Awesome Day Today!!

How exciting for us to have an author here at our school. The kids were totally thrilled & intrigued by Bill Merical. He talked about how he got started in writing this book and the fact that he never imagined & dreamed it would get published and have so many copies sold. Just goes to show that you can do anything you put your mind to. It was so great to hear his message in person about being a good person and using good character, and setting goals for yourself. Guess what-he is in the process of writing the second book. He gave the kids a little bit of an idea of how the story of Fallen Rock & Valor will continue, but he did just enough to "hook them". HMMM-isn't that what great authors do? Have a discussion about his visit tonight and let me know what you think by writing a message of your choice in the planner for free money. Enjoy the pics below. Fallen Rock T-shirts are available for purchase. They are $10 and I will be sending order forms home next week if you wish to purchase them. Tomorrow is Hat Day-yes, bring in a $1.00 to wear your hat and your money will go toward our Pack the Place in Pink donations. We raised $105 last week. Awesome-keep it up Bitterroot!! Also, tomorrow is Technology/Electronics Day-bring your iPods, iPads, DS', or whatever you choose as long as it is school appropriate and you are responsible for it. Buy in will be $400. Celebration Day is tomorrow. We took our Math test today to free up some time tomorrow after lunch to celebrate our successes. :)))) We had indoor recess today and the kids did awesome playing board games. So fun to see them use teamwork and play together and it was even electronics!!!!! I know my family still loves playing good, ole fashioned board games. Spelling test tomorrow. Have a great night.

Bill Merical, the Author is Coming Tomorrow!!

First of all, I want to say I am so proud of this class and the behavior & work habits that they displayed yesterday with the substitute. Every student except for 1 did just as they were to do; be respectful, responsible citizens. That one student lost money from the sub and myself and also had to miss recess today and have a chat with me about it as a consequence. Let's just say-I don't think this will happen again and if it does, the consequences will be more severe. YAAYYY!! We are so excited to meet Bill, the author of Journey of Fallen Rock tomorrow. He will be in our room from 12:30-1:30. Homework tonight for that is to think of and write down any questions they may have for him. He may answer some of them in his presentation, but we don't know what he is going to share so write down anything you are wondering. Make sure they have to do with his job of being an author or the book, and not lots of personal questions. Lewis & Clark HR today. Yes, we read lots about Lewis & Clark today and now they have to sequence events in order. Have a discussion about this and ask your child at least 4 things they learned and if they can tell you, write L&C in the planner. Technology Day: Friday is going to be technology day in here. Students can bring in IPods, DS systems or whatever they want and listen to school appropriate music during work time, recess time, and the celebration time. They can bring in the DS systems for celebration time. We will talk more about this tomorrow at morning meeting. The buy in for this is going to be $400 fake money. They just have to remember that they will need to have at least $500 for the field trip to the NILE on October 15th. Celebration: We are going to do that on Friday after lunch. We will have treats and play board games or use our technology and just enjoy each other's friendship. Tomorrow is our Chapter 1 math test on place value, decimals, counting $, making change, and all that we have been doing this chapter. Have a great night.

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.