Purple Hand Pledge Award

Hello. I hope your weekend is going well!

Well, Saturday Live has once again come and gone. It was nice to see so many of you there. Please don't forget to write SATURDAY LIVE in the planner if your family attended so I can give your child their $200 reward. Thanks for supporting our school!

Weekly reports came home on Friday. There were not very many missing assignments! YAY! Grades are looking pretty darn good for the first quarter. We still have a few weeks of grades as well. Please discuss, comment if need too, and sign the front page of the weekly report and send it back into school tomorrow. Kids always love seeing a good job kiddo or some kind of positive note from you! Thanks.

Speaking of positive people. Above, you will see our first Purple Hand Cookie Award nominees and winner. Each morning the kids say the Purple Heart Pledge outside after they line up for the day. The pledge says I promise not to use my hands or my words to hurt myself or others. Ask your child to say it for you and show you the actions that go with it. If they can, write PURPLE in the planner for $20 on Monday. At any rate, last week during our CC meeting, we nominated kids that we noticed going above and beyond to be kind to others or that have corrected their behavior from one that used hurtful words or hands to solve problems and now don't. I gave them three examples by nominating three people for actions I saw that went above and beyond. Then kids gave me nominations of those they saw throughout the month. Olivia was nominated for having super sonic hearing when a child's art tub dumps over. She hears the sound and she flies out of her chair in the direction of the sound and helps the child pick it up! Wow!!! Evan was nominated for cleaning up the lunchroom floor, under the class tables, without being asked. He picked up garbage that wasn't even his!!!! Wow!!! Ali was nominated for noticing that Ms. Erickson forgot to get down the library book collection bucket, and going to get it himself. He saw a need and went to a solution all on his own. He did not disrupt Ms. Erickson, as she was taking attendance, to ask where the bucket was. Wow!!! Alyssa was nominated for seeing a girl with an oxygen tank playing alone at recess. She approached the girl and said hi. She then played with her at recess. Alyssa also continues to say hi to this girl when she sees her in the hall. Wow!!! Natalie was nominated for seeing a bully situation and going over and standing up for a friend. She used a kind voice to say hey, please stop saying that to my friend. It worked! Wow!!! Austin was nominated by a classmate he had last year as well as this year. They said that they have noticed that last year he used to get really mad when he got into trouble. This year the child had noticed that he just lets it go and moves on. WOW!!!! Robby was nominated for helping Sebastian carry his books. Sebastian has a cast on his arm. He did this without being asked. He saw a friend in need and helped him every day. Wow!!! As you can read, this class has strong character. They have character warrior shields upon their hearts, and they are learning every day how to defend themselves from negative acts and to only do good upon others. I am so proud of all the nominees and all those that will be future nominees. We will do this each month. It is a school wide program started by our counselor Mrs. Neese. I am proud to say that Miss Olivia won the cookie award this month. She was voted the winner by her classmates. Way to go everyone!

Speaking of character warrior shields...hilarious!!! I am loving watch these kids transform themselves into battling knights. I have not finished taking all my pictures yet, so watch for the upcoming slideshow soon. Awesome!!!

This week we will be starting our two Bitterroot computer programs. We have touched on them here and there up to this point, but now we are ready to start using them on a regular basis. The first one is Read About. It will be used during our reading block. Those that are in Read 180 and System 44 use a similar program in their class daily. We will do Read About 5 times a week. It is all nonfiction text. The kids read a selection of high interest ON THEIR LEVEL and then are asked to use that information using tons of reading strategies. They will do fact/opinion, cause and effect, summarizing, comprehension, vocabulary, literal and inferential questions, sequencing, and on and on. It is a great program. I will start sending a report home of their progress with their weekly report. The second one is Success Maker. It is a math software. Skills are given to each student ON THEIR LEVEL. At first, kids are given a test of all skills. The computer tracks which ones your child got correct/incorrect. Then it starts shooting those types of problems at them. The best part is that if they miss it the computer will take them step by step and explain how to do it. It is like there is a teacher built right in. This program is designed to use at least three times a week. We will use it 4. Once kids get out of the testing portion of it, I will use their daily grade for that day (shows up at end of their session) as part of their math grade. If the programs are done seriously and given effort, they have been hugely successful in the past. Those that need extra help, get it. Those that are above the classroom instruction and need a challenge, get it. Everyone wins. :0) Both programs require headphones. I wrote a note in planners for those that still need to bring their headphones to school. Please have those as soon as possible. I know that Walmart has them in their technology department for one to two dollars. Those that don't have headphones have to turn their volume way down and it is not as effective. Thanks.

As far as academics go, this week students will be focussing on the following topics:
Math: Algebra expressions and equations
Lead 21 Reading: Small Group Historical Fiction-Summarizing
Language-Irregular plurals, Common/Proper Nouns, and Action Verbs
Spelling-Review Week of units 1-5. No list to study, it is just know what you learned.
MT History-Mountains and Rivers found in Montana
Regional States-Geography of US Lat/Long and NE Region
Science-Weather effects on Wild Fires

It will be another packed week!

Well, I think that is about it. Have a wonderful Sunday with your family. Enjoy the fall weather!

Emergency Drill Today

Hi there.

In CC meeting this morning, we discovered that life is a present every day in a funny way. Ask your child about the pictures above. Ask them about how life's presents can be good and bad some days, but still a PRESENT. Then we talked about how we should live in the here and now. We talked about how we can't change the past and we can't control the future. All we can do is the present. I told them that even as an adult, this is a VERY difficult task to master. They finally listed 5 things that worry them. Ask them to tell you their five. If they can do all of the above write the word PRESENT in the planner for $20 tomorrow.

In math we moved onto estimating sums and differences. They got it! Easy Cheesey! We will quiz out on the skill tomorrow. Chapter 1 tests are coming home tonight. You will see two. The first ones didn't go so well, so we did any and every problem any kid wanted to see. Then I gave them form B which was the same test with just different numbers. Almost all kids bettered their score. If kids got an A or B on their first test I gave them a choice to better their score. So, if you child only has one test then they chose to stick with their grade. We will continue to review these skills all year.

In music class, Mr. Goodheart is working with the kids on beats. This is actually a hard skill to master. They will need to know this in order to play their recorders soon.

Today we participated in a district wide emergency drill. Hopefully your phone was ringing around 10:00 this morning with a message about this. If not, you may want to check your contact numbers at our front office. You should have also received another message later saying the drill was a success and over. Our school was a stage 1, so we all just went to the gym and lockdown together. My class did AWESOME!!!!

Homework tonight: Math Review 10

Have a great night!

Another Busy Day

Hi there.

Today we started our Character Warrior shield. Ask your child how they filled in this sentence, I can be responsible at school by...._______. They were to pick a goal that they REALLY needed to work on, not just an everyday answer. Please help hold them accountable on your end as well. They did a great job thinking!!!

Our MT History test was today. It was pretty funny to read their RLJ's last night. Four of them said that they were excited for this test tomorrow. LOVE IT!!! It really is fun! Even I am enjoying it!!!

Tomorrow is the last day to bring in candy for Saturday Live. Remember to come join the fun THIS Saturday. Kids that do need to write Saturday Live in their planner AFTER you go (so next Monday) to earn their $200 school function reward. Make sure to stop by the Bitterroot Candy Shack. I will be working for an hour in the morning.

We have PE tomorrow, so please remember those shoes. Tomorrow will also be the last day the kids see their PE teacher Mrs. Buss for awhile as she is going off to have her brand new baby. She will be back after the New Year break. Kids will have a long term sub until then. They have already met him.

We finished up our Hurricane Art today. Kids did the project that they didn't do last week with Mrs. Hankins or myself. Speaking of Hurricanes, our HOMEWORK tonight is a science paper so EVERYONE has it. I am all student's science teacher. They need to read the front aloud to you, and then do the questions on the back using the diagram on the top. Have them do those by themselves and then check them over and discuss. Thanks.

Well, that about wraps it up for today. Thanks for all the votes for the weekly reports yesterday. It looks like the YESes won!!! So, weekly grade reports will continue to come home.

Have a great night!

MT History Test Tomorrow

Hi there.

Some grade reports were returned today, and some were not. I am curious...do you like the weekly report. It is a little extra work for me, but I don't mind because I like to communicate with you. However, sometimes I write a comment to you and then it comes back blank. Communication is key between home and school. If you all don't like it weekly, I also wouldn't mind just doing the midterm and report card. Please write YES WEEKLY in the planner if you want me to continue and you agree to communicate back to me, or NO WEEKLY in the planner if you don't want me to send home a weekly report. It will be either yes or no for the entire class. Thanks.

Speaking of comments, I did get one today asking about spelling in classes other than spelling. The reason I don't grade your child's spelling in every subject area is two-fold. One, they are at times spelling things that are above their grade level. Two, if I did, it would take me three times as long to grade a paper (x by 22) and students grades would go way, way down (not because they didn't know it but simply because they couldn't spell it). Everything in spelling class is graded for spelling. If I give them a word bank on a skill sheet, I count spelling because it is right there for them! I usually mark half wrong for this. I do try to write correct spelling for kids if I catch them just to model the correct spelling. I hope that this explains that question for everyone. GREAT question!!!

This Thursday is a half day. Kids are dismissed at noon. Please make sure your child knows how they are getting home on that day, as they are not allowed to call home to find out.

HOMEWORK-It is a little different tonight. EVERYONE has a Montana History Study Guide coming home. They filled it out in class. They will have the same questions tomorrow on a quiz. They will not be allowed to use their notebooks or review sheet. Here are the answers (also for those kids that were absent today).

Montana is found in the WEST U.S. Region
Montana became a state on NOVEMBER 8, 1889.
Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota border Montana. (Also need to identify on map)
The capital of Montana is HELENA
Nicknames: Treasure State-because it has so many riches in its ground.
                    Big Sky Country-becasue no matter which way you look you can see a huge big sky.
Flower-Bitterroot
Tree-Ponderosa
Butterfly-Mourning Cloak
Fish-Cutthroat Trout
Bird-Meadowlark
Animal-Grizzly Bear
The Pick, shovel, and plow represent all the MINING AND FARMING IN MONTANA
Oro-Y-Plata-SILVER AND GOLD
Four Major Cities-Billings, Helena, Butte, and Bozeman (need to find on map too)
How to spell MONTANA
How to spell BILLINGS

The test is tomorrow. It is pretty cool that our flower, tree, and bird are all names of schools in Billings.

Have a great night!
Ms. Erickson

Pressing Forward...Here we go!

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Hi there. I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. It is nice to have cool weather and not so much smoke in the air these days.

This week is going to be packed. We are going to start our new small groups in reading, which means all that practice of completing a to do list in a given amount of time while Ms. Erickson is working with small groups is going to come into play WITHOUT Ms. Erickson reminding kids to use their time wisely. For some, this may be more difficult than for others. Some, may be taking home more homework this week. Once they figure out how to use their time in class wisely (every single second) they should have no problem finishing everything in class. But, it is new, so it may take some getting used to. We have practiced some, but now we will see how the real deal goes. :0)

Spelling words this week are homophones. These are tough because not only do they have to spell them correctly, but they also have to use the correct form in the correct situation. I will send home the sentences I will read during the test. Please use these or others you make up while quizzing kids this week. Even if they spell the word correctly this Friday, if they don't have the correct homophone in the correct blank then I will have to mark it wrong. Remember: homophones sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. Thanks for your extra help on these this week.

In math we will take our Ch. 1 test on Monday. Wow! That was pretty quick for all those skills. Never fear, we will always continue to practice those skills throughout the year to avoid test and forget syndrome. We will spend the rest of the week estimating, over and under, and brushing up on our adding and subtracting skills with and without a calculator.

In science, we will finish up our hurricane art with Mrs. Hankin's class on Tuesday. We will also finish up our Hurricane Hunter unit/story. Ask your child what a hurricane hunter does. If you would like to be a hurricane hunter write YES in the planner. If not write NO in the planner. Those that have it will earn $20 on Monday. Let's see how many brave parents we have out there!!! We will end up the week taking a look at how the weather can fuel wildfires. Boy, this one should hit home!!

In SS, we are reading to move on in both MT History and our Regional Studies. Kids were told they could bring home their Fallen Rock books (if they bought them) for you to share all over again with them. I spoke with the author this weekend and he said the next book is coming out in January!! How cool is that??? He said there is a lot more with Valor the wolf in Part 2. COOOOOOOOL! I can't wait to get my hands on that one. Now that we have traveled across the US with Fallen Rock and Running Water we are now ready to dive into breaking up the US regions and studying those states in each one. That means, starting not this week but the next, you will see states and capitals of the region we are currently studying come home and posted on the side of this blog. Kids will need to learn them by memory. They will be quizzed on each unit. The quizzes will be matching so spelling is not a concern in the 4th grade. Kids will look at a numbered blank map. They will have to match the number with the correct state. Then next to each state, they will have to write the matching capital from a word list. At the end of the 4th grade it is expected that kids know all 50 state locations and their state capitals. I will post games they can play to practice this when we get closer to the big 50 test. We also have a fun song that helps remember them. BUT...the best way is to have flashcards made at home and practiced. Keep practicing the old ones too so they stay fresh in kids heads. Why do we do this??? Well one, it is required, and two, kids will hear states and capital names daily in the news for the rest of their lives. It is more meaningful to kids throughout their life into adulthood to be able to place the location of the US when hearing it on the news. I know I sure wish my teachers would have drilled them into my head when I was a kid. It is much harder to learn them as an adult, and there are times I honestly still find myself looking at a map. We will start on the NE side of the US and work our way across.

In MT History, we will quiz out of the basics and dive into the Native Americans that were here long before us. We will continue to fill up our notebooks with fun activities. Kids will get a review sheet for the quiz on Tuesday tomorrow. They will have time to fill it out in class tomorrow. They may NOT bring home their notebook EVER! If they lose it or forget it, it is way too hard to start over or catch up when they bring it back. Please practice the review tomorrow night (that will be their homework). Kids will take the test on Tuesday. They had a lot of fun building these items in class, so remembering them should not be difficult at all. They do not need to know how to spell them perfectly. As long as I can figure them out it is fine. However, if you want them to spell them correctly that is up to you. :0) There are some hard ones though.

In language, we will work with plural nouns ending in a y. KIds will need to know how to spell them correctly using the rules for y plural nouns. We will also learn to identify if a plural noun is regular or irregular.

In CC meeting, we will finish up our character warrior unit with a really fun project. Kids need to bring in their cardboard if they still haven't. A HUGE thank you to all those that have brought in extra and a HUGE HUGE favor to Robby's grandpa for the cardboard sheet donations! Kids will be making their very own character shield. On the shield they will be writing a goal for each character trait for the year. These goals will allow them to grow in specific areas and raise that EQ to a fourth grade level, which means that their maturity level should go up! Yay! They will then decorate and mount their paper shield  onto a cardboard one with handles in the back. We will cover them in tinfoil. I know I have some tinfoil at school, but if you have extra or feel like donating a roll I am sure we could use more. Finally, we will be making ourselves into knights. I have taken a head shot of each child to be printed out. They will then mount that on paper and use a knight costume I have printed off to knight themselves up! Too cute. Can't wait for you to see all of these in the hall when you come for your parent teacher conference at the beginning of November. Both 4th grades will be doing this.

Last Friday, I brought in donuts and Sunny D orange juice for a special treat. I do this every once in awhile when I notice kids have built up a lot of cash. I then offer it to kids for a price of their fake money. This one was $500. Now, kids were shocked at the high price, but I told them that this is for kids that have gone above and beyond the call of duty and deserve to buy it. We also talked IN LENGTH that they have three field trips coming up. two of which they have to buy into for $500 each. So, I told them to budget and put that money aside. Then to look at what they had left and decide if they wanted to buy into breakfast. We talked about how sometimes, even as adults, we buy things before we pay our bills and then we find ourselves in trouble. We talked about how responsible people pay their bills first then see what they have leftover for fun. Tough lesson. I had MANY buy in, so hopefully everyone took my advise. I do know that so many kids have a lot of money (into the thousands), so I wasn't that surprised honestly. These are good kids and they deserve a treat on me every once in awhile. Ask your child how much money they have in the wallet right now. Ask them if they bought a donut and juice on Friday. Have a real world discussion on it together. If you do this, write MONEY in the planner for another $30 reward.

We ended last week by playing bean bag horseshoes for our team building activity. As you can hear on the video, they were working on the skill of cheering on people from the opposite team and encouraging all members to do their personal best. Sounds like they got it. They are really getting into these team building activities!!!

Lastly, weekly reports came home on Friday. Please sign and return only the front page on Monday. Those that do will earn $50. Those that don't will move their owl. Please discuss the checked areas with your child so they know strategies they can use to correct these behaviors. I am proud of all kids, and I am seeing so much improvement in behaviors already! Thanks for being on the Erickson team!!! I couldn't do it without you!

Well, my fingers are worn out from typing. :0) Have a wonderful Sunday!

Ms. Erickson

Midterms Today!

Hi there. Happy Thursday!!! I love Thursdays, because that means FRIDAY is right around the corner! :0)

Midterms came home today. Remember the grading scale for 4th grade...
4-A
3-B
2-C
1-D
0-F

If your child has an F in a subject my guess is they have a missing assignment. I have attached those as well. If you have concerns please contact me. Just a reminder, I don't ask your child over and over again for assignments. Their weekly report home is the only reminder I give them. Come report card time, if they are not turned in the grade (F) stands. It is the FASTEST way to destroy a grade, and quite silly in my opinion.

If your child does not have a grade in a subject area, it means their teacher does not have any recorded grades thus far. Music and Read 180 are just now taking grades so that explains those ones. Please contact THOSE teachers if you have questions. I don't know anything about their grades or grading systems.

Please sign the midterm and return it with your child tomorrow. After checking them back in, I will send it home again for your records. If you see your child's midterm and discuss it with them write MIDTERM in the planner for $20. Remember, they still have time to change their grades before report cards.

Please start sending in those sturdy, cookie sheet sized pieces of cardboard. We will need them next week. For sure have them here by Monday please. (Extras are welcome!!!)

Tomorrow we have a spelling test. Please study with your child tonight. Thanks.

In math we have moved onto decimal numbers. In the 4th grade we do the tenths and the hundredths place. We also learned to convert a decimal to a fraction and write it in words. WOW!!! This is high level thinking!!!! :0)

Have a wonderful evening!!!!

Shiver Me Timbers!!!!!!!

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Well, as you can see the creativity was flowing last night and many kids remembered to come to school dressed like a pirate. So awesome! Enjoy the slideshow and videos. They sure had fun!

Ask your child tonight Mr. Goodheart's joke...What is a pirate's favorite fast food place to eat??? If they can tell you the answer write it in the planner for $20 tomorrow. 

Next week, we will be doing a fun project in CC meeting dealing with our character shields and knight story. Kids will need a sturdy piece of cardboard about the size of a cookie sheet. Please write their name on it and send to school by next Monday. If you have extra...please send those too, as some kids may need one. Can't wait for you to see these!!!! :0) 

Above is a picture of one of the coolest shirts I think I have ever seen. Cameron wore it today. Now, that is an AWESOME shirt to wear to Ms. Erickson's class!!!!! 

Above also is a picture of our guest speaker today. Mr. Albarez, our 6th grade teacher, is from Louisiana. He came in to share with both 4th grades about living in a state hit by hurricanes. Wow! Pretty cool stuff. Ask your child to share their favorite Ahhh Haaa moment and what they learned from him. We are lucky to have him here safe at Bitterrot. Thanks Mr. Albarez!!!! 

Homework tonight: Rounding Practice/Review and study spelling words. 

We finished testing today. All we have left is a few make up tests. Yay!!!!! 

Have a fantastic evening mateys!

National Pirate Day Tomorrow!!!!

Arg, maties!!! Tomorrow is National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Mr. Goodheart always does a huge thing with this during music class, and we happen to have it tomorrow. So.....kids may dress like a pirate tomorrow if they would like to. $100 to those that do. I am giving short notice because I don't want anyone running to the store to buy things. I want kids to be creative with what they have at home. Think bandanas, eye patches, striped socks, fluffy shirts, vests, suspenders, parrots on shoulders, and so on. BE CREATIVE KIDDOS!!!!

Happy Birthday to Evan!!! Thanks for the yummy cupcakes. I know he had fun selling them for $20 each. He made some cash today!!! Have fun with your cake and Papa Murphey's Pizza dinner tonight. Super cool.

Today in science the class was divided into two groups. One group went to Mrs. Hankin's class and created shaving cream and glue hurricanes from an arial view. As you can see they turned out super cool. Kids also had to label the three main parts of a hurricane: the eye, the eye wall, and the feeder bands. We will display them in the hall for awhile before coming home. The other group stayed with me and we made origami hurricanes. Whew! That was a challenge, but I have to say they did the best out of all three years I have done it. They sure used that TEAMWORK thing that Rusty and I talked about today during our CC meeting!!! They also turned out pretty darn cool. Kids can adjust their hurricane to make the eye smaller and larger! Those will also be displayed for awhile in the hall before coming home. Next Tuesday, the groups will switch and make the art that they didn't make today.

We have PE tomorrow. So, tennis shoes are a must with those pirate outfits.

Homework tonight: Math Review #7

Testing went great today!!!! We will test math tomorrow and then we are done, unless we have make up testing to do.

Other than that, it was a normal day in the Erickson room. Have a wonderful evening!

Monday, Monday!

Howdy! Well it was a GREAT day!!!!!!

Ok, it was not an all around great day, but behavior was awesome!!!! It was clear that you visited with the kids this weekend. Thank you for that. The not so good part was technology. Our testing for NWEA was a little crazy to say the least. Our computers were all sorts of out of whack, so we got a really late start. Some kids did not finish by lunch. No worries though, I saved the test where they were and tomorrow we will pick back up where they left off. Those that did finish, we will start on our language tests tomorrow. We should be problem free tomorrow! (HOPE, HOPE, HOPE!)

We ended the day with our goodbye celebration for Miss. Emily. We sure will miss her and her brother Cody at Bitterroot. We wish them well in Pennsylvania!!!! Keep in touch!

The math quizzes last Friday did not go over so well, so we did each problem together and re-quizzed. Their grade stands, but I am hoping that they have better ones this round. Many of them are just getting some of the vocabulary words mixed up, so they are doing the wrong skill. Those that got a D or an F had to come check in with me after each problem before they could go onto the next one. I was able to really explain some things so they would not do the same thing again.

We started our regular Rusty shows today. He talked about homework. He drilled it home again by saying that homework was practice and practice makes skills easier. It was perfect for today.

Speaking of homework, your child has Review #5 today. Please feel free to check over this and have kids redo questions. We grade them in class together.

Thanks to all of you for sending in your two donated bags of non-chocolate candy for our Saturday Live Booth. Kids love earning the $100 per bag. If you have yet to send some in, no worries, you have till next week. Awesome!

Have a great night!!!!!

Testing Next Week

Hi there. I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

I am guessing by now, you have heard that we had a rough day all the way around on Friday. I have tried very hard to curb the non-stop talking in the classroom when transitioning from one subject to another. Due to our desk size (or lack there of) we can't store our books/art supplies in our desk. So, when needed, we have to get up and go get needed materials. This should take around 2 minutes. In our class, after 4 weeks, it is still taking 5-7. When you begin to add that up on a daily basis we are talking about losing over a half hour of academic instruction/practice time a day. Is that really what is best for kids in the long run? Absolutely not. I LOVE having the kids get up and stretch and move around for a minute or two while transitioning, but these kids LOVE to go find their friends, chat about their evening, lolygag around and otherwise. All of which are not acceptable during this time. We have talked till we are blue in the face about how lunch, recess, before and after school is social time. During school hours it is academic time. That is why they are here. So, to help drive this point home on Friday, each time they began to talk during an inappropriate time we went outside and ran to the fence and back. If they were still talking, we ran again. Does this waste academic time...absolutely. But, my hope is that they eventually get it and begin to encourage one another and themselves to save talking for a more appropriate time. I tell them I could just stop, talk about it, take money away, write it for you to talk about it at home on the blog, put our heads down and think about it, or a million other things I have tried, or I can make them run and think about how this isn't very fun. I gotta say, it took a lot of laps to the fence on Friday for them to get it. Some, more than others. And, honestly it is pretty hard to make most of the class run because one or two kids can't get it. And those one or two kids know who they are and so does the rest of the class. Eventually, just as in life, they will begin to feel the pressure of their peers and begin to follow the rules. I have used this strategy before after exhausting all other methods, and it has worked. It does make me out to be the "mean" teacher, but as one student brought to my attention at the end of the school day in their Reflective Learning Journal, they understand why I have to do this. He said, we have a lot to learn and not very much time to learn it in. Another child said that they like a quiet classroom and they are glad that I am making it that way even though they don't like to run. Many said thank you Ms. Erickson. Your child's educational success is at stake when a classroom is chaotic and noisy. As a parent myself, I see the value in taking two to three days to solve an issue that would ruin 180 days of my child's academic year. I expressed to your child that when they come home this weekend and tell you that Ms. Erickson was mean and made them run to make sure that they told you the entire story. I also told them that it is not just me they are being disrespectful to. They are also showing disrespect to themselves, their classmates, their school, and to you. As many of you wrote the code word not to long ago that said that you also talked to your child about this very issue. Bottom line is, this behavior will no longer be acceptable. We will fix this issue quickly, and it will be over soon. If anyone has another suggestion that I have not tried, please write it in the planner and I will definitely consider it. Along with that, please once again discuss this topic with your child. There is not one child in my class that is completely 100% free of this discussion. All of them are guilty of talking during transitions. However, I can say in that same breath, there are two or three that are very guilty of this behavior and need even more reminders. Thanks for your support on this. Hopefully, we don't have to run even one lap on Monday. :0) BELIEVE!

Next week starts our NWEA/MAP testing. This is a leveled test to help show us where your child is academically right now. It is so important for kids to just give it their best. We need true data in order to make sure your child is getting what they need at school. This test does just that. Kids may chew gum through the test on all three days (M-W). They need to bring their own gum, and one pack will do just fine. Please avoid the large pieces of Hubba Bubba that make a lot of noise while chewing. There is a surprising amount of research that says chewing gum while taking a standardized test helps kids. I have no idea how...but that is what has been tested and proven. Mints/lifesavors are also ok as long as the wrappers are off ahead of time. Please also have your child bring a PROTEIN snack on these days. Protein stays in the body the longest and provides energy to battle the stress of testing. Above all, please make sure your child gets plenty of sleep (at least 8-9 hours at this age), eats a protein filled breakfast (eggs, meat, peanut butter), and goes off to school know how very proud you are and how very much you love them. All we all expect is for them to do their best! :0)

Weekly reports came home on Friday. There are some missing assignments out there. Many of those said they were just left at home but done. I gave them this time for that, but from now on if it is not at school, they will get a new one to redo during their freetime. Until turned in, they have an F in the grade book. Missing assignments are the fastest way to kill a grade. If they need a new copy of something they know the procedure to get one and where I keep them in the classroom. Attached to the weekly grade report on the front this time was a character/behavior report. If you see an item checked it means they are struggling in this area. If nothing is checked then know that they are making really good choices at school and showing respect to all most of the time. YAY!!!! If your child has a missing assignment, I also attached the list of them on the back of the report.

The Heritage Recipe books came back from the print shop. Please enjoy them at home. Man, my mouth waters just thinking about making those again for my family! Awesome!!!!

Speaking of baking/making things. I will be making cupcakes tomorrow with my kiddos for both 4th grade classes. We are losing Miss. Emily to Pennsylvania along with her twin brother Cody in Mrs. Hankin's class. This is super, super sad news and I tried very hard to tell mom it was NOT allowed, but yet they still must leave us. We will miss them both!!! Please remind your child to make a card for them over the weekend to help them remember us! We will celebrate their new adventure at the end of the day. :0)

Many kids are bringing in box tops! AWESOME!!!! We now have a bucket in our classroom. Please send in any box tops you have on your food items. These often buy all of our playground equipment. They really do add up fast. Each time a child brings in some, I will pay them $50, regardless of how many they bring in. They just need to show me before they put them in the bucket. Thanks for doing this!!!!

In CC meeting, we concluded our Character Warrior lessons. Your child now knows about the shield they have over their hearts. It is filled with Caring, Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Citizenship, Fairness, and especially Respect. Every day we face many tough decisions that require us to use one of these skills. Now, all they have to do before making one is pull out their shield and think about the right choice, no matter how tough it is. How cool to always have a shield to guide/help us through whatever life throws at us. To tie it all together, we read a book called The Brave Knight, by Karen Kingsbury. Holy Moly, what a GREAT book for kids! If you are looking for a present for a child of any age, this is the book to buy. Ask your child about it. If they can tell you why the Knight from the West Village became the prince even though he lost every single contest the king put on, write the word KNIGHT in the planner for $20 at morning check in.

Now that we are done learning about the 5 cornerstones and 1 center stone of character we will begin to watch Rusty's regular show on schooltoolstv.com. I can't wait to see what lessons he has in store for us to learn and help us grow!

We have PE on Monday. Please remind kids to wear their tennis shoes.

Lastly, Ali was our star of the week this week. He had some amazing facts about his pretty famous clock making great, great, great grandfather. Talk about learning something about a kid that you never knew before. So, so cool! Thanks for sharing Ali!!!! We also played Stop Light Freeze Tag for our Friday Team Building Activity. Watch out for the people with the RED ball!!!! We had an extra bonus for our Fun Friday as well. Robby brought in his puppy for his Show and Tell Coupon he bought the first week of school. He was super cute and super fast!!!! Thanks for bringing him mom!!!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Camino For Kids????

Happy Thursday. One more day to go. It has been a full and busy week.

There has been some confusion on homework. I give 30 minutes of homework a day. It is stamped HOMEWORK, and is usually a math review/practice sheet. In addition, (and I think this is where people are getting confused) work that is not finished in class, in the given amount of time I feel suitable for a 4th grader, will come home for additional homework as well. Please do your best to avoid a lot of help on this one as it is graded and I need to grade what THEY know. By all means, help guide them to the answer, but please don't just give them the answer. That way it is consistent to a classroom environment. If your child is coming home with a BUNCH of extra NOT stamped homework, my guess is that they are NOT using their time wisely in class. Ask them if that is the case. Please feel free to contact me with issues and I will watch to see if I can see an issue in independent work time.

The Heritage Recipe Books will be coming home tomorrow with the weekly grade report. YUM! I know I will be using them to share with my family!!!! Thanks again for these!

Today, we had our In School Secure Lockdown practice drill. This is for an unwanted intruder at Bitterroot. The kids did great getting behind the wall, down, and staying quiet. Hope upon hope, we never have to do this one for real!!! But, if so, I feel confident that they would know what to do.

We continued with our MT History study today. It is a lot of fun! It is like art connected to learning every day as they are creating their MT History notebooks. I told them they will want to keep them forever as they can use them again in the 10th grade!!!! Ask your child what the state flower is. Hmmm....connection here???? IF they can tell you, write it in the planner for $20 tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Friday. That means team building. We will play a game outside. Please have kids wear tennis shoes tomorrow. I got the game from my kid's gym teacher and they say it rocks!!! Sounds fun!

Next Monday, we start our NWEA MAP testing. We will test Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 10-11:30. This test is extremely important as it tells us their current level and we then use it at the end of the year to see how they grew. Please make sure your child it present all three days. They may chew gum during the test if they bring in their own.

Above, you will see  the donation form for Mr. Ashcraft's journey in Spain. Many kids wanted to donate to the cause. I told them that I think $10 would be the max for a 4th grader. I also told them that they had to EARN the money, not just ask you. If you would like to donate as well, we discussed that is perfectly fine. This is voluntary and they can give him the donations personally when he comes to visit our class after he comes back to the US in two or three months. He has already walked 356 km of the 1000 km he is planning to do, and he is only on day 11!!! Holy buckets Mr. Ashcraft. Remember, you can follow him too on facebook by finding the Optimist Special Children't Camp page. He blogs on it daily. It is pretty interesting, and I can't wait to hear even more upon his return!!!! Please return donation slips if want to tomorrow. Remember the money is not due for a couple more months. They have lots of time to earn that money. If you see the slip and discuss this with your child, please write ASHCRAFT in the planner for another $30 bonus!!!! Camino means walk by the way in spanish. (I think). :0)

Well, that about sums it up. Have a great night!

HOMEWORK: Study for Spelling Test (My class) and Math Review #4

Thank You!

Hi there. Thank you so much for coming to Open House last night. It was so good to just talk to you all and make sure everyone is on the same page. I hope you left feeling positive and more in the loop as to what your child's daily life is like. I would LOVE some feedback...positive or negative about last night or the year so far. Feel free to send me a note in the planner. Thanks.

Those that were unable to attend last night...no worries, but I missed you!!! Your child should be bringing home the information you missed that was on their desk this morning. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Above, you will see Mr. English. He came to talk with our class on September 11th about how that day impacted his life, being in the military. What an awesome way for these kids to bond with their new principal!!! Thanks Mr. English for reminding us to remember all of those that were heroes during this horrible tragedy!

You will also see the kids in action with Mrs. Hankin's class. We have been working on latitude and longitude in SS class. So, we went out in the ocean and tried to find islands and capture them. The kids enjoyed finding their place on the map and see if they could capture an island. They are getting pretty good at using a coordinate grid to find any location on a map.

In Science, we are venturing into Hurricanes. We have some really, really fun art/origami hurricane projects coming up! Right now though, kids are hi-lighting important details and learning to look back in the text using headings of sections to find answers. They will be learning about Tornadoes in library soon. This is closer to home, and we are hoping that learning about the storm will decrease anxiety some of these kids have for being in them. The focus will be safety in a tornado. Later, we will wrap up our weather unit by taking an in depth look at some of the tools meterologists use and why MT is on fire this year. (Weather!!!!!) We will skype in some guest speakers on these topics through the computer, and Mr. Albarez (Bitterroot 6th Grade Teacher) has some first hand experience with hurricanes he wants to share. His family is from Louisiana!!!! Ask your child to share at least one hurricane detail they have learned. If they can tell you something, write hurricane in the planner for $20 tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we have library. Please finish up those fun books and help return them tomorrow. My rule is they keep one at school, and take the others home. Soon, we will be having some free reading time in class.

Thanks again for coming last night.

HOMEWORK: Math Review 3

Hi!!! See Ya at Open House! 6-7. If you attend, write the word OPEN in the planner for $50.

Marvelous Monday!

Howdy Partners!!!! And partners you are! I could not do my job without you...and not just cuz you made the kids!!!! :0) I soooooo appreciate your help daily!

Above I have included a picture that requires your help. As you all know, a textbook slip came home in the first few days of school stating that if books were lost or damaged they would need to be replaced. Many of you may also remember, they are not cheap to replace. So, could you help me out once again by reminding your child that this kind of putting away of books is going to eventually cause damage to textbooks. They need to stack them nice and neat and not cram them in. This is NOT the first time we have had this discussion. Hopefully you telling them and possibly doing a little math problem with their allowance money to replace them will help it sink in. If you do have a chat about this responsibility issue please write the word BOOK in the planner for $20 tomorrow.

Today, we began to follow our previous counselor, Mr. Ashcraft, on his 1000 km (over 600 mile) trek in Spain. I showed them the video of the summer camp he runs, The Special Kids Optimist Camp. He is walking the entire distance instead of teaching this year! He is raising money for the camp...not for himself. Kids will come home today with a pledge card...but ONLY if they want to, and it is expected that they earn the money THEMSELVES, not ask you for it. He will not be done for over another month and will not be back for at least two. That means kids have lots of time to do extra things for people/you to earn money. In the end, if they pledge just one cent a mile they will owe only $10 at the end. Seeing how I worked at this camp this summer, I told them all about it. I will also talk about this at Open House tomorrow and show you how we are tracking his progress. This is SOOOOO cool!!!! Way to go Mr. Ashcraft!!! You are making a difference! We will continue to follow him all through the process as he posts daily on facebook his whereabouts and happenings!

Not a whole lot more going on today.

HOMEWORK: Review 1 Math Sheet.

Have a wonderful night!

Week 4 and Going Strong!!!

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Hi there. Happy Sunday!!! We are busy here just doing the normal weekend stuff: laundry, cleaning, and walking the dogs. Their names are Sally and Dog. Yes, our dog's name is dog! :0) 

We have another full and busy week ahead. We are plugging right along in math. We start rounding tomorrow. It is always one that needs a lot of practice. Homework will be sent home all week on it and other skills that need constant review. Continue to expect homework each and every night M-Th. It is always stamped homework on the top. Kids have been really good about this! We grade it together in class each day it is returned. Review, review, review. 

In science, we will begin our journey into Hurricanes. We like to study this now because it is now Hurricane season. You can turn on the weather channel at anytime during the next month or so and see/hear hurricane updates. We will be taking a deep look at these beasts and how they effect even the weather here in Montana!!!!! It is one GIANT circle!!!!

In SS, we will begin MT history. I wanted to last week, but too many things came up. So...we start this week. We will also continue our Fallen Rock story. Thanks to all of you that brought in your $4. Remember, you can still bring it in tomorrow!!!! 

In reading, we will continue reading There is a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom. It is a funny story about bullying. Now that seems like an oxymoran doesn't it? But, it is funny and it has a great message about bullying. We will also continue in our LEAD 21 books dealing with Heritage. As you can see above, we had a great time listening to and sampling other people's heritage. It was so cool hearing how recipes have been passed down from our ancestors from generations to generations. Also fun to hear about the fun memories the kids have revolving around these foods. Thanks for making this concept come alive!!! 

In two weeks (not this week, but next week) we will begin our NWEA MAP testing in language, math, and reading. It will be one test in each area. These tests are VERY important. They will take this test again at the end of the year to show if they made appropriate growth. It also allows us another tool to made sure your child is placed in the correct intervention programs to ensure their success! Please do everything you can to make sure your child will be in school that M, T, and Wed morning. 

Open House is this coming Tuesday from 6-7. I have a lot to share, in a little bit of time. I will present it three different times. Please attend the 15 minute session that works our for you best. If your child is in READ 180, System 44, or Learning Center please also plan to attend that teacher's session as well. All specialists (PE< MUSIC<ART<LIBRARY) will also be there to meet ya in the halls. The new counselor, Mrs. Neese and our new principal, Mr. English would also love to meet you as well. :0) 

A few notes from Bitterroot School Happening: (You will receive notes home tomorrow on all of these.)

1. Mr. English has a Newfoundland dog named Moose. He is a trained therapy dog. He will be visiting classrooms and school often. I am SUPER excited about this because that is the same dog as Lewis and Clark had on their expedition (HUGE part of our MT history unit). When I told him this, he said that is why he got that kind of dog. His father and he used to sit and read the Lewis and Clark Journals together. How super cool is that???? If you are ok with this activity please write the word MOOSE in the planner. If not, please write the words NO MOOSE in the planner as well. Either are worth a $20 bonus. 

2. Saturday Live is coming soon. This is a City wide fundraiser for schools in Billings. It is at Pioneer Park. Each school has a booth. Their are tons of fun games and activities for all ages. Bitterroot does the Candy Shack. In order to make this a success and earn money for OUR classroom/school/PTA, we need your help. We ask that each child bring in two bags of individually wrapped candy to school as a donation. Please skip the chocolate as it melts in the hot sun. I will reward $100 per bag of candy brought in by your child. You can start tomorrow!!!!! Or, you can bring them in anytime before Sept 25th.  Yay!!! Examples include, jolly ranchers, crabby patties, dots, and any other candy that comes individually wrapped. I noticed when I picked up mine, that Walmart has them on sale now for Halloween!!!! Bonus!

3. Lastly, it is time for the next Bitterroot movie night. It will be this coming Friday, the 14th, from 6-8 pm. They will be showing the LORAX. The movie is free. Concessions start at 25 cents. Your family's attendance can earn your child $200. Just write LORAX in the planner after the event if you attend. Thanks for your support and for spending quality time with your kiddo!

Above, you will also find Brayden. He was our very cool star of the week this past week. Wow, does he love hockey! And, look at all those medals! He is excited to play again soon as the season is starting up again. He plays with his twin brother as well. Next up is Ali! Can't wait to learn more about him as well! He may begin to bring in fun stuff to share tomorrow. He will share on Friday at CC Meeting. 

On a very positive note, I am loving your kids. They are a great group this year. They are settling in nicely and the noise level is getting better every day. I am so proud of all they are doing in such a short time. 

Have a super weekend! 

Lots to Say

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Well hello there. Whew...sorry about the short post yesterday.

A couple of things coming from Mr. English that concern you and your child.
1. Our lunch hour changed. We now have lunch from 11:30 to 12:10.
2. Our Language Arts Block (Spelling, Language, Reading) changed from 10:00-11:30.
3. The lunch room helpers are now in effect. The schedule is off to the side. If your child is working, they are giving up their lunch recess for that day to help 1st graders. Please mark your calendar to help make sure the are in school on these days.

Yesterday we had a discussion about fire drills, lockdowns, and off site emergency evacuations. We had MANY what if this or what if that questions. All of the questions they asked, I answered with this statement...No matter what the situation, I will do every thing I can to keep them safe, including putting myself in danger. I am their safety instructor and the best way to stay safe in any situation is to be listening to my directions. Today, we had a practice fire drill. It was the best one I have seen in my entire life as a teacher. They were so serious and quiet. All students earned $100 for their awesome behavior choices!!!!! We will practice all of these drills throughout the year.

Open House is coming up. It will be September 11 from 6-7. A letter from Mr. English describing it came home tonight. I also texted you this last night. :0) So, now you have no excuse!!! Hee Hee. Remember, this is parents only. If you record this event on your home calendar tonight, please write the word OPENHOUSE in the planner for $20 tomorrow.

Tomorrow is our Friday Heritage Feist. Kids may bring in their favorite family dinner or dessert item for us to sample tomorrow. This is the one that is on the recipe card you sent in. I have most of the cards already, but some need to bring them in tomorrow. We will be having this at 11:00 in my classroom. Please feel free to join us. Can't wait to taste a part of your heritage!!!!

I have all the NILE permission slips except Collin and Austin. Please send those in tomorrow.

Fallen Rock Book money is also due tomorrow, OR Monday at the latest!!!! They are $4. Awesome book!!!!

In math we are moving forward. Today we put large numbers (to the millions) in order from least to greatest. Their homework tonight is on both comparing numbers and ordering them.

We took the SRI test today in Reading. It gives me a better idea what level your child is reading on independently. It also is the level that they will start on in our Read About computer program that they will start doing three times a week for 15 minutes. They all did their best and I was proud of them!!!

Above, you will see the square dancing video we made yesterday in reading. Dancing is part of our heritage. Pretty funny!!!! On the slideshow, you will also see the students playing a math place value game. They had to roll dice and plug in the number to make the largest number possible. They then compared theirs to their partners and compared them. Together, they read the number sentence using the vocabulary shout out words of greater than or less than. Fun times!!!

Well, that about does it for today. Thanks for all you do!!!! I couldn't do my job as well without you, your support, and your words of encouragement. :0) Have a great night!

HOMEWORK: Heritage Recipe, Math Worksheet, and Study Spelling Words for Tomorrow's Test.

Quick Tonight

Hi there!

We have a staff meeting today so this is going to be short and sweet.

Homework tonight: Alligator math. They need scissors and glue for this one. I told them to bring them home. :0)

Please continue to send in the recipe cards. I am SUPER excited about all the fun treats coming in on THIS Friday for our 11:00 celebration. We did a little dancing today! Ask your child to show you how to do-see-do. Too darn funny. Video up soon. (This is only my reading class).

Gotta go! Write FAST in the planner tonight for $20 bonus.

Happy Birthday X 2!

Teamwork Works!!!! We started a new program today where kids can earn even more money!!! They now can earn table group points by working together to do the right thing. Things went much smoother and were a lot more quieter today. Every 5 points a group earns, the whole group earns $20 each. Yay!!

To help the class work on our talking issue I also added a component to our behavior system. Each child has an owl in the tree. If they are talking out of turn they are asked to put their owl in the green nest ($50 fine). If talking again, they move to the blue next ($50 fine again). If they still haven't figured it out, they fly to my desk. If this happens there is an additional $100 fine and they are automatically out of the Fun Friday Activity. Unfortunately, this happened to one little owl today. The good news is if they are able to have self control and stay in the tree, they can earn $20 a day!!! That is $100 a week for making good choices!!!! We had 10 of those today! Wow!!! Great Job! Ask your child where there owl ended up today. Write tree, green basket, blue basket, OR teacher's desk in the planner for a $20 bonus tomorrow. They start fresh each day! It's a new day tomorrow!!!

Tonight, kids are coming home with two things. One is their homework. It is a math and spelling page. I noticed that kids are not putting commas in large numbers correctly. So, the math page is practicing starting at the back of the number, counting up three places, and putting a comma. We practiced in class saying this rhyme. One, two, three, comma please. We did two together in class. They seemed ready to go! The spelling is a review from last week and some of this week. All students are responsible for doing both sheets. Please look over them tonight with your child.

The second piece of information is a return slip that needs your attention tonight and returned tomorrow. Those that do, will earn $50. On it, you will find information on three topics: Heritage Day next Friday: Kids may bring in their favorite meal or dessert to share with the class (Totally awesome if it is a recipe that has been past down from generations). My reading class is learning about heritage, ancestors, and generations. All kids may participate if they want. Please also fill out the recipe card by Friday and return to school for a class book. Topic 2: The Journey of Fallen Rock book. Man the kids are pumped about this book. Many wanted to read more than Ch. 1 today when I stopped. Please send in the $4 needed to cover the cost of your child keeping their signed copy by Friday. Super cool!!!! Last topic: NILE field trip. It is on October 17th in the afternoon. There is no cost to attend, however kids must pay $500 of their fake money to get on the bus!!! Hopefully all are able to do that. I won't collect that money until we get closer to the departure date. We have 2 more upcoming field trips in October as well. More on that later.

We finished up our Ewww Gross Apple Lab in Science today, and let me tell ya it truly was Ewww GROSS!!!! As you can see in the pictures above, Jar B had mold on it and stunk!!!! Jar A had virtually no change. The conclusion: Jar B had mold due to the bacteria on the kids hands when we passed it around on day one. We did not pass apples in Jar A. The germs from their hands spread to the apple. The point: this is why we wash our hands BEFORE we eat our food. GROSS!!!!!

Happy Birthday to Sebastian and Ali!!!!! We sure enjoyed the chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles Sebastian! Thanks! (And don't worry guys, I promise I will have your candy bars on your desk tomorrow!!!!)

Have a wonderful night!
Today, READ 180 and System 44 classes started. If your child goes out of my class for reading, spelling, and language they will no longer write what we write in the daily planner. They will fill out those areas with Mrs. Betts. They will also NOT be taking the weekly test with us, as they will have their own spelling words in their new class.

I LOVE MY JOB!!!!

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Hi there! Happy Labor Day! Years ago, union workers demanded days off and better pay. I am celebrating that by being at school working for no pay! That seems a little backward now doesn't it? :0) No worries, my family went to Minnesota for a fun, family wedding. I got to catch up with family I haven't seen in awhile. You know those cousins you grew up as a kid, yep, those are the ones I got to re-connect with. Fun times remembering all the trouble we caused and got into back in the day! Oh, to be a kid again!!! Hope you are having fun too!!!!

We are back to work as normal tomorrow. We will press forward in all areas this week. Regional Social Studies will be introduced (Journey across the US learning about the regions and states in the US as we go.) We will also begin MT History this week. Pretty excited about this one, as I helped to create the new method of teaching this subject this year with 4 other teachers this summer. We are piloting (testing it out for the district this year). I'll share more about it at Open House. We will also add two pieces to our Language Arts Block. So, now in addition to language and spelling, we will also have small group reading and Whole Group Read Aloud. I am pretty excited and pretty nervous about this all in one as again the small group piece is brand new to the district. Last week, your child completed the placement test. This let me know how to serve them best and teach them at and above their level. The staff at Bitterroot also discussed last year's test scores and who needs challenged and extra help in this area as well. Some of your children will be going to Mrs. Betts for READ 180. You will receive information on that soon, if it is your child. This program is AWESOME and I have seen kids have tremendous growth in ONE year by doing it. It has tons of data as part of the program is a technology piece. Super cool! Those that stay with me will also do a computer piece at least three times a week called Read About. It is all nonfiction and on each child's level. It will start soon after we take the SRI test that levels them. Whatever happens, I know that we will ALL be VERY, VERY busy and will need to stay focussed and on task. 

Speaking of those two things, here is the sub note I was left from Mr. Brown on Friday. 

Dear Ms. Erickson, 

Most of the kids were good, but as you can see from the stack of cash, many had problems being chatty. (One Student) was the most chatty, and I even pulled her/him aside to talk to her/him about it before the day was over. She/He realized they had lost $400 in one day. (He goes on about academics). 

Hope I can Come Again, 

Mr. Brown

I am extremely proud of the first sentence. It is AWESOME that most of your kids were on their best behavior. I have to admit though, that I am not surprised about the talking bit. This class really needs to curb that behavior, but it is the third week and pretty normal. We will continue to work on it. The one student will conference with me tomorrow. That is VERY disappointing. Was it your child? Ask them how their day went and how much cash they lost. $400 means that they were talked to at least 8 times at $50 a pop. Yikes! That is total disrespect in my book, and we will be talking greatly about this during our CC meeting tomorrow morning. I know that each and every kiddo in here is able to do the right thing. Some, just take a little more adjusting to the expectations of a new teacher. Let it be known though, I do not tolerate talking out or disrespect in any shape or form. Thanks for your support at home. If you do talk to your child about this, write the money amount they say they lost with Mr. Brown in the planner for $20. I hope to see a lot of $0!!!!! The very best part of this however, is that tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start. I have a poster in my room that says just that: Today is a brand new day, what are you going to do with it?. Love that one!!BELIEVE!!!! 

As for the weather, it is supposed to be cooler this week, but not  by much. Please help your child remember to shower each and every morning. This is the age those smelly hormones kick in, and trust me they are. My scency pot is on full blast as I am typing this. Wow! Also, remind both girls and boys to wear deoderant each day. PLEASE NOOOOO perfume or cologne. I get migraines in a second from strong smells like this, and it is a distraction to the class. Just simple deoderant works wonders. Socks in shoes is also a plus. Great job on the water bottles. Keep them coming with fresh water and ice. Thanks!

Above, you will see a little slide show I created for our fun activities last Thursday. Andrew did a great job sharing his fun stuff for Star of the Week. As you can see, when your child is star of the week they can bring in pictures and toys/treasures of their choice. They share on Friday at CC Meeting. Andrew also had a slide show that I projected off my computer. He volunteers for an organization called B.A.R.K. He walks the dogs, plays with them, and cleans out their cages. What a great citizen!!!!! He can provide information to anyone that wants it. He says they need more volunteers just like him! Next up, is Mr. Brayden. He may begin to bring in his stuff to share tomorrow through Friday. Can't wait to see what he brings. I love this because it helps me see their life outside of school! 

Miss. Kenzi is our classroom DJ this week. She may bring in school appropriate CDs/Music to listen to while working. Christian Rock is approved. 

You will also see a project we did in spelling class last week. We learned eight new vocabulary words that built off our spelling word, SCETCH. After learning how those eight words helped explain how to make a scratch art project, we tried it. As you can see they really did work! 

Finally, you can see the Fun Friday Team Building Activity we did. It was a minute to win it activity called Slimy Noses Relay. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. They really got into it. Mrs. Hankins and I were laughing well into after school about how much fun they had doing this. We will continue doing this each week. Got ideas? Send them in!!! 

Our friends and family board is looking full and inviting. Please feel free to continue to send those in if your child has not yet done so. I see kids glancing that way just to see mom or dad often. :0) 

I think that about wraps it up. Have a wonderful Monday home with your child. Love, Love, Love them!!! They are so special. Each and every one of them!!!! 

PS-New spelling words are posted. Test will again be on Friday.