Hi. Back to the grind we were!
Today we started our new reading books in our reading groups. Each group is doing a Native American Group. We will be focussing on main idea, sequencing, problem-solution, and summarizing for the next two to three weeks. These books are super fun, and we will be doing some of the crafts and recipes too. Ask your child what tribe they are reading about. If they can tell you, write the name of it in their planner for $20 tomorrow. If they were in the Spider Rock group, have them tell you the disturbing legend about naughty children that we discovered today. If they can, write Spider in their planner and earn another $20. Crazy legend!!!
All math kids are coming home with 0-5s to practice tonight. We will test out on 5s tomorrow. Then onto 6s. Please continue xtramath.org and allowing them to play the blog math games for their 3, 4, and 5s.
All kids are also coming home with nightly writing. I purchased a fun book called Would you Rather at the bookfair. It asks gross questions that kids love to write about. Tonight they MUST decide if they would rather have blue fungus on their hands or black mold on their teeth. They need to explain why and defend their choice. I told them to be as creative and silly as possible. For example, I told them that I would choose black mold so if I got strep throat I wouldn't need to go to the doctor, I could just lick my teeth and get my dose of penicillin. :0) Have them read them aloud to you. If they do write their choice in the planner for $20 tomorrow. Write your choice too, and they can earn $10 more.
Speaking of earning money, field trip permission slips came home today. We will be going to Norm's Island and Zoo Montana for a crazy educational experience on Wed, the 16th of this month. This will not be a walk around and see animals trip, it will be super directed to certain things at the zoo with our great friend Jeff the Nature Guy. He loves our classes, and in the past has given us special behind the scene experiences. He is super fun himself, and is very busy so we are honored that he would take a whole day to hang with us. Students that bring back their permission slip tomorrow will earn $100. If they also bring the $2.50 that it costs to get in the zoo, they will earn an extra $100. Lots of money to earn tomorrow! Some of them need it to buy into this field trip. They still have lots of time to earn (or lose) so good choices are important!
Tomorrow is Montana's Birthday. We will celebrate with Mrs. Hankin's class. It turns out I will not be out tomorrow! Yay! Kids have bought into the fun for $300 already! Happy Birthday to us!!!
For art, kids need a toilet paper roll for an upcoming project. If you have any in the next two weeks, please bring them in. I will pay $20 for each roll. (Make sure it is just the cardboard roll and not the paper too!)
Tomorrow we have gym. Please remind kiddos to bring tennis shoes.
Outside play is fun. However, here at Bitterrroot, in order to go roll around in it or play on the ground in it, kids must have snowboots and snowpants. Otherwise, they are stuck on the blacktop. Kids just get too wet, and then they are usually missing for school the next day. We need them here, so please dress them warmly. Hats and gloves are also recommended. I know I spent part of my weekend changing out capris and shorts in my kids closets to warm winter clothes this weekend. Can't believe it is snow time already!
Today in CC meeting, we talked a lot about asking Ms. Erickson for help. We made two charts: when to ask for help, and how to ask for help. We talked about how at their age, they may not always want to ask for help at the teaching moment. We came up with many ways they could ask for help. Kids came up with sticky note on my desk, texting me, and asking during free work time or recess. I told kids that I am here for them, and they do not need to worry about getting into trouble for asking for help. I explained to them that adults do get annoyed if they have to answer questions that have already been asked, but that there are no dumb questions. Rusty's message today said the same thing. Listening is best, but questioning is crucial to further understanding.
Mrs. Umemoto, a third grade teacher down the hall, started a Veteran's Day spark in our school. Our class helped her class make their hand flag today by writing what we thing America stands for in our handprints. Ours are the white stripes! Cool! She also set up a huge banner that says We honor our veterans. Tomorrow I will model how to fill out a star to hang up. In the meantime tonight, could you try to think of a name of someone your family knows that is or has served in the military. It can be from any branch. Kids need to know their name, what branch they serve for, and how they know them. For example, mine reads: Scott Fink, US Air Force, Friend. We will fill them out tomorrow during our CC meeting and hang them up on the school banner. Awesome!
Have a fantastic night!!!
PS. If you ever get pictures of your kiddos playing in the snow please email me them, and I will post them on the blog! Our pen pals look at the blog and love to see all the snow we get!
