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.