So Proud of You!

Hi! Good news from Mr. Ness. He said the Nile was a blast and the kids were great. Way to go! I am proud of you!

Tomorrow we will be having a military guest speaker. I am so excited and honored to have this for the kids. Students that wear their patriotic red, white, and blue will be rewarded for their effort.

Have a great night and I will see you in the morning!

Best Behavior Next Week Please!

Well, the week has come to a close. Next week is a busy one for me and for the kids. Monday and Tuesday I will be on tour with Rusty from schooltools.tv at a bunch of schools in the district. Therefore, the kids will have a sub. Hmmm....do I smell another popcorn party?? We will see! Go team Erickson!

On Monday, the kids go to the Nile. Mr. Ness will be there sub. Students need to bring their sack lunches on Monday. If your child ordered a sack lunch it will be ready to go. They will leave at 11 and arrive back at 2. Thank you to Jasa's mom for agreeing to chaperone the trip. You will need to be here at 10:45 to catch the bus. Students will need to eat lunch before they go, around 10:30ish. So, they may want to bring a snack for when they get back. Part of the Nile is outside or in barns so students need to dress for the weather. Students also will experience a Native jingle dancer and some fry bread before the trip on Monday. Oh my!

On Tuesday, Arielle's brother will be visiting the class. He has been overseas in the military and has agreed to share with the kids. I am so honored. I am going to try very hard to sneak here and see it too! The time has yet to be determined as he doesn't arrive back in the states until tomorrow. Very cool!

On Wednesday, Rusty will be at Bitterroot! The assembly will be at 10. Feel free to join us in the gym. It is also a half day on Wednesday. Kids need to be picked up at noon sharp. Lunch slips went home today if your child needs to order one.

Thursday and Friday the kids do not have school. Teachers will be attending the MEA conference and learning all sorts of new things, or if you are like me, teaching all sorts of things. Yay!!!

On a different note, this week we took our unit one language test. There were some areas of concern so we are going to review a couple of skills and rethink our answers next week. We also completed our review testing in spelling. Many students had demonstrated that they have added 60 new words to their vocabulary. Others have shown that they are memorizing how to spell words for a Friday test and then dumping the words out of their brains. These words are every day English words and need to be transferred to the long term memory. Science project packets went home yesterday. Students need to select two at home projects that are due Oct. 19th. Please, please discuss these with your child and make a plan to help them. They have learned so much about weather and they are dying to extend their knowledge with your help. So, sit down and watch the weather channel or discovery channel this weekend with some popcorn and a warm blanket and just talk weather with your kiddos! :0) In Social Studies, we are continuing to explore Montana and how it came to be. Next week will be the start of our Lewis and Clark journey. In the spring, students will travel to Pompey's Pillar for a day of fun. In math, we are still working on adding and subtracting. Can I just beg you to buy some flashcards and re-look at all the student's basic facts knowledge in addition, subtraction, and multiplication?

On another note, it came to my attention the other day that parents are not aware of some of the changes 4th graders are experiencing in their specialist classes. In the 4th grade, library is an hour long. Half of that time is used to find a book of their choice, and the other half is spent on an actual library lesson such as reference materials like dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlas, and computers. They have assignments and projects. Part of their grade is also based on book return each week and keeping a log of the books they check out. PE/Health has also changed. In third grade, students only had PE. Now they have an hour of health class as well. Again, there is actual note-taking, assignments, and projects in this class. Art is also new. They have never had an actual art class before. Now they have an hour. In art, they learn different techniques and many new vocabulary words. Finally, there is an hour of music. They are learning the history of music, different types of music, tons of new rhythms, and even take a district music test. So, when you see grades in these classes please know that they are to be taken just as seriously as reading or math.

Finally, grade sheets went home today. Please note that only the hi-lighted grades have been updated. Other teacher's will not update their grades until report card time. Overall, besides some missing assignments grades look pretty good for first quarter 4th graders.

Well, have a great weekend and stay warm!

Library Reminder

BRING LIBRARY BOOKS TOMORROW!!!!

Feel free to join us for Tears of Joy tomorrow at 1:15. It is an awesome play that our PTA is bringing to us. Thank you PTA!

Have a great night and stay dry!

Tuesday Happenings!

Today in reading class we oovooed Jeff the Nature Guy from Redlodge. We learned all sorts of cool owl facts and had quite a few oohhh and aahhh moments. The class you see in the picture is our buddy class over at Burlington Elementary. We are down in the very bottom corner in the small square. Students collected more owl facts to add onto their reading projects on the computer this week. I can't wait to see all that they learned in an organized fashion. Cool!

Fitness club officially starts today. We are getting out there and running! Ready or not. The weather is supposed to get bad again tonight so just remember the rule: If is is snow, pouring rain, or below zero than we will not be running. If not, we are on! Dress warm and hats or hoods are always good.

Today, students met Ms. Handford. She is a junior field from MSU-B. She will be working with kids and teaching a few lessons for the next month or two. Be watching for a picture and information post on her soon. :0) Welcome!

On Friday, we will be having a guest speaker. She will be teaching the class traditional native games and facts. We will be joining Mrs. Hankin's class for this adventure. Exciting Montana History!

I hope to see you at Mckenzie River Pizza tonight. Remember, every first Tuesday is Bitterroot night. Mckenzie will donate 20% of your bill back to our school. Yippee! Can't think of a better excuse to eat out! It even works on take out. Just don't forget your coupon voucher slip that went home with your child yesterday. Yummy!

Have a super night!

Snow? What? It's October

Let it snow! Well my request for better weather did not come thru. This weather is supposed to last throughout the week. Students need to wear warm clothes, boots, hats and gloves. It is not sweatshirt weather anymore. If students do not wear a coat they will be asked to stay inside for recess and walk the halls for their exercise. Please help students remember to dress warm in the morning.

Fitness club will not meet in heavy rain or if there is snow on the ground. Sorry. I am just as bummed as the kids!

We tried to name all fifty states today in class without looking at a map. By the end of the day they had 48. They were missing Maryland and New Jersey. Very good for day one.

Kids also need to start to remember and be able to locate all seven reservations in Montana. Maps can be found online to practice at home. This will be on the final Montana History Test.

Have a great night!

Jeff the Nature Guy from Redlodge!

Find Out Friday!

It is Friday!! Can you say cold, rain, freezing wind, sun, warm, CRAZY!!! I hope the weather makes up its mind next week.

As you can see in the picture, today in reading class we used a computer program called inspiration. This program is one that allows kids to brainstorm and organize information in an organized way. So, today we watched a youtube of Jeff the Nature Guy from the Redlodge Beartooth Nature Center and collected facts about the Great Horned Owl. Then we put those facts under the categories we had previously brainstormed together. Then we began to add pictures to our webs. Next Tuesday, during Reading class, Jeff will be oovooing in to talk to our class along with our Burlington School Buddy class across town. He will be giving us more details to add to our webs. Fun!! I have posted the video we watched today above.

Fitness club starts Monday after school. Since I am one of the directors this might mean that the blog is not updated until after four but still before five. I am really going to try to update before school gets out though. We will be running/walking our two miles come rain or shine, and it is only supposed to be in the high thirties on Monday so dress warm kids!! Students may bring their I-pods to listen to while running but them MUST stay in their bags until fitness club. Remember, if picking up kids you need to be in the parking lot at 3:45. Thanks!

Ms. Hankins and I are starting to plan our events for Drug Free Week. It is the last week of October. We will be having guest speakers daily that week and we will end our unit by taking a trip to the Yellowstone Detention Center on October 30th. This field trip will have no cost real or fake money. Thanks to the PTA for paying for our bus! I have one chaperone already, but I would love to have one or two more. Kids are split up into groups and need adults that are as strict as I am with making Bitterroot proud with our excellent behavior and mannered kids. If this is you, shoot me an email or note in the planner. Any and all parents are invited to meet at the jail to join in on the tour with your child. It truly is an eye opener to the kids to see how life with drugs just continues down a road of bad choices, not bad people.

Next week we will also continue our journey back in time to see how Montana became the state it is today. We will be talking about the 7 Indian reservations and tribes found in Montana, and taking an in depth look at the Battle at Little Big Horn. Very interesting! We will conclude the week by having a guest speaker about the Montana tribes and some traditional Native American games. You know I will be filming those for you!

Next week in science you will be seeing a list of options come home. Students will need to select two of the options or make one of their own to complete and share with the class. This will end our unit on weather. I am hoping for a field trip to the weather station, but nothing is finalized quite yet! Keeping our fingers crossed. If all works out we will take the Met bus and possibly have lunch at Fuddruckers and also visit the National Weather Station to learn a little more about Earthquakes and Hurricanes. We shall see!

Well, have a wonderful weekend! Don't forget to sell, sell, sell those Believe items. PTA is awesome to us and I hope to help them to help us! See ya in two day! Peace!