Happy Birthday Josh and Landon!

Hiya!

Lots happening in G4! We took our science hurricane test today. It was funny to hear comments like, boy I am sure glad I took good notes. :0) I will grade those tonight and record the grades so you can see them online.

Tuesday Folders came home today. If you ordered pictures they are in there. If you didn't, then you got a proof sheet and you can still go online and order them. Yay!

Homework tonight is to finish up those September Book Reports. Kids need to have them all connected and completely finished in 4th grade quality work. There will be NO extensions on the due date. They are due tomorrow 8:15 a.m. Thanks. Kids also know they need to bring the actual book in. I do this in case I become suspicious that the student didn't answer something completely or correctly. If need be, I can read those small books pretty quickly so I can help them to understand what they need to do next time.


Students will need to get their new October book report book this Friday during library. I will share with them the genre type that day. Then, they will have three weeks to read that one. This pattern will continue all throughout the year.

At Fly Time today, we talked a lot about excuses and solutions and choices and consequences. We read a story about a little boy that wanted to become a marine biologist. He kept running into obstacles that almost made him quit on his dream. Instead, he learned to come up with solutions instead of excuses. He also learned that by coming up with solutions he was rewarded with positive consequences. The bottom line of the lesson was that kids need to stop before they come up to me and tell me an excuse as to why their homework or classwork is not done and instead come to me with an accountability sentence along with a  working solution. For example, Mrs. Grewell, I did not do my homework last night. I am going to do it today at recess instead of playing. Awesome! Money fine and we are done. Excuses though take up way too much time to explain and reason with. We will continue to practice this by me saying, stop…what is your solution when they start to give me an excuse. It would be awesome if you would do this at home as well. In the story the little boy said he couldn't become a biologist because college would be too expensive. Ask your child what his solution was. They should tell you that he started working at the aquarium at a young age doing any job he could and saved his money for college. IF they do tell you this, write SOLUTION in the planner for $10 tomorrow.

A BIG woohoo goes to AJ today. I hope he has a wonderful time at Disneyland with his family. Go make a ton of memories AJ, and send us a picture of you and Mickey! Safe travels buddy! :0)

There is NO cross country on Friday morning this week. There IS a cross country meet instead against Poly elementary right after school here at Arrowhead. I can't wait to cheer all the Arrowhead kids on! Fun!

I leave you with a Happy Birthday to both Landon and Josh today! They are both the BIG 10! Double digits…wow! Thanks for the delicious donuts this morning Landon and the yummy cupcakes/brownies this afternoon Josh. We still have some cupcakes left, so we will sell again tomorrow. Landon wanted to enjoy the rest of his treats at home with his family. :0) We still have two more birthdays this week. Oh my goodness, can you say sugar rush!!! When it rains it pours they say! :0) I hope the two boys have a wonderful evening with their families doing something super fun!

That does it for Tuesday! Have a great day!
Mrs. Grewell

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers

Hello there. Happy Monday!

We attempted two new technology programs today in class: typing club and xtramath.org. Both links are off to the side of this blog. Kids may use them both at home as well. Practice, practice, practice. Kids will need to know their keyboarding skills by the end of the year for the Smarter Balance test. They have to type an essay online and when they chicken peck the letters it takes FOREVER!!! So, once a week, we will spend 15 minutes using this program. I remember this program back in the good old high school days! It is incredible that even 1st graders are getting keyboarding skills. It's a whole different generation by golly! Xtra math helps kids learn their basic multiplication and division facts fluently. It is a timed program which helps them learn to know them like they know their name. We will do this program daily for 15 minutes of our math time. Kids should go up daily on their facts mastered. It will be charted in class so they can see their growth over time. Again, they may do it at home daily as well. :0)

Homework tonight is Book Report Part 3. It is time for the kids to tape them together. Please remind them to tape AFTER they write or color. They will really need to take their time to tape them neatly. The papers are not even, so it is a little difficult, but THEY can do it. Here are my examples we did in class.



Kids also have a reading comprehension sheet entitled Stan Musial. I read it aloud in class, and we compared Stan to Derek Jeter who also just retired. Ask your child what number Jeter wore on his NY Yankee Jersey. If they can tell you, write it in the planner for $10. Also, ask them what Jeter's heritage is. They should tell you that dad is African American and Mom is Irish/German. If they do, write JETER in the planner for another $10. Kids need to use the reading to find the answers to the clues on the back.

Many kids also took home their Scholastic News to finish up from this morning.

In Fly Time this morning, we read a story that addressed the issue of being kind TODAY, because it might be too late tomorrow. The story was about a little girl that was poor and always wore hand me down clothes. A group of girls always made fun of her and called her the nickname "Never New." They also would say no when the little girl would ask them to play. One day however, the new girl is gone. The teacher does a lesson with the class on kindness by dropping a rock into a bowl of water and watches how the kindness ripples out and carries on. One of the mean girls then feels very bad for how she treats the new girl. She can't wait for her to come back to school so she can apologize and become friends with her. Problem is, she never comes back. Her family ends up moving away. The mean little girl has to live with that guilt forever. That is how the story ended. Horrible ending, but wonderful lesson. We never got to do the rock/water part of the story in class today. If you do it with your child, write RIPPLE in the planner for $50 more. Just fill up a clear bowl, find a large pebble, and allow them to drop it in and watch how the kindness ripples out to others. We talked about how when someone is kind to us, we are kind to someone else in return. Awesome!

We will be making our Origami hurricanes on Wednesday from 2:00-2:45. I could use some adult helpers for this one. There are always a few that panic when it comes to origami. If we can help them one on one, they begin to feel confident to try the next piece. If you can help, please come in at 2. Thanks.

GREAT NEWS!!! Everyone has paid their $300 fake money to go on the NILE field trip!!! I knew we could do it. Last week was such an awesome week with amazing EQ behavior. I am not at all surprised that everyone made it. Now, if we can just hold it together for two more weeks so I don't have to refund anyone. :0)

Reece made it back safely from Phoenix. Look at this awesome bracelet he brought back for me from the Katy Perry PRISM concert. We will hear more about it tomorrow during Fly Time. Thanks for thinking of me Reece!!! I LOVE IT!!! You filled my bucket buddy!



I leave you with a couple of photos sent to me from Gabrielle's mom in Florida. She is LOVING her time with her big brother. It is pretty amazing…the bond siblings have. I love seeing all the memories being made for her, and are those black dots in the distance in the second one Dolphins????! Thanks for sharing with us Gabrielle!!! Keep them coming!



Well, I think that is Monday in a nutshell. Have a great night and enjoy the clear skies!
Mrs. Grewell

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. B.F. Skinner

Hello there. Saturday Live was extremely successful! Arrowhead school made just under $6000.00. Our basket alone brought in $975! Wow!!! Thank you so much for all the gift cards. It was valued at $690, so we got that and then some. Awesome. All the money raised that day will go to pay for all the software programs and Scholastic programs we use at Arrowhead, including Accelerated Math and the Scholastic News we use weekly in our classroom. Arrowhead uses a ton of technology programs throughout the school, and this money pay for them each year. Sooooo grateful!! I was able to film the actual bidding of our basket. Enjoy!

Emma, Beau, Zach and I had a wonderful time actually enjoying Saturday Live. We started the day off by watching the racers come in. And…look I spotted at the finish line! Both Hanna and her Dad did a great job in the race! What an awesome way to bond as a father and daughter! Congrats you two!



After finally leaving the park, Beau and I went down to the soccer field. We just missed Noah L's game…darts! But, we were able to catch Gwen in action! She even scored THREE goals. That a girl. Who knew Gwen was sooooo aggressive and a ball go getter! Very proud of her, and a BIG thank you to Noah L for playing with Beau while I enjoyed the game. :0) Keep inviting me to those games. I am often able to make them on the weekend.



I got a text from Gabrielle's dad on Friday night. She made it to Florida safely, however it was a rainy day! That is not what you expect when you go to Florida! Hope the weather improves soon!!! The weather in Arizona was just the opposite for Reece. He and his mom made a TON on fun memories in the sun and pool. Loved those photos on Facebook! Awesome. We hope that Noah B is back on Monday and is feeling better. We miss all kids when they are gone. Class is just not the same without them!


October is upon us this week. Here are some dates to mark on your calendars at home.

8th: Walk/Bike to school
13th: PTA general meeting 6 pm
14th: Hearing Screening
15th: Early out at noon
16-17th: No school
21st: Coffee with the principal RSVP Mrs. Meier.
24th: Halloween Family Fun Night
27-31st: Red Ribbon Week
30th: Picture Retakes
31st: End of first Quarter (Report Cards home on Nov. 4th)

Reminders from Mrs. Meier:

1. Make sure you call the office when children are going to be tardy or absent.
2. Mention Arrowhead School when you check out at Office Depot.
3. If we ever have an offsite evacuation we will go to Lillis Center at Mission Ridge.
4. Remember to pack silverware in kid's cold lunches please.
5. If you have school related pictures please consider submitting them to Tanya Bentley at tanyarosebentley@gmail.com for this year's Memory Yearbook.
Thanks!

This week…

Math: Finish up money, show mastery on tenths and hundredths place value and how it corresponds to money in the real world, and show mastery on addition and subtraction across zeroes, regrouping, and column addition. We will also continue with Accelerated Math. If you are available on Fridays from 11:30-12:15 please consider coming to help when we do this whole class. There are often too many kiddos needing my attention at one time. They end up wasting education time waiting for me to be able to listen to why they got their last problems wrong. They are not allowed to move forward until this happens. If you could help…that would be soooo awesome. Just show up and I will put you to work!

Lead 21: Fictional stories. We will look at figurative language: personification, metaphors, and similes along with onomatopoeia in these stories. We will also review finding important information and supporting details. We will finish Unit one this week.

Language: We will again work on nouns. Plurals, common or proper, and being able to find them in sentences. Our quiz last week didn't go that well for over half the class. That tells me we need more practice. We will also look further into our three articles: a, an, and the and when to use each of them.

Spelling: This week's unit is on homophones. These are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently when in different context. Please make sure to use sentences with kids this week when studying and don't always do the same order when quizzing them. I HIGHLY encourage alternates to spend some time Monday night looking up some of their words. Even I had to look some of them up! I will NOT go in order on either the book or alternate tests. The words will be mixed up. Even if they spell it correctly, but use the wrong one in the wrong place it will be marked incorrect. They need to really listen to the context sentences while testing. Congratulations to this week's alternates (if they choose to accept the challenge)…Kyra, Laney, Landon, Krissy, Claire, Avery, Josh, Gwen, and Cayden. Well done to ALL kids on ALL tests! Study, study, study! :0)

S.S.: Map skills continue.

MT History: Finding specific mountain ranges and rivers in Montana using a state map.

Science: We will wrap up our Hurricane unit with an open note test. We will finish it by making our own origami hurricanes with an adjustable eye in the center! Kids will need to be able to identify the eye, eye wall, and feeder bands on their hurricanes. These are AWESOME!!!! We will then get into atmosphere layers and the basic types of clouds. We will learn a fun song to help all we have learned thus far in science come to life even more.

Fly Time: We will continue to review EQ vs. IQ along with trustworthiness. Mrs. Gleason and I wrote a grant for PTA at the beginning of the year for close to $400 in new books we found that help teach character to kids. They LOVE picture books and it is the best way for me to bring them to life and help them see how they actually work in the real world. We find out tomorrow if we got it. Fingers crossed!!!! This is one of the things your PTA donations and fundraising goes for. Each teacher gets to write a grant for their classroom. THANK YOU!!!

Speaking of fly time. Ask your kiddo about the pepper experiment we did on Friday. I used it to show the kids how it feels to be the one kid no one wants to play with at recess. What happens is the pepper is all floating around on the top of the water nicely like a class getting along. Then the one kid comes along (my finger with dish soap applied to it). I put my finger in the center of the group and the pepper scatters to the edges rapidly, leaving the one kid wondering why he is always alone in a group. Pretty cool! We also made an acrostic poem to go along with it, using the word TEAM and focussing on being one at recess time.

Treat everyone like they are your good friend!
Everyone likes to play!
Ask kids who are alone to join in on your fun!
Make time to make new friends!

Kids will pay for their NILE field trip with their $300 fake dollars tomorrow. They still have two weeks to earn if they need too. They just have to have it paid in full by the day we depart on the bus.

Midterms come home on Friday. I am always confused as to why we send these home, as you can see their grades daily online. Nonetheless, I will send home a hard copy of your child's behavior grades and academic grades on Friday. I will send them home in the Tuesday Folder, even though it won't be Tuesday. You signing that, shows me you saw the midterm. You may keep the midterm home for your records. As always, if I had HUGE concerns I would have contacted you by now. I don't like to be surprised with my own kiddos grades, so I would never do that to you. Conferences are in November, but if something is bugging you or doesn't seem right, lets handle it now so it can just be solved. Call, text, or email me anytime. I appreciate our level of honesty and ability to communicate for the best of your child. :0)

Well, I think that about wraps up the upcoming week. Thanks again for having the most amazing kids and for trusting me with them every single day! I love my job, and I hope that is reflected in your child each and every day!

Part 2 of Book Reports Tonight!

Hi. As you know, I am in a training all afternoon. But, here is what you really need to know for tonight.

Book report part 2 is for homework. We went over it in class in depth. Kids should know exactly what to do.



Many kids also need to finish their spelling skill sheets.

The last piece of homework is to play outside. That is what I want to be doing. Jealous!!!! :0)

Math testing went VERY well today. I am going to have to really go deep and challenge this class this year. They are so high all ready. I will text you your child's score tonight. Here is the breakdown for math.

Far Below Level: Less than 194
Below Level: 194-201
On Level: 202-210
Advanced: 211 or above.

It is Friday tomorrow! And…yes we DO have school tomorrow!!! A big safe journeys to Gabrielle and family as they travel to Florida to visit Big Brother. Enjoy your time and make a ton of memories. Thoughts also with Reece and family as he travels about Phoenix. Say hello to Katy Perry for me Reece!

I leave you with a picture of our Saturday Live Basket. Noah's mom rocked this one!!! Holy Moly it looks awesome! I know I will be bidding on it. Fun, fun, fun stuff. A HUGE thank you to her!!!! WOW!



Have a fantastic, sunny Thursday night!
Mrs. Grewell

Book Reports Start Tonight! Due Next Wednesday!

Hi there. I had a meeting right after school, so I apologize for this being late.

EQ day 2 was even better than day one! They are really starting to click with making great choices. Yay!

The highlight of today was science! We finally learned HOW a hurricane was formed. In order to show kids how hot air rises and cold air sinks we did a quick little experiment. I had boiled some water on a hot plate. I then took an empty water bottle filled with air. :0) (So I guess it wasn't empty now was it?) I then put a balloon over the mouth of the water bottle. When I held the water bottle over the hot water, the air in the bottle rose and made the balloon stand up and fill with air. When I moved it away from the water, the balloon collapsed again, showing that cold air is heavier than warm air. This was so important to understand when figuring out how a hurricane forms. Then, we went into thermal energy (heat we get from the sun) and how it warms the water at the equator. Thus, the hot air rises at a rapid rate and cold air rushes in, heats quickly, goes up, more cold air, and so on. The moving of hot air up and cold air in creates the wind. The quickness of this is what causes the layers of clouds in a hurricane to stack up. Add in the rotation of the Earth, and there you have a pretty good chance for a hurricane to form. So the big million dollar question…How does a hurricane form? The million dollar answer: Thermal heat convection along with Earth's rotation. Wowzers! Ask your kiddo about the two youtube videos we watched today. One was where we flew into a hurricane with the USAF hurricane hunters and the other was a day by day time lapse of Hurricane Katrina. Yikes!!! I think kids think hurricanes are just a bunch wind like we get here sometimes. Now, I think they understand that it is beyond the regular wind and rain storm. The after pictures really brought it home. If your child can tell you about either video, write HUNTER in the planner for $10.

We took our NWEA Map test in reading today. I will text you your child's score tonight. This one I have data on.

Score below 179: Far below grade level
Score below 191: Below grade level
Score between 191-209: On grade level
Score above 209: Above grade level: advanced learner

Three kiddos rushed through the test today (and by rushing I mean they did 43 reading problems within 15  minutes when their classmates were only on problem 11). Those that did this got the joy of taking the test twice today. Two rushed again. One improved. I can't stress enough that doing our very best on EVERY assignment, test or simple worksheet, is imperative. Without it, kids will test  with inaccurate scores and will be inappropriately placed in learning leveled groups that are too low for them. This is a waste of my time and a waste of the kids that really do need my attention at that level. I don't put a ton of stress on kids testing, but when they just pretend to care instead of actually caring that is where I become frustrated. And why rush??? All they got to do was sit there until everyone else finished. I am hoping to see high EQ from all students on the math test tomorrow. BELIEVE!!!

Homework tonight is part one of the School Themed Book Report. I went over each part in detail with the kids today before they left. They know what parts they need to do, and they know they need to spend time and put in effort. Neatness and effort will be part of the grade. Here are my examples. At the end of four days doing this (Today, Tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday) for homework, kids will tape all four parts together and create a final poster to turn in on Wednesday. They will also have to turn in their book so I can review it when I grade it. Please note that the character quote should come exactly from the book and quotation marks should be used. Also the drawing should come from a picture in the text or a description from the author.



Kids also have a cursive homework sheet tonight. Those that get it signed by you earn $10 tomorrow.

I think that about does it for tonight. Have a wonderfully high pressured evening with NO chance of a Hurricane for Montana in the forecast! Hee Hee! (Yes, I am well aware that I am a weather dork!)

Mrs. Grewell

You are what you are by what you BELIEVE…Oprah Winfrey

Hi there. The day is done, and it was honestly the best one yet.

I did a lesson at Fly Time this morning that really hit home for a few. We took a look at IQ vs. EQ. We talked about it is more important to have a high EQ than it is to have a high IQ. We took a look at this by visiting the people we find behind bars. There are some very smart people sitting in jail. The main leaders of the higher inner city gangs are extremely intelligent, and all behind bars. However, the brilliant part is they continue to run those gangs effectively with no communication to the outside world. Genius! So they have the IQ, but they lack the EQ. If you look at the picture below, you see that  the EQ is the foundation and deep. The IQ is just the tip of the iceberg. (Probably where we got that idiom!) So, all day long the kids heard me saying, check your EQ. Are you acting like a 4th grader should be. We also talked about how it is NOW that they build this foundation. The patterns we see now, will follow into the future. If they steal a jolly rancher now, they will probably steal later. IF they don't turn in work on time now, they probably won't turn it in on time at their job either. And, we all know how that ends…jail time or fired. This was the easiest day of teaching I have had behavior wise this year. Kids were checking themselves constantly. Here is a list of EQ that is now hanging in our classroom:



A 4th grader…
Turns in the work on time every time.
Always uses their nicest and neatest handwriting.
Spells words correctly when they are written on the same page.
Never turns in work that is not 100% finished.
Writes their name and date on the top of all papers.
Keeps an organized work area and desk at all times.
Cares about their work instead of pretending to care.
Applies effort on all assignments.
Only turns in their very best work.
Never guesses. They ask for help.
Tries before asking for help.
Doesn't talk when moving from point A to point B.
Is on time for school every day.
Follows the directions quickly the first time asked.

Then, I asked them if you could make some EQ statements for them at home. They came up with quite a few. Following directions the first time, keep a clean room, homework before play, and so on. Please follow up this important conversation at home tonight by asking your kiddo to share with you the difference between EQ and IQ. If they can tell you, write EQ in the planner for $50. Yep, it is THAT important!

In Lead 21 today, we played a little game of Battleship against the computer. What does that have to do with reading???? Well, in order to sink the computers ships we had to answer a question correctly about Author's Purpose. And….WE WON!!!! We are so super smart!

All kiddos that brought back their homework from last night got to scan in their answers today. Fun! I loved hearing how "This is fun!" Awesome. Kids will continue to do Accelerated Math in class and know that they need to scan at least once a week if not more. They also know that they are not allowed to move onto the new topic until they obtain my signature. They can't get that unless they talk to me one on one and tell me why they missed the problems on the last one. Kids will work on this during their free time in class along with one class period a week. I will also assign it for homework once in a while. Their practice sheets are just that, practice. When they get a test printed out, that will go into the grade book and be part of their final grade.

In MT History today, we learned about the Continental Divide. Pretty cool.

Homework tonight is types of sentences. They know exactly how to do this and should NOT need any help. If they are not in my spelling class, they have a math sheet.

Tuesday folders came home tonight. The NILE field trip permission slip is in there. Please sign and return tomorrow. There is no real money cost to this field trip. Kids will need to buy into the trip for $300 of their fake money. I will start collecting that next week. 99% of kids could pay for that today. I just know that 100% are going to make it! BELIEVE!!!!

There is also two book order forms in there. I told the kids that mom and dad may be maxed out on the money spending by now. There has been a lot lately. So, I suggested that they use their own money or do an extra chore to help you in order to earn the money needed. No pressure. I will send them home each month. Tomorrow, I will post the link and password to be able to order books online. When you do this, I earn a free book for the classroom. I prefer this way, but I can also snail mail your order in as well. Checks need to be written out to Scholastic News. You can use a credit card online. Again, no pressure.

There is also a map for Saturday Live. It is THIS Saturday at Pioneer Park. I am super excited to take Emma and Beau this year!! I hope to see you there too! What an awesome way to spend a Saturday with kiddos!

 This Thursday is a half day. Teachers are in training for our new science Project Lead the Way all afternoon. So, kids are out at noon. Please communicate with your child how they will get home that day BEFORE coming to school. Thanks.

I leave you with some fun pictures of Landon. He was star of the week! He shared so many cool things. One thing I could tell about this young man is that he loves his family deeply. That is some very cool EQ Landon! Thanks for sharing, and you are a spectacular artist!



Have a fantastic night!
Mrs. Grewell

Ask questions. Be weird. Experiment. Have Goals. Believe you can!

Hello, hello!

We had a great day of learning. This is the first day we have been able to get all subject areas in!!! It was sooooo quiet today, and kids transitioned so nicely today. Sooooo much more teaching time.

We started the day off by finishing our Fallen Rock Book. The kids LOVED it. They may bring their book home anytime now. However, I did suggest/hint that they may want to have it here tomorrow for their final test. It will be open book to those that have it. Let's see who really listens to Mrs. Grewell. :0)
I encourage you to read it again at night with your kiddo. The chapters are short and they are great for nightly reading. They would love to see you get excited about the story too! Plus, then when you drive down the road you can both talk about the road signs you see. Now, we can't wait to meet Bill Merical on October 9th even more!!!

We were able to sneak down to the computer lab this morning and take our NWEA language test. This will be their beginning score. Most kiddos scored in the 200s. I will text you your child's score tonight. The most important thing is that at the close of the year, when they take the test again, that they show growth. Language doesn't really have a cut off score for us to base if a child is proficient, below, or high. I do have them for reading and math however. Again, keep in mind the class average was 200-215.

We will take the reading test on Wednesday morning and the math test on Thursday. If your child is absent, they will be pulled (most likely by Mrs. Meier) to take the test at a later date. This is difficult as it is not in their natural environment and it sometimes skews the score. :0(

This afternoon, we started our unit on Hurricanes. OH me OH my! They were 100% into it!!! I loved all the questions, as I lived in Florida for 10 years and went to college there. Therefore, I know quite a bit of real experiences. They had GREAT questions that led to GREAT discussions. Yay! One question for tonight though…have your kiddo google what the temperature of the water has to be (at least) in order for it to form a hurricane. Write what they say in the planner for $10 tomorrow. Hmmm…

We also started our unit in SS on map skills. We created a compass rose consisting of both cardinal and intermediate directions. Now, they will use these in some skill sheets.

Tonight, kids have math homework. We are starting our Accelerated Math program. This is a program on individual speeds. Kids first do a practice sheet. They then scan in their answers to the computer and it grades them. Depending on their score, they either get another practice sheet or a test sheet if they are ready. If kids miss too many of a certain skill, it alerts me and prints out a one on one sheet that they will have to do with me. Everyone is doing the same skill, it is the pace that is up to each child. Hence the title…Accelerated Math. I beg of you to NOT help kids with these. The skills I sent home are all review. If they are struggling with them, I need to know so I can one on one help them. Helping on one or two is great. Helping and teaching on all of them…NOPE! Just have them do their best, and we will get them the help they need. Thanks!

Some kiddos also have their Scholastic News to finish up. Both assignments are due tomorrow.

Book reports will start on Wednesday. Books must be finished by then.

Our cursive white boards came in today. We have been waiting since before school started. These are great, because they have the lines drawn on them. It saves soooo much time and helps everyone be more accurate when forming letters. So we now know a-o. Have your kiddos show you these letters connecting in one straight line on a piece of paper. If they do, write CURSIVE in the planner for yet another $10 tomorrow. Wow…double bonus night!

A final thank you to AJ, Cayden, and Lauren for bringing in our last gift cards last Friday. Noah B's mom is now creating the magical basket. I can't wait to see it on Wednesday. Don't worry…I will of course display a picture on the blog. :0)

Tomorrow we will be meeting a student from Rocky that will be helping out in the classroom. This is her first experience in the classroom setting, so that is exciting. She will be doing a lot of observing along with some possible one on one correction work. Her name is Miss. Keezer. Welcome!

Tomorrow we will also be back in action with our regular Fly Time meetings. We will be taking a deeper look at what 4th grade EQ looks like. What is EQ??? Well, we all have an intellectual IQ, but we also have a grade level appropriate EQ too. That is our ability to function in society in an appropriate manner. I will share what we come up with tomorrow.

I leave you with a HUGE thank you to Hanna and Josh's moms. This morning I noticed that I had something in my bucket filler bucket. When I got it out, it was an amazing note from both parents thanking me for all I do and for going above and beyond. Even though I don't feel I do, I love that parents notice how seriously I take kids and my love for teaching them. You two made my day!!! Thanks for filling my bucket!!

Have a wonderful night! I am hoping that Morgan is doing something super fun and enjoying her birthday cake tonight. Thanks for the yummy cookies on a stick today! Happy Birthday Morgan!
Mrs. Grewell

PE and Music Tomorrow

Hi there. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Emma and Beau got to see the Dolphin Tale 2 movie with their Aunt. They said it was awesome sauce!! I too would like to see it. It looks like it would have some kind of BELIEVE theme in it! Right up my alley!

This week…

Math: We will continue with money. Kids need to be able to subtract across zeroes and then make change using the least amount of coins and bills possible. This has been difficult for some. Have your child tell you how to make $24.62. They should say one twenty dollar bill, four one dollar bills, a half dollar, a dime, and two pennies. Many kids are getting the right amount but not using the least amount of coins possible. If they can do this correctly, write the word MONEY in the planner for $10 on Monday. We will also connect money to the tenths and hundredths place value. We will also start a program called number talks. This is a 5 to 15 minute program that allows kids to take a problem, solve it mentally, and then share their strategy to solve it. This allows kiddos to see that there is not just one correct way to solve math and get the right answer and that the standard algorithm is not always the fastest way. Three of us from Arrowhead took this training this Saturday and were blown away at the math we could do in our heads using other strategies. Wow!

Spelling: long and short o sounds. It was the first week of alternate testing. The kids overall did great. Many book spellers are now qualified to accept the alternate challenge. Remember, no matter what test you are taking, you must score a 100% in order to be offered the alternate list. Congratulations to Krissy, AJ, Josh, Dominic, Noah B, Avery, Reece, Laney, Adler, Noah L, Morgan, and Gabrielle for making it this week. I will ask them tomorrow which test they would like to take this week. Well done everyone!

Language: Adjectives.

Lead 21: We will finish up our nonfiction piece on heritage. Students will take a final test on the information and the skills of determining important information and looking in text for answers. Then, we will head into our fictional pieces in whole group and small groups. I graded small group work. Some kids will be moving to higher levels, some will stay the same, and some will move down a level to help them be successful on their level.

Science: Hurricanes. Connecting wind unit to violent storms. We will make an origami hurricane that will allow students to adjust the size of an eye and see what happens when the eye and feeder bands go over land. Cool!

Social Studies: We only have one chapter left in Fallen Rock so we will finish that up tomorrow. The rest of the week we will be working on mapping skills including cardinal directions, intermediate directions, using a scale, reading a key and a legend, and latitude and longitude. Soon, we will venture into our first US region, which will be the Northeast.

MT History: Continental Divide along with major rivers and mountains found in MT.

Fly Time: Character Superheores. We will finish these up. Art work will come home this week. :0)

Last Friday, we presented our Inquiry projects. My goodness they rocked the house! We had timelines, heritage heads, artifacts, recipes and food galore! I could really tell that students took this seriously and really got into it. So many of them were able to clearly explain how their presentation resembled the passing of something down from one generation to the next. I was very proud to be their teacher! Some kids got knocked down a few points for volume in presentation. If I could not hear them clearly in the back of the room, their grade went down five points. There were also a few that I had to remind them to talk about the passing of their item down from generation to generation. Overall, check your online grade book to see the amazing scores!

Landon was star of the week last week. He will be presenting to us on Monday. Reece is this weeks, but I understand he will be gone on Friday. Lucky for us, he brought in that adorable puppy last week to share. :0)

I am planning on looking at the testing schedule for NWEA Map testing this week. We may sneak down to the lab a couple of mornings and do a test or two. Two kiddos will be gone later this week and into the next. Since there is a cut off date, I think we might be wise to just get these done, and leave the following week for makeup testing. No stress, just our best!

Is your child interested in becoming an Iron Eagle this year? This is a program with Mr. Pertuit, the gym teacher. Information came home earlier this month. Just a reminder that in order to qualify, kids need to have respectful behavior at home and at school, no missing assignments, good grades, be active weekly in a fitness club or other event outside of school (which they need to report to Mr. Pertuit) and have 5 hours of volunteer hours in the quarter. Mr. Pertuit has some opportunities for kids to earn this if they don't have a way at home in their communities. It is the student's responsibility to arrange that with him. Those that make it into the club will be honored at a school assembly and will be given some pretty cool prizes. This program is sponsored by Granite Fitness. Please contact Mr. Pertuit if you have questions. All kids are welcome and encouraged to do this!!!

Well, that is about it for now. I leave you with some fun photos of your kiddos presenting on Friday. Enjoy the beautiful day!!! Rumor has it we have a birthday girl on Monday…right Morgan??? :0)

Mrs. Grewell