A HUGE thank you to all of you for coming to Barnes and Noble night. Once again, I was amazed at the amount of support for Arrowhead. It is AWESOME to see that kind of support for education. We ended up coming in second in the contest. Mrs. Stevenson's had one more person than we did. The PTA was so impressed with our attendance though that they gave us a second place prize. Each student got a card for Cherry Berry yogurt and blow up or bouncy ball globe. The theme was Christmas around the world, so how fitting! Thank you again! And a HUGE thank you to Max and Abi's mom for putting it all together, along with all the parents from our class that volunteered to help!
Tyler was our star of the week! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at school. I will post the picture on Monday. :0)
Polar Express Day is upon us. A flyer came home with kids on Friday. Most kids were able to already pay the $200 buy in amount. Some, need a little more time. Kids will need to purchase their candy train items by the 20th. Please do NOT send them to school until that day. I have no room to store them. They will also come back home with them that day. (Might not be the best day to ride a bus home if possible). We will spend the entire day doing many educational activities that revolve around the book and the movie in addition to the candy trains. As the flyer says, kids may also wear their pajamas, robes, and slippers at school that day. They may also bring a stuffed animal to cuddle with during the story and their favorite hot chocolate mug for hot cocoa. Fun! Kids that are not able to buy into the event, will still do all the educational stuff, they just won't get to wear jammies, have cocoa, or build a candy train. On the bottom of the sheet, I marked your child's status as of Friday. They either already paid or need to do so. If they need to do so, please follow up by asking them why they don't have the money. There are only three reasons kids lose money in the classroom: not having their planner signed, having missing work, or not following a classroom behavior expectation. I give out a lot of money in class. A reminder that outside bonus money like code words on a blog are extra. Kids make more than enough money all on their own in class to pay for everything. Blog code words are just a cushion for kids.
This week we will continue on with all our academics. We will also be taking the Winter MAP test. I volunteered our class as the guienna pigs to test out this test. I wanted to see how the kids are doing thus far and what we are still needing to focus on for the rest of the year. I am excited to see their growth already this year! We will start with the math test. I will share the results with you on Friday.
Math: Long division practice will continue. They are doing great!!! We also will continue with measurement. We will dive into perimeter and area along with some more practice with converting measurements. Lastly, we will practice selecting the correct measurement unit for specific situations.
Lead 21: Independent leveled groups. Students are reading about the states in the NE region. They are reading the material independently and completing all different skills that we have already done together in class. Then, in small groups we discuss their findings.
Writing: Would you rather paragraphs. Last week, I modeled this with the Christmas would you rather question: Would you rather have to sing Jingle Bells loudly every time you walk into a room for a week or wear a santa suit to school for a week? We wrote the paragraph together with three statements of evidence to back our opinions. Then kids did one on their own, using ours as a model. Their question was: Would you rather be one of Santa's elves or one of Santa's reindeer for a day? Ask your child which one they selected for both of the above would you fathers. If they can tell you and tell you why they chose those, write RATHER in the planner for $10 on Monday.
Language: We will continue with articles, adjectives and adverbs.
Spelling: Words ending in -ed and -ing. Kids will learn when to double the ending consonant or drop off a final e before adding the two suffixes.
Science: Magnets and magnetism. Last Friday, kids joined with Mrs. Auch's class and did two labs on these very subjects. They investigated the magnetic field and how to make their very own magnets using a nail and a paper clip.
Social Studies: We will start a new region. We will head to the South East. That means a new set of states and capitals. The test will be right before we leave for the break. We will also finish up our basic MT History unit. That way, when we return we will be able to start in on the actual history of our great state.
C.C.: We will finish up our Christmas listening test. Kids will grade them and reflect using a rubric to see if they were actually listening to the directions or just hearing them. We will also continue reading some fun Christmas stories, including my newest one, Santa Comes to Montana! A HUGE thank you to Ty and family for purchasing it for us at Barnes and Noble night. It is a GREAT story and fits perfectly with our MT History studies. Of course, I will have a few that talk about the word BELIEVE!
Quarter 2 midterms came home on Friday. I printed the grades (top of first page) and all the individual assignments. I never know what comes home in the backpacks, so I wanted you to be able to look through the specific assignments and see what needs some review or help at home. I also wanted you to see if they had a missing assignment. Those are the grade killers for sure. We are only half way through, so there is plenty of time for grades to improve. I was pretty impressed with them already though. Well done E4! Please write the word MIDTERM in the planner after you review it. This tells me that you saw it. Those that do will earn $50. Those that don't will be fined $50. They know this as I shared it with them during our planner time on Friday. The copy sent home is for you. Please let me know if you have any concerns with grades. I am always here to talk.
Attached to the midterm, you should see a sticky note. Kids went through their art tubs and desk on Friday. They wrote down any school supplies they were running low on or in need of to be successful in the 4th grade. I have noticed many going to the extra supply bins in the classroom. This is perfectly fine, but it is meant to be a short term solution until they get theirs. I noticed the other day that the extra bins are out of glue sticks. With MT History and CC meeting, we go through a ton. I will say, that there are quite a few supplies on the floor during clean up time. A conversation about taking care of supplies and putting them back in their art tub might be a useful conversation.
Many kids have asked me what is on my wish list for Christmas. This is always tough for me, as just having this job is a daily gift to me. That being said, I guess I answer them by saying I am a HUGE believer in the gifts of love and time. I tell them that the best gifts are the ones that come from the heart. Gifts with meaning and special words always mean the most to me. I love just knowing that I am making a difference in the lives of children. That is the best gift I could ever ask for! That being said, I know that you will LOVE the ones they have prepared for you!!!!
A reminder that there is NO morning math class this week. It will resume the following Monday.
Well, I think that about wraps it up. Have a wonderful, warm, and safe weekend.
Ms. Erickson
