Friday, March 18, 2016

Happy Friday!!!

Another busy week in the books and it is hard to believe that next week is the last week for this 3rd quarter.  Yikes-only one to go!!!
Some of the highlights of the week are:  Penny Wars are going GREAT and Team Hankins has lots of pennies and is strategizing as to how to place the other coins in other classes jars.  Fun to see all the excitement of helping out a great cause!!!  Keep them coins a coming!!!!
Picture day went great on Wednesday and lots of great smiles were caught on camera.
We are mastering our fraction unit in Math with lots of hard work & success.  Keep it up Team Hankins.
Purple Hand Cookie winner this month goes to Tristina.  She was nominated and voted on by her classmates for being kind, caring, helpful, and just an all-around good friend.
Congratulations to Willy, our student of the week.  Some of his favorites are:  MT History, wrestling, blue, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Christmas.  He feels one of the best things about him is that he gets along well with others.  In 20 years from now, he hopes to have a wife and 3 kids.
Happenings for the upcoming week:
First of all, Thursday, March 24th is an Early Out-12:00 dismissal.  Then No School on Friday of that week or Monday, March 28th.
Math-we will have our Chapter 7 test on Wed. & Thurs.
Reading-Continuing with our great novel-"Riding Freedom"  Ask your child about this book and if they can tell you 3 things about it, write RF in the planner.
Language-Adverbs
Spelling-Unit 26 word list
MT History-we finished the Lewis & Clark Expedition, but now have a few things to add to our notebook. Ask your child, 3 things about this expedition and if they can tell you, write L&C in the planner.
Have a great weekend.


Friday, March 11, 2016

Congratulations to Team Hankins!!!

Team Hankins had a great week of achieving success with group effort/teamwork.  With many students participating in Box Tops & Labels for Education, we were treated to water, oranges, and rolls from the Log Cabin Bakery!!!  YUMMY!!!  A huge thank you to Jenny Jasper for collecting & counting all these which helps to buy PE/recess equipment for our school.  Then at the Read-A-Thon Assembly we were awarded our "mystery" prize for being the top readers for Grades 3-4.  Our reward was juice, homemade cookies, and an extra 30 min. of physical activity time in which we went out today and played "Spiders & Flies".  Lots of running & moving so we were able to work off those Log Cabin rolls & cookies!!!!  :)  It was fun watching them strategize while playing and having fun working together during that activity.  I can't say enough how I just LOVE these kids.  I hope they are enjoying 4th grade as much as I am enjoying them!!!!!
Also, Congratulations to James as he was the top reader in our classroom & to Willy for getting his name chosen for a Barnes & Noble gift card.  Thank you to Kristine Gaskill & Laura Lindseth for all their hard work counting up & adding all the minutes read.  Overall, Bitterroot School surpassed our school wide goal.  Make sure now that we KEEP ON READING!!!!!
We finished Round #1 of testing today as we took a 3 part Science Mont-Cas test.  Students worked hard showing all they know.
Happenings for next week:
Reading:  We are doing a whole class book called "Riding Freedom".  I am sure you will hear a lot about it as it is a fabulous book and full of adventure.  Skills/strategies we will be working on are:  predicting, questioning, connections, summarizing, main idea/detail, opinion/proof, vocabulary, and lots of figurative language.
Go Math:  mixed & improper fractions
Language-possessive pronouns & writing adventure/mystery stories
Spelling-Unit 25 word list
Montana History-we are almost to the Pacific Ocean & then heading back on the Lewis & Clark Expedition.  Ask your child who they got horses from and why they needed them and if they can tell you, write answers in the planner.
Congratulations to Carly as being our Student of the Week.  We learned lots of fun things about her.  Here are some of her favorites:  bacon, art, coloring, Harry Potter, Full House, and her favorite holiday is her birthday.  She is easy to make friends with and wants to get better at Math this year.  In 20 years, she hopes to be in the White House with her family!!!!  Will we have to wait until the year 2036 to have a female president???? :)
See the attached letter below explaining the fun "Penny War" we have going on.  Let's participate and make this a great event!!!
Have a great weekend and let's hope our Skyview Falcons do great in the Boys' AA Basketball Tournament.

Dear Bitterroot School Teachers:


Beginning March 14th, the student council will facilitate a school-wide “Ultimate Penny War.”  For this fundraiser, each classroom will place a large empty container at the office (we will provide the containers).  The students will compete against other classes in the school to raise the most money for the Braveheart Program, which provides resources for children struggling with personal loss in their lives.  All spare change and paper money counts. 

However, there is a catch.  Classes should put pennies in their own classroom jugs to count as a positive (+) gain in the war.  Other change and bills count against your classroom (-).  Put those bills/coins in other classroom jugs.  For example, if a class has 120 pennies in their own jug, another class can put a dollar bill and 2 dimes into that jug to cancel out the pennies.  This places the class back at zero in the war.  It is possible for your class to be in a negative balance as well, if more silver change and bills are in your jug than pennies.  No money amounts will be posted during the four weeks of this event.  Students must rely on looking at the jugs to determine where to put their own change during the war. Don’t let a class get too many pennies, without throwing some other change in to cancel it out.

On April 8th, at the end of the event, the money will be taken to the bank, counted, and donated to the Braveheart program. A very small award may be presented to the classroom that wins the Penny War and to the classroom who has the most money in their jug overall.  However, it is important to realize that this event is for a positive cause of community service and not simply a means to have a classroom celebration.  This fundraiser has proven to be very effective when I have organized it in the past, and I can only imagine what kind of results we could have at Bitterroot.

If you have any questions about the organization please speak with Mr. White. If you have any questions about the fundraising war, please ask Mrs. Neese, Mrs. Anderson, or Mr. Crofutt.

Thank you and let the “Ultimate Penny War” begin!









Friday, March 4, 2016

READ-A-THON A GREAT SUCCESS!!!!

Congratulations to all of Bitterroot School & Team Hankins for shattering the school/team goals for reading minutes.  With 2 nights still to go, we as a school reached the goal so each class will have an extra recess/PE time next week to celebrate!!!!  Also, Team Hankins looks like they are going to win with 1 night to go.  Final results will be in on Monday, but we are quite far ahead in minutes.  We will find out next week what our Mystery Surprise will be.  Way to go Team!!!!!
Remember to include the money in your folders for any donations that received.  Bring all this on Monday so we can get it turned in to PTA.
We did a great job with the dress up days as well!!!!  Fun week. :)
Also, another celebration is going to happen for us next week as we are the Winners for Box Top Collecting so we will have treats on Wednesday from the Log Cabin Bakery!!!   Good Job to all that contributed to make this happen.
Construction:  As you all are aware, MAJOR construction going on near the school on Bench Blvd.  Do the best you can with drop off & pick up the rest of the year.
Heights Girls' Honor Choir-we were treated to their performance today.  What a great job to all, but especially to Sophie & Morgan.
4th Grade Science MontCas testing on Wednesday & Thursday p.m. each day so please try to make sure your child is here.  Having a good night's rest, healthy breakfast & snack is crucial.
Happenings for the week:
Math-Chapter 6 test at the beginning of the week and then we move into adding/subtracting decimals as well as trying a little multiplication of them.
Language-possessive pronouns as well as Mystery/Adventure writing with Dialogue & Figurative Language.
Spelling-review unit.  We won't have spelling for part of the week due to the Science MontCas testing so no words to study.
MT History-continuing with the Lewis & Clark Expedition
Reading-finishing up Unit 5 and then we are going to start reading a whole class book with book club discussions.
This week's blog question:  Where did the Lewis & Clark Expedition spend the winter of 1804?
Have a good weekend.