Always be available to your kids. Because if you say, 'Give me five minutes, give me ten minutes,' it'll be 15, it'll be 20. And then when you get there, the shine will have worn off whatever it is they wanted to share with you. Michael J. Fox

Hi there.

Wow, Tuesdays are by far our busiest days. No specialists make a long day for Mrs. Grewell. :0)

Tuesday folders came home today. They are jammed packed with information. There is a reminder and direction on bringing those cupcakes in on Friday. I have added Josh, Avery, Espen, and Emily's families to the cupcake donation list. Thank you!!! I think that means over half the class is donating. Wow!!! Grewell-4 rocks!

There are new book order forms in the folder as well. Please feel free to order online at anytime. You can also go old school and send in the form with a check written to scholastic book order. I will order it for you! Just a reminder that every book ordered gets the classroom a book as well. Yay!! I was able to get 15 new classroom books last time. Super Yay!!! Totally optional, but kids LOVE getting new books on their desks. :0)

There is also a note from the PTA president. She is reminding all of us to remember to make a donation for the donation drive. This is instead of all those fundraisers. This was voted on by families last year, and it won by many. So, now she is asking that we make good on this method. The recommended amount is $100 per family…more if you can, less if you can't. I can't agree with her more when I take a look around and see all the amazing things that happen (many behind the scenes) for kids in these four walls. Please consider sending in a donation this week or donate online at the Arrowhead website. You will receive a tax id letter so you can write it off. If donation totals are not met, sadly fun activities (like the Halloween party coming up this Friday) will be cut in the near future. Yikes! Being new to Arrowhead last year, one of the comments I kept making is how impressed I am when it comes to the generosity of the parents at this school. They really take care of their own. The best part of doing this fundraiser, is that 100% of it goes to Arrowhead. When cookie dough or Believe trinkets are sold, we only get a part of that money. Please, please consider donating today! If you have already donated, please write DONATED in the planner for $100. If you do it anytime this week, just write it in the planner and I will pay up! Thanks!!!

You will also find your Parent Teacher Conference Slip in the folder. Thank you to all of you that returned your request form. We tried very hard to honor your first choice. Those that did not return it, we added you in where we had open slots. Hopefully that works with your schedule. If you need to change, please text me or call the office. I look forward to talking with each and every one of you in a couple of weeks.

Flash cards came home last night for our NE region. I have also listed the states and capitals off to the side of this blog. Kids will see an example of the test on Thursday so they don't have any questions of my expectations. I will also post it on the blog so you know how to help them study. Bottom line: kids need to be able to match each state with the correct capital and they need to be able to locate each state on a blank map. They do NOT need to know how to spell them…unless that is an expectation you put on them. :0) Test will be early November. I will announce the date as we get closer but if I had to guess I would say the second week.

Homework tonight is another state trivia sheet. Instead of doing word to standard form however, they will discover the answers by subtracting using regrouping. I should see their work on their paper.

At fly time this week, we will be talking about Bully behavior. Today, we identified a bully to be someone that used their power to harm someone else over and over and over again. We talked about kid vs. kid, adult vs. adult, adult vs. kid, and even kid vs. adult. I asked them a very interesting question today. If a kid knows the rules in the classroom yet believes that the rule does not apply to them or that they are more powerful than the rule, then if they continue to break the rule over and over and over again does that make the child a bully by definition toward the teacher. Hmmmmm….if so, we have that issue in here a little bit. Interesting! We read a story called Enemy Pie. The dad ends up tricking the son into using a great strategy for winning over a potential bully. Have your kiddo explain the pie to you. If they can, write ENEMY PIE in the planner for $10 tomorrow. They should tell you that the pie was just a regular delicious pie and that the dad knew that the two boys would end up wanting to be friends after spending an entire day together. :0)

Well, that is our day in a nutshell. Thanks for all you do for your kiddos! I LOVE that YOU love them SOOOOO much! It sure does make my job easier. :0)