Parent's have to do the homework tonight!

Hi! Permission slips should have come home tonight for our field trip this Friday. Please send them back TOMORROW. All students were able to buy into the field trip!!! Wow! What does that say about the entire class? Our character morning meetings are working.

Parent Homework: Earn your child $500 by emailing me how my class has impacted your child's life thus far in the 4th grade. Have you seen changes? Have you seen growth? Have you noticed anything in the character areas of responsibility, respect, trustworthiness, and/or caring? They came in as 3rd graders and are now acting more and more like 4th graders! Let me know! Thanks. My email is ericksont@billings.k12.mt.us. No email? Write me a letter. Let's make this assignment due by this Friday please. :0)

If you did not read yesterday's blog please do so as there was a lot of important information.

Lastly, please put Paige and her family in your thoughts/prayers as she lost someone special in her life this week. I will be thinking about you over the next few days. I am so sorry for your loss.

Have a great night!

Good Times Now and Ahead!

Did you notice that I changed the name of my blog? The name came to me because I truly believe that is what this tool is. It is a chance for you, the parent, to be a fly on your child's classroom wall. I am trying extremely hard to communicate their happenings in text and film. I truly appreciate all the positive feedback I am getting about how you love it!!

This Friday there is a FREE family fun night. Mr. Ness and PTA has created a night of fun for the entire family. We are talking disco-bowling, volleyball, hula hoops, scoops, fox-tails, jump ropes all over the school! When was the last time you hula hooped? And, I promise I will be there with my camera to catch the footage to share with all!!!! :0) I see big laughs and memories being made. There will also be a bake sale to support our Kindergarten classes. But that is not all, rumor has it the Crime Stoppers Dog will be on site. Is your child's bike registered? Do you have a kid ID package filled out? This is the night to get all this taken care of! Hope to see all of you there, and yes this is worth the $500 free dollars for your child if you come spend some quality time TOGETHER! Kids will not earn money if they come with a friend or by themselves, hense the Family Fun Night!

I gotta tell you I loved reading most of the journal entries that came back from last night. You have some pretty creative scientists! Two of my favorites were the poisonous new bug species that is going to be discovered by Miss. Natalie and the meals in a pill discovered by Miss. Abby! Fun reads and I can't wait to read the rest. I hope that you are having them read aloud to you too so you can enjoy the stories.

Math change! You might have noticed I am not having the kids keep their quizzes in their notebooks anymore. So, two quizzes should have come home today for your review. Now, that it is quarter 2 the math redos are also going away. By the time a child takes a quiz I have done at least three examples in the teaching lesson, they have done at least 5-10 practice problems with my help if they choose or on their own, seen all of those problems worked out together step-by-step in class the next day, and asked if they have any questions or want to see more examples of any concepts. So, I now believe that students should know the concept on the quiz and when they turn in their quiz it is the best they can do. I will continue to go over D and F quizzes with students either whole group or individually, but they will not get the opportunity to redo a quiz. You may want to go over any problems that come home that are marked incorrectly as well. Or, make up some similar problems to further their understanding. Tomorrow, you will see their Expanded Form quiz come home. This was an extremely difficult concept so I graded them but did NOT record the grade. We will be going over the entire quiz tomorrow as well.

Friday we will be taking a bus to Burlington School on the West End. We have been reading the book Owls in the Family together. Now that we have finished the book, we are going to have a wrap up day with tons of owl activities! Students will need to pay $1000 fake dollars to attend this trip. Read 180 and Language Kids will also be invited to go with us. We will be gone the entire day. Students that can't afford to go will have an alternative placement for the day. I will be gone this Thursday so I will be collecting the money tomorrow from the students. We are having free pizza and pop that day so students do NOT need to pack a lunch on Friday. Fun!!

I believe that is all for tonight. Have a good one!

Introduction of Isaac Newton and our Force and Motion Unit

Today we were able to join up with Mrs. Hankin's class for science. We presented the fact that a scientist/mathematician, Isaac Newton, discovered the three laws of motion that we are going to study in depth over the next few weeks. So, we wanted to know what they knew about Newton...like what did this man even look like? Here are just some of the results to that question. This was a fantastic lead in to some great discussions. Tomorrow, we will again join Mrs. Hankin's class to take a deeper look into Law One.

You may have noticed the first writing prompt off to the side of this post. Students were told today that they need to write in 4th grade quality and at least a half page entry in their language notebook everyday. If students do not have a language notebook we discussed possible solutions they could go to until a notebook is obtained. Students were also told that their notebooks would be checked daily for completion. I will be collecting each student's notebook at least once a week for further grading. There will be a writing grade on the next report card. A large percentage of that grade will be for participating in the writing prompt nightly. Students also record the prompt in their planner daily now. So what does 4th grade quality work look like? According to your children it is:

1. Proper capitalization of proper nouns.

2. Proper capitalization of the next word after a period, question mark, or exclamation point.

3. Proper use of commas, ending punctuation, and apostrophes

4. Spaces in between their words

5. Done in their best handwriting: cursive or print.

6. Details, details, details. The teacher cannot read our minds.

Please have your child read aloud their writing entry to you nightly. When they do this, they often catch grammar mistakes quickly. Feel free to edit their entries and have them make corrections. This is a home-school connection and all the feedback they can get will make them better writers. Thanks to all the parents that emailed or wrote comments of thanks for doing this assignment. It matters to me that it matters to you!

Wow Wow Wubsy!!!

So, here is a new little technical tool I was taught the other day. I am actually using the elmo and projector that our awesome PTA bought us last year. All I am doing is recording what I am teaching on the screen to my computer and them walla I have a video for you, the parents, to watch. So, why would I do this? Well, because I believe that when it comes to math, you just might hear the phrase "But mom/dad that is not the way Ms. Erickson taught us to do it." Well now, you can go watch exactly how I did it and make up other problems similar to it for your child to practice at home. Holy Cow Batman!!! Is this cool or what?? I will not do this every day, but on the concepts I believe to be tricky I will post the explanation. Nice!

At conferences, there was a request to put the Read 180 spelling words on my blog. I said that is great! I will start next week. Any other suggestions? Let me know!

Have a super OUTSIDE weekend, and please continue to practice those multiplication facts 0-4 this weekend. There are a million games online that help with this. There is also a ton on the Bitterroot Web Page, which is under my favorite links. Just click on learning links and go to math. What a great fun activity for the car too? Enjoy being a family! You are all awesome!

Wow!!! I just noticed that this is my 80th blog post thus far! Now that is a lot of communication! The BEST part is hearing you parents rave about it at conferences!! Fun to hear and man does it motivate me to do even more!

Speaking of doing more, I am adding two new gadgets to the blog this weekend. There will be a writing topic of the day. This will be a question that ALL students need to write about nightly. It must be a half of a page in length daily, and written in 4th grade quality work. It will be checked daily and recorded for completion. You will see a writing grade on their next report card. The other new gadget will be a trivia question worth money daily. This question will require some research in books, encyclopedias, or googling! Kids can use computers before school instead of walking outside if they do not have working computers at home. Answers that match mine will be worth $20 a day! Students need to write the answer in their planner daily. Oral or other communication devises will be corrected but not rewarded with money. Fun!!!!

Wednesday!

Well hello there! It was GREAT to see some of you today and just talk. I so, so appreciate that we are all on the same page and team. It makes life easier for all of us, but even more than that it makes success unavoidable for your kids!

In math, your child is learning two concepts at once! We are reviewing our basic multiplication facts (0-4 right now) and the concepts of time. Your child will need their basic math facts memorized ASAP. Last year, they learned the reasoning and meaning behind them. Now, they need to just memorize them. When I say memorize, I mean they need to know them like they know their name: instantly. Multiplication will be a skill that will continue to build. Not knowing the basic facts will make for long frustrating work ahead. So, please get those flashcards or computer games going!! Also, if you EVER have time between 8:30 and 8:45 and could come in and help test kids please just show up and I will put you to work!! Seriously! Thanks!

We are working hard on our Montana History lessons in S.S. Next week, you will be seeing their final project pick list come home (similar to science). Students will need to select one project to complete and share. We will be learning from them!!!

Next week, we will be partnering up with Mrs. Hankin's class to begin our Force and Motion unit in science. Can you say/think raw eggs flying though the air. Oh yeah!!!

Have a good night!

Conferences!!

Hi! Conferences start today at 12:40. I can't wait to just sit and listen/talk about your kiddos. They really are a great group of kids. 4th grade is always tough for students, parents, and teachers because it is such a huge transition from 3rd grade. Luckily, we have all survived to see that all really does settle down, and the focus can become more on academics rather than behaviors and routines and procedures. Yay! Here is the conference schedule. If the time given does not work out, please call the office to reschedule. Also, as you can see, the schedule is packed tight. Please be on time, and know that we need to end on time as well. See you later today!!

Today: Nov. 4th

12:40-1:00 Kaleb
1:00-1:20 Paige
1:20-1:40 Preston
1:40-2:00 Jacob
2:00-2:20 Maddie
2:20-2:40 Jasa
2:40-3:00 Garret
3:00-3:20 Hanna
3:20-3:40 Jewel
3:40-4:00 Logan
4:00-4:30 Seth