. This section is on Fur Trading & Trapping. Great section so be ready to hear about lots of cool facts that will be part of your nightly conversations. In Science, we are continuing with fossils and moving into volcanoes. I have posted a Rap Song for learning the layers of the earth that the kids enjoy and wanted it posted. We are going to put both 4th grades together again for some Science fun on Pangea and plate tectonics. Also, you will be getting a letter home about building a volcano for eruption on the playground. Unit 25 spelling words this week. Speaking of fun, remember when we did our Earth's Resources unit about 1-2 months ago and we talked about recycling. I was going to have the kids create something with recycled stuff at home to be categorized as "funky junk". Well, we never did that, but now is the time. Now it is going to have the St.Patrick's Day Leprechaun theme. Yes, students are to create/build a leprechaun trap out of recycled materials at home. Be creative and have fun. SEE THE PAPER THAT CAME HOME FRIDAY!! These will be due on Thursday, March 14th. They will be set around the room and hopefully catch one of our roaming leprechauns. Have fun!!! See pics of examples below and also if you Google leprechaun traps, there are lots of ideas. PERMISSION SLIP: The form that came home Friday also served as a permission slip for our field trip to the Dino Lab. Notice the $5.00 real money cost plus the $500 fake money buy in. Please get these back to school by Monday or Tuesday. Have a great weekend.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Happy Thursday!

Wow-what a fabulous weather day today. Definitely can get Spring Fever on a day like today. We had another good day of testing today. We are almost done. Tomorrow morning we will have Session 3 of Science then we are finished. Today in Social Studies, we finished our tour of the SW and then had a few minutes left so we took our states & capitals test on that section even though we had said it was going to be tomorrow. Students did great so now that is done. Today in Science we continued with fossils. This is our final section on this unit and ti is about how fossils of ocean animals are found on mountains today and it will be a lead in to our next Science Unit. Ask your child what it is going to be and put it in the planner. Have a great night and get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. REMEMBER THE PTA MEETING TONIGHT AT 6:00 IF YOU CAN MAKE IT!!! MR. ENGLISH WILL PRESENT SOME VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

PTA Meeting Tomorrow

Another great day of testing today. I am so proud of these kids and the effort they are putting forth. We did get our fossil study in for Science today. We had fun learning about fossil records, marker fossils, trilobites, etc. We also had to find out which creature living today may make alot of fossils. Many students said different insects and mammals so we researched to find which insect had the shortest life cycle and which mammal had the shortest gestation period-ask your child what they are and if they can tell you, write them in the planner. Tomorrow there will be a PTA Meeting. It is from 6-7:00. I encourage you to attend. Mr. English will be talking about the upcoming mill levy. He is also going to share with you how Bitterroot School is going to be growing by many extra students over the next 5 years or so and how we will need rooms & staff to educate them without overcrowding our classrooms. So I encourage you to come and listen to the facts so that you will have the correct information when placing your vote on May 7th. It will be a mail-in ballot only. Have a great night and remember your test taking homework-sleep-breakfast-snack.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Day 2 Down

Today was another good day of testing. According to these kids, they love taking the tests which is so cool. This makes me excited that they are so excited to "show all they know". How awesome is the fact that they feel confident in what they are learning & doing. Just remember in bed by 9:00, protein breakfast in the morning, and bring a healthy snack. Tomorrow is another session of math & reading. We do have Library tomorrow morning and Music in the afternoon so get those books & recorders here. We were able to squeeze in a little Montana History today. They each received a nice laminated Montana map. Ask them what the numbers by the counties mean and how they relate to our license plates. Write answer in the planner for money. We also continued our tour of the SW. We learned about 2 cities on the U.S./Mexican border. Ask them who works in the American factories and why? Also, why is the Alamo in San Antonio important. Write answers in the planner. All 3 questions need to be answered for free money. Have a great night.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Day 1-Down!

Yes, Day 1 down, with 4 more days to go!! We did 2 Science tests today and the kids did real well and didn't rush and seem to give their 100%. Tomorrow we will do 1 reading in the morning and a math in the afternoon. Please keep in mind the testing necessities like good sleep, healthy breakfast, healthy snack, and gum. We may get time to do PE tomorrow so make sure you have your shoes. Congratulations to Chase, our student of the week. We enjoyed your pictures and hearing about you & your favorite things. Have a great night.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Let the Testing Begin

First of all, I want to say Great Job to the kids for having excellent behavior for Mr. Pertuit. He said they were so respectful not only to him, other specialists, but to each other, and their 2nd grade buddies. Way to go! I just love getting sub notes like that. Yes, testing begins tomorrow morning. Here is the schedule: Monday morning-2 sessions of Science Tuesday- reading in the morning & Math-afternoon Wednesday-reading in the morning & math-afternoon Thursday-reading in the morning & math-afternoon Friday morning-last science session. So as you can see, we will be testing to get them completed this week rather than stretch them out for 3 weeks!! :)) So it is very important your child be here each day on time unless they are very sick. If they are sick, keep them home as once a test is started, they can not come back to it a different day to finish it. We are going to start right away shortly after 8:30 so be to school on time each day. Also, please don't plan to pick students up before dismissal time for any appts. I know it may be inconvenient for some things, but making them up is a pain too. They don't have their normal testing environment plus then they miss what we are doing in the classroom so they will get further behind. Here are some testing things to keep in mind. Have a good night's sleep each night. Healthy protein breakfast Bring a healthy protein snack Bring a pack of gum that will last for the week as I allow gum during testing. Normal gum -NO BUBBLE GUM! Last of all, give your child a big hug as they leave each morning and wish them well on the test. Stress for them to just "do their best"! No spelling words this week. No homework this week. I will blog each night, but they will not be much as we won't be doing much other than testing. As far as specialists, we may have our afternoon ones. Just depends on how long our p.m. tests take. Have a great rest of the weekend.