Hi. I hope you are all having a great weekend. I am enjoying time with family and friends celebrating my Halloween birthday a few days late. I have come accustomed to this as my birthday generally consists of a quick dinner out, and then off to trick or treat. :0) I was glad to hear and see that everyone had fun trick or treating and was safe and sound.
We had the auction/sale on Friday. The kids used up all their money. Those that made good choices all year long ended up taking the loot. It was a great way for kids to see that making positive choices each and every day adds up and the consequences for doing so are awesome! I was glad that everyone was able to go home with at least something from the store/auction. I am so proud of this group as a whole, and they have come so far since day one.
On Monday, they will start with a fresh wallet with $100 start up money. They will be able to buy into some fun days throughout the quarter. There will not be an auction/store this quarter, so kids are encouraged to buy into things rather than save for an end celebration.
I tried to stay away from candy at this auction as I figured they had enough of that at home. We will have a "eat your leftover Halloween candy day" as a school coming up sometime this week. Kids that want to participate in this will need to donate $1 to the Bitterroot Flakesgiving Fund. All money collected will be donated to the Morning Flakes on 102.9 for their fundraiser they do to provide thanksgiving dinners to those in need in OUR area. I have worked this event before, and I have seen our own Bitterroot families be served when in need. Awesome! I will post the date when I get it.
The owls are no longer flying in our classroom either. Now, when kiddos make a negative choice I will just ask for the money directly at that time. Kids that don't lose any money will earn money at the end of each day as always. It was time for the transition.
Next week we will be moving forward in all subject areas. Here is what is up and coming....
Math: Multiplying money and three factors. We will also have our Ch. 5 Test on Friday. Then we will move into 2 digit by 2 digit multiplying and graphing.
Reading: Nonfiction small groups on NE regions and on Thursday we will start novel small groups as well. We will continue to focus on all the skills modeled in 1st quarter in our whole group lessons.
Language: Articles (a, an and the), Verb tenses, Subject-Verb Agreement, and other skills in our DOL (Daily Oral Language) practice.
SS-MONTANA HISTORY!! We have missed it and are going to hit it hard. Now that we know the basics, we will move to the people in Montana from past to present.
Science-Wolves. We will be taking an in depth look into this animal. We will be studying the huge debate over wolves in Montana and how they effects places like Yellowstone National Park. We will also dive into the food chain, ecosystems, family structure, carnivore, omnivore, and herbivores, and much much more!
CC Meeting-Rusty will be back in full swing with our daily one minute messages. You will see much more on this as the week progresses. I presented five classes at our Montana Educators Association conference (MEA) this past October with Rusty. We had A LOT of people attend our sessions! Many wanted to see more action shots and topics. So, my blog is now linked to his show, and teachers can see into our classroom as well to get ideas on how I am using Rusty's amazing shows to teach your kiddos! So, I will be posting daily about this in my blog updates as well. Yay!
Lastly, with the holiday season coming up, I just wanted to remind you about my make up work policy. It is easy really, I do NOT do make up work. I strongly believe that my job is important to your child's future. I take a lot of time into preparing fun, creative, and stimulating lesson plans each week. I don't know how I could ever expect your child to do work that he/she has not been in class to learn. I don't hand out a lot of just do it work. Actually, I don't ever do that. If you want to read the blog while your child is away and try to have them do work that is assigned, that is definitely fine with me. However, it is never required. I also strongly believe, that when kids go places with parents there is a balance between book learning and real world learning. I don't want your kiddo tied down with homework when they could be talking to you in the car about life or what they are seeing out the airplane window. I always, always recommend hitting up a Barnes and Noble and getting a book on CD and listening to it together as you travel from here to there. So, bottom line on this one is, your child will be excused from all learning/assignments when they are out of school. Upon their return, they will pick right back up where we are. They will not have to make up any work that they did not learn how to do from me. Hopefully, that eases your mind on this topic. I know it is different from teacher to teacher, so I just wanted to clarify it once again. If you have read this please write MAKEUP in the planner for a $10 bonus on Monday.
Have a splendid Saturday and Sunday! :0)
